The last part of our trip we took walks around the neighborhoods and saw many victorian, historic, and other style homes.
Pretty trees.
We walked along the coast to Cannery Row and had a nice seaside lunch. We also drove over to Fisherman's Wharf.
Other than the carrot cake, I mentioned in Part 2, our other favorite meal was the filet mignon in Pacific Grove at Fandango. It may have been the best we've ever eaten. (We no longer buy beef to prepare at home, but we do indulge in beef on occasion when we go out.) We were seated in a romantic alcove-like room slightly separate from the main part of the restaurant.
I didn't get as many photos on this last part of our trip. I think we were vacationed out and ready to get home. We were glad we got to take this vacation, but we were glad get back to normal and our healthier eating and have decided not to do any more trips that long. We enjoy our occasional 2-3 day getaways a bit closer to home and will stick with those in the future.
For the second part of our trip we traveled south and inland to the beautiful area near Paso Robles. We chose a wonderful rural B&B called Sundance.
The lovely italian villa and surrounding countryside seemed to be right out of a romantic novel or movie.
From the back side of the house at sunset. (above)
The driveway leading up to the front of the house. (above)
More views from and of the property.
Our gorgeous view from the back patio where we had our breakfast. (below)
And this was our breakfast companion every morning. A cute, tiny little lizard. He was a very sociable little fellow. :)
We were served a delightful breakfast every day.
When we arrived we were offered to upgrade our room at no extra charge. How nice! The room was very pretty and the bathroom was huge and luxurious.
I loved the tiles on the staircase leading from the entry foyer of the home to the upstairs guest rooms.
A day trip to Morro Bay and the small town of Cambria. (Most of the photos I took when out and about at these places were on my Kindle and not the best quality so I won't post them here.)
Below are a couple of the big rock at Morrow Bay.
During our stay at Sundance we ate dinner all 3 nights at McPhee's Grill in Templeton, CA. It was only a 10 minute or so drive and was in a very small town, but the food was great. Our favorite food of the trip was on the last part of our trip (which I'll tell about later) and the carrot cake at McPhee's. So sad I didn't get a photo.
We ordered it 2 nights for dessert. One night we just skipped dinner (because we'd had a big lunch earlier) and just got the carrot cake. It was a large piece with yummy icing, a small pitcher of delicious caramel sauce to pour over it and scrumptious ice cream on the side. Ohhhhh....heaven...mmmmmm! (and probably 5 of those 10 pounds I gained) haha
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The first 3 days were spent in Carmel, CA. Such a beautiful place. Lots of shops and restaurants. The 17 mile coastal scenic drive was impressive. Some of the castles homes
along this route were palatial!
On this part of our trip we also drove into the Carmel Valley area and along the coast of Hwy 1 around the Big Sur area. Gorgeous.
We
stayed at the Country Inn B&B of Carmel. It had the biggest
soaking bathtub I've ever seen in my life. The inn was within a couple
blocks walking distance to all the shops and restaurants, but just
secluded enough down a tree lined street in a residential area to be
away from the hustle and bustle of tourists. It was a perfect location.
You may click on the photos to view them in larger size.
Below are all of the items (minus rings, undies, pajamas, 2 pr flip flops) that I'll be taking on our trip next week to the California coast. We will be gone 10 days and 9 nights.
5 bottoms: skinny blue jeans, white ankle pants, black skinny jeans, khaki jeans, khaki knee length shorts
7 tops: 3 long sleeved tees, one 3/4 length sleeved tee, 1 short sleeved tee , 2 sleeveless tops
(Below is the 3/4 length sleeved black tee w/ the 4th scarf)
*Edit: At time of packing, I eliminated the golden striped long sleeved tee from my travel wardrobe.
*Edit: At time of packing, I eliminated the tan sweatshirt from my travel wardrobe.
5 shoes: white sneakers, black sandals, cognac brown wedge sandals, dark gray flip flops, brown flip flops (forgot to photograph the flip flops)
accessories: 4 scarves, 2 necklaces, 2 earrings, 1 black bracelet set, 1 brown bracelet set, 1 brown belt and 1 purse
3 layering pieces: black cardigan, tan zip up jacket, black hooded windbreaker/rain jacket
I will be wearing to travel: blue skinny jeans, dark blue long sleeved tee, necklace, (maybe blue/green/brown striped scarf?), tan jacket, sneakers.
Everything else will fit in my carry on suitcase.
All the tops mix and match with all the pants. The accessories will provide even more outfit variations.
This collection of pieces enabled me to maximize outfit options for the varied weather conditions and day to evening dressing.
As I'd mentioned before...we will be in temperatures ranging from a low of maybe 52-58 degrees to daytime highs of around 64-70 degrees on part of our trip and the other part (inland and then more south) will have temperature ranges from low 70's up to 80-90 degrees.
Here are just some of the outfit combination possibilities:
*Edit: At time of packing, I decided to eliminate the striped tee above and the tan sweatshirt below. But all the other remaining tops will work with these bottoms and scarves.
Since all the tops match all the bottoms there are conceivably 35 possible outfits right there! (7 tops x 5 bottoms = 35 outfits) Even more outfit variations could be achieved if you mix and matched the shoes, jackets, and accessories with each top/bottom combination.
I was totally amazed at this!!!
It's astounding what you can do with only 7 tops, 5 bottoms (that's only 12 actual clothing items!), and 4 scarves.
What an eye opener as to how many choices I could have with so few pieces.
I was really able to grasp the concept, and benefits, of a capsule wardrobe after choosing these vacation pieces.
If I wanted to I could pretty much live in these items year round. I would only have to add in a few more staple pieces, accessories, and a few more appropriate to season items and I'd have everything I need!
I am imagining I could make due very nicely with around 30 basic clothing pieces (tops/bottoms)...and certainly under 50. If I had a 60 piece (tops/bottoms/cardigans) wardrobe that would mean I could get rid of about 3/4 of my total wardrobe and still have plenty.
#future goals :)
As far as my vacation wardrobe goes...I am realizing I could probably get by with even less clothes if I wanted to...but I think all of these things will fit in my bag and I'm uncertain about the weather, if I'll get too cold, and so on...so I think I'll just go ahead and take everything I've planned to be on the safe side and to give myself more options.(*At time of packing, I did eliminate 2 of the tops bringing my total # of tops to 7 instead of 9.)
What are your thoughts on minimizing and capsule wardrobes?
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