# Model 3, Big Sur, and a Baby



## Wolverinewizard (Mar 24, 2018)

Hi All!

Apologies if it's a boring read, but storytelling isn't my specialty, as I prefer taking pictures.

Since we picked up the Model 3 in July, the wife and I had been talking about doing a little road trip. We have a baby in the house (8 months old at the time of the trip), and between the pregnancy and birth, we hadn't had a proper "get out of town" trip in a couple years. We had always wanted to see Big Sur, but with the baby we weren't sure how she'd handle the mild road trip (we live in LA). To heck with it, we decided to go anyways.

Since this was our first EV, and despite having a LR model, range anxiety still set in a bit. It's easy to forget how easy it is to stop for gas - but after planning out the trip a little using Tesla's site, and looking up some destination charging, the whole process went really well, despite us deviating a bit from the plan as we chewed up the miles.

The pano roof was great for Big Sur, and the backseat is plenty room for a baby + car seat as well as an adult. Not to mention we turned the frunk into a mobile changing station, which made our lives tremendously easier (no scrambling to find a sketchy bathroom to change the baby)

Mobile changing station. We lined a wall of diapers along the front to offset the slight slant so the baby didn't roll downhill.

IMG-8614 by kevinkyen, on Flickr

First day went fairly well - we got out of the house around 10:30 am to try and avoid traffic, with the goal to get to Cambria by night fall with a stop at the Monarch Butterfly grove outside Pismo Beach. Made a quick stop in Thousand Oaks for a diaper change, and off we went! Traffic was great, and we were lucky as the very next day the 101 was shut down due to the wildfires.

We reached Monarch Butterfly grove just prior to sunset, and while we saw a few, it was still early in the season for them to begin clustering. While that was a bit disappointing (the wife was really looking forward to it), we walked around and wound up on a hiking path that led to this:
DSC01918-Edit-2-Edit by kevinkyen, on Flickr

DSC02000-Edit-2 by kevinkyen, on Flickr

We stopped in Cambria at the Blue Dolphin Inn for the evening (I'm glossing over the part where the baby had a half hour meltdown) right off the coast. It's a great little Inn with an HWPC, so we were able to charge back up for the evening prior to heading into Big Sur.
The next morning, we stopped by the Elephant Seal viewing area (haven't edited those pics yet, but they're coming) and made our way into Big Sur.

Big Sur, in summary, is stunning, and having the Pano Roof above really adds to the experience. The Model 3 performed well, and driving it through the twisties along the mountainside is great fun.
McWay Falls
DSC02295-Edit by kevinkyen, on Flickr

Bridge 1
DSC02267 by kevinkyen, on Flickr

Cali Coast at Sunset
DSC02366-Edit-2-Edit by kevinkyen, on Flickr

Blue on Blue
qlzt53gjsy121 by kevinkyen, on Flickr


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## Johnston (Oct 12, 2018)

great pics. Can lighten up a bit on the sharpening though, can see some halo at edges where mountains and sky meet. Frunk as a changing station is something I'll prob be using in the near future with baby on the way in Jan. Thanks for the tip.


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## Quicksilver (Dec 29, 2016)

Wolverinewizard said:


> Hi All!
> 
> Apologies if it's a boring read, but storytelling isn't my specialty, as I prefer taking pictures.
> 
> ...


Love the story and pics...especially the baby changing station! Your pics bring back great memories of our multiple trips to Big Sur and destination in Carmel. Thanks for posting!


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## Edward Reading (Jun 26, 2017)

Awesome story and pics. Also great choice of model 3 color! The mobile changing station is a great idea. Next time you do the trip, make sure you stop in SLO.


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## Flatsix911 (Dec 30, 2017)

Well done!


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## Wolverinewizard (Mar 24, 2018)

Edward Reading said:


> Awesome story and pics. Also great choice of model 3 color! The mobile changing station is a great idea. Next time you do the trip, make sure you stop in SLO.


Will do! We wanted to stop in SLO, just didn't have the time this go around. We drove through it during the night...does that count?


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## Sandy (Jun 3, 2017)

Our favourite drive and we live in Canada. We got married in Morro Bay four years ago after driving down US#1 from SFO. Picked up the marriage licence in Santa Cruz. Went back to SFO last month, toured the Tesla factory, spent the night in Monterey and back down to Morro Bay the next day for our anniversary. Back up #1 the next day. Amazing scenery.


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## Airbil (Sep 28, 2018)

Great story.

In a way, it's fortunate Big Sur is an overlooked destination. I don't really have words that adequately describe it, so I'll use this space for a pic of my daughter out front of our Big Sur rental from 4ish years ago.








Just a girl on a swing; yes. But; what isn't easily seen is that the steep hill creates a drop at the forward apex of about 40ft.


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