california: part III

*warning: worlds longest blog post*

MONTEREY: 

So, we finally made it to Monterey. After the sunset stop, we thought we were only a couple hours away. Which we were- except we didn't put into consideration that it would be driving on crazy narrow, mountain roads in the dark. This was another tearful test for me. All I could think about was going off the side and into the sea (major issues, as mentioned before). I do know that we drove around Big Sir which I've heard is beautiful, but that night I hated it. But this test did come with a reward at the end- for passing, Randy surprised me with this resort stay (an upgrade from our hotel that he tricked me into thinking we were staying). It was so cute, secluded, quiet, and felt like we had our own little beach cottage. He did good. 

                    

These are the activities I did most when we were just hangin. It was pretty freezing there, and going from 100 to 50 in a day my body was officially in shock. However, this was our view and I was willing to suffer to bask in every second of it:

   Our first day there, we set out right away- no rest for these jet-setters.Sadly, this was my first time actually feeling the Pacific waters- every time we were near it in SoCal, it wasn't conducive to our schedule or it was night time. So I waited until it was really 0 degrees. (I also thought this was the best picture we took together so far, if you look to the bottom right of it). So, it still stands true- the water is much colder than the Atlantic, just to keep everyone updated. After splashing around for .1 second, we hit the town of Monterey.

    

  We started off at this great little breakfast place called first awakenings (which took us a lot longer to find on our map because Randy kept telling me to type in Great Awakenings- super spiritual, but incorrect). I tried out one of their dill crepe-eggs because this seemed like a popular California menu item. It was probably the best breakfast choice I've ever made. Afterwards, we walked around Cannery Row like tourists. 

                           
 
                           

  Just creeping around the corner. After we finished our touristing around downtown, we decided to make our way to Carmel. We ended up taking the 17 Mile Drive- best decision. It is miles (duh) of even more beautiful coast. So here is a picture tour: 

There were sea lions covering the top of the rock above. The smell was horrible, but their sounds made up for it.

                             

                             

           comforting- fortunately didn't need to use that advice

                          

                         

   Rands was lusting over this golf course the whole time, I guess it's a really cool one, so this is for him. 

   We finally entered into beautiful Carmel. We walked around a little, grabbed some coffee and sat on the beach for awhile- everyone was in winter clothes but laying on the sand, and it looked so appealing so I joined (below). 

CARMEL:

                                            

                                                 
                                             

 

  

 

We drove back to have our final night in Monterey. We cozied up with this gourmet dinner of Trader Joe's wine and cheese, watching the sunset (notice we are inside by the fire place) and then started our SanFrancisco trek the next day.

REDWOODS:

No words. Just majestic-  I loved driving through the forest, it made me feel like I was in another world. Once we were through it, it was amazing to see the forest go on forever (also-rands doing some calculations).

 

 

Finally, our last destination!
SANFRANCISCO:
Randy's brother and wife have a great place in SanFrancisco right by the Giant's baseball stadium, so they graciously let us stay there for the remainder of our trip. It was a perfect location for us to walk or bike to most places, and we even braved the mountianhills- almost puked a few times, but did it. 

Rands was on a mission, and led me through all of San Francisco (literally) trying to keep up with the hiptser kids. We covered pretty much the whole city in one day, stopping at a couple places we heard about- his stop of choice was dynamo donut (worth it). 

And mine was snacking on a chocolate hazelnut Tartine treat & delish fourbarrel coffee (major coffee nerdery there-loved it, this guy was my favorite). After bike-walking one of the steepest hills, this was our prize (Alcatraz is the little island on the right): 

                                     
                                   
                                   
                               
     Randy's fam also took us on a paddle-boarding excursion on Sausalito in the marina that weekend. It was the first time either of us had done it, and it was quite intimidating at first when I saw the seals swimming around us and heard his brother mention something about a jelly fish swimming under him. So my main goal was to not fall in (along with falling in the 1 degree water- which I had to go in this time in order to participate). Fortunately, we made it back dry, and Rands was more adventurous and actually went out to the Bay. Such a pro.

