Our Ten Year Anniversary California adventure!

So when you’re a parent to three small kids, you don’t get many adventures just with mommy and daddy on their own. We had a tight week to work with (6 days), because that was the only length of time we could get the kids watched.
You work with what you got right??
Neither my husband nor myself has been to California so we decided to go! Because we like to make the most of our time when we have it, we wanted to get the FULL California experience.

We thought, whats the best of Cali??? L.A., Hwy 1, Big Sur/Carmel beach, Yosemite, Napa…. all that came to mind. So that’s exactly what we did! So here it goes, our full trip’s itinerary for those wanting to ever recreate it : ).

First day: Los Angeles….

We flew in around 10: 30 am (thank goodness for the 2 hour gain we got coming from Louisiana!). We only had till sunset to spend in L.A. (I’ll explain later), so we did the most cliche L.A. things we could think of lol. First off, we rented a convertible (2017 Mustang to be exact…. yea buddy).

Do yourself a favor…. dish out the little extra for the convertible…you’re welcome. Best thing we did.

I had a “to-do list” for each destination thanks to Pinterest :). For L.A., my to-do’s were: Walk of Fame, a pic of the Hollywood sign, stopping by the infamous In & Out burger, driving down Sunset Blvd, stopping by the Sprinkles cupcake atm, Rodeo Dr., taking a pic at the lampposts at the L.A. County Art Museum, driving through Beverly Hills, then Santa Monica Pier. So that’s exactly what we did….pretty much in that order too lol.

Tip: look at a map to see where everything is at and mark out from points A to B so you don’t waste time or gas, especially in L.A. traffic.

When you’re driving around in a convertible, you really get to look at everything and soak in that wonderful California sunshine. Also, music suggestion for L.A.: I took it old school and listened to Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits. It really gave me those old Hollywood vibes that I love!

So we started out by parking near the TCL Chinese theater in a parking garage for $15 (for less than 2 hours) then walked the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. (So neat to step in the same footprints as Lucille Ball, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne….)! We then walked to a local mall with a really cool balcony view of the Hollywood sign to snap that cliche pic. After that, we walked around that strip, visited a few shops and wall murals, walked to In & Out to grab that burger we heard about, then headed back to our car to drive to and through all the rest of my to-do’s. To us, the best part of L.A was driving in a convertible through Beverly Hills then hitting up Santa Monica coast. We’re more easy going…the slower paced chill vibes, the better lol.

As our L.A. time was coming to a close, we started to make our way up the coast for our first night’s stay: a tent in the hills of Malibu! We had to make it before sunset so we could see to climb up the hill to the tent lol. We found the cutest little tent on Airbnb, up on a hill on an organic farm, owned by the coolest couple. It was secluded and spectacular. Also, everything ran off solar power, which is pretty darn neat for this hippie at heart : P. The host also will cook you all organic meals from her farm. But the most unexpected highlight… THAT BED!!!! Literally the most comfortable bed ever. In a tent. On a secluded hill. See the pics below.

It was everything I’d imagine. Highly recommend if you want that kind of experience when visiting Malibu.

2nd day: Driving the coast.
We woke up early to get the start we needed for a full day. Our plan was to drive hwy 1 all the way to Carmel Beach/Big Sur, but mother nature had a different plan. We found out when we researched the navigation that a lot of hwy 1 was closed due to a recent mudslide. We were able to drive the coast till Santa Barbara then catch the nearest interstate till Monterey. Like i mentioned before, we work with what we have and make the most of it! Nothing like a little spontaneity thrown in the mix! Because we didn’t eat breakfast early, we decided to have brunch in Santa Barbara! The thing about California interstate road signs, they don’t tell you what eatery places you have before you get off the exit (unlike Louisiana lol). So look up ahead of time what there is so you’re not passing up potentially good spots. I used pinterest a lot. I would search “best places to eat in…”. I like to read bloggers’ insider reviews on what’s good or not. We ended up stopping off in Santa Barbara, which is the cutest town and a must stop off if you’re near. We ate brunch at a really neat cafe called Jeanines. Really quaint and really yummy. Pic of what I got below (veggie omelet with potatoes).

We then walked around just for a few minutes to get the feel for the town, but were pressed for time so then headed out to continue that 5 hour trek to Carmel Beach. If you have more time to spare, Santa Barbara really is quite the little town.

As for the drive, we were really expecting more of right along the coast drive, but a lot of it was more inland. Still was pretty neat though. A LOT of agriculture out there. Like TONS. If anything happens to the state of California, I think our trips to the produce aisle will become a lot more difficult lol. It was really cool to see though where a lot is grown. Along the way, we happened to see the sign of one of the J.Lohr vineyards (which happens to be one of our favorite store bought wines here in Louisiana) so of course that was a must visit lol. It ended up to be a really cool visit. Just about 10-15min off the beaten path, and you get to experience really good wine and get a wine lesson or two. These wine people really know what they’re talking about. Definitely worth the stop off!

