Miss Meadowsweet

Less than a week ago, my husband and I returned from a dream road trip in California. We traveled up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It was our first time on the West Coast, and we packed quite a bit in! I’m still mentally processing this once-in-a-lifetime vacation, but I’ll be sharing a lot of photos and details about our trip in the coming weeks. Until then, here’s a quick look at how our itinerary worked out:

DAY 1:  Traveling to Los Angeles

We flew from Orlando to Los Angeles and arrived at the beautiful InterContinental Hotel, which features an open-air bar on the 73rd floor. We were not prepared for the chilly weather!

DAY 2: Seeing the Sights

We had rented a convertible Mustang, and used the first full day of our trip driving through LA with the top down. Boy, did we have fun! We meandered through Venice Beach and enjoyed a scrumptious lunch at The Rose Cafe. Then we drove way up into Beverly Hills and down around Santa Monica Pier. We saw the Sunset Strip and Rodeo Drive, and got great photos from Mulholland Drive’s Outlook Point. We gawked at tourists at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and devoured sushi at Yamashiro Gardens.

DAY 3: The Broad, The Market, and Malibu

We started the morning on the right foot by having breakfast at Grand Central Market. The bacon, egg, and cheese from Egg Slut hit the spot, and my husband geeked over G&B Coffee. This is the perfect place to explore, people watch, and delight over the historic funicular, Angels Flight. My sweet hubby got tickets to the free Broad Museum (pronounced like Broh’d), which was smart because this place fills up fast! While waiting in the cue to see the ever-popular Yayoi Kusama exhibits, we dined at Otium; a restaurant begun by a chef from famous Napa Valley “French Laundry”. We then took off to begin our road trip and made a little stop in Malibu, where we grabbed a bottle of wine for the night. This is where we got the first glimpse of the beauty of the Pacific Coast Highway. Since I was the passenger, I got to really absorb the breathtaking landscape and breathing in the salt air. Eventually we got to Oxnard for the night to enjoy our bottle of wine and delivery from a local pizzeria. Oxnard is an agricultural community, and the whole place smelled like fresh strawberries when we arrived.

DAY 4: Rose-Colored Glasses

This day was our heaviest driving day of the trip, but we did stop at the historic Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. If you’ve never been, I STRONGLY recommend it! In fact, I’ll be devoting an entire blog post to this experience. This was also the only day where we got off the Pacific Coast Highway (due to the landslides), but we somehow got onto an agricultural road that brought us through some of the most gorgeous vineyards and family farms backdropped by green mountains. This part of the trip showed us how quickly the landscape can change in California. Just when you think the land around you can’t get prettier, Mother Nature catches you off-guard. By early evening, we made it to Carmel Highlands, where I successfully made my first fireplace fire! We somehow got in to Point Lobos Natural Reserve before it closed, and caught a glimpse of a family of deer. Before settling down for the evening, we watched the sunset from the panoramic clifftop hotel restaurant.

DAY 5: Big Sur and Santa Cruz

After a breakfast of Eggs Benedict with a view of the crashing waves in Carmel, we drove down to Big Sur for a day of sight-seeing. Pfeiffer Beach, Bixby Bridge, and McWay Falls all reminded us how important it was to travel while we’re still young. These awe-inspiring views do require some hiking (an activity that was tricky for this Florida girl!), but totally worth the workout. Lunch at Nepenthe was one of my favorite moments of the day, mostly because I got to eat roasted garlic and goat cheese while watching the blue stellar jays dart from tree to tree. We then made our way back north, and arrived in Santa Cruz by the early afternoon to enjoy our stay on the city’s only beachfront hotel: Dream Inn. Their mid century modern beach styling was drool-worthy!

DAY 6: Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair

The following day, we made the quick trip up to San Francisco so we could spend nearly a full day exploring the city. Just like in Los Angeles, we opted to get an overview by car at first. Dropping our bags at the hotel, we explored the Sutro Baths and Land’s End, where I walked the labyrinth with the Golden Gate in the distance. We even found a hive of bumblebees! That evening, we stood in line for ramen at Mensho Tokyo (it was tasty, but we decided it wasn’t our favorite style of ramen) followed by drinks back at the hotel bar.

DAY 7: A day on The Rock ends with an original on the rocks.

Before we even booked our flights, my husband got tickets for Alcatraz. He didn’t realize when he booked that the tickets he’d gotten included Angel Island–which turned a relatively quick tourist activity into a nearly half-day experience. Despite the unexpected detour, we had a great time spotting saw sea lions and porpoises pop up in the water during the boat ride. If you haven’t been to Alcatraz, the cellhouse audio tour really made the trip memorable. I say this as a big scaredy-cat: Alcatraz is something you can’t miss if you’re in SF. Whoever designed the audio tour deserves a raise. Just sayin’.

We were picked up by possibly the best Lyft driver I’ve ever had (hi, Keysha!) and brought to the historic Trader Vic’s in Emeryville. This was kind of a bucket list item for me because I think tiki bars are just so cool, and Trader Vic’s is credited for creating the original Mai Tai. We sipped delicious cocktails from funky souvenir mugs, and filled up on fried rice and crab rangoon. It was a great end to a great day!

DAY 8: Muir Woods

I’m a big fan of M*A*S*H, so I kept thinking of B.J. Hunnicut as we curved our way up into the hills of Mill Valley early in the morning. The roads to Muir Woods National Monument feature hairpin turns and lots of fog, so my husband had a blast driving. I was VERY happy we reserved parking and arrived when the park opened–it was very peaceful and few others were around for the first two hours. Though the redwoods here aren’t as tall as the ones a few hours north, they were still towering giants. The clover all over the ground made the scene even more magical.

Later in the day, we drove back to SF, and explored Golden Gate park. We stopped at the Japanese Tea Garden, which was smaller than I expected, but no less wonderful. It was at this point we realized how much we need to return to SF someday–there’s so much to take in! The rest of this day is kind of a blur, because we drove some more through the city to squeeze the last bit of enjoyment out of the car. Lombard Street, Haight-Ashbury, Dolores Park, Twin Peaks…gosh, I don’t even remember everything we did–but, boy, was it a lot of fun!

DAY 9: The Last Day

Since we had returned the car the early afternoon the day before, we decided to explore on foot some of the city we missed–particularly the Mission District. Breakfast at Tartine meant another long line to wait in, as did burritos at La Taqueria. Both were delicious and memorable. But my favorite lines to wait in was for cocktails at Smugglers Cove and ramen at Ippudo. The broth and thin noodles at Ippudo are something I dream about, and the bartender at Smuggler’s Cove was truly impressive. This day is a bit of a blur too, and though I was ready to head home, I knew I’d miss these little moments away from the monotony of daily life.

This truly was a trip of a lifetime, and one I am deeply grateful to have experienced. It’s all thanks to my incredible husband. He recognized that I needed to get away and clear my head. He researched and planned this trip with careful thoughts and considerations on everything we’d see/do/experience. He also drove A LOT, which is more grueling than it looks. We were able to take this time because I’ve stepped away from my career for a bit, and it’s such a blessing to be in the position to not have to be bothered with work before or after a trip like this. I know not everyone can do this kind of thing in their thirties, so for that, I feel truly fortunate.