 

The last night, we were treated to the best ice cream in the whole world. Really. It was salted caramel from bi-rite creamery, and it was heaven. I need some now. 

  We also went back to tartine bakery to get our last pastry fill, to me it was almost the Orlando equivalent of croissant gourmet, but with a line wrapping around the bakery any time of day. Below is a couple of really cute shops we went into, they had unique antique & vintage furniture and other random goods that were fun to look through. 

      harrington's                   therapy 

 

Our last night there, we were driving home and saw the fog rolling in over the city. It was such a crazy, incredible thing to see- it came in so fast and looked like a wave of smoke was about to cover the whole city. So neat. 
   That officially ends the tour de California- there are so many more pictures and obviously amazing things to do. I'd love to hear from you/others what other places are must-see's for when we go back, which is hopefully tomorrow. This was our second time going out there together, but first time doing the coastal road trip- it is a must, worth the money & time and has made it very hard to be content in our reality of Orlando at the moment! 

California: Part II

HOLLYWOOD: While driving thorough the streets of West Hollywood like ballers, we accidentally found ourselves going up the Hollywood(land) hills, then stumbled upon the trail to the Hollywood sign which we wanted to do anyway. So, I'm not really sure where it is or how we found it, but it was pretty neato. Again, I wasn't a fan of the heights, and again Randy didn't obey and did that <---. But it resulted in the picture below, so, worth it. The smog was extra gross that day, which is sad because we couldn't even see the cool buildings downtown. 

     These are when I pretended to be brave and stand by myself. They're fake smiles, but proud, and severely sweaty palms (not pictured). We made it back down, and drove through all the toursty stuff, we just stayed inside-car-tourists (it was 100 degrees that day). 

 



 One of my personal highlights- stalking my friend Kelly Cutrone at People' Revolution and seeing what it really looked like. I just waited outside in hopes of an appearance, but no such luck. I have to say, I was a little surprised my friends LC and Whitney interned there, it wasn't really in the best area.. 

That night we stayed in downtown LA, and went to eat some delish Sushi at Katana on Sunset Blvd (while the sun actually set- it was cute). It was randomly chilly that night, so it was perfect for an outdoor, romantical dinner. Pretty sure they stuck us in the back corner for a reason, but it was prime people watching so it was perfect. 

 

We also met up a good friend (Seth), a local and long time YWAM friend, who took us out for a night on the town post sushi-fest to some local hangs like Skybar and Chateau Marmont (fave). If you squint really hard, you can totally see beyond the flash and smog for rad LA view behind us. 

                               

                                                             special <3

The next day, we officially were off for the real road trip portion. Our plan was to stop in Monterey for a couple nights, while also taking some detours along the way. And we couldn't leave without going through Santa Monica to my favorite coffee place (urth caffe). It was worth the detour. 

    It was hard to not stop every 2 minutes to take pictures. I don't even know where this is. But it was great. I know it was somewhere close to Santa Barbara because that's where we ended up next. It had so much character too and gorgeous, we only spent an hour there, but could have definitely spent a day. Or ten.

SANTA BARBARA: 

     

It was a quiet and cute and I couldn't believe that people were laying out in 60 degree weather . But I guess I would too if I lived in a place that gorgeous all the time (also, Randy was with me there, he just hasn't quite trusted me yet to handle his picture taking device- but he will make an appearance again soon). After being speedy tourists, we were off to our final stop before our stay in Monterey.

SAN LUIS OBISPO: 

 

    And that's all we have of that. We had a sunset to catch, so we only stopped in for a quick bite. I do wish we could have stayed longer there also, because it looked like a cute town. It was very college-town like, with quaint shops and cute eatery's around. We ended up getting this mexican delight at a Mexican/Greek restaurant called the wild donkey.Our Mexican obsession clearly follows us wherever we go. 

And finally, just outside of San Luis Obispo, we stopped somewhere along the coast to catch the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen. And it immediately dropped 20 degrees. There is way too many pictures, but this concludes part II of this part III california series if you've followed along this far. Up next: Monterey, Carmel & finally SanFrancisco! 

              There he is! Isn't he dreamy. 

 

And here is what he captured: