The Siberian American: California
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2017

California Road Trip: Five Things You Must Do in San Diego

Lately, I’ve had a new series of posts I want to do on my mind. I know many of us don’t get to spend as much time traveling as we’d like, so I want to share five things I think you must do in my favorite cities, starting with San Diego. San Diego was such a nice surprise on our California road trip. I had been to California many times, but it was my first in San Diego. Now all Chris and I talk about is how much we would love to go back! I’m so excited to share five things I think you must do in San Diego with y’all today. It was hard to narrow it down to just five things because I think San Diego has so much to offer!

What to do in San Diego

Old Town San Diego
We loved visiting Old Town San Diego with its historic buildings and amazing restaurants. To really get a feel for Old Town San Diego and the rest of the city, I recommend taking the Old Town Trolley Tour. It was such a great way to get an overview of the city in a short amount of time.


Related Posts: Exploring Old Town San Diego and Old Town Trolley Tour

La Jolla Cove
A trip to San Diego isn’t complete without a visit to La Jolla Cove to see the sea lions and the gorgeous views!


Related Post: La Jolla Cove

Coronado
We didn’t have much time to explore Coronado, but it’s high on the list for a return trip. The area is full of cute shops and the beautiful Coronado Beach.


Related Post: Old Town Trolley Tour

Balboa Park
Balboa Park is full of gorgeous Spanish-style buildings and amazing museums. I really want to visit the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Japanese Friendship Garden, and the Museum of Photographic Arts.


Related Post: Old Town Trolley Tour

San Diego Zoo
I must admit that I am not the biggest zoo person in the world, but the San Diego Zoo is absolutely worth a visit. I loved seeing the pandas and had the best time on our private tour of the zoo.


Related Posts: San Diego Zoo Tips and San Diego Zoo Private Tour


Catch up on our California road trip: 

 
Hearst Castle Grand Rooms Tour

Hearst Castle Upstairs Suites Tour and Roman Pool

Pacific Coast Highway Tips

The Most Beautiful Spot in Big Sur

Have you been to San Diego? What is your favorite thing to do in the city?
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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

California Road Trip: The Most Beautiful Place in Big Sur

I still think about our California road trip all the time. I’m usually a person who prefers new experiences, but I would love to repeat this trip in the future. Our day driving up the Pacific Coast Highway was one of my favorite days ever. Every view was incredible, but my favorite view of the day was of McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.


There’s something truly spectacular about seeing an 80-foot waterfall cascade into the Pacific Ocean. I am always on the hunt for waterfalls (I can’t wait to share some of the ones we saw while in the Smokey Mountains with y’all!), and the McWay Falls took my breath away.


Tips

To get to McWay Cove to see the falls, you need to park on the side of the road. Park in the first open spot you see, as it’s almost always crowded. It’s much harder to turn around in that area if you completely miss the parking area then to walk a little bit longer to the falls. To get to the lookout for the falls, you walk a half mile on a dirt path from the parking lot and pass through a tunnel underneath Highway 1 to get to the overlook.


The best view of McWay Falls is actually a little before the overlook itself. Once you get to the overlook, the waterfall is further away. Still, you will get many stunning images of striking cliffs, palm trees, redwoods, and the Pacific Ocean.


Have you ever taken a road trip on Highway 1? What’s the best road trip you’ve ever taken?

Catch up on our California road trip: 

 
Hearst Castle Grand Rooms Tour

Hearst Castle Upstairs Suites Tour and Roman Pool

Pacific Coast Highway Tips
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Monday, May 16, 2016

California Road Trip: Pacific Coast Highway Tips

Our entire California road trip itinerary was incredible, but our day driving up Highway 1 goes down as one of my favorite days ever. I must have said wow approximately 10,000 times throughout the drive, and my only complaint is that we couldn’t stay there forever. I hope everyone gets to enjoy the Pacific Coast Highway, so I wanted to put together a list of tips, so you can also have the best experience ever.

Pacific Coast Highway Tips

Drive south to north if you don’t like heights (San Diego to San Francisco)
Most people will tell you to take Highway 1 north to south, so you can be closest to the ocean. I will admit it’s way easier to get in and out from the scenic stops, but there are places where you are super close to the edge, and that’s just not my cup of tea. Plus, if you have the time, you can keep on going all the way to Oregon!

