West Coast Road Trip: Part 5 – California!
Hey guys! This is my second to last post for the West Coast Road Trip. I can’t believe we’re almost done. Sharing these memories and tips with you all has made me truly relive the experience and miss it so much. It was such a beautiful experience and I am so happy to say I took this adventure.
After we left Las Vegas we headed off to California! I was so excited because we took a quick detour on the way to San Diego, CA to meet John’s grandparents. It was my first time meeting them and it was such a pleasure! They took us out to lunch and we both truly had such a heartwarming time. John has the sweetest grandparents and I am so honored to have met them and be accepted into their family. It just makes me that much more excited to marry John. After we visited his grandparents we were back on the road!
We decided to drive up the West Coast on Highway 101 and it was STUNNING. You literally are driving on the side of mountains overlooking the vast ocean for an endless amount of miles.
Of course it would take us hours longer to get to each location but it was completely worth it. If you were to drive the complete Highway 101 it would take you 10 hours but has some of the most scenic views in the country. It goes from California’s northern border with Oregon and stretches all the way down to San Diego, CA.
For some fun stops along the way check out this article. I would have done all of these stops if possible but we had a very tight schedule.
It is also important to note that Highway 101 doesn’t always have great or any cell service. If something were to happen to your car you would be stuck. There are payphones on the side of the road every 50 miles or so but I think it is good to be aware of this before you head out.
For our trip on Highway 101 we actually started at the bottom in San Diego, CA and went all the way up to the Border of Oregon. Once we arrived to San Diego after seeing John’s grandparents we checked into a hotel called Comfort Inn Gaslamp Convention Center. This hotel was affordable, decent for a one night’s stay, had free breakfast (love free things), gave you free day passes to a gym right down the street (again love free things), and was located on streets with a fun night life.
I didn’t know of the great atmosphere this location had until we were there. So many places to dine at, the streets were decorated with adorable string lights, there was live music, and a ton of dessert shops. It was 9:00pm at night and people were still out and about exploring, eating, drinking, and just catching up with friends/family. The neighborhood is called “Core-Columbia” if you want to explore more! This location is also extremely close to a lot of other great places to visit such as La Jolla, CA.
I LOVE La Jolla, CA. I had only been there once but I remembered the ocean views and tons of seals being in plain sight for great photos. I knew John would enjoy this so once we checked into our hotel that night that is where we headed around sunset. I haven’t been to La Jolla in years and was shocked to see how humanized the seals had become! There were seals everywhere! You could walk up to them, past them, etc and it did not phase them. It was crazy!
Please keep in mind, though these seals are extremely relaxed around humans, you should definitely NOT interact with them. They are still wild animals and their actions are unpredictable. I would be sure to keep a smart amount of distance. One woman did not have common sense and a seal almost bit her finger! Yikes.
The next day we headed out to the San Diego Zoo because I wanted to see the Panda Bears like I did years ago! Disclaimer: The Panda Bears are no longer in San Diego. We were very sad.
The zoo was fun to do and was MASSIVE. It also surprisingly had a lot of hills. Make sure you wear sneakers!
After the zoo we had a long car ride coming up! We had to drive from San Diego, CA all the way to San Simeon, CA which was about a 6 hour drive. Of course our drive continued on Highway 101 which led to quick stops and pretty look outs so the time flew by a little quicker since the views were so gorgeous.
That night we stayed at a hotel called “Silver Surf Motel” which was not the best hotel in the world by any means but it was good just for a quick nightcap. The next morning, before continuing our long road trip, we got breakfast at this cute place called “Redwood Cafe.”
This breakfast joint got great reviews online so we thought we would go check it out and luckily it didn’t disappoint! It’s hard to find good places to eat where we were located but this had to be one of the better restaurants.
Apparently they were known for their french toast and boy was it good! I’m craving french toast just reading this.
Once we were back on the road we had an 8 1/2 hour drive all the way to Bayside, CA. It was our longest car ride yet on this trip. Of course our drive continued on Highway 101.
Our goal was to make it to Bayside, CA where our Airbnb was because the next day we wanted to go to the “Redwood National and State Parks” to see some of the largest trees in the country. If we made it that night we wouldn’t have that much of a drive the next day, so we sucked it up and drove all day long. Before we get to that though we stopped at our halfway point in San Francisco, CA to see “The Golden Gate Bridge.”
We didn’t want to get caught up in the tourist crowd and needed to stretch our legs so we did a hike, away from the crowds, to see great views of the bridge. For trails to see the bridge click here. I honestly cannot remember off the top of my head which hiking trail we took but it was extremely uphill and there was no one else around.
It was wonderful to selfishly share these views alone. It was breezy and this hike isn’t for anyone who can get winded easily. Trust me, the hike was rough but this view was worth it.
After this great hour detour it was back on the road for us! This means more Highway 101 cruising and anticipation to our next stop. When we finally got to our Airbnb it was SO cute. Click here to see it. It was a tiny house in the owner’s backyard where they had chickens and a serene landscape. Unfortunately we didn’t stay long, just a quick overnight, but I would have loved to have interacted with their chickens!
We woke up early in the morning and headed off to the Redwood National and State Parks! John was extremely excited for this part of the trip as he remembered going here when he was young and wanted to share this experience with me.
When we first began to head into the Forest we got to see a ton of Elk. I was stoked. I have been wanting to see a bunch of elk the whole trip.
There were groups of elks and we even got to see a mama with her baby. It was incredibly precious.
Be aware that when you head into the Forest you will have absolutely no cell reception and finding a bathroom will be difficult/impossible. I wish we knew this before heading in. So try to map out where you want to go because your GPS might not work.
As you can see in the photo above, these trees were massive! Not only in height but by width. I never knew trees could be so large. This was already becoming such an unique experience.
There were so many trails to take we could have been there for days. If you wanted you could camp out here which I kind of wish we did. I’ll just add it for the bucket list for now! We ended up spending a good 3 hours here exploring and as we were leaving we saw a sign that said “$1.00 to drive your car through a tree.” How could we say no to that? I mean, the tree is so large they were able to cut a hole out of the middle so you could drive your whole car through. I had to see it!
We also were able to see how long our armspan was compared to one of these trees. The tree we measured against turned out to be 603 years old.
After coming to this Forest John realized this wasn’t the forest he was thinking of when he was a child. He meant to take me to Sequoia National Park. He said the trees are even bigger there, so that’s on our list for whenever we come back to California. For other places in California to see the Redwood trees click here.
After a wonderful day hiking through the woods and soaking in the views we were off to our final destination where we will stay for the rest of our trip, which only has a week left. Oregon! Originally we were going to fly to Oregon and spend a week there but I really wanted to explore other states, so instead of doing a 1 week trip we made 2 and turned it into a road trip and I honestly think that was the best decision ever!
Our final destination is going to John’s other grandparents house in Oregon. They own a ranch on a bay with horses, a donkey, chickens, and cows. Trust me you won’t want to miss this! It was one of the most beautiful places you could ever be. I’ll tell you all about it in my last post for the West Coast Road Trip. How bitter sweet!
