Just three girls, a car, and the open road

The sun shone bright through the blinds as we all woke up in Ventura. We had a big day ahead of us! We had to run some logistic errands like getting snacks and buying a cooler and dropping my sister's car off and most importantly getting a good breakfast. One of the things I miss about my days in the south is quality mexican/tex-mex food. I thought perhaps here in Cali I could get a real breakfast taco. It turns out while I can get an amazing plate of huevos rancheros, a breakfast taco is only a Texas thing. I had to settle for instead a mega-sized breakfast burrito of huevos, chorizo (the real stuff!), papas, and fresh salsa verde.  So delicioso!

Next was our quest for a cooler to replace the crap one I had at home and intended to get rid. I was taking this opportunity of needing one for our trip to do so. We shopped around and got a great deal on exactly what I was looking for: had wheels, a drain, and was of medium size. A quick stop at the Trader Joe's for snacks, and then it was time to drop the other car off.

My sister has been working for a naturalist company leading kids into the wilderness for the past 5 years and they would be holding on to Triina's car, so it would be waiting for her when she flew back. I got to see the logistics headquarters of her workplace. So many organized boxes and tents in the grand warehouse and office space, it was really cool to see where she has been working so hard in between trips!

All these pre-trip projects as always takes longer than anticipated, so we got a later start than we anticipated. But it was ok, we were on vacation and just needed to end up in Monterey by the end of the day.

We cruised down the road, playing roadtrip standards such as "On the Road Again"and "Going back to Cali" and some crazy band named, "We are from Barcelona". We decided to start a Spotify track so we could always have the playlist of this trip. This is when we decided to start making rules/guidelines for the trip. What should be our goals? We quickly decided that ice cream everyday was a must! As well as going wine tasting each day since we were going through some of the best wine country in the world.

Our first vineyard of the trip was right outside Arroyo Grande, a place called Laetitia Vineyard and Winery. This place was started by a Frenchmen who brought grape clippings with him from France. He was from the Champagne region, so that is what he made his specialty in his new vineyard, named after his daughter. This stop turned out to be Niina's first wine tasting ever, so it was a special occasion and totally matched their specialty of sparkling wines, which were exquisite! I bought myself a nice little bottle that I think save for a special occasion (or keep to myself! It was so good!_

Wine tasting is hard work, so we needed a break not too long afterwards and had a great lunch/dinner in San Luis Obispo at a great little organic farm to table place called, Big Sky Cafe. I had a very summery sweet pea risotto with scallops with sautéed pea vines. Everyone's meal was really the best of Cali produce and seafood, fresh, local, and expertly prepared.

By the time we were done wine-ing and dining, we kinda knew we were running out of daylight. So we tried to hurry to the beach Triina knew to check out one of the few elephant seal colonies in existence. There were huge! And while most were cute normal seal looking, occasionally a bull with his elephant like snout would get all ornery and make all the cows and pups move around. I could have watched them for longer, but we had to get going. The sun was close to setting and we still hadn't passed Big Sur on the highway and it was going to get dark half an hour afterwards.

We stopped on an unknown ledge to enjoy the moment of sunset before continuing on our journey. We literally stopped just in time, because just as I snapped my picture, the sun was gone.

Since Triina was familiar with the area, she drove the remainder to Monterey and gave commentary as to what we would be seeing if it was still light. Due to the darkness and the winding roads, it was just short of 2 hours before we finally crashed in our room at out hotel. It was a leisurely day but we were tired and ready for a restful night. I was bummed we had missed the famous Bixeby bridge area to the darkness, but its nice to know it will be waiting for me on another trip.