I took Mary to Big Sur for her birthday this past weekend. She worked from home on Friday, so we were able to leave early to beat the weekend traffic. We had never been to Big Sur before so we were pretty excited. The drive was pretty uneventful, I’m glad we got out of San Jose before the mad rush. We hit highway 1 just north of Monterey. We decided to take a slight detour to see something called Itsyville.

Itsyville is a display of small, odd houses and various carvings. It is the work of Steve Blanchard. Itsyville is a small “town” next to the wood shop. The residents are Itsies and one Podot. In addition to Itsyville there are other carvings at Blanchard’s Wood Sculpture shop as well. I especially like the bears.

After a short stop for some groceries near Carmel Valley we headed down highway 1. I guess we hit the Big Sur area when we crossed the Bixby Bridge. The coast line is really beautiful here. The Lucia Mountains jump right out of the ocean. Rocky points and sandy coves abound. We watched the sun set from highway 1. We found our hotel, Glen Oaks, in Big Sur Valley and checked in. We ate dinner at the Big Sur Roadhouse then turned in for the night.

On Saturday we headed south to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. On the way we spotted something we have been looking forward to seeing for a long time, a California Condor. An organization called the Ventana Wildlife Society has been reintroducing condors to the Big Sur area since 1995. We caught a glimpse of a large, black bird along the ridge above the highway. We pulled off the side of the road to check it out. It was a condor! We watched it soar along the ridge. It was soon joined by a second, but then they flew over the ridge and out of sight. I did get a few pictures.

Once we reached the park we got ready for a 4.5 mile hike on the Edwoldsen Trail. We read about it on Hiking in Big Sur, which is a really great resource for trails in the area. The trail starts out in the redwoods along McWay Creek. After following the creek for a while the trail climbs up to the ridge line. We went clockwise around the loop portion of the trail, which was pretty steep at times. At one point the trail follows a ridge with awesome views down to the Pacific. After more climbing along a side trail we reached the end of the trail with more spectacular views. On our way back down we took another side trail to see Canyon Falls then headed back to the parking lot.

After a short break we took another stroll, this time towards the ocean and McWay Falls. It was a short walk so we brought the spotting scope I got for Mary’s birthday. The falls are pretty cool, dropping about 80 feet from a cliff to the beach. We were glad we brought the scope when we saw a couple of quick flying birds land on a distant tree. The scope showed them to be a pair of peregrine falcons! We watched them until they flew off. We headed back to the car and drove to the hotel to clean up, stopping for a coffee and snack at the Big Sur Bakery. After a rest and showers, we went to the Big Sur Lodge for dinner. There are more pictures from Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in the gallery.

On Sunday we went for a hike at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. We actually did 2 hikes in one, Pfeiffer Falls and Valley View for a total of 2.4 miles. Again the trail started in the redwoods along a creek, Pfeiffer-Redwood Creek. We crossed the creek four times before reaching the falls. After a bit of climbing we reached the viewpoint which overlooks the Big Sur Valley. The trail crosses the creek a total of seven times. We tried to stop at the visitors center after the hike, but it was closed. I did get a picture of a mountain lion on display through the window. There are more pictures from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in the gallery.

After the hike we drove south on highway 1 looking for condors. We were awarded with seeing one not far from where we saw some the previous day. It circled overhead for a while the soared off to the south. We drove further south but did not spot it again. We did stop for another view of McWay Falls then turned back north at Lucia.

We made a few stops along the ocean on our way back north. One stop was at the Bixby Bridge for a photo op. We stopped at Point Lobos to look for sea otters. I was sure we would find some at Whaler Cove. We saw a funny seal floating head-up in the cove, but no otters. We drove around to Bird Island and found a mother and pup foraging for dinner. We watched them for a bit until they rounded a rocky point. We stayed there to watch the sun set, then drove back home. We made it home in time to clean up then head out to dinner. It was a really nice weekend.