Big Sur
Pacific Coast Highway
Highway 1 Views
Highway 1 Fog

Don’t miss the elephant seals in San Simeon
After touring Hearst Castle, we had to stop by the Elephant Seal Rookery at San Piedras Beach. It’s crazy to see so many seals in one place, and when we were visiting, there were a lot of babies! There was a guide on the beach who told us 23,000 seals came to the six-mile stretch of beach during the 2014-2015 season.

San Simeon seals
San Simeon seals

Stop at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park deserves its own post (check it out here) because of its beauty. It was stunning to see the McWay Falls, one of two waterfalls in the area that flow into the ocean. I could have stayed there all day.

Julia P Burns Park
McWay Falls
Pacific Coast Highway Views
PCH views

Go in the spring
We took our Pacific Coast Highway road trip in March, and the timing was perfect! It wasn’t as crowded as it would have been in the summer, and the weather was amazing. (Plus, it meant we got to see some of the California poppies at Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve!).

Pacific Coast
Big Sur fog
Highway 1 trees

Don’t rush the experience
Sadly, we only had a week for our road trip, so we had to do the Highway 1 drive in one day. Someday, I would love to stay at a hotel in Big Sur and take it all in for several days. Even so, we tried to make the most of our time in the area. Drive slowly. Stop often. Make amazing memories. Take lots of photos.

Highway 1
Pacific Coast Highway

Have you ever taken a drive on the Pacific Coast Highway? Did you love it as much as I did? If you haven’t, have I convinced you to add it to your bucket list?

Catch up on our California road trip: 

 
Hearst Castle Grand Rooms Tour
Hearst Castle Upstairs Suites Tour and Roman Pool

The Most Beautiful Place in Big Sur
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Monday, April 4, 2016

California Road Trip: Hearst Castle Upstairs Suites Tour and Roman Pool

As I have mentioned in my previous posts about Hearst Castle, I have always been fascinated by William Randolph Hearst, so visiting Hearst Castle was a dream come true. After taking the Grand Rooms Tour at Hearst Castle, I was a bit disappointed we only got to see four rooms, so I couldn’t wait to see Hearst’s private rooms.


Our tour guide was hilarious, which automatically set a fun tone to our one-hour tour. The Upstairs Suites Tour started off by showing us some of the guest rooms and the library specifically for guests. I loved seeing the ornate Doge’s Suite, which was modeled after the stunning rooms at the Doge’s Palace in Venice, Italy. Just like with the Grand Rooms, I thought the guest suite didn’t have a cohesive look, but I really liked the teal curtains and painted ceiling. Some of the other guest rooms were not quite as extravagant, but all of them had unique tapestries and ceilings. I loved how each bedroom included clothing to show us what the guests would have worn while visiting Hearst Castle.


I was most excited to see William Randolph Hearst’s Gothic Suite, where he lived with Marion Davies. His study was stunning, but I was surprised that his bedroom was plain in comparison to the rest of his house. For a man who loved extravagance, he chose to have a simple bedroom with few artifacts. I did love that he had a portrait of each parent on either side of his bed, a common practice during the Victorian era. Marion Davies also had her own room, and I loved how elegant it was compared to the others with its red four-poster bed.


Before leaving Hearst Castle, we stopped to admire the Roman Pool, Hearst’s indoor swimming pool, which is tiled from the ceiling to the floor. It took 15 years to build and features marble copies of Greek and Roman deities and athletes. We were told that the staff and volunteers at Hearst Castle get to swim in the pool with their friends once a year, and I can’t imagine what a fun experience that would be!


If we are ever close to San Simeon, California again, I would love to go back to Hearst Castle and do the Cottages and Kitchen Tour and the Evening Tour. Now that I’ve gotten a taste of life at Hearst Castle, it would be so fun to see more!


All photos in this post were taken by Olya at The Siberian American and posted with permission from Hearst Castle.
 
Catch up on our California Road Trip: 

 
Hearst Castle Grand Rooms Tour

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