California Highway 1 Trip: Day 1

After months of planning it was finally time. A drive on the California coast has long been on my bucket list of trips to take. I decided our first year of marriage would be the perfect time to make the trip. Tom agreed and the planning began. It has been quite the undertaking to plan the perfect trip, but I think we accomplished the task. We were gone for ten days and took hundreds of pictures. Here's a snapshot of one of the very best weeks of our lives. We will start with day 1. 

As per usual we took the first flight out of STL. Here's our standard early morning airport pic. 

I believe this was at 5:30 am. 

After arriving we collected our luggage (very quickly I might add) and waited for the shuttle to get our car. We had a lot of luggage to cover us for a week of camping and various temperatures. We got our rental car and were on our way. 

 A sweet high school friend of mine had us for lunch at her house in Seaside (Carmel area) The food was delicious and the company was awesome. We are so happy we caught her before her move. She also suggested a great tasting room where we stopped to pick up a couple bottles of wine. Then, we were back on our route and immediately blown away. We drove on the Big Sur stretch of highway 1. It was some of the most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen. We could have stopped to take a picture every couple of minutes. The selection below is an immensely scaled back version of our pics of Big Sur and the Bixby Bridge built in 1932.

It would be a gross understatement to say I was amazed by the bridge and scenery. We arrived at our campsite in the late evening hours. We stayed at a beautiful campsite right on the water. Pictures of our first site are below. 

wine on the beach? yes, please

 By the end of the first day I was simply blown away. I couldn't believe we still had a 9 days ahead of us. It was all truly remarkable in every way possible. I can't wait to share more!