Road Trip- Cont’d up the Coast

Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take.

If you read my first road trip post you know we left San Diego and headed North on the 101 Freeway to our final destination Monterey, CA. We stayed in Santa Barbara for a few days to start our trip. After our wonderful stay in SB we hit the road to our next destination on our family roadtrip. We were determined to get to Monterey that same afternoon, so read along to see if we made it!

Our first stop after SB was the cutest Danish style city by the name of Solvang. This was the cutest and brightest city ever! An IG blogger’s dreams come true if you must, ha! The city has Danish style architecture and lots of wineries. My sister had met us here so we decided to take a family bike ride around the town as it had hit 85 degrees at 11 am (gross!). The bike rides were super inexpensive and they had a map for you to use so you can see the popular places around the city. Lots of people were renting these bikes so it was a great idea as there is only 1 shop to rent these from!

We had to stop at Birkholm’s Bakery per all the raving Yelp reviews. They weren’t wrong, these Danish pastries were AMAZING! Plus their coffee was so delicious as well. They have a large variety of pastries and I taste tested the majority of them for y’all! A must stop if you are ever in Solvang! On the way back from our bike ride we stopped at Copenhagen Sausage Garden. We could smell the sausages from blocks away and a nice cold beer sounded wonderful on this hot and humid day! Copenhagen Sausage Garden is a very quaint outdoor beer garden located in the heart of downtown Solvang. They offer famous Danish Red Pales along with 11 different types of sausages from around the world. Oh and the pretzels are a must, they’re SO good! Solvang is hands down a must see spot on your way up north!

After we stuffed our faces with pastries, pretzels and sausages we hit the road to Monterey. The drive up the coast was not at all what I expected. For some reason I figured we would be at sea level the entire time, ha! Well I was wrong we did elevate and the views kept getting more beautiful as we drove. On the right side were farms with horses, cows, pigs, etc and on the left side was all ocean views. Seriously the most beautiful views I could ever imagine.

We knew we had to stop every 2 hours to nurse Dylan, so we made sure to time it perfectly. Our first stop was Big Sur. The drive to Big Sur felt very long and that is because the speed limit it I believe is 30 mph. The windy roads and beautiful views were out of this world! Big Sur has quite a few state parks for you to hike, camp and hang out by the beach. We had one goal and that was to make it to the Bixby Creek Bridge. This bridge that you see below is the most photographed bridge in California. How freaking cool is that? It was pretty packed, but I’m glad we got to stop and take a photo and enjoy the views. I definitely recommend making the stop, but don’t let your kiddos run loose. There are no rails and the two way road is pretty dangerous. My palms were sweating the entire time, ha!

After 8 hours in the car we finally made it to Monterey. We had heard wonderful things about Lovers Point Beach. This was the cutest kid friendly beach near downtown Monterey. The weather was pretty gloomy which is typical for the central coast, but still the views were amazing. One thing I noticed about the beaches here was that the sand was so much more different than the sandy beaches back home. Danica learned this the hard way as she ran towards the ocean and fell in! It felt like quick sand in the water. The smell of the ocean was also very different. Regardless of this, I was so glad we got to stick our feet in the sand. After dipping our toes in for an hour (it was freezing!) we grabbed some ice cream at a cute little snack shop nearby and sat and watched the waves crash. Such a perfect ending to our day after a long car ride the night before. I would definitely recommend taking the 101 for the views, but plan ahead because once you get going up the mountains after San Simeon it’s difficult to turn back. Getting stuck at night on those windy roads does not sound like fun!

The next day after sleeping 11 hours (ha!) we decided to go to the Monterey Aquarium. If you are ever in Monterey the aquarium is a must see! It’s located on the historic Cannery Row. You get to visit sea otters, penguins, sharks and jelly fish! The jellyfish were my absolute favorite. So much to do here as well! I would definitely suggest dedicating 2-3 hours of your day so you can see everything. You could bring your lunch or take a walk down to Cannery Row and eat some yummy fish and chips nearby! If you bring your lunch they have a great seating place outdoors overlooking the ocean. Cannary Road has lots of restaurants as well and it’s walking distance from the aquarium. So much to see and all in walking distance. I definitely recommend staying as close to downtown as possible.

We had such a great time on this leg of our road trip. Glad we made it safely to our final destination, Monterey. Now who did the epic “WE MADE IT” to our destination pic better. See below!

Thanks for reading and hope my suggestions will help you decide to take that road trip you have been longing for!

xo, Dris

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