California – Treat Yourself to Travel

“Santa Barbara and the PCH Pacifically”

November 14, 2017December 12, 2017Posted in Read Them AllTagged California, Coffee shop, Dessert, Travel, USA Travel4 Comments

Sunset at Malibu State Park | Teamtravelsblog

Santa Barbara and the Pacific Coast Highway, California Highlights over Veterans’ Weekend 2017

Pacific Coast Highway – Malibu State Park, One Thousand Steps Beach, Carpinteria Bluffs, El Matador State Beach and the Malibu Pier
Stearns Wharf and State Street
Gaviota State Park via El Camino Real
Solvang for dessert and Sides for lunch
Lizard’s Mouth in the Los Padres National Forest
Sunset from Franceschi Park
Sunset by the Four Seasons Hotel

I can’t complain about the LA traffic, coming from the DC area. We left LA and headed west on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) toward Santa Barbara. Since the sunset was shortly before 5 p.m., we found a free spot along the PCH near a veterinarian hospital and walked into the Malibu State Park. The reflections and cranes in the water were beautiful. We walked to the beach and found a tiny obstruction blocking a clear picture of the sunset as the tide was rolling in. This didn’t stop us from enjoying it or getting pictures.

We turned our attention to the water behind us and found fish jumping out of water and all kinds of birds! It was fun to watch along with the surfers on the ocean side. After the sunset, we continued our drive, to State Street in Santa Barbara. This is the happening street with the restaurants, shops, bars, etc. and we found free parking on Chapala Street. We walked to Stearns Wharf and saw (and heard) the party ships on the ocean. The boardwalk is nice to walk along and the seafood restaurant toward the end has live lobsters and crabs you can catch a glimpse of in the window. Reminded me of trips to Publix as a kid when my brother and I would watch the live lobsters when we were grocery shopping with our Dad. Before heading to our friends’ place, I got an evening coffee at the Santa Barbara Coffee Roasters which was the only open coffee shop I could find on Saturday night.

We met our friends at a gorgeous mansion about 15 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara. They rent a room and bathroom is a beautiful home with eclectic art work, an expansive backyard and multiple fireplaces! We got to stay in the amazing loft! The place felt like a dream!

Gaviota State Park | Teamtravelsblog — Gaviota State Park with our friends | Teamtravelsblog

After a restful evening, we ate a delicious breakfast and then drove to Gaviota State Park via El Camino Real. We parked up the hill from the park, in a free spot and took a nice short hike. We then walked into the park for a view from the beach. From here we drove about 20 minutes to Solvang. This city is amazing!

It was founded over 100 years ago by 3 Danish men. There are tons of bakeries, cute shops and details to see like old red phone booths (we couldn’t help ourselves) and windmills. After exploring the town, we were starving! We at a place relatively close by called Sides. The food here was literally, the best we’ve ever had! The burger, fish tacos and butternut squash soup were incredulous!

We knew we wanted to walk off our food, so we drove through Los Padres National Forest and headed for Lizard’s Mouth Rock. Prepare yourself for the windy drive to get here! This was a short, but amazing walk! The large rocks overlooking Santa Barbara and the Pacific Ocean are a must see! We took endless selfies! We made our way from here to the One Thousand Steps beach before high tide. Luckily, it wasn’t literally 1,000 steps to the beach. The beach is covered in beautiful rocks.

One Thousand Steps Beach | Teamtravelsblog

As it was getting closer to sunset, we made our way to State Street. We got coffee at Dune and explored Paaseo Nuevo, saw the McConnell’s ice cream store and then drove to Franceschi Park. It was crazy to learn that the surrounding houses had banded together to get approval for an illegal gate to block visitors from visiting this park months prior. We didn’t have any issues, parked in one of the limited spots and took in a gorgeous purple sunset! We also explored the abandoned looking mansion.

Franceschi Park Sunset | Teamtravelsblog

As if we hadn’t packed enough into one day, we drove to the Four Seasons Hotel in Montecito to see the last bit of the sunset. Back at the SB mansion, our friends introduced us to a game called Exploding Kittens*! It was such a blast.

