Patience Rewarded (aka Do-Over!)

Dana gets his Big Sur moment!

After a lovely morning at our hotel, we drove to Carmel-by-the-Sea to explore that wonderful community.  There are a group of residents that live on a street called, I kid you not, Scenic Road.  Scenic Road is apparently quite well-known around these parts.  Here all the residents name their houses.  That's right.  As you take a leisurely walk or drive down the road, with jaw dropping vistas on one side and beautiful, charming houses on the other, you can reflect on the residents that live in "Ahhhh," "Happily Ever After," multiple versions of "Sea View/Shanty/Side," all while wondering where "Make My Day" is located.  If you're traveling with the Gallup family, you get to do all of this while being addressed by Clint himself, as Dana pulled out his best Eastwood imitation to tell us a bit about his beloved Carmel. 

One of the modest (but nearing 7 million dollar!) houses on Scenic Road

We gawked and walked and lunched and shopped.  Then, around 3:00, Dana took Robert California's advice and called an inn on Big Sur.  With a report of sun, we decided to take another chance that we could see some of this famed stretch of the PCH when it wasn't shrouded in fog.  We went just past the "city" of Big Sur itself (about 26 miles south) before the fog started rolling in again. Those 26 miles provided some of the breathtaking views we had been after.  Maddie took the wheel for a good part of it, and I assumed a seat in the back of the convertible to better understand why she was so cold every time we put the top down!

The kids look on with concern as the biggest kid climbs lower than he likely ought in one of our first stops.

Maddie takes over the wheel!

The best part of our sojourn was a stop on the way back to Carmel, where we pulled over at another seemingly perfect picture spot, only to discover one trail after another leading through the meadow of wild flowers and right to the dramatic rock formations in the ocean.  Daniel had found his playground and asked if we couldn't just leave him there for a few hours.  Instead, we all spent a good hour walking, climbing, and, for me, taking photos (1000+).  Here are a few of my favorites:

Daniel keeps climbing higher, while Maddie and Dana enjoy the views

We had dinner in the aptly named Sunset Lounge in the Highlands area of Carmel, then returned to Monterey for a quick look at Cannery Row at night (hopping and all lit up), then back to the hotel for an early start the next day.

Our dinner conversation, in the magnificent Sunset Lounge of the Hyatt Carmel Highlands, consisted of wondering why we hadn't been hoodwinked into buying a Hyatt timeshare instead!

might be my new favorite photo! :)

And back to Cannery Row for Shanghai and sleep!

Since I'm doing my blog at 9:30 AM, and we haven't yet left for the Aquarium, we didn't get the early start we imagined (Curses Shanghai!!!)  Still, we are looking forward to our full day in Monterey, content that our do-over was successful!