After Yosemite, our next planned experience wasn’t a destination; it was a journey.
When we decided to explore California for our honeymoon, I knew we had to plan our trip around three main experiences: Napa, Yosemite, and driving the Highway 1 part of the Pacific Crest Highway.
The PCH in its totality stretches from Seattle, Washington all the way to San Diego, California. Highway 1 is a part of the historic Pacific Crest Highway (PCH). We drove from beautiful beach town Monterey to the thematic, German town of Solvang - about 200 miles.
To say we took the scenic route is an understatement. Highway 1 is stunning.
Jason, my husband, loves water. He grew up in the Maryland near water and regularly went to the beach. I’m more fond of the mountains myself (I don’t relax well on the beach 🤣) so I chose to drive the route so he could enjoy the views. He drove up and down Yosemite so it was only fair that I drove the highway. The highway was incredibly curvy with a ton of hairpin turns - really quite fun to drive!
What could have taken us 4 hours to us about 7 because we made a few stops. First stopped for a short hike at the Pfeiffer State Park. This was such a fun way to break up the long drive. The hike offered great hills with views of the pacific ocean at the top. We also saw other humans, which was nice!
We stopped in Big Sur to see an 80 foot waterfall. The overlook to see the waterfall was pleasant, but far enough away from the waterfall that I had to squint a little to take it in. Still beautiful and a pleasant reason to stop and take in the beauty that is the California coast.
I wanted to take our time, so we also stopped along the highway simply to allow other cars to pass by. We got some good photos of the coastline. At the time, we talked about how the photos of the coastline just “didn’t do it justice”, but now I’m so glad we took the photos anyways!
For one of our final stops, we decided to go check out the elephant seals.
Something really really awesome happened during stop to see elephant seals. I got a call from an advisor from The University of Oklahoma and was offered me a spot in their Doctor of Physical Therapy Program.
Whew. I was all a-buzz after that phone call - another understatement. I‘d been dreaming of and working and hoping for this acceptance for three years. I’m so happy to say that, as I write this, I’m preparing for my third week as a student of physical therapy!
Once we made it to Solvang and put our stuff in our cute hotel, we celebrated with red wine and ridiculously delicious pizza.
Can you believe this all happened in one day? We loved this journey and would do it again and again! We only stayed in Solvang one evening before heading out to LA to catch a flight back home. Of course we had to get danishes before we left.
Thank you for reading all the way to the end of this journey! I hope this inspires you to get out into nature, explore your area (or a totally different area!), eat good food, love on your people, and be steadfast in your goals and dreams.
As they say, the best part is the journey!
Megan