Once we got back on track, we finally ended up in “Carmel by the Sea”. My to-do list for this: stop off, walk the beach, and stick my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. This place is absolutely breathtaking. Every bit. The town is literally the cutest. It seemed straight out of a story book, literally. The homes seemed from a Swedish or German town for fairies. At least that’s what I imagined lol. The coast views are OH EM GEE amazeballs.

We walked the beach for awhile, collected some rocks for me and the kids (we bring back a rock and a magnet from wherever we go haha), then headed back to the car to drive as much of hwy 1 as we could. Now’s the time you really appreciate that convertible.

Our next to do list: drive across that famous Bixby bridge just before Big Sur National Park. Along the highway there are many pull over stops to take pictures, because believe me, you’ll want to take pics. See below.

You feel so small when you drive this bridge and look over. It’s incredible. Just past the bridge is a little pull over spot to park the car. There’s a tiny hill you can walk on top of, through a bushy trail to get the best pic. That’s where we took ours. If you’re afraid of heights like I am, brace yourself, don’t think about it, and just enjoy God’s creation. It’s worth getting past your fears. If you look close enough on certain rocks along the coast, you’ll catch a bunch of seals/sea lions parked along them : ).

Once we got all that Hwy 1 experience in, we started to head our way to our next night’s stay: Yosemite : ).

Yes, a little far out, but Yosemite was on my Cali bucket list so it was worth the extra mileage. Because we were staying at a hotel this time, there was no set time we HAD to be there. I had to think ahead of time about mapping out the trip according to times (fun fun lol). That’s why we were cool to take our time along the coast and take the longer, yet most beautiful way to get to Yosemite.

We stayed at the Yosemite South Gate Hotel. Not too shabby of a hotel for price and location. We wanted a place just outside of the park. When you’re not use to visiting National Parks, “just outside” doesn’t mean a block away lol. Because parks are ginormous and secluded, it’s still a pretty long trek to get to where you need to get inside of them. Even when you get to the main gate, it’s still a 40 min or so drive to get to where you want to hike just FYI lol.
Which leads to our next venture: hiking Yosemite.
We wanted to choose a hike where we get a FULL experience. We’re pretty adventurous, have hiked before, and were down for anything. We did however, sorely underestimate our hike adventure for this day lol.

We chose the Upper Yosemite Falls hike. We were expecting a challenge, but not this challenging haha. Especially for our respiratory systems that were use to being below sea level lol. The altitude made it a tad more difficult for us. The description of the hike did say strenuous and would take anywhere from 6-10 hours. So we thought, “Oh they’re probably over estimating for the elderly or those less athletic”. NOPE. They were right. We were keeping a pretty okay pace and only stayed at the top for 30 min and it still took us 6 hours. 6 hours of both heaven and hell lol. One thing about this hike is they didn’t have markers to let you know how far you have like the rest of the hikes we’ve done in the past. So just when we thought we were getting close, we weren’t lol. It was around 4 miles up and 4 miles down (you go down the same way you go up).

BIGGEST TIP I CAN GIVE YOU: Bring 4 Liters of water PER PERSON (I promise, you’ll need it so carry a backpack), bring a few snacks (we chose granola bars and a pouch of almond butter that we purchased in the gift shop/grocery store near the foot of the trail), and get you some good hiking shoes and sticks. Tennis shoes are not good enough. You can manage on the way up, but if you don’t want to get pissy going down and want to curse at every rock you step on, get you some hiking boots and sticks lol. Why? Because the rocks and trail are slick and you tend to lose your footing a lot. Not very comforting when the trail is only a couple feet wide for two lines of people on the edge of 3,000 feet. Also, wear layers. We went in May (which is a really good time for the falls because the snow is just melting) and we had moments of being freezing (near the mist of the falls) and moments of scorching heat in the sun. I wore work out clothes with a sleeveless shirt topped with a light weight long sleeve shirt, then a light jacket. It was perfect. I was able to get down to the sleeveless shirt when I needed to, wrap the lightweight shirt around my neck to prevent my neck from being scorched, and was able to throw that jacket on from around my waste when I got cold. Also, bring some sunscreen. I forgot and got burnt lol…lesson learned.

It was strenuous to say least, moments where I felt near death, but the views were out of the flipping world. Again, see below.

Some couples choose Bora Bora for their anniversary, we chose to hike Yosemite : ).

We timed out our day like this: we arrived at the park at 7:30ish, started the hike at 8:50, took us 6 hours to finish, got back to the car very sluggishly lol, to head to our next destination. Yes, we were always on the move. I told ya, 6 days… we gotta do what we gotta do.

