“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
Petaluma to Joshua Tree
Another four days were spent in the rest of California, following the stars – both the Hollywood AND the celestial variety!
Saturday – Petaluma to Monterey
With a promise in our hearts to return someday, we said farewell to wine country and journeyed onward. First on the agenda was the Golden Gate Bridge. I am a big fan of dystopian and disaster movies, and one of the first things to go is always this San Francisco landmark. So I figured I better get a photo of it before it falls into the ocean! 😂 Our amazing airbnb host recommended we drive to the Marin Headlands Lookout for the best view, and I’m glad we took his advice. The headlands are part of a National Recreation Area with trails, beaches, a marine life center, historic military sites, and a lighthouse. But the most spectacular part (and the most crowded) is the overlook, set on a 500-foot hill right across from the bridge. Here you have a close-up and elevated view of the bridge, with the city in the background, and Alcatraz off to the left. Be warned though – it can be cold and extremely windy up there! Bring extra layers and hold on to your hats!
Leaving the headlands we then traveled across the bridge, and I’m happy to report we were able to avoid x-men, Godzilla, and earthquakes, and we made it safely. 😉From there we made our way back to the ocean, and drove the Pacific Coast Highway further south, through Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, to the Monterey area. One of the touristy things to do here is drive the famous 17 Mile Drive. This is a scenic 17-mile private road in Pebble Beach, known for its coastal views, landmarks like the Lone Cypress, luxury multi-million dollar mansions, and of course, Pebble Beach golf course. We saw birds, seals, and sea lions, and drove through a grove of ancient Cypress trees.
For dinner we drove to Carmel to eat at the Hog’s Breath Inn, founded by Clint Eastwood. He used to visit it several times a week, and he still shows up occasionally. Unfortunately, that night was not the night. Oh well! The food was good and atmosphere was really cool, but the prices were quite high, so I don’t know if we’d go back.
Sunday – Monterey to Santa Barbara
Big Sur State Park is prone to landslides, and one recently closed several miles of the PCH. So, we veered inland for most of our drive today. There are 21 missions between Sonoma and San Diego, established by Spanish priests of the Fransiscan Order. Near the halfway point of our drive today sits Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, founded in 1772. We were not in time for the daily guided tour, but we were able to walk through the museum and gardens.
Pismo Beach is a town just a few miles past the mission, and it was here we stopped for lunch. After some delicious seafood, we took a stroll down the pier and got to watch a surfing competition that happened to taking place right then!
Our resting place for the night was in Santa Barbara. We found a restaurant on Stearn’s Wharf for a seafood dinner (it’s hard to pass up when you know how fresh it is!). While we were eating, a rocket was launched from a nearby SpaceX base, and it flew right over us!
Monday – Santa Barbara to Joshua Tree
Our morning took us through Malibu – its coast lined with “if we ever won the lottery this is the kind of house I want” houses, and its beaches filled with surfers.
The Santa Monica Pier was our first stop today. We checked out the shops and street performers (including a banana playing a saxophone!) and soaked up some sun. After the pier we headed to Mel’s Drive-In for lunch. Barry and I recently started watching a show called “Billy and Dom Eat the World”, available on Prime. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan (better known as Merry and Pippin from The Lord of the Rings) travel around the world, exploring food and culture. In their third episode, they ate their way through California, and one of their stops was Mel’s Drive-In in Santa Monica. So we had to check out this American classic! It has vintage 50’s-diner vibes with tabletop jukeboxes, great food and splurge-worthy milkshakes. Thanks, Billy and Dom, for the tip! 😉
At this point it was time to take a hard left, and begin traveling east, through Los Angeles and into the desert. Around sunset we arrived at our small cabin near Joshua Tree National Park for our next few days of adventures.
Tuesday – Joshua Tree National Park
Two deserts, the Mojave and the Colorado, meet up in the Joshua Tree National Park. It’s characterized by rugged rock formations and haphazardly stacked mountains of boulders, and the landscape is filled with cactus and the twisted, bristly Joshua trees for which the park is named. Much of the park feels as though you’ve wandered into a giant’s playground.
-We started by hiking the Hidden Valley Nature Trail, an area formerly known to be a hideout for cattle rustlers. It was easy to envision bandits and frontier sheriffs and ranchers and cowboys from days gone by – today we only saw fellow hikers and tourists! 😉
-From there we drove to Keys View. This overlook gives you views of the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, the Santa Rosa Mountains, and even the San Andreas Fault! Since I was born in southern California, I’d grown up knowing about the San Andreas, but had never seen it (except in one of my favorite disaster movies!).
-Next was another short hike and a picnic lunch at the Cap Rock Nature Trail. This was one of many gravity-defying landmarks in the park. The hike was easy and very flat, and we got some cool pictures of some Joshua trees and some desert flowers.
-Our last stop of the day was Skull Rock, which is just off the side of the road. It’s bizarre to think that raindrops have eroded the granite in just a few places and caused this boulder to resemble a skull. It’s a must-do photo op, so it was quite crowded, but we still got some great pics.
Star Gazing
One of my favorite things about the Joshua Tree area is how easy it is to see the stars! We got some dinner in Pioneer Town and returned to the park after dark to enjoy the beautiful night skies. The park is open 24/7 and has some of the darkest skies in southern California. We laid on a picnic table under a glittering dome of stars and planets, and admired the Milky Way.
“Second star to the right and straight on til morning!”
-Peter Pan
Our California days have come to an end, and now it is onward, through the southwestern deserts and to Texas!
Til next time, shine bright friends!
~Dawn 🌻
Well written and I love you.
Barry