Santa Cruz & Monterey

Friday morning we hit the road to Santa Cruz in celebration of the end of another long, hard semester. It was just what we needed and had a wonderful time! 

First Stop:  The Mystery Spot.  This was a fun, quirky little place,
where you leave with the famous yellow MYSTERY SPOT bumper sticker. :) SO what is the Mystery Spot? I have been, and still am not even sure! :) I was not sure how much of it was really defying laws of nature and gravity- and how much of it was an optical illusion.  Either way, it was trippy and fun!

From the Mystery Spot we made our way to the Boardwalk. We had a great time walking along the beach  and playing in the sand.  Andrew was able to enjoy taking pictures while Makayla chased the seagulls, I was happy to lay in the sun and listen to one of my favorite sounds- the crashing waves.

After enjoying a picnic and a cat nap for Makayla in the car, we found Natural Bridges State Beach. Beautiful.  We could have stayed there all day long, taking in the scenes, watching the surfers, and soaking up some serious vitamin D.

From the Natural Bridges we strolled along the famous West Cliff Drive, a popular walking/running/biking/rollerblading path along the coast.  We enjoyed the scenery and each other's company.... and used up the last bit of energy we had in us, before heading to the hotel.
We enjoyed dinner and went to bed early.

Saturday morning we woke up, and headed down HWY 1 to beautiful Monterey.  

First Stop:  Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We throughly enjoyed the three hours we spent marveling at the sea creatures.  It is amazing to think about the entire world that exists that we can't even seen! There were some amazing- and funky looking creatures! Makayla loved it.

Afterwards, we strolled along Cannery Row, and worked up an appetite.   

 After lunch we found 17 mile Drive. Amazing. This stretch of 17 miles meanders along the ocean and the Pebble Beach Golf Links, with 20ish marked pull out areas where you can take it all in.  Our favorite was the famous lone cypress tree. The scenery was surreal. I enjoyed the drive just as much as the aquarium!

We came upon the most amazing city park in Monterey which provided the perfect place for Miss Makayla to get her energy out before we got back in the car to head home. If we had a park like this one, we would be there on a daily basis.  It was perfect.  I think I had as much fun (if not more) than Makayla did! 

It was a perfect, stress free weekend.  Knowing that such beauty is only a two and a half hour car ride away might make me want to hop in that car more often.