Next stop, our bed and breakfast in Calistoga (about 4 hours away). Hitting up a quick bite to eat and a coffee or two along the way lol.

3rd Day: Napa Valley (hallelurrryyaahh)….and also, ANNIVERSARY DAY!

We booked a bed and breakfast in Calistoga for 2 nights…the Bergson. Small standard rooms, but very quaint and loved the vibe.

We live in a tiny house so we were use to small lol. Being we were on somewhat of a budget, this fit our price range. FYI, Napa Valley is a pretty pricey place so plan accordingly.

Along the main highway there are TONS of vineyards and wineries. Almost to the point where you feel overwhelmed. Just plan ahead ideas of what kind of atmosphere you want, find out what’s there and read reviews. Pinterest and Google helps. Many wineries are over priced so be careful. Napa tends to be like that, but if you drive more north toward St Helena and Calistoga you can find some reasonable priced vineyard visits and even some free tastings! St Helena was our favorite!

The average price for wine tastings were around $30/vineyard. Typically, you only need to see a couple a day because each one you visit, you may taste around 8 or more wines leaving you a little tipsy so stay hydrated lol.

We decided to drive around, soak up the scenery, visit the local farmer’s market, eat brunch at Calistoga Kitchen (soooo good), then hit up one winery. We chose Castello Di Amorosa. A castle, yes a castle, in the middle of Calistoga. At first, when I looked it up I was thinking it was going to be a little cheesy for my taste, but it wasn’t at all. Just the story behind the castle itself makes you appreciate the visit. So worth the stop. The views alone are some of the best in Napa Valley. Very picturesque if you want to take those cliche Napa Valley pics. We chose the $40/per person tour and tasting. Highly recommended. Our tour guide/wine extraordinaire Mario, was PHENOMENAL. I tell you, these wine experts are flipping mind boggling. I feel like it literally could take someone 4 years in college learning all about wine. This castle really is breathtaking. An experience in Napa Valley like no other. It also just so happened to be the vineyard’s ten year anniversary as well and we got to celebrate by buying a bottle of their ten year anniversary limited edition champagne (which we then opened later that night to celebrate our ten years after dinner ; )).

Once we finished our tour, we drove back to the bed and breakfast to get ready.

One of my to-do’s for Napa Valley…renew our vows (insert smileys and fireworks).

I had searched for months for a reasonably priced dress that had that organic boho feel, but had zero luck (ugh). I usually like local boutique and consignment shopping, but took a random trip to Ross a week before we left and found my dress for $8.99. YES, you read that right. So I put on that $8.99 dress that I hid from my husband till this day, to walk out of the bedroom bathroom for that grand first look lol.

It was not your typical cliche first look, but it was ours and still just as special.

So to continue our story we stopped off on the side of the road where this little red truck was catching my eye that whole day, propped up a small tripod that holds my iPhone 7, placed it on the back of the car, and filmed the most memorable, straight from the heart, unscripted, vow renewal.

It wasn’t your typical vow renewal with a minister, photographer, guests, etc. It was on the side of a road. However, JUST as every bit of SPECIAL. That’s the thing about life, you have to learn to appreciate and love YOUR story. Cherish it, live it, love it.

Don’t let expectations ruin potential missed opportunities that actually are way better than you could have ever planned for.

Once we exchanged vows, we set the timer on my phone camera and took some still shots lol. Unconventional, but it did the job. See below.

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Because we didn’t feel like driving back to the room, and we had to be at our dinner reservation, I changed my dress in the car (because I didn’t want to look like a bride at dinner haha), and headed to the most extravagant Auberge De Soleil.

This dinner was to say the least, over the top. I booked 2 weeks ahead because I wanted to have a dinner with the best views over looking Napa. That’s just what we got. Not to mention, a 3 course meal that will activate taste buds you didn’t even know existed. I will say and warn you, THE MOST EXPENSIVE meal I have ever eaten lol. We were willing to dish out a little more for our ten year dinner, it just caught us a little off guard because what we saw online before hand was a tad cheaper than what we ended up paying. For 3 courses each, it’s $115 a person. So again, plan accordingly. It was quite an experience though. I would ALMOST venture to say it was worth every penny.

Once dinner was over, we went back to the room to relax and celebrate. One of the best nights of my life. We hysterically laughed (could have been the champagne lol), actually had uninterrupted adult conversation, cuddled, and I won’t go any further than that lol. Let’s just say it was a spectacular night haha.

We woke up, ate our complimentary breakfast (thank you very much), then drove to our next and final stop which was only 45min away…

Day 5: San Fransisco!!

Seriously, I wish we had longer here. We fell in love with this city. There’s such a wide variety of things to see and do. City life, urban/hippie vibes, outdoorsy activities, beautiful scenery, so much.

