Tuesdays are for Traveling: Big Sur Edition

Big Sur may be my favorite place in the world.  It's absolutely magical!  Perfect for a trip with someone lovely or with some friends (who hopefully are lovely as well).  If you haven't seen it, plan your trip now.  

Both times we've been, we flew to the Bay Area (once to SFO and the other time to SJC).  Then you have to drive south for about three hours.  You can also fly into LA and drive north.  

If you fly into the San Francisco area, stop in Carmel on your way down.  There's a great art gallery, Photography West, that you should duck into.  Last time we were there, we found these amazing photographs by Alexey Titarenko.  I'm dying to go back and buy this one:

Isn't it gorgeous?

We first went to Big Sur for Beau's 30th birthday back in 2008.  We stayed at the breathtaking Post Ranch Inn.  It consists of a bunch of bungalows sitting on a wooded ridge between the mountains and the ocean.  Incredible.

With very cool architecture:

And beautiful Pacific views from the rooms we couldn't afford.  :)  

 But I guess the view from the restaurant is OK, too:

If you're looking for something romantic, this is it.

 

We just went back last October for our babymoon.  (Did you know about those?  Such a great idea!)  This time, we stayed at the Ventana Inn and Spa, which I'd also highly recommend.  It was definitely one of my favorite hotel rooms:

I took tons of photos for inspiration when I finally get around to renovating our house.  Plus, how can you argue with your own hot tub outside?  It was chilly and rainy, so we ordered hot chocolate and sat by the fire and listened to All Songs Considered podcasts every night.

On the one sunny day, we drove down to the Hearst Castle.  What a trip.  There may indeed be such a thing as having too much money.  But check out this pool:

I could get into that.

On our way back up, we stopped to see the elephant seals, who lay around on some beach right off the highway.  While Beau made some serious fun of me for wanting to stop, we both found those suckers totally hilarious and strangely cute.  

But watch out!

Yikes!

So there's your tour.  Get there as fast as you can.  And if I still haven't convinced you, here: