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[quest2thewest]

Seals (first encounter)

After returning safely to “shore” the next morning, we stopped in a couple of the cute beachy shops in Morro Bay. We had a fairly open itinerary with the ultimate destination being San Francisco. We made a funny stop at Nit Witt Ridge in Cambria. It’s a historic house that is made from trash that a local artist collected in the 40s/50s (you should google it for more legit info). Then we tried to visit Hearst Castle but all the tours were sold out for the day. Oh well. We continued along the coast stopping at multiple beautiful viewpoints. We pulled over and walked along the beach near San Luis Obispo just taking it all in. Andy nudged me at one point and behind us was the most adorable seal just hanging out in the sun, pushing sand on himself with his flippers. It was the cutest thing! It felt so unnatural to be that close to an animal like that. But obviously it was incredibly natural- more than ever. The whole day I just kept saying “I can’tttt believe we saw a seallll!”. Funny thing is, as we continued driving a bit, we saw signs for an elephant seal rookery. We also had made note of it as a destination in our Road Trip book (we were following the route 1 road trip, obviously). It ended up being a huge beach with tons of huge elephant seals hanging out in the sun- the same way our little solo friend was. There must have been hundreds on this beach. It was crazy. They were so entertaining to watch. I had a slight concern that our little friend was either lost or rejected from the group, but I preferred to think of him (or her) as a solo seal who enjoyed sun bathing by himself, instead of dealing with obnoxious neighbors. We continue on to Big Sur, which we realized wasnt just a one stop viewpoint- it’s really just a stretch of continued breathtaking coastline. It was at that point that we realized we weren’t going to make it to San Francisco that night. So we stopped at the Big Sur River Inn & Restaurant for dinner and decided we’d make it to Monterey Bay that night and head to San Fran in the morning- one of the many times we took advantage of having a flexible schedule!

[quest2thewest]

A Few Hiccups...

Monday and Tuesday we spent with Scott, Tish and little baby Naia. We explored the beautiful area of Malibu, got some beers in downtown LA and did laundry for the first time (yikes!). Then we were off on our next adventure, Morro Bay. We stopped in Santa Barbara for lunch- Crushcakes & Cafe. Very cute and yummy (mini cupcakes!). We reached Morro Bay in the late afternoon. It was a quaint town with cute shops. We were on a mission though. Find Andy’s brothers boat and get there before sunset. No time for shopping. There were a few hiccups on the way but we reached the boat before dark. We had a momentary scare when it seemed as though the lock on the cabin door was rusted solid- but Andy was able to get it open eventually- phew! A few more hiccups...the battery was left on so we had no power, and the fresh water supply was empty...but all in all it was a comfortable and fun night sleeping on a boat- never have I ever, until now!

[quest2thewest]

Tar Pits?

Sunday Caitlin picked up her boyfriend, Saaman, from the airport and we walked to a cute cafe for brunch. Then after a few practice runs, we all rented scooters and rode to the LA Tar Pits- a very strange and interesting park where natural asphalt seeps up from the ground. There have been many ancient fossils discovered within the “tar pits”. So that was weird but cool (however apparently not cool enough for me to take any pictures of 😂) We also saw the outside of the LACMA, their Lightpost art installation and a few other things. We then ‘scooted’ our way to get some fancy ice cream from the Salt and Straw. We said bye to Caitlin and co. and grabbed dinner at a classic LA diner, 101 Coffee Shop (featured in the movie Swingers), before heading to Reseda, in northern LA to visit Andy’s good friend Scott & his family.

