Dear Diary,

I am ready to share with you part two of my trip to the west coast. If you’re completely lost, make sure to check out my last blog post, I’ll wait. Okay, ready? Let’s get started.

Day 8: Santa Monica is perfect and I want to live there

We left Hollywood as fast as possible; we were out of there and on the road to Santa Monica. We had a little pit stop first. As a fan of “American Horror Story”, of course I just had to see the murder house. I mean it was right on the way to Santa Monica, it was meant to be! So we Google mapped it and found it in an old run-of-the-mill neighborhood. I was expecting huge mansions, and trust me the houses were definitely big, but not as big as I had expected. Unfortunately there was a fence around the house blocking the view, but I have my ways and I found a hole and looked through, it was pretty cool. The house itself it gorgeous, if you ignore all the construction. On the plus side Evan Peters was there once, so it was worth the pit stop.

We got back on the road after about 10 minutes of ogling at the former home of many fictional murder victims and made our way to Santa Monica. I hope there is a day that I can call Santa Monica home because it is the definition of southern California. First we ate at Urth Caffe, which is LITERALLY HEAVEN ON URTH (Earth haha, puns.) I had a Spanish Granita Latte and it changed my life. My chicken quesadilla and black beans were also legendary. If you ever go to southern California PLEASE go to Urth Caffe, you will not regret it.

After lunch we headed to Third Street Promenade for a while and enjoyed the weather and shopping. Third Street Promenade is like the Plaza, except the roads are blocked from cars, and it’s on the ocean, so it’s the Plaza on steroids. The weather was absolutely perfect. Can we talk about the fact that there is like 0% humidity in California? No wonder 38 million people live there.

We were sad to leave Third Street Promenade, but we had an ocean to see, the Pacific Ocean that is, so we walked over to Santa Monica Pier a.k.a. the epitome of summer.

From the roller coaster and ferris wheel to the sea gulls flying everywhere to the Pacific Ocean beneath the boardwalk, Santa Monica Pier has it all. The roller coaster and Ferris wheel are overpriced, but they are a must do.

After spending a few hours on the pier, taking in the Pacific Ocean, popping in and out of the souvenir shops and taking hundreds of photos, we headed to dinner. We ate dinner at Blue Plate Taco, just a short walk from the pier, and sat outside with a view of the ocean. It was delicious. I had another chicken quesadilla, I’m kind of a big fan of chicken quesadillas as you can tell, and their chips were to die for.

After dinner we headed back and jumped in our minivan. We hopped on Highway 1 and headed north on the coast through Malibu to Oxnard. At one point we stopped to climb a large sand hill and wade in the ocean, just enjoying life and California. The sunset was gorgeous. We stayed at a hotel in Oxnard after about an hour of driving.

Day 9: San Luis Obispo, more like San Luis I’m Obsessed-o

We left after a continental breakfast at the Homewood Suites in Oxnard and hit the road, continuing north. We stopped in San Luis Obispo for lunch after two hours of driving. My sisters and I ate at an acai bowl place, then we walked around, waiting for my parents to finish their lunch at a burger place. We visited Bubblegum Alley, an alley entirely covered on the walls with chewed gum. Of course I bought a gumball from a nearby store and added to the mounds of stickiness. San Luis Obispo is the quintessential California college town. It feels like Lawrence, expect there’s an ocean and no humidity.

After our quick excursion in San Luis Obispo we continued north to Morro Bay. We checked into the Pacific Shores Inn and hit the beach. Now let me tell you one thing about the Pacific Ocean in July on the central Californian coast, it is cold. I didn’t spend much time in the water as I seem to have developed a fear of jellyfish, since I was stung at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina the summer before sophomore year (possible blog post coming soon?) Not only were jellyfish apparent in the water, I swear to God I almost stepped on one, but the water was approximately -435 degrees Fahrenheit. If you ever plan on swimming in the Pacific Ocean any farther north than LA, I suggest you wear a wetsuit and a parka. I waded as much as I could stand to, allowing the water only to go to about my knees, then I decided I had had enough. Instead of freezing our toes off we decided to spend our time at the beach burying each other in sand. First up was Kate, then Tess. We buried everything but their faces, then laughed as they struggled to stand up, then proceeded to complain about the sand on a very uncomfortable ride back to the Pacific Shores Inn.

We showered and headed to Morro Rock to watch the sunset. Morro Rock is a large rock, apparently 581 ft. tall rock, according to Wikipedia. It is somewhat of an island connected to the mainland by a road. We drove out and explored. First we climbed some rocks (we will be spending a lot of time climbing rocks for the rest of this trip, it’s kind of a Jones family thing) then we went to the other side of the island to watch the sunset and takes more photos. It was another gorgeous sunset, but then again what sunset on the west coast isn’t gorgeous? Please prepare yourself for a post entirely dedicated to sunsets. After the sun melted into the horizon we went to dinner with a view of the ocean, in fact we were eating right on the ocean. After dinner we headed back to the Pacific Shores Inn and hit the hay.

Day 10: California Coastin’

After waking up in the quaint Pacific Shores Inn we hit the road and drove 30 minutes to Hearst Castle, one of the many homes of former newspaper publisher, William Randolph Hearst. Now trust me, I have seen enough old, dead, white guys’ mansions to last me a lifetime (Versailles in Paris, Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, etc…) so I was not very enthusiastic about touring another one. I will say though, this may have been one of the best mansions I have ever toured in my 17 (almost 18) years.

