A Trip to the Beach.... With the Babes!

We left San Fran for a trip down the coast with a destination THE BEACH! We had originally planned on making this trip in January- but our more immediate plans to return to Ohio shifted the trip closer. We had definitely wanted to see the Monterrey Bay, Carmel, Big Sur- and of course most of all this beautiful California coast line.
Our drive down the coast gave us new views of this rugged, rocky coast line. Here are a few pictures that demonstrate the beauty of this area.

The haze in the distance here was a fire on top of the mountains in Big Sur.

But there is nothing like lazy days with grandchildren for a lingering time on the beach. And the pictures tell it all! Reeder did some "swimming" in the surf as it rolled in.

And Lefty and Poncho had a great time running on this almost empty beach.

Grandpa is walking down to the ocean- carrying the bucket- to get one more pail of water for the granddaughter...

And it takes LOTS of water if you're 2 years old...

And of course Lefty and Poncho were a BIG HELP with those trips to and from the ocean...


But Mom and Dad certainly did manage to avoid the work of moving the ocean...


And the Baby Boy just watched the Fun!

And it was lots of fun transforming Clint into a mermaid...







It was fun for all!

And beautiful as well!

And if you look real close you can see Grandpa, Marianne and Reeder searching the tide pools of the cove...


And there was some fun in our beach home as well...


And thanks to Aunt Karen's special gift there were blinking Halloween socks!

The view from our house was pretty spectacular too. We were at the top of a hill overlooking the whole city below (it's a pretty small city). Here are some pictures taken from the deck on the front of the house. We did have some really nice sunsets.

It was especially pretty on the second night as the marine layer (fog) rolled in from the sea around Morro Rock

Finally we made the return trip up the coast to our HAH- and on the way stopped to visit Highland Hills Inn where my sis was married 32 years ago at Carmel. I finally stood in the spot I wished I could have stood those many years ago...

And Mary- it is absolutely as beautiful as you said- even better than the pictures- and those were pretty grand.
And before we returned to our drive home we paused to "celebrate" this special place and this special day...