Pacific Coast Highway

One of my lifelong dreams has been to drive down Route 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway.  My dream was finally fulfilled and I was not disappointed.  We drove along the coast from San Francisco through Big Sur and continued a bit farther south before cutting back east and heading to Bakersfield.  It's no secret that I love the ocean.  Rhode Island is the Ocean State, after all!  I spent many evenings in RI, particularly winter evenings when there were no crowds, sitting along the wall near the Coast Guard House enjoying the sights and sounds of the ocean.  So to be able to drive down the PCH and enjoy breathtaking views of the Pacific was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  Our drive along the PCH required frequent picture taking pit stops which was probably a good way to alleviate some of the stress of driving along the edge of a cliff (it was like we were in Colorado again!  Except this time, if you plummeted to your death you'd end up in the ocean instead of in a valley).  I can't even begin to describe how amazing the scenery was so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.  In fact, my favorite picture of the entire trip was taken during our drive down the PCH (well, my favorite nature picture, at least...the SLC temple pictures are probably my overall favorite for obvious reasons, but as far as the nature pictures go, nothing beats the ocean).

Favorite nature picture of the trip