Hi guys! Happy Friday!

By now,I’m sure its pretty obvious how much Joey and I love weekend getaways and road trips. I like to think a basis of our relationship revolves around our joint obsession to just get in the car and go. This affinity for traveling in such a way was something we not only continue to do in Florida, but something we constantly  did together here in California (we’re actually planning another California road trip right now :))

So today, I’m going to take a walk down memory lane and highlight a trip we made from LA to Monterey Bay, around this time, 2 years ago, and I’ll try to give some road trip pointers along the way.

Monterey Bay was a 5 hour road trip from where we live in CA and we followed the coast line the whole way. Driving along the California Coast, even if its just from Santa Monica to Malibu (~40 min) is something I believe everyone should try to do in their lifetime. You get this absolutely stunning view of ocean on one side and mountain view to the other. Nowhere else in the United States do you get a view like that, it’s breath taking and something I really missed so so much. Side note- Florida is so FLAT! I miss those mountains!

I don’t want to get too wordy here,  so I’m going to try to create a little photo feed of the trip and offer any local insight that I can 🙂 Hope you guys enjoy!

-if you’re someone who enjoys seafood (I absolutely DO!) anytime you’re along any coastline I recommend using yelp/google to try and find some local dives that serve seafood. My go to’s are usually fish ‘n chips, crab cakes, or mahi fish tacos.

On the way up to Monterey Bay, we passed Hearst Castle (we made reservations to visit on our way back home) and were surprised to see herds of zebra galloping and playing along side herds of cattle. Once we visited Hearst Castle we learned that William Randolph Hearst once had his own zoo on his property. Once he began losing his fortune , the animals were sold to circus’ and private collections, however the zebra were released into the wild. The herds that exist today are the relatives of those zebra and live freely on the property. Pretty cool, right?

Notice anything particularly special about the rocks? It’s a famous “land mark” known as the “Kissing Rock,” named as such due to the positioning of the rocks, which look like they’re kissing! Of course, we mimicked the rocks and had to take a kissing photo infront of them, but I won’t bore you with those photos 🙂

I’ve always had this little obsession with old lighthouses and was overjoyed to find this gem along the coast.

On the second day of our road trip, we hit Monterey’s famous aquarium. It’s the biggest aquarium I’ve ever seen and is organized in such a unique, interactive manner. I even touched a sting ray while we were there!

When I graduated high school, two friends and I actually did a little road trip to San Francisco. And on that trip, with my favorite color being purple, they surprised me by taking me to Pfeiffer Beach- a secret, hidden cove in Big Sur where the sand is literally purple. This beach will always be one of my absolute favorites.

With all these photos, I’m realizing how pretty the waves are! None of my beach pictures from FL have waves in them, because there are literally like no waves out there. I’ve been keeping a little list of all the differences we notice between the two coasts, and just realized that’s a pretty major difference between West & East coasts- or at least between CA & FL.

*Can you spot the waterfall? ^^^

On our third day, we visited Hearst Castle and it was absolutely stunning. This place is probably what started my obsession with visiting vintage homes of millionaires (see Vizcaya, Ca’d Zaan, The Getty Villa, etc).

Hearst Castle is on top of a hill and you actually have to take a 20 min bus ride to the property, from where you park at the bottom of the hill.

The castle is located in San Simeon and was once home to American newspaper publisher, William Randolph Hearst. He began building the mansion in 1919 and it quickly became a “play” place for some of the times most wealthy and notable elite; Charlie Chaplin, Calvin Coolidge,  Franklin Roosevelt, the Marx Brothers, Winston Churchill, etc. Along with his private zoo, he had both an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, his own movie theatre, air fields for his planes, and the lavish gardens that still exist today- leaving guests with a variety of things to do while he worked.

The whole place reminded me of something out of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and I could just imagine the parties that were thrown here.

The mansion was donated by the Hearst Corporation to the State of California in 1972 on the condition that the Hearst family could use the property when they wished. Patty Hearst (granddaughter of William Hearst) would later write of times where she hid behind statues and doors of the home while groups of tourists walked through. There’s even an older home behind the main property, originally built for the builders of the home, that still remains a private property only to be used by Hearst family members.

They don’t allow you to take pictures inside the castle, in order to better preserve the artwork and architecture. But like most elite in his day, William Hearst built his castle with inspiration from Europe and had many of the home’s ceilings and walls shipped from Europe itself, along with majority of the sculptures and pieces of art that still reside in his home.

The place is an absolute must see if you ever get the chance!

Hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about our trip!

xoxo,

Amanda