Monday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and drove to Carpinteria Bluffs. We love seeing animals in their natural habitat and after a leisurely walk, we found the sunbathing seals! We’re glad we didn’t give up – it really was only a matter of continuing to walk north with the ocean to your left until you see them.

Seals at Carpinteria Bluffs | Teamtravelsblog

The Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) is exactly what we hoped – a relaxing drive with non-stop beaches to pick from. We stopped at El Matador State Beach, Zuma Beach and Malibu Beach and Pier on our drive back to Los Angeles. El Matador was our favorite as we saw a perched pelican, tons of curlews (type of bird) and two beach photo shoots! The rock formations are really incredible here too.

Pelican at El Matador State Beach | Teamtravelsblog

Curlews at El Matador State Beach | Teamtravelsblog

If you want to read about how we spent the rest of our Monday in Los Angeles or our day prior to Santa Barbara, check out my previous article titled, “Ve-nice to Hollywood”. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and the connecting Pacific Coast Highway are completing doable on a long weekend! I hope you picked up some tips!

Us at the Lizard's Mouth | Teamtravelsblog — Us at the Lizard’s Mouth | Teamtravelsblog

Ve-nice to Hollywood

November 11, 2017November 21, 2017Posted in Read Them AllTagged California, Coffee shop, Dessert, Travel, USA Travel, Weekend Trip, Zoo1 Comment

Lots to see in Los Angeles and it’s more than the rich and famous! Hiking to the Hollywood sign, seeing the Melrose Avenue street art and taking in the Venice Beach sunset are among the highlights!

Los Angeles, California Highlights over Veterans’ Weekend 2017

Santa Monica Pier
Venice Beach (sunset, street art and bread pudding)
Venice Canals
Third Street Promenade and Sidecar Donuts
Hike to the Hollywood sign and Bronson Caves
Graffiti at the Old LA Zoo
Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard
Street art on Melrose Avenue and Alfred Coffee on Melrose Place
View from the Griffith Observatory

When we find a great flight deal we go for it! We took a direct Spirit flight from Baltimore (BWI) to Los Angeles (LAX) and arrived shortly after noon on Friday, November 10^th. We picked up our cheap rental car from Payless since we got a great deal through CarRentals.com. While it wasn’t the fastest service and we caught them trying to charge us the wrong price, everything ultimately worked out and we were on our way without being upsold on any of the extras. We parked the car at the Convention Center by the Santa Monica Pier and met our friends. (Traveler tip: If you go on a weekday, park at the Santa Monica mall instead. The Convention Center is a good cheap spot on the weekend.) The pier was fun to walk along – enjoyed the street performers, checked out the roller coasters, got our picture with the “66-End of Trail” sign and saw the fishermen at the end of the boardwalk. We especially enjoyed watching the sunset here.

We moved our car to Ocean Boulevard street parking part way between the Santa Monica beach and Venice beach to a meter that was free after 6 p.m. We walked along the pedestrian and bike path, which was lit. When we got to Venice beach where all of the stores are, we found lots of homeless and seemingly homeless people. While we felt safe, it didn’t seem like our kind of scene (read to the end to see how our opinion changed on our second visit here). We continued from here to the Venice Canals. The houses along the canals are beautiful and if you’re lucky, people will have their lights on so you can get a peek inside their living rooms. I’d love to find an AirBNB here!

I saw a picture of the Sidecar Donuts on Instagram and I knew I had to try one! We parked on 5^th Avenue, paid the meter and made the short walk. I tried the maple bacon donut and it was SO GOOD! From here we walked down the Third Street Promenade. It reminded us of carless streets like the 16^th Street Mall in Denver. We watched more street performers here, saw a Barnes & Noble with the old school signing and found huge hedge dinosaurs. We also poked our head down 4^th Street which had trees decorated with colorful changing lights. Before calling it a night, we took a quick detour to Rodeo Drive and saw all of the fancy designer stores.

Instead of carsleeping this trip, we stayed at our friends’ place nearby, ate a lovely homemade breakfast, got serenaded by their 3 year old with Let It Go and headed out the door by 8 a.m. We arrived at 3200 Canyon Road by 8:30 a.m. and were able to secure a parallel parking spot for free. It’s a steep hike, but a rewarding hike from here to the Hollywood sign.

