Jeff and I won’t see my family for Christmas this year, so when we found super-cheap roundtrip flights to Los Angeles, we immediately arranged a somewhat impromptu trip to meet my brother Matt and his family in Monterey at the end of October.
On our way from LAX to Monterey, Jeff and I stopped at Morro Bay just as the sun was sinking into the clouds over the horizon.
© 2016. Morro Bay, California. Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Portra 400+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Morro Bay, California. Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Portra 400+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Morro Bay, California. Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Portra 400+1, Pentax 6×7.
We met up with Matt, Emily, Layla and Henry in Monterey, where we shared a big hotel suite for the weekend, and the next morning we all piled into a minivan to Big Sur. From there, we’d work our way back up north on Highway 1.
© 2016. Layla at Lucia Lodge off Highway 1 on Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 400+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Big Sur in Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
On the drive down to our southernmost point of the trip, the weather was gnarly — once, we pulled over so I could look at a vista, and my hair blew out sideways in the pelting rain as soon as I opened the car door. So we took a long, leisurely lunch in Lucia before heading back north. Fortunately, this tactic paid off at the very, very end.
© 2016. Mill Creek Picnic Area off Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Mill Creek Picnic Area off Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Layla and the bubbles at Mill Creek Picnic Area off Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. McWay Falls trail in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. McWay Falls trail in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. View from McWay Falls trail in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. McWay Falls trail in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. McWay Falls trail in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. McWay Falls trail in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Portra 160+1, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. View near Bixby Creek Bridge on Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Bixby Creek Bridge on Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Near Bixby Creek Bridge on Highway 1 in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
© 2016. Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur, Monterey County, California. Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016. Ektar +2, Pentax 6×7.
More film — from Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey’s 17-Mile Drive — to come!
A selection of these photos can be purchased as prints at prints.christhedunn.com.
Words and Light 
Nice piece – fabulous photos!!
Ohhhh, what I would do to take a trip back home to Cali and drive up the coast for a couple days. Gorgeous photos, thank you for the reminder that being on the East Coast is not for me lol 🙂