We set out in the afternoon on Christmas day. We drove just to Eugene, OR that first day and didn't do much other than hang out at our hotel. Most places were closed for Christmas, so we just laid low with some board games and leftovers from home.
The next day we lit out early and crossed into California! The plan for the day was to explore the Redwood National and State Parks. Our first stop was Crescent City for lunch-ish, which set the tone for our trip food. Burritos. We ate more burritos than there were days I think.
We also grabbed a map of the park and some helpful advice from an awesome ranger at the park office. He had very strong opinions about what we should do on our WHOLE road trip. It went like this:
We also grabbed a map of the park and some helpful advice from an awesome ranger at the park office. He had very strong opinions about what we should do on our WHOLE road trip. It went like this:
"Are you going to do so-and-so or such-and-such?"
"Uh...."
"DO"
And so we did. We also joked that as soon as we drove into California the clouds parted and the sun poured in. Which actually did happen but was still somewhat unexpected since we were preparing ourselves for the possibility of rain (or even snow) in northern California. However, we were super lucky with the weather the whole trip and didn't see even a drop of rain. It was sunshine all around.
We went for a few different hikes in Redwood. It felt so nice to just get out of the car and tromp around. We drove through the park with our windows down (and seat warmers on) because it just smelled so wonderful. As the sun was just starting to go down we were finishing up the trail in the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and it was just spectacular to see the sunlight coming through the trees. We stayed in Eureka that night, relaxing in the hot tub with this cool German family we met at the hotel. They were roadtripping all the way from Seattle to LA and fulfilling a dream of driving the coast on the 1. How cool!
The next day we made a few more Redwood stops. On the ranger's suggestion we took the driving detour through the Grove of Giants. It was kinda just "meh" since we already done our hiking the day before, but it was worth it to me since one of the attractions along that stretch has a felled tree you can stand in. We also stopped and did the drive-through tree! We weren't sure if this existed on our route or not, and were excited to come upon it just as we turned off the 101 onto the 1. It was pretty touristy, but we still got a HUGE kick out of it. C'mon, it's a drive-through tree! How is that not super cool!
From there we left the Redwoods behind and began our drive on the 1. The views of the coast were spectacular and constant. You're pretty much driving right on the edge of the coast for most of the way. The sun continued and there was lots of stopping to get out at different vista points and beaches for pictures, oohs, and aahs. We also stopped for lunch at an obligatory roadside burger shop. It's just so road-tripy right? Our stop of choice was Jenny's Giant Burger in Fort Bragg where we shared a burger and shake while sitting at the counter. Perfection. Then we continued on to our destination for the day of San Francisco, making one more stop along a beach to watch the sunset and take a wee walk before piling back in the car. It was dark by the time we crossed the Golden Gate bridge, but still very cool and epic.
The awesome weather continued in San Francisco. We were having such a good time bopping around that I seem to have neglected taking many pictures! We had dinner at Burma Superstar the night we got in (so good!) and stayed in the Alamo Square neighborhood. The next day was spent pretty much entirely in San Francisco. From here on out we didn't have much driving left to do so we took it easy. First there was brunch at Serpentine, which was a bit out of the way but totally worth it. Then we spent the rest of the day wandering around shops in the Mission district and The Haight. All the vintage shops on Haight street were so fun! We also stopped in at the massive Amoeba Music and although we kind of struck out on finding anything too good to pass up we still had a fun time purusing.
As we were driving out of the city, Kevin made me take this picture and told me to label it: RUSH!
Our destination that night was Santa Cruz, where we did nothing but sleep, eat burritos, and walk by the beach a bit. Then it was on to our most southern stop: Big Sur. Along the way we made several stops and discovered there were whales and dolphins to be seen! Apparently there are large numbers of grey whales migrating at this time of year. We're not 100% sure what kind of dolphins we were seeing, but after consulting a placard later on we think they were Risso's Dolphins.
When we got to Big Sur, I have to say I was a little underwhelmed at first. There were sooo many people. I suppose it was because of the holiday and the nice weather, but it was way more packed that we were expecting for a winter trip. We also had trouble finding a good, moderately long hike that wasn't packed with other visitors. However, Big Sure redeemed itself once we found our campground: Andrew Molera State Park. We were able to snag a campsite early on in the day, and returned back later and walked down to the beach. There were far less people and the park offers several hiking trails. There was also a group of people surfing, which looked absolutely perfect (except that it was freezing cold). In hindsight I wish we would have skipped some of our other Big Sur stops (like the much anticipated and very disappointing McWay Falls) and just headed straight for Andrew Molera. Ah well. Next time. Camping that night was chilly but totally doable. The stars were absolutely spectacular and the no-chance-of-rain weather meant we could leave our rainshield off and look at them all night. Well, Kevin could. I can't see farther than my nose without my glasses.
The next morning we got up early and walked back to the beach for a sunset light breakfast. There was no one else on the beach that morning so we had it all to ourselves as we warmed up with the sun and walked around to unstiffify our limbs (yes, I did just make up that word). Then, we packed up our campsite, and stopped for a more hearty breakfast before getting back on the road for the day. We didn't eat anywhere else in Big Sur, so I can't compare it to other places, but we chose the Cafe at Ripplewood and it was just perfect for us. A diner counter with a super friendly staff who keep your coffee cup full combined with my favorite breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs, and toast after a chilly night made me one happy girl.