While it was a bit foggy, we did enjoy seeing downtown LA from the top too. Before returning to our car, we made a left past the Smokey the Bear sign and made the very short trip up to the Bronson Caves. They’re cool to walk through and if you walk all the way around, you’ll get another view of the full Hollywood sign. We were back in the car by 11 a.m. and made a short trip to the Old L.A. Zoo in Griffith Park. The parking was plentiful and free. After a few minutes of seeing the old cages that were abandoned in the 1960s, I was ready to go and didn’t see the appeal. It didn’t look like the Instagram pictures I had seen that showed graffiti. The trick is you have to climb the stairs in the second exhibit or come down from the top. The graffiti work is really cool and it’s a bit eerie to crawl through what used to be animal enclosures.

From here we headed to see the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Blvd. Luckily we found two hour free parking on Emmet Terrace. Hollywood Boulevard is extremely touristy with some inappropriate stores, but for us, we had to at least see some of the famous stars. We enjoyed calling out names and noticing the different symbols depending on the person’s industry (e.g., entertainment, music, television, etc.).

After we got our fix and checked this off the list, we headed to Melrose Avenue. We found free street parking on North Orlando Avenue nearby. I really liked the vibe of Alfred Coffee on Melrose Place and they had nostalgic Lisa Frank cup sleeves. Melrose Avenue was perfect for taking pictures! We headed up and down the street so I could take pictures of the pink building, the famous wings, “Made in LA” wall, comedian wall by the Improv, the Marilyn Monroe portrait and much more!

Marilyn Monroe on Melrose | Teamtravelsblog — Melrose Avenue Street Art | Teamtravelsblog

From here we spent two days around Santa Barbara and the Pacific Coast Highway. Check out my next article to read more about that part of the trip. On Monday afternoon, we returned to Los Angeles and drove to the Griffith Observatory. The Observatory was closed, but we paid $4 to park and take in the view from here. The Observatory is beautiful and the walk around the building is superb! Even with some light fog, we still got some great shots of the skyline. You’ll get another chance to see the Hollywood sign. We also spotted a mom and two baby deer wandering around.

LA from Griffith Observatory | Teamtravelsblog

Baby deer at the Griffith Observatory |Teamtravelsblog

With a few hours left on our trip, we returned to the Venice Canals. We parked for free on N. Venice Boulevard near the LA Public Library. Since we made it before sunset, the lighting and reflections were perfect! The houses are all really unique and beautiful. Lots of people own little boats and we even saw a flamingo paddle boat!

Venice Beach | Teamtravelsblog — Venice | Teamtravelsblog

We walked back to Venice Beach and found ourselves having a completely different experience from our first one. Venice was a happening place! We found amazing street art along the strip and closer to the water. I ate the most amazing classic cinnamon and salted caramel bread pudding from Espresso Yo’self. The skate park is a must see! Watching the skateboarders is completely mesmerizing as they dodge one another, flip their boards and stick their landings. By 5 p.m. the sun had set and the sky changed to the most magnificent colors. I couldn’t put my camera down!

Before we knew it, it was time to return our car to Payless, shuttle to the airport and fly home on the red eye flight. California is incredible and we will be back! Remember to check back to read about our two days around Santa Barbara and the PCH.

Sunset on Venice Beach | Teamtravelsblog — Venice Beach Sunset | Teamtravelsblog

On a Mission to La Jolla

June 4, 2017December 22, 2017Posted in Read Them AllTagged California, Coffee shop, Travel, USA Travel, Weekend TripLeave a comment

If you have time to drive to the outskirts of San Diego, make the trip to La Jolla! It became a highlight of our 4-day trip seeing sea lions and seals up close and in their natural habitat.

San Diego Highlights for Sunday, June 4 (Day 2):

Mission Beach
Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
La Jolla – sea lions, seals and an outdoor market
Torrey Pines State Park and Beach

There’s nothing quite like waking up and realizing, you’re in California! We’ve found that carsleeping is surprisingly comfortable when the seats go back and the temperature is just right. We woke up pretty early again (before sunrise at 5:41 am) and drove to Mission Beach. The parking lot was desolate with the exception of trash and the world’s largest seagulls! These seagulls were the size of large cats! Strolling along the boardwalk as the sun went up was a perfect way to start our day.

