How has it already been 2 weeks since my last blog post?! Maybe one day, I'll create a post on time! But not today, friends. Not today.
I've been enjoying some much-needed time off from the Great American Road Trip by hanging out at my house in Utah. It's been nice to be back in my room with some sweet, sweet air conditioning. My body naturally runs warm, and traveling through the West during a massive heat wave has helped me determine that in the future, I definitely need to live somewhere that stays relatively cold. I absolutely THRIVED in Northern California's 55-degree, foggy, seaside weather. One of my favorite stops thus far on the trip, and one of my favorite places in the world was Carmel, CA and I definitely think that the climate plays a huge part in why I love that city so much. I ended the last blog by briefly mentioning Carmel so without further ado, let me tell you all why this small, seaside town is so close to my heart.
My family has been visiting Carmel almost every year since I was a kid. We'd rent a beach house, where we could go seashell-hunting in the tide pools and watch as our dogs raced around the beach and played with other pups. This time, the only real difference was that Radiance and I slept in a van in the local Safeway parking lot, which was almost just as nice.😉 On day 1, Radiance and I drove into town from Watsonville and immediately found Katy's Place, a pricey but delicious brunch spot with over 20 varieties of eggs benedict (I had serious heart eyes)! We walked around town and checked out the various boutiques and art galleries. I found Milo a classy sweater at Diggidy Dog, a cute pet boutique. Fit like a glove!
Of course, we couldn't walk around downtown Carmel without heading to the Cottage of Sweets, a long time favorite of mine. It's the only place where I can get my hands on some chocolate Smarties, not the inferior, sugary, American ones. I grabbed a few chocolate-dipped Oreos before we headed down to the beach. Milo loved chasing the waves and he discovered that sea kelp is a tasty, salty snack. He was only allowed to eat it in very small doses though. We spent some blissful time on the white sand, checking out shells and looking for small crabs in the tide pools, before heading to FishWife for dinner, which, in my humble opinion, serves the best cup of clam chowder in the world. Though I hadn't been there in years, the chowder definitely did not disappoint. Just check out the mouthwatering pic of it below!
After dinner, Radiance and I settled into the Safeway parking lot for the night and got some much-needed sleep before our exciting next day. I took Radiance to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, another magical place that I've been visiting since I was a kid. The place was packed, but it was worth braving the crowds to see otters, penguins, sharks, octopi, and other amazing marine life. We spent a few hours there and then walked along Cannery Row, the shopping district of Monterey. After dropping some $$ at a few shops, we decided that we hadn't had enough chowder the day before, so we grabbed a late lunch at Vivolo's Chowder House, another tasty joint that offers chowder bread bowls with cheesy garlic bread on top. We ate our fill and decided to deal with our food coma by trying to find a place to shower (showers are hard to come by in the van). We found a coin-operated shower at the end of Cannery Row on the boat dock, and we took turns inserting coins for each other and guarding each other from passers-by. After our showers, we felt refreshed and walked along the dock, only to spot otters fishing for dinner, sea lions lounging on the rocks, and a harbor seal peeking his head up through the kelp forest. The dock was even better than the aquarium! We spent time snapping photos of the wildlife for at least half an hour and I got some amazing close-up photos (see below)! Then, Radiance and I headed back to Carmel's beach, made some ravioli, and felt the cool, marine air as we ate dinner on the beach. To end the night, we headed back to the Safeway parking lot, read ghost stories from the Monterey/Carmel area, and got some shut-eye.
The next day, we got up fairly early to drive through Big Sur. We stopped at Garrapata State Park and the iconic Bixby Creek Bridge to take some photos before taking a little coffee break at COAST Big Sur, a cafe and art gallery with beautiful cliffside views of the Pacific. Next, we walked to the iconic McWay Falls (pictured below) within Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, which was just a quick 5-10 minute's walk from the parking lot. McWay Falls' beauty attracts photographers from all over the world, and I was happy to have such ideal shooting conditions on this visit. Radiance and I continued to drive until we reached Sand Dollar Beach (second pic below) which, contrary to its name, did not have any sand dollars that we could see. We did find some beautiful tumbled stones and pieces of abalone all along the beach, as well as entire cliff faces of serpentine and occasional jade pieces. Our final stop of the day was at the Elephant Seal Rookery in San Simeon, a free viewing area for the public to see dozens of elephant seals resting and occasionally sparring on the beach. We saw the elephant seals during molting season, so they mostly lounged on the beach as their hair and skin peeled off (3rd and 4th pics below). Finally, Radiance and I made it to Pismo Beach and spent the night at a Walmart. Despite what people say about Walmart, that store has really come in clutch for me on this road trip, especially because it has a 24-hour bathroom!
After our night at Walmart, Radiance indulged me by coming with me to one of my favorite photographer's studio in Pismo Beach. Chris Burkard is an incredible adventure photographer and I couldn't pass by the area without visiting the studio (and grabbing a t-shirt). Radiance and I continued on to San Luis Obispo, a cute college town in central California. We stopped by my favorite coffee place, Scout Coffee, for some liquid energy before we explored the town. We shopped around at lots of boutiques before we stumbled upon Battle Axe, an axe-throwing establishment that had just opened up in SLO. Of course we had to try axe-throwing! Milo waited patiently as Radiance and I threw axes for half an hour. In the end, I showed enough throwing potential that the store owner challenged me to a battle, and I won! My ego still hasn't fully forgotten that experience. To celebrate my axe-throwing victory, Radiance and I met up with my friend Kolby and her family at Firestone Grill, a SLO barbecue staple. Afterward, we made the trip up to Paso Robles and stayed at our next Harvest Host, Four Lanterns Winery, which happened to have a concert and wine-tasting event that night. We got a delicious bottle of rose and spent a chill night listening to music and relaxing.