[quest2thewest]

Mome Raths

Saturday was a beautiful day. We were made avocado toast for breakfast (again- treated like royalty!) and hopped in the car with our 4-legged [somewhat] friend Otto to head to Griffith park for a hike. What a great park to have access to, right in the big city! There were great views of the city and the Hollywood sign, as well as lots of super blooms!!!! I especially liked when I found the Alice in Wonderland reference (see pic about mome raths). And annoyingly we DID see people stepping on them 😡. We made sure to be respectful of course. It was a nice hike, Otto took quite the liking to Andy. We ended up getting a little “lost” but all in all we found our way back to the car after some unintentional rock climbing. Whoops! Then stopped for some food and beers at Trader Joe’s. That night we went to hang out with an old friend from University of Delaware who’s been in LA for a couple years (it was her birthday). We went to an Ariana Grande tribute party. Andy was a good sport 😂

[quest2thewest]

L.A. Woman

Friday we made our way to LA. We spent the first part of the day at the Botanic Gardens in Encinitas (about 30 mins north of San Diego). It apparently has the biggest bamboo collection in the US (I image this could be why San Diego is able to have pandas at their zoo ☺️). We then drove to Santa Monica pier- strolled around, people watched and then watched a beautiful California sunset on the beach. We got a good immediate taste for the ever-famous LA traffic- took us an hour to West Hollywood when it should actually take 15 mins. This was our first official “friend stay” of the trip- Caitlin 💜. Such a cute apartment! We grabbed a quick late dinner at a local place and were treated like royalty by getting to sleep in her fancy big bed 🤗 (we did have to share with Simone, her adorable white kitty, but that certainly didn’t bother me!!) thanks bait!!!

[quest2thewest]

We love San Diego!

Thursday we went to Old Town, San Diego. It’s the oldest settled area in SD. A lot of great Mexican culture and influence- some great Mexican food, lots of cute shops with Mexican made jewelry, clothes and tchotchkes. In Old Town Stare Park there were old fashioned cigar shops, print shops, candy stores 😍 and soap shops. We could have spent the whole day there! We then went to Belmont Park, the first of many California beach boardwalk amusement parks. There was a dramatic stormy sky backdrop and we felt like we’d for sure see a whale out in the ocean (we didn’t). Then we went to North Park for their weekly farmers market. Unfortunately it had down-poured on our drive there so the customer turnout wasn’t that great. But there were plenty of vendors willing to sell us stuff and give us free samples! Luckily the “unemployed homeless” story was an easy excuse for why we couldn’t buy anything (but we’re grateful for the free samples) and then we were lucky enough to see a beautiful rainbow! Then we went to Ballast Point brewery in Little Italy- Andy’s a big fan of their beer. They had a HUGE draft beer menu, very impressive. We both had beer flights and possibly the best cauliflower “wings” ever! What a day!

[quest2thewest]

The San Diego Zoo!

Although I sometimes have an internal debate with myself about zoos, you can’t really go to San Diego and not go to the San Diego zoo. We have it pretty lucky in New York because the Bronx Zoo is impressive but the San Diego zoo is awesome!!! First of all, they are very aware and vocal about their impacts on/contributions towards improving the environment, both in regards to their breeding programs for saving endangered species as well as their environmental footprint (their benches are made of recycled plastics, for example). They have a bus that takes you around the whole zoo, included in your entrance fee. Of course, they have a PANDA! And an amazing assortment of animals, lots which I have never seen before and lots of the exhibits allow you to get very close to the animals (was particularly happy about this when it came to the giraffes!) but still in a safe and respectful way. We had a great day, minor hiccup when it started down pouring in the middle of the day but we had Disney ponchos thanks to Andy so it was no biggy! Later that night we checked into a cheap hotel which was actually great, and grabbed dinner at a place I’d found online (there was an offer for free truffle fries through yelp so that helped make the decision). Our waiter was originally from the east coast, nice guy. He gave us some recommendations and boosted our confidence a bit, saying his move from east to west was a great decision (no offense to our east coasters 💜). The truffle fries were very good 😂

[quest2thewest]

“WHOAAAA”

