California: Monterey and Big Sur

Monterey:

After landing at the San Jose airport at nearly midnight west coast time, we drove to Salinas to be closer to Monterey for the next day's adventure. San Jose served as an excellent gateway to the Monterey area and Yosemite without the congestion of the San Francisco airports. 

Feeling better after finally getting some sleep after the prior day of traveling cross-country, we drove to Monterey Bay for a guided kayak tour. Monterey may be best known for their aquarium, but we opted to experience the local sea life in their natural habitat by kayaking in the bay. 

Monterey Bay Kayak allows visitors to rent kayaks or participate in guided tours. Unfamiliar with the area, we chose a guided tour, which also included the necessary gear such as spray skirts, tandem sea kayaks, and wetsuits - their strong suggestion to wear the wetsuit and the repeated safety demonstrations on how to exit a capsized kayak did make us slightly weary that we may end up closer to the sea life than preferred. 

Prior to our beach launch, the guides asked our group of about 15 kayakers to introduce ourselves and state what we wished to see. For Ashley, the answer was easy: sea otters, more sea otters, otters holding hands, and baby sea otters. See the trend? The guides determined a plan based on our responses and helped us launch the boats into the bay.

Since we had sea kayaked before, the guides selected us as the "leaders," which essentially meant we paddled out first to the designated buoy and held onto a rope to anchor ourselves while waiting for the rest of the boats to launch. Not long after anchoring to the buoy, we spotted our first sea mammal - a harbor seal! While the other kayaks paddled out to join us, Ashley's arms wore out and she failed at her "leader role" by letting go of the rope attached to the buoy. Our kayak float (multiple kayaks had by now joined us as one) was now at the mercy of the currents. 

Fortunately, the guide soon arrived so we were able to paddle out to the bay instead of drifting into the sea wall. Being kayak leader is a lot of responsibility that we were ready to pass back to the guide. As we paddled out of the harbor, we passed sea lions resting on nearly every buoy and anchor. We could usually hear them before we spotted them. Once into the bay, we headed through some swells towards the kelp forest just offshore from Cannery Row. A good sized sea creature swam along behind our kayak, which we thought was a sea lion or seal due to the size. However, our guide explained that it was actually an otter. Used to the Florida river otters, we weren't expecting sea otters to be so large! Ashley was super pumped to spot her first sea otter in the wild. Not long after, our guide led us close (but not too close per the Marine Mammal Protection Act) to a group of rafting sea otters in the kelp forest. They floated on their backs - grooming, sleeping, and eating. This is exactly the experience we were hoping for when we booked the kayak tour. We suggest enlarging the photos below to try and spot them yourselves. 

After  exploring the kelp forest, our guides led us around the harbor while explaining about the ecosystem and the resident seals and sea lions. Although no longer in the kelp forest, we had more otter sightings! A mom and baby quietly floated near a buoy in the flat harbor water while a small group seals lounged on rocks. 

After about two hours or so paddling around the bay we made our way back to the beach. The tour provided a memorable and enjoyable experience learning about the California sea life. Unfortunately, the kayak tour didn't leave enough time to do the famed aquarium justice, but we definitely want to spend a day there on our next trip out this way.

Big Sur

Following a quick lunch at the wharf, we continued our California adventure driving south along US 1 towards Big Sur. Providing dramatic cliff views, this is known as one of the most scenic drives in the world. Not all things live up to the hype, but this certainly did!

This stretch of the road contains numerous state parks, bridges, and pull-offs with beautiful vistas. 

Since the state parks charge their own fees, the cost of visiting each of them can quickly add up so we chose to only visit Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, which is one of the best known and most photographed. The most famous feature is the small waterfall, which drops onto a secluded beach - the viewpoint is just a short walk from the parking lot. 

On our drive back towards Monterey, we stopped for dinner and drinks at Nepenthe, located high on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. It was easy to sit back, relax, and enjoy drinks and the view with the many patrons on the outside patio while waiting for our table. 

With the sun quickly sinking into the ocean, we found a quiet spot around Soberanes to watch the sunset and close out a beautiful day. 

Like many mornings on our trips, our alarm woke us early to grab a quick breakfast at our hotel.  Today's plans started with a drive to the nearby 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach (home of the famous golf course). At the starting point of the drive, we paid a $10 entrance fee (this is reportedly the only private tollway west of the Mississippi) and received a brochure/guide pamphlet that showed the route and explained the highlights.  

We were surprised that the drive initially led us through a pine forest since we were so close to the ocean. Another surprise was that this drive led through a residential community with many small neighborhoods. To prevent confused tourists (like us) from entering private property, a red line is painted down the center stripe to indicate the designated tourist route.

Soon, the forest cleared to ocean views with large waves crashing along the rocky shoreline - an incredible meeting of land and sea. We even spotted a few surfers braving the currents.

The drive continued along the coast passing multiple golf courses situated near view points of the Pacific. At one stop, Ashley even spotted a lone otter relaxing in the surf.

Nearing the end of the drive, we stopped at one of the most famous icons of the area - the lone cypress - which stands solitary atop a cliff and is currently supported by some wires to aid in its fight against the winds.

For the finale, we stopped at Pebble Beach Golf Club and explored the grounds and view of the 18th green. Though not golfers, it's hard not to appreciate the uniqueness and grandeur of the setting.

We enjoyed our brief stay in the Monterey area, but it was time to head to Yosemite National Park. Due to the long drive, we had mapped out a stop or two on the way. We had to pick up some groceries for our stay in the park, but more importantly we wanted to visit the local wine region in Madera. This region is mostly known for ports and dessert wines, but we decided on a stop at Birdstone Winery, which featured many varietals including Pinot Noir, Tinta Madeira, and Tempranillo among others.

It's a small winery and were fortunate to end up having a private tasting with one of the owners, who was kind enough to open a bottle not included on the tasting menu for us to sample. In return, we purchased two bottles to enjoy during our stay in Yosemite - Ashley considered this purchase camping supplies. 

With emergency wine reserves in tow, we made one last stop before entering Yosemite - South Gate Brewery in Oakhurst. We realize this post makes us seem like alcoholics, but we just enjoy supporting local businesses...or at least that's what we tell ourselves. For a brewery, they had surprisingly good food. Nate enjoyed his fish tacos, while Ashley appreciated the quinoa salad. 

Since this was our first visit to Yosemite, we purposefully chose the south entrance so that our first view of the Valley would be from Tunnel View. From our research, this seemed the most dramatic entrance and it didn't disappoint.

This glimpse allowed us to admire the Valley from a distance, but our first stay of the trip was in Tuolumne Meadows in the alpine high country, another hour and a half up the road. While Nate continued the drive up Tioga Road towards the meadows, Ashley adjusted to the altitude slept. It wasn't until Olmstead Point that she actually woke up and enjoyed the scenery. 

After snapping some photos at the lookout, we arrived at our first lodging accommodations in the Park - Tuolumne Meadows Lodge - where we would spend the next three nights. Quite a long time in one location by our standards. We might as well start to unpack.