Our Awesome Yosemite & Monterey Adventure Revisited ~ May 2012 ~ w/ pics ~ Completed!

[PrincessInOz]

Its interesting seeing PCH1 from the opposite route (Monterey down). I'm usually doing it from LA upwards and by the time I get to this part of the highway, its late, dark and I'm rushing to get to Monterey!

Lovely pictures and I love the one of the spiderweb with the glistening jewels on it!

[disneyfaninaz]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Its interesting seeing PCH1 from the opposite route (Monterey down). I'm usually doing it from LA upwards and by the time I get to this part of the highway, its late, dark and I'm rushing to get to Monterey!

Lovely pictures and I love the one of the spiderweb with the glistening jewels on it!

Thanks! I was really happy with the way it turned out. Don't see glistening spiderwebs where I'm from.

[disneyfaninaz]

Where were we, oh yes, we were heading towards Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Fortunately, we reached our destination without any fog. This was a nice little park with a small parking lot. To get to the waterfall you had to take a trail that took you under the highway. When you came out, you saw this!







As you walked further along the trail, you saw this!







It was breathtaking.

After we left the park, we headed back towards Monterey. Unfortunately, one of the overlooks that we had been on just 30 minutes before was closed and we saw a highway patrol officer and a couple of fire fighters. At the overlook just before it, there was an ambulance where a bunch of bikers had been when we passed by earlier.

We stopped at the Big Sur Bakery and got something to drink. Unfortunately, all their yummy baked goods were gone for the day. I saw the most unusual flowers blooming on the bushes next to the parking lot.





After this, we had no problems getting back to Monterey.

After stopping at the hotel to freshen up, we decided to drive to El Torito for dinner. We had a table overlooking the water and had fun watching a harbor seal take a siesta on a rock until it got washed off by the tide. We also saw a couple of sea otters swim by.





When we came out of the restaurant, sea gulls were making themselves at home on top of cars.



As you can see, Monterey Bay was still socked in by June Gloom.



We headed back to the hotel and called it a night. Where we had a beautiful view of the bay and the sunset the night before, this is what we saw out of our hotel the next night.



Next: Going home.

[Mary Jo]

I'm loving your trip report and your gorgeous pictures so far! I didn't make it to Yosemite this year yet, so have been enjoying the eye-candy.

Regarding your hike to Vernal Falls. If you noticed a waterfall on the way up there, from that vantage point it is called Hidden Falls, and the name is Illouette Falls (supposed to have the most volume of all the falls in the valley). You can also see the top of Illouette Falls from Washburn Point.

Near your pics of the Awahnee is a pic of the Royal Arches.

Okay, now I want to go back. lol

[NLD]

Still loving your report!

Julia Pfeffer park looks amazing. Your pics are lovely.

Is El Torita Mexican? How was it? Fairly authentic or no?

[PrincessInOz]

Lovely pics of the waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer. We saw it at not quite but nearly sunset. So it was nice to see the blues and crystal clear water in yours.


Those flowers are waratahs. They are native to Australia and are quite a long lasting flower.

[disneyfaninaz]

Originally Posted by Mary Jo

I'm loving your trip report and your gorgeous pictures so far! I didn't make it to Yosemite this year yet, so have been enjoying the eye-candy.

Regarding your hike to Vernal Falls. If you noticed a waterfall on the way up there, from that vantage point it is called Hidden Falls, and the name is Illouette Falls (supposed to have the most volume of all the falls in the valley). You can also see the top of Illouette Falls from Washburn Point.

Near your pics of the Awahnee is a pic of the Royal Arches.

Okay, now I want to go back. lol

Thank you! Thanks for letting me know about the falls. I do remember seeing Illouette Falls from Washburn Point. Is this it?



I remember hearing that there was a rock slide near or on the Royal Arches a couple of years ago. Couldn't tell if they looked different.

Originally Posted by NLD

Still loving your report!

Julia Pfeffer park looks amazing. Your pics are lovely.

Is El Torita Mexican? How was it? Fairly authentic or no?

Thank you! Yes, I thought that particular spot was beautiful. The color of the water rivaled that of the Caribbean.

Yes, El Torito is Mexican. They used to have them here in Phoenix, but they are all gone. It's about as authentic as any big Mexican food chain, but it was good.

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Lovely pics of the waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer. We saw it at not quite but nearly sunset. So it was nice to see the blues and crystal clear water in yours.


Those flowers are waratahs. They are native to Australia and are quite a long lasting flower.

Thank you again for your thoughts and for the botany lesson. They were very pretty but unusual and I hadn't see them before. Now I know.

I would love to see the waterfall at sunset someday myself, sounds beautiful.

[disneyfaninaz]

Saturday, June 2, 2012

We woke up this morning to more fog. This was our last day as were flying home today. We slept in and had a liesurely breakfast at the Embassy Suites. After relaxing for a bit, we gathered our belongings and checked out for our drive to San Jose. The fog got less and less as we traveled north and inland. We arrived at San Jose Airport about 2 hours before our flight, grabbed a bite to eat and boarded our flight home to 110 plus degrees.

Overall, we had a great time revisiting some of our favorite locations. I hope you enjoyed my trip report.

[NLD]

Wendy, thanks again for your report. It was a great read, and the pictures were lovely.

[disneyfaninaz]

Originally Posted by NLD

Wendy, thanks again for your report. It was a great read, and the pictures were lovely.

[iHEARTflorida]

Originally Posted by disneyfaninaz

Enjoyed the TR, I remember reading ur 1st TR from Yosemite/Monterey.

I literally have the same picture, not much has changed in 2yrs!

[Disney owl]

great trip * & reports