The next morning we got a tour from Rob, an artist who lives and works on the property. He was in the process of creating a glass bottle window in the bathroom- the bathroom is being built in an old wooden train car. We walked all around the property, they have several acres and lots of big plans. They’re going to plant a fruit grove, they’re building a cabin that’s built into the earth to keep it cool, and uses recycled water and is completely sustainable in ways I didn’t exactly understand (Andy was following along better than I was). But it was such an interesting place with such great potential. We are excited to follow along with the progress (we are following Rob on Instagram) and stay there again sometime! We then made our way to San Diego, with a quick pit stop to try to get a good view of the “super bloom” -California had gotten so much rain over the last few months that it’s made all the flowers literally super bloom (you can google it and see how stupid instagrammers basically caused a town to shut down because they were obsessed with getting photos in the poppy fields). Unfortunately the area we went to was closed and we couldn’t get close, but as we continued to drive towards San Diego we saw lots of beautiful pockets of wild flowers along the highway. California poppies and other pretty yellow and purple flowers. We knew we hit San Diego officially when Andy and I pull off a highway exit, take a left turn and are all the sudden just a few blocks away from the water. We literally both went “WHOAAAAAA” at the same time 😂. We spent some time exploring around Tuna Harbor Park, checking out the iconic kissing sailor statue and enjoying the sun. We then booked a hotel in Ocean Beach (thanks Shwam!) and really fell in love with that area of San Diego. The hotel was right across the street from the beach and on a Main Street that had lots of great shops, restaurants and breweries. There were some funky people around too. We took a short stroll on the beach and grabbed a snack at a vegan fast food place (I was thrilled, Andy was a good sport 😊). Then we planned a mini brewery crawl for ourselves- San Diego has an impressive number of breweries- over 150! The area we were in allowed us to check out 4, all within short walking distance! We had a fun evening.

[quest2thewest]

From Animal Rescue to Eco-Shire

We woke up to the sounds of lots of different animals. One loud and proud rooster, along with a second rooster who definitely needed an adjustment to his vocal cords...he reminded me a lot of the chicken Hay Hay, from Moana. Kinda scraggly and maybe a little bird brain-ish (although to be fair I cannot conform this one was scraggly). He was definitely trying to get his morning wake up call to be as impressive as rooster #1 but let’s just say he was a ways away from success. Jessica gave us a tour of the property. She has a ton of animals! Many are rescued, some are just being given a place to live while their owners either relocate or are out of town, etc. She had at least 7 horses, several goats, a donkey, a miniature pony, pigs, chickens, geese, a tortoise, rabbits, dogs and cats. And most importantly 2 llamas (most notably, Kusco the kissing llama). Our travel mascot Willie, (see post #2) was very jealous. We then got lunch at a place called Pie for the People- very good pizza!! We picked up a Joshua tree map and took some suggestions from the ranger- a short nature trail at Black Rock Canyon (one of the less frequented areas of Joshua Tree) and then a few small hikes in the park. Joshua Tree is seriously a national park designed by Dr. Seuss. The trees are hysterical! We got lucky enough to see a few cute desert hares. We also saw a very odd....demonstration? I guess you’d call it....two women in fancy almost tribal looking outfits, one playing a drum and the other singing. It seemed like it was an ode to some higher power or god. It went on for a very long time. A girl also decided to join in the celebration by interpretive dancing. I think Andy and I both had a “we’re not in Kansas anymore” moment. And I had the song (which was not in English) stuck in my head for several hours afterwards. We went to Joshua Tree Saloon for dinner which was a great old time-y place with lots of old signs and memorabilia inside. We had our first California brewed beers! We flipped a coin for whether we’d camp for one more night (knowing we’d hit San Diego the next day) or stayed in a much needed hotel. Camping won the coin toss so we used HipCamp again to find a place that was referred to as a “Down to Earth Eco-Shire” in Hemet, CA. We had no idea what to expect but we’re very pleasantly surprised. Jim and his wife greeted us (along with their long haired dachshund D’Angelo) with a nice fire all set up and burning. They live on the property and are currently building an Eco-Shire, with all sorts of different projects. More details in the next post.

