Big Sur

To get to Big Sur we needed to back track a bit down the central coast of California. We missed a big chunk of the coast due to heading inland for sequoia and yosemite.
The central coast and Big Sur were more beautiful then I could have imagined. Route 1 hugs the coastline with its steep climbs and a winding roads it really makes sure you don't miss an inch of the scenery. I had read about a free campsite that was in the Los Padres NF right off of route 2l1. It was supposed to have beautiful views but could be hard to get into, since you had to drive up a steep mountain. It was easy to find but the road was very steep, and the views of the ocean and coastline were breath taking. We kept driving higher and higher because the view kept getting better and better. We finally found our stop at a meadow high above the water and it was full of beautiful yellow flowers. Adam loved pulling the petals off of the flowers! These were the types of views that I dreamt about when i thought of California. 
The next day we headed down the road to a small beach called Willow Creek. It was a mostly rocky beach with a little sand and really big waves. We watched the surfers while adam played in the water. We got to witness a couple whales playing in the water very close to shore, one approached a surfer as if he was trying to say hello. We spent our whole day here then returned to our mountain side for the night.
The next day we headed towards Hearst castle. On the way we saw elephant seals! Unfortunately the males were migrating still but the females still very big and very interesting animals. There were tons of them stretched along the beach sunbathing, swimming, and talking to eachother. I loves the noises they make! We stayed in San Simeon for the night and will be headed north in the morning.