Road Trip Up The Coast of California

We have been so blessed since Tanner has started his job with Plum but we have missed him when he's been out of town working. When we were in SoCal he was gone for a few days with his meetings and then was all consumed by studying for the state exam and then left for LA to take it. Long story short: we missed Tanner. So I lovingly suggested taking the long way home. And he agreed!

 We drove up the coast of California for 2 days instead of straight up the 5 and we had fun! When we all buckled our seat belts and were waving goodbye to my parents as we drove down the street, Tanner announced, "Ok! No cell phones! No iPads!" Wow. What a revolution. We actually looked out the window and talked to each other while we drove! It was fantastic! After the initial shock wore off for Parker we all settled in quite nicely. After all, we did stop at least every 2 hours and we kept busy when things got boring with games like ABC and I Spy.

I had researched and planned out the trip exactly, to the hour, of where we would stop, how long it would take to get there, and of course directions and star ratings. Our first stop was La Super Rica Taquiera in Santa Barbara for lunch. This hole in the wall was raved about bu Julia Child and is a "must do" when visiting Santa Barbara. I knew we wouldn't have time to do more than one or 2 things at each stop so I tried to narrow it down and stick close to food venues. I wanted to rent a surrey and ride along the boardwalk like Josi and I used to do. We'll have to save that for next time. Anyhoo, we all needed to use the (surprisingly very clean) bathroom and while we were standing in line for food who did we randomly run into? Robert Cooper!!!! He was down for an interview with the Boy Scouts of America! He looked fantastic and it was soooo good to see a familiar, happy face! Bobert is my favorite!

Lunch was to die for. Oh my yum. We got steak tacos on homemade tortillas. Parker got a quesadilla. And we got Mexican cokes and guacamole. Oh man. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Trying to make "cool/tough guy" faces.

The baby liked the tortillas's too!

Oh ya, this is goooood.

We drove along the boardwalk on our way to the 101 and Parker thought these squares were super cool!

Tunnels and bridges were always a thrill! 

Our next stop was The Solvang Bakery in Solvang. I've never visited this quaint little Danish town and completely fell in love with it. Sooooooo darling! It's so clean and beautiful and there are bakeries everywhere- which I love. We popped into this one which is located right next to the huge windmill. We are so American. We ordered a slice of rainbow cake with gumballs, and 2 peanut butter cup brownies. What's wrong with us?!?!? Here we are in the heart of Danish Culture and we order such American desserts! Tanner did pick out some fresh, homemade squaw bread (his favorite) and a little variety pack of Danish cookies- which we enjoyed on our hike the next day.

Parker: Can I have one of everything?

Me: No.

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.

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Candy!!!!!!!

We ate our treats outside in the nice warm sun and sat by a couple who were speaking German or something... we felt like we really were in Europe!

After dessert (we could not eat the entire thing. We saved some for later) we went on a little walk and did some window shopping. I love this place!!!!

For Jacob....

My kids are the best little travelers. The baby was perfect. I mean absolutely perfect. She never once fussed. Not once! She would play and eat and sleep when she was tired. Such a perfect little princess.

Our next stop was Bubble Gum Ally in San Luis Obispo. I was prepared with a pack of Bubble Tape and we all laughed our heads off as we chewed it all up and blew the biggest bubbles ever. We were all pretty excited about chewing a huge wad of bubble gum. (It's the little things, people) We arrived in SLO right before their Thursday night Farmer's Market was about to begin so the place was hopping! It would have been SO fun to stay but we didn't have time. We parked and found the wall and were in awe of the disgusting number of chewed wads of gum on the wall. It started in the 70's as a school rivalry thing and now it's just a local icon.  ha ha

Our next stop was Morro Rock. The baby was asleep so we didn't do too much exploring but Parker and I got out and watched the sea otters swim around a little bit. We were feeling a bit tired and hungry so it was back in the car to make our way to our next stop: Cambria!

I went on TripAdvisor and Yelp to find the best dining options for us but this one was a loser. We went to Lin's Fruit Bin and although it was a nice place and the service was great, the food was disgusting. I was very disappointed. Good thing we had all those left over baked goods!

Before leaving Cambria we checked out Nit Wit Ridge. This guy built his house out of odds and ends and it is quite the site to see! 

While we were eating dinner, Tanner found us a place to stay the night in San Simeon. Little did we know this Best Western was right on the beach.  We got there right at sunset and it was getting pretty chilly! But we loved the location and felt totally lucky to stumble upon such a hidden gem! There were fire places outside set up so we could warm ourselves while we enjoyed the view. The room was nice and I pushed the 2 chairs together, laid a blanket in it, and the baby slept sooooooooo good right next to me in her little nest! Tanner and Parker shared the other bed and we all had a great night!

Wishing he'd brought his boogie board....

