One of the little perks I have at work is a bonus vacation day every year; I can choose between my wedding anniversary and my birthday. This year, I took my birthday off since I thought I would have been spending our anniversary with my sister and her new baby. My birthday fell on a Monday which made it a perfect 3-day weekend for Chris and I to get out of the city.
We hadn't done anything too extravagant for our anniversary in July either, so this was sort of a combined celebration of my birthday, our anniversary, and maybe a little bit of a baby-moon. We hadn't been on a vacation together, just the two of us yet this year so it was sort of a big deal. (Up to this point, our vacations included visiting family, which is great, but not a true vacation.)
We decided to head south, hoping to catch a little more warmth and
sunshine. We left on Saturday morning, making a stop for lunch in
Monterey. We had a great meal at an Indian bistro called Ambrosia.
Then we made our way to San Simeon where we took a tour of Hearst Castle. It was a lot different than I had expected. The gardens and the pool were by far my favorite part. I could have sat there for hours (and probably should have).
This was the dining room
Outside the castle
This was taken from the pool with the castle in the background
The pool . . . stunning
The indoor pool
View from the visitors center
For dinner, Chris had found this cute restaurant called Robin's. The restaurant had at one time been a home and still had that home-comfort feel. The food was delicious. I had chicken and Chris had lobster enchiladas.
Then we drove to Morro Bay and found our little studio apartment/in-law rental from AirBnB. It was off the beaten path so it took a good 15-20 minutes to get there, but it was so cute and peaceful. We had a small kitchen, bed and bathroom to ourselves, and other than the 5 a.m. bird chirping outside our window, it was absolutely perfect!
On Sunday morning, after a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon, we drove to Pismo Beach. The morning fog did eventually burn off but the wind never seemed to die down. We spent the afternoon bundled up on our little blanket, reading and napping.
For lunch, we had a big picnic packed and as we started to unpack it and get everything laid out, a wayward Frisbee landed at our feet spraying sand all over our food. We were a little shocked as the guys playing with it were pretty far away. As one came over to grab it, he too sprayed more sand in our food and then apologized and ran off. I was so close to demanding he give me $10 to go by more food, but it was a mistake and I tried to be merciful. Thankfully, we were able to salvage most of it. And in the end, we had plenty. And now we have learned our lesson about picnicking on the beach.
That night, we headed to San Luis Obispo for dinner. Chris had picked out a BBQ place but once we got there, we saw that most things came on a bun (which I can't eat) so we opted for gluten free pizza instead. That was delicious! We walked around for a while, enjoying the sites/shops of downtown and stopped at a frozen yogurt shop for dessert.
Sunday morning we went out for breakfast along the docks of Morro Bay before heading home.
It was a great little weekend away from the city. And although our time at the beach wasn't what we had planned (it being a little chilly), it was still wonderful and I'm glad we took the time to be together.
One of the little perks I have at work is a bonus vacation day every year; I can choose between my wedding anniversary and my birthday. This year, I took my birthday off since I thought I would have been spending our anniversary with my sister and her new baby. My birthday fell on a Monday which made it a perfect 3-day weekend for Chris and I to get out of the city.
We hadn't done anything too extravagant for our anniversary in July either, so this was sort of a combined celebration of my birthday, our anniversary, and maybe a little bit of a baby-moon. We hadn't been on a vacation together, just the two of us yet this year so it was sort of a big deal. (Up to this point, our vacations included visiting family, which is great, but not a true vacation.)
We decided to head south, hoping to catch a little more warmth and
sunshine. We left on Saturday morning, making a stop for lunch in
Monterey. We had a great meal at an Indian bistro called Ambrosia.
Then we made our way to San Simeon where we took a tour of Hearst Castle. It was a lot different than I had expected. The gardens and the pool were by far my favorite part. I could have sat there for hours (and probably should have).
This was the dining room
Outside the castle
This was taken from the pool with the castle in the background
The pool . . . stunning
The indoor pool
View from the visitors center
For dinner, Chris had found this cute restaurant called Robin's. The restaurant had at one time been a home and still had that home-comfort feel. The food was delicious. I had chicken and Chris had lobster enchiladas.
Then we drove to Morro Bay and found our little studio apartment/in-law rental from AirBnB. It was off the beaten path so it took a good 15-20 minutes to get there, but it was so cute and peaceful. We had a small kitchen, bed and bathroom to ourselves, and other than the 5 a.m. bird chirping outside our window, it was absolutely perfect!
On Sunday morning, after a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon, we drove to Pismo Beach. The morning fog did eventually burn off but the wind never seemed to die down. We spent the afternoon bundled up on our little blanket, reading and napping.
For lunch, we had a big picnic packed and as we started to unpack it and get everything laid out, a wayward Frisbee landed at our feet spraying sand all over our food. We were a little shocked as the guys playing with it were pretty far away. As one came over to grab it, he too sprayed more sand in our food and then apologized and ran off. I was so close to demanding he give me $10 to go by more food, but it was a mistake and I tried to be merciful. Thankfully, we were able to salvage most of it. And in the end, we had plenty. And now we have learned our lesson about picnicking on the beach.
That night, we headed to San Luis Obispo for dinner. Chris had picked out a BBQ place but once we got there, we saw that most things came on a bun (which I can't eat) so we opted for gluten free pizza instead. That was delicious! We walked around for a while, enjoying the sites/shops of downtown and stopped at a frozen yogurt shop for dessert.
Sunday morning we went out for breakfast along the docks of Morro Bay before heading home.
It was a great little weekend away from the city. And although our time at the beach wasn't what we had planned (it being a little chilly), it was still wonderful and I'm glad we took the time to be together.
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