Lower California Coast
Sunday, 9/29/24
We left the house about 7:15 am. The drive to Long Beach didn’t see too bad! We went right to Rosie’s Dog beach. It wasn’t a real exciting beach, but I think Luna had fun running along the shore and the other dogs didn’t seem to chase her!
I’m playing with the new GoPro Hero 13 Black for the first time. It’s soooo much easier to use than my GoPro 3 that I had prior to this! We stayed at the beach for a couple hours and then went to walk around Shoreline Village. The stores weren’t anything special, but it was a really pretty walk along the water with lots of boats docked there! We stopped for dinner at Tequila Jack’s right there in the village!
I had plans to check into the motel and then head back to the Queen mary to take a tour. They have off-hour tours from 6:00-10:00 pm, but after we got to the room there was no way I could pull myself back out!! That’s okay… From what I read there was a lot of history of the ship involved with the tour and I’m not really much of a history buff anyway!!
We’ll head out for Malibu and Santa Barbara in the morning.
Monday, 9/30/24
Once we finally got on Highway One, we headed north through Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, etc… until I was finally tired of stopping at every traffic light! And truthfully, the scenery wasn’t that much to look at as each town had so many buildings, houses, etc., along the beach that I couldn’t see much of the water anyway! Maybe the magic of Hwy 1 lies in Northern California in the area of Big Sur. So, we headed over to the 101 to get to Santa Barbara faster.
I had to take a side trip to Marina del Rey as we were passing by, though, as I hadn’t been back there since we lived there YEARS ago. I could hardly get my bearings! It has changed soooo much! Everything is SO close together! I went back to the apartment we rented (which are now condos!) and they are beautiful! I would have never recognized it! It was fun to stop tho, and didn’t find out until a couple days later that Bob and Cheryl had stayed Sunday night in Marina del Rey and were having breakfast there as I was driving through!
We went directly to Arroyo Burro beach Park, which is there off-leash dog park. Seriously… ONE STAR!! (Unless I can give it a lower rating!) It was terrible! It was totally rocky, dirty, and only about 30-feet wide with homeless people sleeping against the rocks! We took one walk down the beach so Luna could stretch her legs after the long ride and then went to Serarns Wharf.
The Wharf wasn’t anything too special. We walked up State Street, across from the Wharf, which was supposed to showcase some of their great shops. NOPE! Lots of restaurants and tiny (shabby) wine tasting/beer tasting places, but nothing enticing. We then crossed boack over and went to the beach next to the wharf. It was big and clean, but dogs weren’t allowed off leash! Luna and I layed in the sand and too a nap! I’m sure I must have missed the best parts of Santa Barbara after all that I’ve read about it! There HAS to be more than I saw!
Tuesday, 10/1/24
We left about 8:30 to head for Monterey/Carmel. The first 32 miles from Santa Barbara re-routed us through Cachuma Lake Recreation area (Hwy 154) and then sent us back to the Non N after that! It was such a pretty part of the drive. Even the 101 had parts where it seemed like more of a ‘back road’! There were miles and miles of vineyards by Santa Maria and San luis Obispo. We passed the Madonna Inn and Hearst Castle… a trip Joe and I took years ago!
We went directly to Cannery Row. Really fun! Lots of quaint shops and SO MANY barking Sea Lions! We walked down to the end of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and then headed to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was a fun walk and Luna had a great time with all the smells!!
We took a drive into town to see what else was around and found a “Tuesday Afternoon Farmer’s market.” We were kicked off the street as no dogs were allowed at the Market, but could walk on the sidewalk behind the vendors booths! It was only 2 blocks long, so didn’t take long to go through.
After that both Luna and I were beat so we headed to the Motel. It was a fun day!
Wednesday, 10/2/24
We did the 17-mile drive around Pebble beach this morning! It was gorgeous!
It circles around and we end up back at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. We walked through the shops and the Visitor Center. They even let Luna into The Lodge so we could look around! So totally dog friendly!
From there we went to Carmel Beach… Long and beautiful with site sand! We walked up and down the beach a couple times and then headed out! It was so hot and humid! I also found out that the GoPro dog harness attachment totally doesn’t work! I think I’m going to have to McGyver something before our next trip! Bummer!
Then we went to Mad Dogs and Englishmen and rented an e-bike with a sidecar for Luna! It TOTALLY MADE MY TRIP! It was soooo much fun! I almost didn’t stop in because I didn’t think Luna would like it! I thought she would totally freak out! They were so gentle getting Luna used to sitting in the sidecar! She was tethered in on both sides and the frout so there really wasn’t a way for her to jump out. I rented it for an hour and we rode down along the beach! Luna was a total Rockstar! She did soooo well! She seemedreally relaxed in the sidecar and even layed down before the tirp was over!
After that we walked mostly along Main Street and went throu some shops and galleries for a couple hours. We were Beat! Headed back to the motel!
Thrusday, 10/3/24
Ugggg…. What a LONG day! We left this morning around 7:30 am heading down Hwy 1 to see Big Sur. I had read online that Big Sur was open even though there had been a landslide at the south end. So, I got about 30+ miles down Hwy 1 and kept seeing signs saying that the road was closed in 25 miles… with NO detour! I’m thinking that meant just a dead end and we would have to turn around and go back, so I didn’t want to risk yet another 25 miles that I would have to re-drive! We headed back toward Carmel at that point so I could get over to the 101 to get to San Diego. Originally, I had figured we’d be in San Diego about 3:00 pm. Well, guess that time didn’t account for the fact that California highways are closer to parking lots than roadways!
We finally arrived at Ocean Villa Inn at 6:30 pm. We had driven 11 hours! Totally beat! I’ll see if I can get a late checkout tomorrow and still try to spend several hours at Dog Beach! Luna was amazing the entire way! She never got antsy and just curled up on my lap and slept almost the entire way! She is such a great little traveler!
Anyway… beach tomorrow before heading home! I’m really glad we drove the part of Big Sur that we did as it was really beautiful! Because I was able to see it in the early morning, the thick fog hung over the rocks and made for awesome photos! Lots of turnouts to stop and take photos!
Friday, 10/4/24
Checkout was at 10:00 am, but they let us stay till 11:00. We spent the entire time at the beach walking the length of it and sitting in the sand enjoying one of my favorite places EVER! Luna had a great time! She actually dove into the water to escape a dog that was chasing her and it was way over her head! She swam like a trooper! I think it kind of scared her, but she did great!
Headed for home at 11:00-ish and got in about 5:30! It seemed longer than usual, but that was probably because we had driven so much this week!
What a great trip! I had a blast and I think Luna did too! Cayde, Cindy Chipman’s son came over 2x a day and sat with Misty and Peanut! He sent photos throughout the week! It made me feel so much better that he was stopping in and they weren’t alone all day every day! Alex fed in the am, but because of having to be to work, she wasn’t able to stay long! Cayde said he wouldn’t mind doing the feeding either, so maybe next time, I’ll just pay him to do all of it! He did a great job and the Peanut and Misty did great!
