Number of Miles Driven: 490 

Drive Time: 7:50 am - 5:30 pm 

States Driven through: CA (1)


We were sad to leave Geoff and Julie’s place, but the trip must go on. We loaded up and were on the road by 7:50 am. It was already 97 degrees and somewhat humid, so that’s certainly one thing I won’t miss. In fact, by the time we were only one hour west of Indian Wells, the temperature had already dropped 20 degrees to 78. We took the northern route through LA but it was still LA with lots of fast traffic. Most notably (and anxiety-provoking) were the motorcycles flying between the lanes in stand-still or slow moving traffic jams. I even took a picture of Michael who was hunched over the wheel with tense shoulders. I’m just glad he was driving (side note…he’s driven every single mile of the trip - Not because I’m a terrible driver and not because I’m selfish and unwilling to drive, but because he gets car sick if anyone else drives). 


Perhaps a little exaggerated...but not much!

On the other hand...she was quite relaxed as we drove through L.A.

We decided to take the scenic Pacific Coast Highway to our destination instead of the faster route of I-5 (“the 5,” in Cali-speak). We hopped on around Ventura (Northwest of LA) and stayed on it all the way to Carmel. We first saw the Pacific Ocean at 10:55 am in Ventura and the temperature had dropped to 72 by then (now we’re talking!). 


Seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time

The first half of the trip (through Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Santa Maria) was mostly through rolling green(ish) hills and farmlands. We saw more people working in fields than we’ve ever seen before. We stopped for a bathroom break in Lompoc, and there appeared to be a drug bust going down in the parking lot. There were several police cars and they were searching people’s cars and going through what appeared to be pill bottles. Always interesting… On a positive note - Dani keeps potty training herself. We actually bought pull-ups (instead of diapers) while in Indian Wells so it would be easier to take her to the bathroom at each stop. 


The next cool thing on our drive was seeing the entrance for a Space Force base in Vandenburg, CA. It used to be an Air Force Base but it’s been converted to a Space Force base. 



Once we got to San Luis Obispo, the PCH scenery transformed from rolling hills and farmlands to the more stereotypical camel-back roads along the high cliffs that drop directly to the ocean (we loaded Carolyn up with Dramamine at that point). It was beautiful - the water was so blue and there were huge white boulders jutting out of the water at several points along the way. On the other side were tree-lined mountains. It was a little hazy most of our trip but the coast, but it was amazing to see nonetheless. We tried to capture it from the car, but, alas, the photos through the car windows don’t do it justice. We stopped at a couple of vista points to try to get better pictures. One stop was the Elephant Seals Vista Point in San Simeon, CA. There were 50 or so elephant seals just lying on the beach and the kids thought they were cool to see. Some of Geoff and Julie’s friends from church gave us the suggestion and had mentioned that they are funny to watch because of their playful nature and the sounds they make. When we were there they were quieter and mostly sunbathing - but it was still fun to watch them flop around and throw sand on themselves. 



Watching the large elephant seals - they were at least 10-12 long

We let Andrew and Carolyn trade spots since she really has the primo seat in the back - the most leg room and the best window. He enjoyed taking over her seat for awhile and soaked in the views of the ocean. 


Getting Carolyn's seat so he can see the ocean better


We crossed the Bixby bridge which the kids thought was fun because I had used a picture of the Bixby bridge as the icon for their scavenger hunt whenever they had to find a “cool bridge” in a state that we passed through. 


So...I don't think this is Bixby bridge, but we crossed this one first and it looked just like it!


Beautiful vistas along the way!





We went through Big Sur which was mostly mountainous forestry on either side (with the ocean just out of sight), and there were lots of campers staying in Big Sur. We arrived in Carmel around 5:30 and check into our room at Carmel Resort Inn and Cottages. Each room was its own detached cottage and we were in Treasure Isle. It was an older cottage but well maintained and had lots of space. There was a living room with a pull-out couch that was separated from a large room with two queen beds by the bathroom and a walk-through closet. Matthew thought the shower was “fancy and handsome” and begged to take a shower (so did Dani). 


Carmel Resort Inn and Cottage. This was our cottage - "Treasure Isle"



Excited about the shower... I'm not sure why he thought it was fancy


While the kids settled in and watched some TV, Michael ordered a pizza from Dominos and went to pick it up because they wouldn’t deliver to our hotel. It was quite the frustrating adventure to get the pizza. Google Maps took Michael to a blocked military base entrance (even military personnel couldn’t enter that entrance), so he turned to Waze which has yet to steer us wrong. However, Waze directed him to another secure military entrance through which he couldn’t pass (but at least this one was accessible to military personnel). By this time Michael was fairly frustrated (bet you’d never guess that would you?!), so he called the store to ask how to get there without having to go through a military base. Well, it turns out the store was ON the military base (also the reason they couldn’t deliver to the hotel). So, after 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to get to Dominos, he canceled the order and called it in to the next closest Dominos. Thirty more minutes later, he was back at the hotel with pizza - the frustration still exuding from him. It didn’t help that we had our trailer on the back of the car and Carmel apparently has lots of hilly streets so he bottomed out several times trying to navigate himself to Dominos. At least the pizza was hot! 



Just as Michael’s frustration was simmering down, I realized that the clothes I had packed for our trip up the coast were not going to cut it. I was packing them in the Indian Wells heat, so I was only thinking about shorts and t-shirts. I thought the evenings might be cool but I still assumed it wouldn’t be much below mid-70’s, but it turns out that the highs in San Francisco and the Redwoods were going to be in the mid-60s. Our packing system has the clothes we aren’t using on the top of the car - which we don’t access everyday. Michael even confirmed before loading them up in Indian Wells, “So these are the clothes we won’t need til we get to Oregon, right?”…”Right!” - Turns out I was wrong. When we got to Carmel we were COLD and the temp had dropped to below 60 and it was windy and drizzling. I kindly asked him to get down our jackets and some of the warmer clothes from two different bags. Although tired and slightly frustrated, he willingly did it and I’m so grateful he did because it was even colder the next morning! 


After packing the top of the car back up, we called it a night and actually slept in later than intended. All the kids were surprisingly quiet, so we didn’t get up until 7:30. But we quickly ate some cereal and were on the road by 9 a.m.


Notable achievement for the day: Only ONE bathroom break the whole day - I don't even know how or why that happened...


Next Stop: San Francisco, CA