With the COVID-19 pandemic preventing all of us from traveling and experiencing new places and things, I wanted to reminisce a bit and share some of my memories from our recent trip to California's Central Coast. This place look familiar to you? It's crazy- I was just here this past summer. I loved it so much that I decided to bring my family back. The last time I was here, my mom and I road-tripped through...so we didn't get to spend nearly as much time as we wished. So this time, we took almost a week to explore and experience and take in all the beauty. But before heading to the coast, we drove north from San Francisco and spent a day in Napa Valley. Side story: we decided not to book a hotel for our first night as we were arriving super early in the morning...so once we got to Napa, we parked in an alley behind a McDonalds and slept until right before sunrise. Not sketchy at all.
Anyways, although most of the grapevines were bare, the fields were filled with beautiful vibrant yellow mustard plants. We hiked through the rolling hills of Napa, rested at the base of a few California oak trees, experienced the history of Inglenook Winery, stopped for lunch at Gott's Roadside (and ate the best burgers I've ever had so far...we even stopped by another Gott's before we flew back home from San Francisco), and explored downtown St. Helena. Napa Valley is such a peaceful, scenic area.
We then headed back towards the coast. We strolled through downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, stopping by the bakery for cookies and visiting all the little art galleries. We walked down the beautiful, cypress-tunneled trails at Point Lobos. We drove along the rugged Big Sur coastline, stopping at beaches and parks, sunbathing and snacking and enjoying the cool waves.
A day before our flight back to Dallas, we drove back to San Francisco to visit some family. It was a little bit strange to explore and enjoy a city that was beginning to shut down due to the coronavirus. But nonetheless, we were able to stroll down Mission Street (of course, stopping for some burritos), visit the Marin Headlands, hike around the Twin Peaks, and most importantly, spend some quality time with our family.
Then, the day before people the Bay Area shut down, we hopped on our flight back home.
Enjoy some of my favorite images from our trip.
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