From Big Sur we were headed to Berkeley, with a quick stop in Monterey. In Berkeley went for a walk in Cesar Chavez Park for the views of San Francisco across the bay at sunset. While we were in San Francisco in the Haight, I finally talked Kevin into buying a super cool denim jacket, which he wore that night and looked dashing in if I do say so myself. We also hit up another Amoeba Music location and found a few things that time, including a very appropriate copy of the Beach Boys Endless Summer album which Kevin described to me as the soundtrack of his childhood.
After Berkeley, we set off early and bombed it back to Seattle in the hopes of making it to a New Year's party at Andi's house. It was a lot of driving that day, but we were ready to get home and were looking forward to celebrating with friends. The most exciting thing that happened that day was us hitting 100,000 miles on our little VW Golf! Although it's a fairly new to us car and we certainly didn't put all those miles on ourselves, we still got really excited about watching it turn. You can also see the total mileage of our road trip at that point below the 100,000. Unfortunately, it reset at when it hit 2000 so we couldn't get a shot of the total mileage.
We went for a few different hikes in Redwood. It felt so nice to just get out of the car and tromp around. We drove through the park with our windows down (and seat warmers on) because it just smelled so wonderful. As the sun was just starting to go down we were finishing up the trail in the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and it was just spectacular to see the sunlight coming through the trees. We stayed in Eureka that night, relaxing in the hot tub with this cool German family we met at the hotel. They were roadtripping all the way from Seattle to LA and fulfilling a dream of driving the coast on the 1. How cool!
From there we left the Redwoods behind and began our drive on the 1. The views of the coast were spectacular and constant. You're pretty much driving right on the edge of the coast for most of the way. The sun continued and there was lots of stopping to get out at different vista points and beaches for pictures, oohs, and aahs. We also stopped for lunch at an obligatory roadside burger shop. It's just so road-tripy right? Our stop of choice was Jenny's Giant Burger in Fort Bragg where we shared a burger and shake while sitting at the counter. Perfection. Then we continued on to our destination for the day of San Francisco, making one more stop along a beach to watch the sunset and take a wee walk before piling back in the car. It was dark by the time we crossed the Golden Gate bridge, but still very cool and epic.
The awesome weather continued in San Francisco. We were having such a good time bopping around that I seem to have neglected taking many pictures! We had dinner at Burma Superstar the night we got in (so good!) and stayed in the Alamo Square neighborhood. The next day was spent pretty much entirely in San Francisco. From here on out we didn't have much driving left to do so we took it easy. First there was brunch at Serpentine, which was a bit out of the way but totally worth it. Then we spent the rest of the day wandering around shops in the Mission district and The Haight. All the vintage shops on Haight street were so fun! We also stopped in at the massive Amoeba Music and although we kind of struck out on finding anything too good to pass up we still had a fun time purusing.
As we were driving out of the city, Kevin made me take this picture and told me to label it: RUSH!
Our destination that night was Santa Cruz, where we did nothing but sleep, eat burritos, and walk by the beach a bit. Then it was on to our most southern stop: Big Sur. Along the way we made several stops and discovered there were whales and dolphins to be seen! Apparently there are large numbers of grey whales migrating at this time of year. We're not 100% sure what kind of dolphins we were seeing, but after consulting a placard later on we think they were Risso's Dolphins.
The next morning we got up early and walked back to the beach for a sunset light breakfast. There was no one else on the beach that morning so we had it all to ourselves as we warmed up with the sun and walked around to unstiffify our limbs (yes, I did just make up that word). Then, we packed up our campsite, and stopped for a more hearty breakfast before getting back on the road for the day. We didn't eat anywhere else in Big Sur, so I can't compare it to other places, but we chose the Cafe at Ripplewood and it was just perfect for us. A diner counter with a super friendly staff who keep your coffee cup full combined with my favorite breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs, and toast after a chilly night made me one happy girl.
From Big Sur we were headed to Berkeley, with a quick stop in Monterey. In Berkeley went for a walk in Cesar Chavez Park for the views of San Francisco across the bay at sunset. While we were in San Francisco in the Haight, I finally talked Kevin into buying a super cool denim jacket, which he wore that night and looked dashing in if I do say so myself. We also hit up another Amoeba Music location and found a few things that time, including a very appropriate copy of the Beach Boys Endless Summer album which Kevin described to me as the soundtrack of his childhood.
After Berkeley, we set off early and bombed it back to Seattle in the hopes of making it to a New Year's party at Andi's house. It was a lot of driving that day, but we were ready to get home and were looking forward to celebrating with friends. The most exciting thing that happened that day was us hitting 100,000 miles on our little VW Golf! Although it's a fairly new to us car and we certainly didn't put all those miles on ourselves, we still got really excited about watching it turn. You can also see the total mileage of our road trip at that point below the 100,000. Unfortunately, it reset at when it hit 2000 so we couldn't get a shot of the total mileage.
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