Day 12 - 10/09/2022 - Los Angeles to Santa Clara via the Big Sur

Knowing how keen I was to see as many Californian beaches during this trip as possible, Joseph was kind enough to come meet me at Los Angeles and drive me back to Santa Clara via the scenic route through State Route 1. This route takes you through Big Sur, a stretch of California's coast between Carmel and San Simeon (I definitely didn't google this!). We had our first stop at the Lucky Llama Café, where I had a lovely açaí bowl (something I love and hadn't had since Brazil, six years ago) and met a very friendly and fluffy dog named Chewy and a gorgeous corgi named Penelope. We stopped at various vista points throughout our epic eleven-hour road trip, including, to my absolute joy, a beach filled with seals! I was very happy that Joseph was the one driving and not me (not that I know how to, anyway!) as there was a definite "Don't look down!" quality to the roads we drove through, which was filled with winding turns and very, very tall seaside cliffs. We caught some gorgeous photographs of the sunset at the Big Sur, which was one of the locations I had wanted to see the most, and Joseph mentioned that while he had done that route many times, he had never seen it at golden hour, so that was a good bonus! The Bixby Creek Bridge at sunset is, without a doubt, one of the most striking things I have ever seen.

The Bixby Creek Bridge at golden hour

...this time in a panorama. How gorgeous is that?!

Another beautiful view of the sunset on the Big Sur

Seals as far as the eye could see!