This blog post title is definitely laced with sarcasm. Big Sur has been on my bucket list for yearssssss. I kept seeing amazing pictures of beautiful blue water next to the most amazing cliffs and I couldn’t wait to get there. When we started driving down the Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) from Monterrey down to Big Sur the landscape changed all of a sudden, and the above picture is what we saw. My breath was taken away and I was pretty giddy.

We continued down the road to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park where we would be camping for the next few nights. It’s pretty remote once you leave Monterrey, we had little to no cell signal the entire 3 days we were there. There is a lodge at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park where you can buy internet, or a cafe just down the road with free internet. A couple options if you don’t want to completely get off the grid, or can’t because of work. But let me tell you, it’s 100% worth it to go!

Our first adventure out into the park was a little hike to the beach. A quick 5-minute drive north from where we were staying at Pfeiffer to Andrew Molera State Park brought us to a couple of hiking options. The one we did was short and after parking we took off… only to quickly come to a river – with no bridge! And as you can see from the picture, I’m wearing a jacket so it wasn’t exactly warm. After contemplating it for a couple of minutes some other hikers went through the river so we decided to go for it. The water was ICE COLD. OH MY WORD. Brannon insisted on taking pictures while I was out there and my legs were numb by the time he finally finished. I think he kept taking pictures (and laughing) because he wanted to see just how long I’d stay in that frigid water.

Was it worth it to cross that cold river? 100%. Because this is what we saw.

That beach was amazing. If you walked to the left (further south) you’d even see some purple sand! It wasn’t bright purple, but you could see it faintly where we were. Trust me, if it were a brighter purple that would’ve been all over my Instagram account.

Staying at Pfeiffer was really great. Not only were we a 5-minute drive away from this hike and a few more that were attached to the same trailhead, there were also a few hikes right from our campground! There was a lovely river going through the entire state park, a trailhead to take up to the top of a hill and overlook the ocean, and you can even count the banana slugs along the way!

The ocean was very therapeutic for me. I wanted to spend more time there and just sit on the cliff alone in prayer and reflection. I sat there for a bit just staring at the ocean, listening to the wind and waves and felt such peach flow through me. That may sound weird, but it was good for my soul. We’ve traveled all over the country and so many times I find myself in awe of the beautiful things God has created.

It was a powerful reminder to me to spend more time being still. I am always going 90 to nothing, but when I take a moment to be still and breathe, meditate, and just be… it does wonder for my mind and soul.

It was hard to leave this beautiful place…. but thankfully we had a lovely view as we headed towards Yosemite.

Have you ever been somewhere that made you pause and reflect? A place that touched you in such a special way? I’d love to hear about it.