The baby was being so cuddly and cute.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the little restaurant that was part of the hotel. It was a nice, Denny's type of meal and we could not get enough of the view! Boom! Ocean!

I love her chubby little arms. I could just eat her up!!!!!

We took a little stroll along the beach while Tanner was checking us out of the hotel room. So beautiful!

Our first stop of the day was Piedras Blancas Beach or "Elephant Seal" beach! It was so cold and windy and stinky but sooooo awesome! There were literally thousands of elephant seals on the beach and in the water! Parker thought it was so cool!

We continued the drive up north along the 1 and it was breathtaking. So gorgeous!

Our next stop was Julia Pffifer Burns State Park to see McWay falls. I can't believe I've living in California almost my entire life and never known this place existed. It is like something out of a fairy tale. And so easy to get to! Just park and it's like a 2 minute walk then  you're there! I'd read about it in a magazine a few months ago and decided we HAD to see it. Oh man, it is incredible!

There it is! An 80 waterfall cascading off a granite cliff in to a crystal clear blue lagoon. Seriously, this is what dreams are made of!

You can only get to the beach by kayak. Totally worth the journey if you ask me!

I was so excited to see this place!!! Definitely a highlight from the road trip!

Our next stop was Nepenthe in Big Sur for lunch. Once again, this was a restaurant I'd heard about online from several sources and was told it was a "don't miss" destination. Yes, the view is amazing. But the wait was way too long and the food was "meh". We had a table in the center of the joint so we couldn't even really enjoy the gorgeous pacific ocean views. We were all a bit grumpy at this point too. We weren't sure if we should push on home or stop for the night. But we knew we wanted to end on a high note so the journey continued!

It's sweet to me that Parker looks so nice in all these pictures because we were really chewing him out at this point. (for reasons I no longer can remember and hopefully he doesn't either...)

My little babushka!

There were tons of camping spots along the way through Big Sur that we'd love to check out sometime. But for now we chose to hike around Point Lobos State Park and enjoy nature for a while. We could hear the seals barking when we got out of the car and Parker starting barking too. He was convinced that they were talking to him and that they were somehow communicating. He's the best.

Luckily we saved some of those Danish cookies from the Solvang Bakery and nibbled on them while we walked around. It was beautiful!  We could see whales spouting in the distance and saw tons of seals and sea lions. It's amazing how different the sea shore looks when it's preserved....

We hiked along this Cypress trail but it started getting dark as the fog rolled in and Parker was a little freaked out of these trees. They do look a little ominous.

We weren't quite sure what we should do next. I'd never been to Carmel so I was a little lost but we happened upon 17 Mile Drive and decided to just go for it. It is a private road that winds through Pebble Beach Golf Course and around several multi million dollar estates. To be completely honest, we were let down. It wasn't as cool as we thought it would be. But we made the most of it and snapped a picture or 2. We thought "The Lone Cypress" was kinda cool but Parker thought it was just plain lame. ha ha

At this point our spirits were a little low and we still weren't sure if we should stop and stay the night or press on. But we wanted to enjoy a nice dinner so we stopped in at Mission Ranch and boy was it great! This restaurant and the surrounding property is owned by Clint Eastwood and it definitely turned out to be another highlight for us on this trip. It was Friday night so there was a man playing a grand piano next to the fire when we arrived and we realized there were NO kids in sight and mostly older people dining. We opted for outside seating so we wouldn't annoying anyone and they set us up in a nice location with some wonderful heaters (it was chilly) The view was amazing. A green field with a little flock of sheep (and a little black sheep all off to the side ha ha) and the ocean off in the distance. There were beautiful flowers everywhere and a warm, inviting fire place. Everyone was soaking up the scene and sipping wine. It was a nice vibe and our server was just so good to us. The kids were great and the food was delicious. A win through and through! There were a few people who RECOGNIZED us from lunch earlier and on other stops we'd made that day which I thought was funny! Everyone was so kind to us and made us feel so special. We really felt like celebrities or something. ha ha Like, everyone was dressed all nice and we look like, well, like we were on a road trip with 2 kids! A few people sat and talked to us and told us about their kids and grand-kids and tickled the baby and gave us pats on the back. It was a real nice dinner. And at the end we realized we should just go on home. We were ending on a high note after all!

We got all washed up after dinner and changed the baby into her jammies and as we drove through Monterrey and headed home I read to Parker. We made it home around 11pm and didn't feel like we'd pushed ourselves at all. It was perfect. The next day we were able to do laundry and go to the grocery store and get all caught up on the things we needed to get done. I went to dinner with my friend Melissa that night and was glad that Tanner could spend a little one on one time with the kids. Our road trip was a total blast. Major success. And we created memories that will most definitely last us a lifetime! We love California!!!!