DRIVING NORTH

A few weeks ago Austin, the boys, my mom & I loaded up the car & headed up to northern california for my cousin Shawns wedding in Sebastopol, a tiny town in wine country. We decided to make the most of it & stopped along the way in Avilla, Carmel, Santa Cruz & San Francisco. It was really fun because I hadn't been to a lot of the towns that we stopped in.

Northern California is rad. It's got a totally different vibe up there & I love it. The entire time we were up there I kept telling Austin that I could move there, it's just so cool & pretty! I love how it has seasons, access to mountains & is close to the ocean! Well, depending where you are, haha but the towns we stopped along in were all like that & I was loving it.

This drive was a little different than any others we've taken up north because we couldn't go through Big sur with the bridge closure, but it was pretty cool going a new route with new scenery & towns to see. We stopped in Avilla to see the elephant seals & have some lunch before heading to Monterey & Carmel, where we stayed the night.  The boys looooved running on the pier in Avilla & seeing all of the elephant seals. Milo kept pointing to all of them & saying "doooooooooooog", haha, which is about what he calls every animal, except ducks which are called "qwaaaaak". It was cute to see how excited both he & Cedar were though.

Our next stop was In Monterey which I was pumped on because I was obsessed with Big Little Lies. Have you seen that?? If not, you totally need to watch it. I was looking up filming sites while we were walking around, haha. We grabbed some ice cream there & then did the infamous 17 mile drive around pebble beach, the beautiful houses & golf courses. It was so pretty to see & the whole time we did the drive my mom told stories of when she went up there with my dad which were really fun to hear.

In Carmel we stayed at the cutest b & b called Fireplace Inn. Every room was different & had their own fireplace, of course. It was so cute & cozy.  We got into Carmel right in time for dinner. We ate at Il Fornaio, which was easily one of the best Italian restaurants i've ever eaten at. If you ever are in Carmel, you need to go. I had the butternut squash ravioli & it was delicious. The next day the boys & I grabbed some breakfast at Friar Tucks, a little diner that was walking distance to our b & b that the kids loved because the owner kept telling the funniest jokes & giving them candy.