It was a direct shot north from Mission Beach to Bird Rock and the Bird Rock Coffee Roasters. I enjoyed their regular coffee and the coffee house had a nice ambience. I was thrilled to have a bathroom to freshen up in too! Unfortunately, when I returned to the car I was convinced I had locked the keys in the car. I didn’t know how I did it, but I was in straight panic mode! Fortunately, for both of us, I ended up having the keys and there wasn’t a need to call AAA on our vacation! We then continued through Bird Rock until we made it to La Jolla (pronounced like “hoya”).

Sea Lions | Teamtravelsblog

Sea Lion Sleeping | Teamtravelsblog

La Jolla should not be missed! Within a second of overlooking the ocean, we could hear and see sea lions! There were tons of sea lions relaxing, jumping in and out of the water, and cuddled up together. We enjoyed roaming onto the rocks (the ones that warn you not to get too close to the sea lions) so we could get some great pictures of the sea lions. We also saw lots of people swimming in the water. We walked down some stairs to get up close to the beach area where the swimmers were entering and exiting the ocean. As we went to go back up the stairs, a huge wave started coming and I literally jumped up to grab the rail and try to avoid getting my shoes wet! I was lucky I didn’t get slammed into a rock and made it out unscathed.

We continued south along the water until we made it to the Children’s Beach (or Seal Beach). I couldn’t believe it – there were so many seals! There’s a staircase to walk onto the beach and stand behind a rope to enjoy a view of the seals. There’s also a walk way to view the seals from above.

Seals | Teamtravelsblog

Seal | Teamtravelsblog

They are funny to watch as they shimmy their way into the water. They look like they’d be fun to play with! Our good friends from LA drove down to meet us here and it was great to watch their 2-year old take in the animals.

Funny enough, she seemed most amused by the seagulls. We got great refreshing drinks at the Living Room Coffeehouse. This place had cool artwork displayed. We then walked up to La Jolla Elementary School to the Open Aire Market. The market had lots of clothes, crafts and food. Plus, with a 2-year old, it also had a nice sized jungle gym for her to play on. Our friends told us we couldn’t come to California for our first time ever without trying Mexican food.

We found a great hole in the wall (it literally had 4 tables) called Don Carlos Taco Shop that was delicious!

Shortly after lunch, we parted ways and drove north to Torrey Pines State Park. It was quite confusing at first to find parking, since some of the parking includes parking spots on the main thoroughfare. Luckily, we improvised, turned the corner at the intersection following the Torrey Pines State Beach and found a neighborhood with free parking for the day (instead of paying for access) with a minimal walk to the entrance.

The beach part of Torrey Pines is pretty. It’s a narrow beach. After passing the toll booth (which is free if you walk on), we continued up a steep road with switchbacks where you can see the actual torrey pine trees the park is named for.

Torrey pine at Torrey Pine State Beach | Teamtravelsblog

There’s also a wonderful visitor center to get suggestions on where to hike. We found this to be extremely valuable, because there are some paths that aren’t accessible along the beach during high tide. I’d recommend wearing pants so you don’t brush up on anything when you’re on the trails.

From here it’s about a 2.5 hour drive to Joshua Tree National Park (west entrance). We absolutely LOVE national parks and couldn’t miss the opportunity to take a detour here during our 4 day trip to San Diego. One big tip is to make sure you fill up on gas when you have the opportunity and definitely before entering the park. Since we drove in the evening, we parked at the Wal-Mart (58501 Twentynine Palms Highway) about 15 minutes from the entrance to carsleep and felt safe. Check back soon if you’d like to read about our 100+ degree day at JTNP!

View of the Pacific Ocean | Teamtravelsblog

Croon for June in San Diego

June 4, 2017December 13, 2017Posted in Read Them AllTagged California, Travel, USA Travel, Weekend TripLeave a comment

San Diego Skyline from Coronado Island | Teamtravelsblog

Forget June gloom – San Diego in June is the perfect time to visit, even if the weather is a bit overcast. There’s beautiful beaches, baseball and a boatload of other things to do!

