muir woods

we stopped at muir woods on our way up to santa rosa. although they weren't quite as spectacular as the ones up north in the humboldt area, they satisfied my redwoods craving and we quite enjoyed the walk.

point lobos

ahhh point lobos! we loved you! and we didn't get to spend near enough time with you!
if anyone ventures this way and enjoys hiking, leave more than a couple of hours on the itinerary. as the sunset started approaching we were in a rush to make it to our destination. even though we had a map, we still got lost. but we chased that sun. the trail we ended up on was NOT stroller-friendly so andy and i carried the stroller up the rugged path. and it was so worth it. we enjoyed that sunset together. alone. just the three of us.

garrapata state park

this day was rough. but it was one of my favorites. we followed a trail that went along the cliffs above the coast. the view was spectacular. if you ever need to be reminded how incredibly small you and all your problems are, go to the ocean. the waves at this beach were enormous. daph and i had quite the time chasing and running from the waves.

mcway falls

so in all honesty, our trip was based off of this guy's instagram. lame? maybe. but let me tell you, if you want to see pretty photos of pretty places, you MUST follow his feed. incredible. so yeah, basically i made a list of every pretty place he went and then we planned our trip around it (and i still have plenty of places on that list). without him, we would've missed out on a lot, i think. the beach is inaccessible here, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

monterey bay aquarium

while in monterey we went to the aquarium. this place was recommended to us multiple times and it did not disappoint. daph loved it! especially when she got to touch the sea cucumber and starfish. as for andy and i, we loved the jellies. obviously.