day 63-65: pacific coast highway

California is the ideal road trip state. Varied terrain, small and large cities, and coastal towns make for an interesting drive, no matter what part of this state you hit. We decided to follow the iconic route 101 and the highway 1, which hugs the ocean.

We spent one night in Camarillo visiting friends and then headed up towards Santa Barbara before cutting inland to check out vineyards and the town of Solvang, California's "Danish Village". 

After Solvang, we headed back towards the water, stopping in Carmel, which is my new favorite town. While in Carmel, I felt as if I was strolling in a Southern Italian coastal town, it really is that picturesque.   

Along highway 1, we pulled over at a popular beach for sea lions, and watched them sunbathe on the beach. In the distance, we could see white puffs of air being blown from whales.

We also stopped at Mcway Falls in Pfiefer Big Sur State Park, where the waterfall hits directly on the beach. The water is stunning here, a perfect shade of turquoise. 

After a long days drive, full of great detours, we decided to pull over in Capitola, at a camp site above the town. We would have never heard of Capitola if it wasn't for our friends driving the same route a few months before us. If you are heading up the 1, definitely stop by here.

road trip day 62: joshua tree, california

We arrived at the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park at dusk, but we didn't have a campsite reserved so we decided to drive straight through the park and see if there were any sites open. Joshua Tree is a stunning desert landscape, full of ornate cactus and pastel hues. Unfortunately, every campsite we passed involved a lot of sand and there was no way the Nugget would be able to drive forward, so we continued on and out of the park, into Yucca Valley.

Our friends, who had been through Joshua Tree earlier this year told us about this great little bar out in the sticks of Pioneertown, California (that's a real place). It's called Pappy and Harriets, and I feel like i'm spilling a secret, but this one is definitely worth sharing. Stepping into Pappy and Harriets feels like walking into an iconic old Western bar, one that you knew could have existed 100 years ago, but didn't realize was still standing, much less operational. They have nightly live music and sometimes famous acts will pop in to play (I've heard Dave Matthews was there recently).  We listened to a band called Brawley, which was great. 

After leaving Pappy and Harriets, we spent another chilly night in a Walmart parking lot (pretty sure it is the 50th parking lot we've slept in). The next morning we dropped down into Palm Springs and went on a little hike.


After a few hours in Palm Springs, it was time to get moving, this time to Camarillo, California.

road trip day 61: arizona

We were making good progress, but we couldn't outrun the chill. Arizona happened to be just above freezing and we were getting too tired to push on. We drove through two reservations, without another car in sight for over three hours. When we finally emerged into a valley with a few stores (Globe, Arizona to be precise), where we stopped at a Walmart to spend another frigid night.

My dad's side of the family is from Arizona and I found out later that Globe was where my Grandmother was born and raised. Her mother was also from Globe and had grown up riding horses bareback to school and her father had been a prospector.

It was pure coincidence we had spent the night in Globe, but i'm glad we did, because uncovering a bit of family history was priceless.

Outside of Globe we made a detour to a genuine ghost town. It was completely deserted, and wandering around the place by ourselves made it feel as if we were in an old western movie. I kept imagining an old cowboy was going to stroll through on his horse, guns blazing. 

The ghost town is called "Goldfield" and is located East of Phoenix, if you ever want to visit.

road trip day 58-60: new mexico

Upon leaving Austin, we prepared ourselves for a full days drive. We were not looking forward to it, but I wanted to push onto Santa Fe. So we drove and drove and drove some more. North Texas is a vast expanse, full of cows and fields. We passed a mass-production cattle farm, which had a mile radius of the worst smell i've ever encountered. We dry heaved for a solid ten minutes before we were able to breath again (I vowed never to never eat animals again). Anyways, Texas would not end. We made it to Lubbock, spent a night in a Wal-mart parking lot and then continued on the next morning. New Mexico's scenery proved to be a bit more interesting than Texas'. We started to see strange government signs and huge dishes displayed in the fields. I'm not sure what they were for, but they gave me the creeps! And naturally, Brian decided he wanted to get an up close and personal look at these things...As we neared Albuquerque, I received a telephone call from my mom, warning me of  a huge storm heading our way. I was stubborn and forced Brian to continue on to Santa Fe, because I had to see it. Unfortunately, he listened to me and we ran smack dab into the huge storm. We decided to spend the night in a motel so we didn't freeze to death. We spent a total of 30 hours in Santa Fe before we hit the road again, this time beelining it to Arizona, in hopes that Arizona was above freezing.  (The snow storm shut all the businesses in Santa Fe down, so there was literally nothing to do). The frozen Nugget, not looking very inviting. 

roadtrip day 54-57: austin, texas

The charms of The Nugget were quickly fading away. Without a bathroom, and the cold weather freezing our mattress at night, we decided it was time to head back to Seattle to figure out our next plan. So we decided to give ourselves a little over two weeks to make it from Louisiana to Seattle. We sped through the rest of Louisiana, with a pit-stop in Layfayette. Then we hit the road, beelining it to Austin. As we crossed the border into Texas, things just appeared larger. The scenery opened up and the road straightened out. We couldn't wait to see what Austin was like.

One of the many Austin foodtrucks

Getting our first taste of Texas BBQ at the Green Mesquite.

Austin was PERFECT. At almost 80 degrees, we were able to get on our bikes and explore the city, from Zilker Park to South Congress Street. We both couldn't get over how much stuff there is to do in this town! I liked best that there were so many people outside, running, or biking, or kayaking! 

new orleans on foot

We spent our last few days in New Orleans on foot, walking aimlessly from neighborhood to neighborhood. The architecture in New Orleans is so ornate and colorful, that we would end up miles from our hotel. We would inevitably get hungry from all the walking and stop to eat alligator sausage and grits, or shrimp po boys from the neighborhood market. 

I would then wash it all down with a chicory cafe au lait. In a way, it felt as if we were a thousand miles away, wandering around the side streets of Paris.