[quest2thewest]

St. Patty’s Day in the desert

We spent St. Patrick’s Day driving through the desert. Packed up camp in the Grand Canyon, battling off a few gigantic ravens in the process (seriously, gigantic), and made our way to California! First stop: the Mojave desert. Not many major points of interest on the drive, but we weren’t sick of the desert yet so it was still a pretty drive. We finally started to watch the temperature gage in the car raise from high 40s/low 50s to high 60s/low 70s- FINALLY! We pulled off at one point to check out the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge- not much to see other than a pretty lake. We pulled over at one point to catch up with our families and after a while a cop pulled up next to us and asked if we were ok. I was worried we were going to get in trouble for some reason but he merely said “When you see a car pulled over on the side of the road in this heat you gotta stop to make sure everything’s ok and that you haven’t broken down!” What a nice guy! Mid afternoon we finally passed into California. We instantly blast “California Love” by Tupac...obviously. We had read that the Mojave Desert is very desolate and dry (as one could imagine) so we planned to potentially stay the night in a town called Needles, right outside the Mojave desert. We got there and drove through what looked like an extremely abandoned town. Very little around in terms of hotels or restaurants. It was kinda creepy. So we decided to keep driving through the Mojave Desert and try to get closer to Joshua Tree National Park- our next destination. There was literally nothing in the Mojave Desert aside from a gas station charging over $4.00 a gallon! We used HipCamp - an extension of air bnb for camping - to find Moonlight Animal Rescue, which had camp sites available and was right near the north entrance of Joshua Tree National Park (in a town called Twentynine Palms). We see a beautiful desert sunset on our drive to the campsite. The owner Jessica greets us and shows us where to set up camp, also explaining the animal rescue a little bit (along with a lot of other side stories and life stories- she was very chatty 😂). We finished the evening with some pbj’s and a Guinness- we are both Irish after all!

[quest2thewest]

Exploring the Canyon

The next morning we went to get some information about hiking into the canyon itself, and Andy was interested in hearing about the mule rides you could take down. He came back with good and bad news on both topics. 1. Yes you can hike all the way into the canyon. But it will take 17 hours and they don’t suggest you do it in one day. 2. Yes you can take a mule into the canyon. But it costs $600. I think it goes without saying that both ideas were instantly nixed. We decided to hike a portion of the trail that leads you down into the canyon- South Kaibab Trail- to Ooh Aah Point and Cedar Ridge (3 miles round trip). Very, very icy start. Not nearly as treacherous as Angel’s Landing but there were some pretty steep drops and we had to hold on to the rocky edges of the switchbacks for dear life. After getting past that part it was a nice sunny walk down. We actually got to see the train of mules making their way up with the crazy people on their backs that paid $600 to do it! I felt bad for the little fellers (the mules not the people) but they looked like pros. The views at the points were spectacular and it was great to get a different perspective of the canyon. Being further inside of it made us appreciate it that much more. After reaching Cedar Ridge and hanging out for a bit we made our trek back up- very difficult because of the elevation gain. I had to keep thinking about the mules for motivation-tried to go their easy, slow but constant pace. We finally get back to the top, very tired but feeling very accomplished. After that we took the shuttle along the south rim out to Hermits Rest and walked the route back towards our campsite. We walked about 5 miles on the fairly flat and easy trail. We watched the sunset at The Abyss (a view point on the trail) which was unbelievably. I kept saying “I can’t believe we are watching the sunset in the Grand Canyon” There was only one of the family next to us. It was so quiet and beautiful. We then booked it back to the shuttle pick up point in dusk, starting to get a little worried somehow the bus wouldn’t come (even though we knew it would). Back to the market to pick up some grilled cheese ingredients for dinner and then off to bed.

[quest2thewest]

It was indeed Grand

We arrived to the Grand Canyon late afternoon, stopping at the first overlook. There were lots of people there, which kind of threw us off but we did get a first good glimpse of the famous canyon. It was indeed grand- so massive that most it looked almost flat, like a backdrop to a movie scene, and only the front few layers of canyon were real. We drove to one of the campsites, fingers crossed they weren’t full. It was funny-coming from Zion where you didn’t even want to blink because you’d risk missing something beautiful, to here- where you drove on the flat top of the canyon rim. There wasn’t really much to see unless you were out on one of the overlook points. There were lots of trees and familiar desert plants, bushes, etc. as well as a fair amount of snow (which we expected). Our campsite was very snowy and set back in among the forest trees. There was a nice marketplace we stopped at to grab some food- veggie sausages and mac&cheese for dinner and a much needed fire!