The next morning, we grabbed a Starbucks and queued up our Percy Jackson audiobook because we drove the rest of the way down to LA to stay with our friend Miranda (who's actually working a real job and kindly letting we unemployed vagabonds crash on her couch). We stayed there for a few days, and it was pretty nice to not move around as frequently as we had been. While we were there, we hit up some tasty food joints, including The Dolly Llama, Kura, and The Butcher, The Baker, & The Cappucino Maker. While Miranda was working, Radiance and I also visited Mystery Pier Books, a hidden, book collector's paradise full of first edition and signed works by authors such as J.R. R. Tolkien, Ernest Hemingway, Jane Austen, Albert Einstein, and more. One day, I'll buy a book from there! After staying at Miranda's, I dropped Radiance off at the airport and continued on to San Clemente to visit my friend Kit Kat in her family's beach apartment. We grabbed lunch at The Fisherman's Restaurant and Bar on the pier (yes, I had another bowl of clam chowder and no, I'm not sick of it) and then walked around downtown San Clemente. We visited a bunch of cute and touristy shops before sitting down to dinner at Mongkut Thai Restaurant, which was some of the tastiest Thai food I've ever had. After stuffing our faces, we needed dessert of course, so we stopped by South Swell Ice Cream, a local favorite with hand-dipped ice cream. Later, we came back to Kit Kat's apartment and had a late-night hot tub sesh before going to bed. We had a very good sleep and didn't wake up until at least noon, so Kit Kat's family took us to lunch at Sancho's Tacos, where I had a scrumptious breakfast burrito. Next, Kit Kat's family took us to the San Clemente Outlets, where I grabbed a helmet for my roller-skates (I'm awful at skating but just bought skates this summer and I'm determined to learn). Finally, my time in San Clemente came to an end, and I dropped Kit Kat off at the airport before heading to my next destination; Irvine.
My friend Kolby, who I had lunch with in SLO, lives in Irvine and her family so graciously invited Milo and I to stay at their house for a few days. Milo and Kolby's dog Scout became friends and Milo taught Scout some bad habits, like jumping on the furniture, but they also had fun walking and playing together all weekend. Kolby and I had a chill weekend filled with lots of naps, which was much-needed as I approached the end of my first leg of the road trip. One day, she took me to Breakfast Republic, a yummy brunch place in Irvine. Another day, she brought me to Crystal Cove State Park, which was beautiful, but didn't allow dogs. Before continuing on our quest to find a dog beach, Kolby and I stopped at the Crystal Cove Shake Shack for a tasty shake. Eventually, we drove all the way out to a dog-friendly beach along Huntington Beach, but it was extremely difficult to find parking, so we gave up and went back to Irvine. We watched the Olympics and lots of Disney movies over the weekend, including Frozen 2 and Big Hero 6, which I had never seen before. On my last night in Irvine, Kolby and I went to the Irvine Spectrum Center and had dessert at SomiSomi before eating dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
My time with Kolby was so much fun, but I had head back to LA the next morning to get a checkup for Valencia at Texino, the place that outfitted her. The folks at Texino are so nice and accommodating and Milo and I only had to hang out for a couple of hours as they made minor adjustments to Val. I was feeling ambitious that day, so I left LA and drove six hours to Saint George, UT, stopping only once at Weera Thai in Las Vegas for dinner, which definitely hit the spot after a long day of driving. The southwest is extremely hot this time of year, so Milo and I stayed in a Quality Inn for a pretty cheap price because it was still 95 degrees out when we rolled into Saint George at around midnight. The next day, Milo and I visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (below), which was mesmerizing despite the smoke from nearby fires. After a full day of driving and small hikes, Milo and I stayed in Fredonia, Arizona at my friend Davalynn's house (we had to park in her driveway because she has five dogs that would eat Milo) 😂. I had so much fun the next morning because I got to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, UT, where I interned in May of this year. I brought snacks for all the dogs I worked with and I think they were as excited to see me as I was to see them. Milo waited patiently in the car with the AC running as I brought some of the dogs to the dog park and played with them in their dog pool. If you're considering adopting a dog, please please please look into adopting one from Best Friends. They are a no-kill sanctuary, which means that every animal they take in, they commit to caretaking for the rest of its life. So many dogs from here would thrive in a home environment and each dog is amazing in their own way!
After my morning at Best Friends, I said see ya later to the dogs and Milo and I stopped at Forscher German Bakery in Orderville for a snack before driving all the way to Redstone, CO, where I first started my journey. The next day, I drove to Utah for a much-needed week off, where I attended a Maroon 5 concert and played lots of video games. I've just started the second leg of my road trip and I'll tell you all about that in the next blog! Thanks for sticking with me and like always, I appreciate all of your support! I leave you with two quotes this week; one was relevant for my journey and one was relevant for Best Friends.
“Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not.” -Uncle Iroh, Avatar the Last Airbender
“I never met a man half so true as a dog.” -The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Until next time! - Elle