I am so excited about today’s post!  It had been too long since I had last been to the ocean, and even longer still since I had been there on a vacation, so getting to spend a day warm on the sand was heavenly (and to anyone who caught that Disney reference, we are instant besties).   If I am being honest, the weather was a little cooler than I had hoped for, I think it was in the upper fifties, maybe low sixties, but I still pulled out my swimsuit and a cute summer dress for the day.   Monterrey was a little less than a three hour drive away and we headed straight for Carmel Beach in Carmel-By-The-Sea.  I had a lot of people hype this place up to me, and often when that happens I find myself disappointed, but truthfully, it was better than any expectations I had!  The water was so beautiful and the atmosphere there is something I cannot describe.  Driving through Carmel-By-The-Sea on the way to the beach was like driving through a fairy tale!  Every home was so unique and had a magical look unlike anything I have ever seen!  Then to walk from such a setting straight onto the beach… truly, there are not words to describe it.  If you are ever in the area, truly give yourself more than a day.  I am already dreaming of going back and spending longer in this beautiful area of California!

The first thing I wanted to do was run and get my feet in the water, so I slipped my sandals off and I was ready to go!  I literally ran straight into the water and quickly discovered that it was cold!  I may have worn my swimsuit under my dress, but it sadly never did see the light of day, though I am still thankful I wore it since I did still manage to get wet while playing chicken with the waves, lol.

Now, for a fun and random side note, I totally chose this outfit on purpose for a very unique reason.   When I first saw the movie Monte Carlo, I fell in love with Meg’s character and her sense of fashion.  My most favorite outfit that she wore was a peach shirt dress that doubled over her navy swimsuit and I was determined to find a way to duplicate that look the next time I made my way back to the beach and I am so excited that I was able to keep that promise to myself.  If you don’t remember what outfit I am talking about, go watch the movie or google “Meg from Monte Carlo’s shirt dress” and you’ll be able to see why I was so excited with how close this duplicate turned out!

We spent several hours at the beach just wandering up and down it absorbing the beauty of it all.  One thing that we all discussed later that we really liked about our friend group was that while we were good about taking pictures, we were also really good at putting our phones away everywhere we went and just living in the moment spending time with each other and experiencing everything!   We all walked away with many pictures, but more importantly were able to walk away feeling like we actually lived our trip and not just photographed it which can often be a hard balance to find.

Lori walking along the beach taking in the view of Pebble Beach Golf Course

Candid of Megan and her boyfriend Ben sitting on the beach

The sad thing is that the pictures don’t even do it justice as beautiful as they are!

Me, Megan, Ben and Lori

From Carmel Beach we decided to drive high way one all the way down past Big Sur which was a dream come true!  I grew up reading about this beautiful stretch of coastline and to be able to actually drive the highway that so many of my favorite book characters have driven was so surreal.   I can’t say for sure, but I do believe that we pulled over at nearly every.single.outlook. along the whole coast!  Each view was more beautiful than the last and deserved to be stopped and admired.  One word of advice though, take dramamine. Even if you are not normally prone to car sickness, believe me, Highway One will be the place you discover you can get it.

The water was so clear and blue it didn’t even look real!

Because good friends take that cute “pinterest picture” for you… 😉

Then, we were there, the Big Sur Bridge!  It held a totally different kind of beauty than the Golden Gate in SF, but it was still so stunning!  You might say we were a little obsessed with bridges on this trip…

After Big Sur Bridge, we had to decide whether we continued on for another thirty minutes to see McWay Falls, or head back to Monterrey to eat dinner since we were all starting to get hungry.  After a hard time making a decision, we last minute decided to go ahead and fully dive into the adventure we were on and go to the waterfall and we did not regret it for a single moment.  To see such a beautiful waterfall falling straight into the ocean is something that if given the opportunity a person should never miss out upon.

Xoxo,
Leighton Michele

Outfit Details (you didn’t really think I was going to leave you hanging?!)

Dress: Similar , Similar, Similar, Similar  Swimsuit: Same Sandals: Same