First things first (I’m the realest), the views. We had to ride a bus up a hill for almost 20 minutes before we were finally at the top, then when we got there, the panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean were breathtaking. Also the building and grounds were gorgeous, looking back I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have, my sisters and I spent most of the tour taking dumb pictures and making fun of each other, but it was gorgeous. The swimming pools were my favorite part. The final stop on the tour was an indoor swimming pool and the mosaics were to die for, it looked like something out of “The Great Gatsby”, but it was real.

In case you didn’t hear, there is currently a drought in California, this being said we did notice its effects: not being served water at a restaurant automatically, instead we had to ask for it, but the most noticeable effect was at Hearst Castle. The state shut down bathrooms at State Parks, so they filled the grounds with a line a Porta-Potties. I must say, it was a weird feeling being in such a huge, beautiful mansion, but having to pee outside, kind of ironic.

After eating lunch in the Hearst Castle visitors center we got back on the road and just a few miles north of the castle we pulled over to observe some elephant seals. There were hundreds of them right on the beach! They are absolutely disgusting, but this quality somehow makes them absolutely lovable.

After watching the elephant seals we hopped back on the road and continued up the coast. We were coming upon the part of the trip I had been looking forward to since December: Big Sur. Big Sur is a stretch of coastal highway that is absolutely breathtaking. State Route 1 curves along the Pacific coast, offering spectacular views of the crystal blue water and the rocky coast line. First stop: Bixby Bridge. We pulled over and soaked in the panoramic views. The bridge seemed to snuggle perfectly against the earth. It was so refreshing to sit out in the fresh air and soak up the sun after all the driving we had been doing the past 10 days, always go, go, go.

We continued on the Pacific Coast Highway after Bixby Bridge until we found ourselves in paradise a.k.a. Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. If you take anything from this blog post, please visit McWay Falls in JPB State Park. I could sit for eternity and stare at the waterfall. It looks like something straight out of National Geographic. A small trickle of water leaks out of rocks into perfect teal-blue water. You just have to see it in real life to understand its beauty.

We continued on the Pacific Coast Highway until we hit our final destination for the day: Monterey Bay. While most people who visit Monterey visit the aquarium, we did not. We spent the evening exploring Cannery Row, an area filled with local touristy shops and restaurants right on the beach. Souvenirs were bought. Dinner was eaten. Rocks were climbed. We then headed to our hotel for the night.

Day 11: San Fran Baby

We arose and drove two hours to San Francisco the next morning. First stop: the “Full House” houses. In case you are unaware of 90s pop culture, the “Full House” houses were featured in the title sequence of the 90s family sitcom: “Full House.” My sisters and lived with “Full House” when we were growing up, so of course we had to stop for a picture. This was a very short stop because it was windy and not that exciting, we just jumped out of the car, took a picture and jumped right back in since parking was near impossible.

After the houses we explored a park for a while, then headed to the Golden Gate Bridge(t) lol. Another breathtaking view, we saw it from a few different spots then we actually walked up to it. It is huge and red, pretty much like everyone describes it.

We made sure to to hit Lombard Street aka the crooked street and had dinner at the pier.

We ate dinner across the street from the San Francisco Dungeon, a haunted attraction that was obviously a tourist trap. We fell right into the trap. We bought our tickets, took a cheesy prison picture on a green screen and entered the dungeon. I will say, I screamed a few times. We were lead through a few different scenes with live actors. The scenes featured stories from the history of San Francisco, for example: the plague, Alcatraz and the gold rush. It was funny and scary, I wouldn’t suggest  it necessarily if you were only in San Francisco for a day and a half like us, but we were starting to loose our travel energy by this point in the trip, so we needed something to wake us up. After our scary session, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to our hotel and fell asleep fairly early.

Day 12: Let’s Go to Prison!

Want to know the entire reason we went to San Francisco in the first place? Originally we were planning on skipping San Fran and just going straight to Yosemite, but my little sister stopped us. She claimed that she would refuse to go on the trip unless we went to Alcatraz, so of course we had to cater to her every demand. I’m kidding, I’m really glad we went to San Francisco and Alcatraz, because when else will I have the chance? Anyway we woke up and drove back across the Golden Gate Bridge and boarded a ship to Alcatraz Island. The boat ride was great, we watched the San Fran skyline and we cuddled together, trying to protect ourselves from the wind. The boat ride was probably 30 minutes, then we docked on Alcatraz and began our audio tour. I have listened to possibly hundreds of audio tours in my life, and this one was just the same. It was interesting however, because there were actual former prisoners and guards who told their stories. After Alcatraz we got back on the boat and rode over to Angel Island. Much smaller, and with more wilderness, Angel Island was nice. We had a tram tour of the island, then ate lunch. We boarded the boat for the final time and sailed back to San Francisco.

We hopped back into the minivan and drove three hours to Yosemite. We stopped for dinner at IN-N-OUT, but the drive was pretty boring, since long gone were the beautiful coastal views. We arrived in Yosemite pretty late and went straight to bed.

Alright so apparently I write way too much, so this is gonna be it for part 2. Part 3 will feature Yosemite, Sequoia and our final drive back to Vegas. Hopefully it won’t be 2000 plus words. See you next time travelers.

Sincerely,

Bridget