4/14/10

17-mile Drive - Vacation #3

By far, this has been one of the most scenic California drives thus far. Coupled with the fact it was a beautiful, sunny, warm spring day with a few white puffy clouds scattered in the sky. Seriously, the best kind of weather for a central California coast drive. Beautiful in ever way.

Our tour started off in Pebble Beach. What's not to love about a golf course that costs half a grand to play, requires a caddy, and has been named one of America's top rated public golf course.

Homes on the ocean are considered estates to the finest in the country and range around $35 million dollars. Homes on the "other side of the road - aka the poor side" (directly across from the ocean) are usually about $25 million. What a bargain!



Old men were golfing in knickers and donned official caddies carrying their clubs (this is a driving picture).



There were several other stops along the way. In fact, the tour indicated a drive time of 2.5hours; however, the Chef Family, loving nature and soaking up the beauty around us, was still touring around the area more than 4 hours after we entered onto 17-mile-drive. Everything was just breathtaking.

You may have seen pictures of "The Lone Cypress" in golfing logos or in movies. It's always neat to visit one of the most photographed trees in the world.



Another beautiful entrance to a large estate (driving photo again). The homes were stunning, beautiful, expensive, had large entrances, etc, etc. In my dreams ...



Spending some snuggle time with the Littlest Chef.



Our little lunch spot. We stopped into the market at Pebble Beach and toured the facilities and grabbed a few picnic items. We found the perfect spot.



And now on to one of my favorite spots of our weekend. We found a little secluded beach along 17-mile-drive, the location of our lunch (as shown above). It was tucked in between Spyglass Hill (a golf course) and the ocean. We were the only people at the beach so you can imagine the opportunities we had. It was purely amazing.

We dug in the sand.



Ms. A carrying her bucket like a purse. So super classic, little girlish and ever so delightful.



We pretended to be King of the Hill!



We hunted for hermit crabs ... and found them!



And we just plain enjoyed our afternoon and lunch in the sand and we collected the shells to prove it!

Another beautiful coastline along the drive and a HUGE wave directly behind me. Just in case you're wondering, yes, I did get soaking wet.