Thursday, April 10, 2014

Big Sur, Yosemite and Eastern Sierra Road Trip from Southern California ( part 1 of 2)

Twitter
 Big Sur, Yosemite and Eastern Sierra, California

Whatever the season, Big Sur, Yosemite, and Eastern Sierra are some of California's best nature get-away. We left San Diego early morning of March 29 ( Saturday) looking forward to have some relaxation and rejuvenating fun with nature. Let me share with you our 9-days, 8-nights itinerary of the trip.

Day 1: Drive to Big Sur from San Diego, CA.

We did not expect to be able to do anything on this day, because of rainy conditions. But thankfully, the rain was on and off, that we were able to have some moments enjoying Big Sur. 

 Me @ Big Sur
 Rainy Day @ Big Sur
lodging for 2 nights, for exploring Big Sur: @ Marina, CA

Day 2: Exploring Big Sur
 Rainy Day @ Big Sur

If Saturday was rainy, Sunday was blessed with gorgeous sun. Though we had been to Big Sur so many times, and actually, we also spent our Thanksgiving week vacation here, but Big Sur always offer amazing wildlife and scenery that we do not mind to keep on coming back to this majestic California nature get-away.
 McWay Falls, Big Sur

Day 3: Drive to San Mateo, CA
From Big Sur, we drove to San Mateo via coastal Highway or Highway 1. Again, this day was rainy, but thankfully, before 10:00 am, we were able to enjoy some sun at Moss Landing where we enjoyed playful sea otters among other wildlife. 
Sea Otter Resting On the Beach ( photo by ktl )

We took a hike somewhere in Santa Cruz, where rain started to pour, hard! Because of heavy rain, we were not able to explore much during our drive to San Mateo. 
 field of wildflowers somewhere near Halfmoon Bay, California

lodging for one night: @ San Mateo, CA

Day 4: Drive to Yosemite National Park
Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, CA

Our drive to Yosemite was greeted by wintry weather. Somewhere on the road, snow started falling. Thankfully, weather cleared when we reached the valley that we were able to have some fun exploring. It sure was great to see Yosemite again, looking totally different than when we were here summer 2013.
 Yosemite Falls from Cook's Meadow 
( the advantage of exploring Yosemite on a wintry day, we were one of the few souls on the road, and we had the trail all to ourselves! What a treat! )

lodging for 2 nights for Yosemite Exploring: @ El Portal, Yosemite

Day 5: Exploring Yosemite Valley and Hike to Vernal and Nevada Falls
 sight we woke up to close to where we stayed at Yosemite View Lodge
Bridalveil Fall

I will continue to Days 5- 9 in my next post, and more detailed description of some of the hikes and exploring we did in later posts. 
♥♥
Facebook Twitter StumbleUpon Digg Delicious Reddit Technorati Mixx Linkedin

7 comments:

  1. whoa, crazy weather! I love the photo of Bridalveil Fall. (Wondering what's the story behind the name.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow...super crazy place to visit..no wonder why there are so many people who still desires to visit the place no matter what season of the year because the nature's beauty can't be replace by anything.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your travel images are so beautiful, I would love to visit Big Sur and Yosemite sometime. How fun to hike when there's snow. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is quite a treat! Must be nice to stand on top of that rock but scary as well lol. Beautiful images as usual AteB!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! I am speechless again Sis :-) Those are another sets of your amazing pictures. They are all beautiful but my fave are the ones of you and hubby almost touching your hands and the beach picture with waves and rocks :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the sea otter shot by ktl... bluetiful background: ) and the second photo with you wearing your fave color which has become my other favorite hue; ) I know nothing can ever stop you from exploring, not rain or snow...as always I am mesmerized by your therapeutic nature shots... thank you for the virtual tour to Big Sur!: )

    ReplyDelete
  7. What magical and majestic snaps, Ms. Betchai! No doubt that nature break you recently went to was a wonderful escape from the busy city life! I love the captures, as always! Yosemite is in our travel wish list! I hope we can go there someday soon! :)

    ReplyDelete

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!