[quest2thewest]

What is Mountain Daylight Time???

The next day we made our way to the Grand Canyon. We were on such a high from Zion that we didn’t feel as obligated to zoom to the Grand Canyon and get there as early as possible. We made a pit stop in Page, Arizona (thanks mom!) to Antelope Canyon. You have to book tours in advance (thanks McDonald’s free WiFi!) and we were relieved to find out we did not screw up the time differences we were passing in and out of (we were heading from Mountain Daylight Time to Mountain Standard Time- didn’t know this was a thing). We had our own tour guide, Shelby (very nice, local) and were in a group of 8 other people. Shelby identified everyone in the group by where we were from because it was easier so we were with Japan, Tuscan and Greece. We opted for the Lower Antelope Canyon tour (as opposed to Upper Antelope Canyon). It was breathtaking. This time we really couldn’t stop taking pictures. Every turn and angle was another amazing image of color and texture, all with a beautiful blue sky peeking through overhead. The canyon was created solely by water so it was incredible to see how powerful the water that once followed through must have been. We were down there for about 45 minutes- the whole canyon was very narrow but it was much longer than I expected. Finally we head up and out a tiny opening in the canyon- looking back at where we had just come from, you NEVER would know that all that was underneath the rocky, sand colored hills that we were standing next too. It was such a unique and breathtaking experience.

[quest2thewest]

Zion Day 2 (part 2)

We were climbing up with a couple who we seemed to keep pace with. Eventually we started realizing how psycho this was, basically laughing the whole time saying things like “how is this legal” and “wait, what are we even doooing?!?!” We kept climbing and climbing and eventually our friends started asking people how much further we were to the top. We heard anywhere from 30 to 10 minutes, all within minutes of each other ( couldn’t tell you who was actually right). We finally get to the top and of course it’s completely worth it and we see views of the entire park in front of us, all the way out to Springdale and beyond. It was crazy beautiful. We hung up there for a bit before starting our descend - which was surprisingly easier than expected and certainly easier than climbing up (funny thing is, we tried to make a note of how far we were from the top at different points and inevitably people asked us, saying they heard completely different estimates from the last people they asked- everyone must become a little loopy after they reach the top). The switchbacks of course we a piece of cake coming back down, and again we realized why the faces of the people coming down while we were climbing up, were happy and non-sweaty. Because at that point you’re happy to be on almost flat ground, and it’s been hours since you climbed up anything at that point! The hard part was long over. Once we finished we stopped in the Zion Lodge, bought some cactus fruit jelly & a cactus fruit flavored lollipop (yum) and then took one last small hike out to Lower Emerald Pool which had 2 twin waterfalls that you can only see during the right spring conditions, as well as even a 3rd mini waterfall created because of the snow melt. We ended the day with some well deserved pizzas from Pizza and Noodle Co., a fire and some hot cocoa.

[quest2thewest]

Zion Day 2 (part 1)