San Diego, California Highlights for Saturday, June 3:

Beach and biking on Coronado Island
Gaslamp District
Petco Park – Padres home game
Seaport Village
Little Italy
Balboa Park
Old Town

We are deal travelers and when you see direct flights for $208 from DC to San Diego, you jump all over them! Every year for Mike’s birthday we go to a city with a baseball game in town. Last year we went to a Yankees game (New York City), two years ago we went to a Phillies game (Philadelphia), three years ago we went to a Orioles game (Baltimore) and this year we had the luxury of a Padres game in the beautiful city of San Diego.

In order to minimize the number of days off from work, we took an afternoon flight on Friday to San Diego. We picked up our rental car from Hertz that I found through Priceline, name your own price for under $100. It was very easy to take the courtesy from the airport. We drove around San Diego before finding a place south of downtown to carsleep. It didn’t feel like the best area, but we locked our cars, put back our seats and slept well. Our goal was to get our Saturday started early.

We succeeded! We were up before 5 am and made the short drive over the Coronado Bridge and onto Coronado Island which is nicknamed the “Emerald City”.

Coronado Inn | Teamtravelsblog — Coronado Inn in the morning | Teamtravelsblog

There are beach spots along Ocean Boulevard that are marked next to the Coronado Inn and the rest are parallel parking spots. Luckily, we didn’t have any issues since we arrived so early. We were so excited to walk along the beach on the Pacific Ocean and explore around the famous Coronado Inn.

While Mike went for his run, I checked out some of the neighborhoods and walked to Panera Bread to get a coffee and bagel. After Mike’s run, we got in the car and drove to the other side of the island, which is also closer to the ferry, to rent bikes from Bikes & Beyond. We rented bikes for about two hours and took in the island’s well thought out bike paths. Of course the bike shop also provides a free map and recommendations. The bike ride takes you by gorgeous homes and a golf course. If you have time and are interested, it may be worth checking Groupon* or Goldstar as there were also bike rental tours available for good prices.

Biking on Coronado Island | Teamtravelsblog

Lastly, don’t leave the “ferry-side” of the island until taking in the beautiful views of San Diego and the skyline along the water.

From Coronado, we drove to Balboa Park and left our car at Inspiration Point for free. We then walked a little over a mile to get our tickets for the Padres game at Petco Park. The baseball tickets were a little pricey, but the park is amazing!!

Since it was within a day of Mike’s birthday, he actually got free chocolate ice cream (which I ate of course)! Make sure to take in the park – see the dog park, the statues and the view of the Coronado Bridge. (If for any reason you come when there isn’t a game, I read you can see the Coronado Bridge from the Central Library up the street.)

Top notch baseball park | Teamtravelsblog

Petco Park in East Village is next to the Gaslamp District, which is the perfect area to walk around. There are tons of restaurants and it has a great atmosphere. Don’t miss the famous “Gaslamp Quarter” archway sign. From the Gaslamp District, we walked a short distance to Seaport Village. This area has lots of cute stores, it’s on the water and there are interesting people to watch.

We saw a street performer stick multiple swords down his throat (after building up the hype for a good 20 minutes)! It was insane! We also saw people dressed up like Star Wars characters. If you continue along the water, you’ll make it to the U.S.S. Constitution ship and “the Kiss” statue. The Kiss statue is really cool and the National Harbor in Maryland actually has a small version of this statue now too.

"The Kiss" | Teamtravelsblog — “The Kiss” | Teamtravelsblog

If your feet aren’t hurting too much, I would recommend a walk through Little Italy. It’s another quaint area with lots of restaurants. We walked from here back to our car in Balboa Park. This was quite a hike, but if you’re looking to take in more of the city, it’s a good way to do it. Once back in our car, we drove to Old Town. Thankfully, this area had a free parking lot. We wandered through the markets, listened to the music and I tried some inexpensive warm tortillas from a street vendor.

Oh, and I should mention, we were exhausted by the end of this day and found a great place to park our car and sleep for the night where we could hear the trains go by.