My to-do’s for San Fransisco: drive the Golden Gate bridge, visit Muir National Forest (because we had yet to see redwoods), drive down Lombard St, see the painted ladies and visit the Full House house (because hello…that’s my childhood), walk down Haight/Ashbury, eat breakfast at Mamas, visit Pier 39, and walk around downtown. We did just that.

We started with driving around the city, driving down that infamous curvy Lombard st, then ended up parking around Alamo square (where the painted ladies were). FYI: parking is difficult and garages are expensive. Uber, cable cars, and taxi’s are pretty useful. We had the rent a car still and were cheap so we drove around till we lucked out to get spots. Get good and practiced for parallel parking lol. We took pics all while singing the Full House theme song, then walked down a couple of blocks to get brunch at Nopa. Two words, FRENCH TOAST. You’re welcome.

Once brunch was over I google mapped the Full House house and we walked the over 1 mile walk to see it. Get some comfortable shoes. If you’re planning the visit, the address is 1709 Broderick St. : ). We made the walk back, drove the car down Haight/Ashbury, stopped at the cutest boutique where I bought the cutest overalls, then made our way to the Golden Gate.

The Golden Gate…OHHH MYYY. You must bike or drive over it. For us, it was on the way to see Muir Woods anyway so hey, two birds.

Again, the convertible was the way to go. Indescribable, and again you feel so small in the middle of something so big and beautiful. The views over the bay and the city are one of a kind. Just over the bridge you can drive up a hill to overlook THE most amazing views over San Fransisco, see below.

Bring a jacket, it’s quite chilly lol.

Muir Woods was about 40 min away from town, but the drive was neat to experience. You get to feel the whole suburb vibes of the bay area. Once you get there, Muir woods is a national park so there is a fee (we have an annual National park pass so we got in for free). Once you’re in, you walk along a wooden deck that winds through an enchanted-like forest. Another place you feel small at. Very neat to see. If you’re not the outdoor’s type you may not appreciate it as much.

Once we got back into town, we drove along side Pier 39. This is the most touristy part of town. It was so crowded that we didn’t feel like getting out. This was a Saturday, so a week day may be better. Driving it was enough for us lol. We then made our way to our hotel (the Westin) to finally check in. The hotel was in the middle of Union Square where all the high end shopping was. Hotel was so beautiful and our views from the 18th floor (yikes) were amazing. This part of town reminded me a lot of New York. If you stay at this hotel, just FYI, parking is $60 in their garage (ugh). If you don’t want to pay that, a couple of blocks down the street, there’s a garage about $20 cheaper. We didn’t know that until we left, oh well.
We then spent the rest of the night just walking around downtown, stopped for fish and chips at a nearby Irish pub and relaxed the rest of the night.

Day 6: Last and final day. Mama’s then traveling back home.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel, parked near a park in the middle of the Italian part of town lol, then walked to Mama’s. If you’re looking for a big, delicious, home cooked style breakfast, Mama’s is the way to go. Ran by the 2nd and 3rd generations of the cutest family, we loved the experience and the food was even better. From reviews, there’s nothing bad on the menu. I will say….TIP: If you want to be one of the first to get in, get there an hour before they open. Every morning there’s a line that wraps around the building and weekends are even busier. They open at 8, we got there at 7:30 and waited over an hour. We asked the first in line what time they got there and they said 7. Any good breakfast place in town has a wait. From what I hear from the locals, Mamas is worth it. Grab a cup of warm coffee on the way to ease your wait in line and don’t forget to bring your jacket lol. Once we got in, it was super quick, quaint, the staff were oh so friendly, and the food was oh so goooood. We ordered an omelet and banana pancakes.

We then made our way to the airport (insert sad emoji cry face). Our day was full of travel back to Louisiana because remember, we lose that 2 hours we once gained. We spent our travel day back reminiscing on our favorite parts about the trip already planning our next visit back… next time, with the kids. We missed those little suckers.

California was definitely a trip to remember. We loved every second. If you plan to visit, this is a great itinerary to follow. You can space it out more of course if you have more time than we did. It was absolutely wonderful and I’ll be California day dreaming until we get to go back. Definitely should be on anyone’s bucket list. We got to experience most of all the good it has to offer. We definitely fell in love with each other all over again this trip and that’s of course what we’ll cherish the most.

That’s the best advice I can give you. Cherish every moment with your spouse. Create your own love story. Plan, but leave room for spontaneity. Don’t let certain expectations become hinderances and enjoy each other. We were so grateful to have this opportunity to get away and go. So glad tiny house living allowed us these experiences (that and of course awesome parents to watch our littles : )).

I hope you enjoyed reading our Cali trip. I hope you get to experience this yourself one day soon or again! Love you all!

Cheers to a happy life!