Wednesday we tackled Angel’s Landing. Ranking one of the scariest hikes and has an elevation gain of 1,488 feet. It was another pretty sunny day, a bit windy, chilly in the shade but nice in the sun. It was estimated the hike would take about 4 hours. It starts off with some pretty hefty switchbacks up the side of the canyon. The elevation change was clearly difficult for some (like us) but the funny thing was that the people coming down from the canyon didn’t look exhausted or sweaty or miserable. We weren’t sure what that meant. So we continued on up, eventually getting to a part of the hike that goes in and around the canyon we just trekked up. It was shady and the elevation change was less dramatic so it was a nice place to catch your breath. Then the next set of switchbacks comes into view, even more dramatic and challenging than before. Jerks! Slowly but surely we make our way up and get to an opening/what seems like the “top” even though I knew we weren’t done yet. That was West Rim Trail, the trail that gets you to the trailhead of Angel’s Landing. It’s also where you can start to see the chains on the side of the cliff that you need to hold on to in order to get up the sides of the canyon. Clearly this was the spot people sat and questioning their life choices, and if it was a smart idea to carry on or not!!! (Assuming the happy faces of the people we saw passing us before were people who decided not to climb further!) Angel’s Landing is only a .5 mile in and back hike, but because of the elevation gain and the fact that you basically have to cliff climb your way up, it takes much longer than a traditional .5 mile hike. Us and a few other hikers had to wait a few minutes while a group of people climbed down the first section, clinging to the chains like their lives depended on it (which is basically did). We realized it was basically a single-file situation and the whole hike up we’d have to be aware of whether someone was coming down on the same chain-ropes as us- one of us would have to step aside on flat, stable ground to let the other pass, because no one was going to let go of those chains! I did get a very tight hug from a stranger at one point who needed to pass around me...

[quest2thewest]

Zion Day 1

We woke up the next day and planned to head to the park early to get a campsite for the next two days. Turned out the walk-in campsites don’t become available until 12 so we hiked Watchman Trail (3 miles) until then. It had snowed overnight but only enough to see snow on the mountain/canyon tops so the morning hike up one of the canyons was beautiful. We got the first glimpse from up high, overlooking Springdale and the other canyons. We finished hiking, just before 12 and got a campsite at South Campground. We set up, and spent a good couple hours reorganizing the car-Something that was long overdue. The past week and a half of quick moving had caused the car to become very unorganized and our lines of sight at the window were getting smaller and smaller. After that we caught the free shuttle into the park to do a couple small hikes that the park ranger had suggested. It was a windy day but a nice temperature as long as you were dressed properly for the wind. Probably about 55 degrees in the sun. We were lucky enough to see multiple waterfalls due to the snow melt. The wind was so strong it was actually blowing the water vapor off, making the waterfalls look even more magical and misty. We ended the day with a camp-stove meal and bundled up for a cold night ahead of us!

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Snow in the desert

The next day was our first tough day on the trip so far. We woke up at 5am to rain and darkness- hoping to get to the Grand Canyon early enough to beat the “spring break” crowds we had been warned about. After making it 3/4 of the way there- we get word that the visibility in the Grand Canyon was basically 0. We had been prepared for a rainy/snowy day and had already driven through snow in Arizona (snow in the desert? Makes no sense). But when we saw the live web cam (thanks mom :) )and all you could see were clouds. We took advantage of our “loose” itinerary and decided to drive up to Bryce and Zion, and then hit the Grand Canyon at the end of the week. So we continued up north, lots of pretty canyons in the distance. We stopped at Glen Canyon/the Navajo Bridge which is a walking bridge that goes across the canyon. We saw a family of California Condors on the driving bridge across from us! They were very impressive. We got talking to a woman who worked for the Peregrine Falcon Fund and knew a lot about the Condors and the efforts to save them from going extinct.

Then we continued on to Bryce, which for some reason felt like it was way further away than we expected (I think we went through a time zone change again and jumped an hour ahead). We get to Bryce and it’s completely snow covered! Unfortunately this meant a lot of the park was closed, including the main road that goes through it. We were able to do a small hike- sunset point to sunrise point- and see some pretty snow covered views. We stopped in a cute general store there afterwards. Then we headed to Zion. Our crankiness was increasing at this point, feeling like we literally spent the whole day in the car. We arrive at the entrance of Zion and everything changes. It was so beautiful and majestic, the light hitting the canyon and the colors surrounding us was unreal. Every curvy corner we drove around opened us up to another amazing view. We pulled over every five seconds to take pictures!! We end up at the other entrance of Zion and into the cute town of Springdale. Knowing there was rain & snow expected for that night, we used Hotel Tonight again to book a cheap place (with breakfast!) for the night.