Grace turned 30 this past November, and despite not being able to gather with friends due to Covid, we knew we wanted to do something special. Road trips have always been a big part of our relationship - we took a road trip all over California back in 2015 when we were newly dating, and in 2017 we drove all the way from LA to Alaska and back. So a very fun and indulgent road trip felt perfect to ring in a new decade. We actually left the dogs in LA (being well taken care of), just to make it feel a little more like a true vacation. We missed them but loved having the extra flexibility in our schedule (and being able to sleep in)!
Today I want to recap where we stayed and share a few fun pictures. I’ve shared some of these on social media already, but I’m also peppering in some photos from a disposable camera we got developed. I haven’t shared these anywhere else yet!
A little “Covid Caveat” - obviously travel is not carefree during a pandemic, and Covid precautions played a heavy role in the planning for this trip. I know that California has gone on various stages of lockdown in the past year, but interstate travel on the West Coast was not restricted on the dates when we traveled. Still, rest assured we wore masks at all times when around other people, cooked our meals at “home” in our Airbnbs or got Covid-safe takeout options, and generally had about the same or fewer interactions with others than we do here in LA. Also, all of the photos of us together were taken via a tripod and self timer (there was no one with us to take a picture). I would say overall we were extremely careful and conscientious on this trip. Just want to get that out there at the beginning of the post!
Without further intro, here’s the play-by-play of our road trip! If you are interested in a 7-10 day itinerary leaving from LA, I highly recommend our route.
Days 1-2: LA to Carmel Valley Ranch
The first day of our trip was November 7, the day the US Election results were finally called in favor of Joe Biden. As we drove through the streets of West Hollywood on our way out of town, cars honked excitedly, and it was just a great feeling to start off our trip! We drove about seven hours up to Carmel and checked into the beautiful Carmel Valley Ranch.
I’d been hearing about the Carmel Valley Ranch for several years, and it was lovely in person. I booked us one of the Hilltop Suites that comes with a beautiful patio/balcony with an outdoor bathtub overlooking the golf course. I’m actually not a huge golf course person, despite the fact that I was a member of my high school’s golf team. But it was a sublime view nonetheless, and we pretty much just enjoyed chilling in our room for the first night of the trip. The open-air bath was awesome, and we also turned on our fireplace and watched a few episodes of The Haunting of Bly Manor.
The next day, we went for a hike around the property before hitting the road to our next destination.
Days 2-4: Carmel to Trinidad, California
Never heard of a Trinidad in California? I think a lot of people haven’t! It is a seaside town near Eureka, in far northern California. I first heard about it a few years ago and had always wanted to visit. It did NOT disappoint - I think Grace and I both agree this was our favorite stop of the trip. I booked this Airbnb - which I cannot say enough good things about - and we stayed for two nights.
We arrived after dark the first night, and we picked up some extremely delicious pizza from Headies Pizza & Pour which was an approximate 2 minute drive from our Airbnb (the whole town is TINY in the best way).
We didn’t totally know what to expect out our windows since we arrived after dark (though I knew from the listing that it was pretty), so it’s an understatement to say we were blown away when we woke up to all of THIS:
It was truly a magical, divine, cinematic, kid-on-Christmas-morning experience staying in Trinidad. We spent a lot of our time just drinking in the view, but we also did a little bit of light hiking (Grace famously hates hiking) and exploring in the area.
The house itself was stunning, too.
I have such happy memories of going to the little grocery store in town, getting some local seafood and delicious fresh veggies, and hanging out at the house for happy hour and cooking dinner. Heaven!
We both love an Old Fashioned on occasions like this.
I’m holding myself back from posting about a dozen more pictures of Trinidad, because it is hands-down one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been. But onward!
Days 4-7: Trinidad to Lakeside, Oregon
As you can imagine, we really did not want to leave Trinidad, but we were also excited to visit Oregon. On the drive between Northern California and Southern Oregon, we stopped and saw some super pretty sights just on the side of the road. Including a giant redwood tree that you can drive through! A picture of us driving through it was actually our Christmas card this year.
This is the Tour-Thru Tree in Klamath, California. It cost $5 (cash only) to drive through, and when we were there, we were the only ones around for miles it seemed like (we put the money through a slot to go in). We set up our self timer and tripod to get a video of us driving through it, and I also took some fun disposable camera pics including this one of Grace.
These are natural land bridges in Brookings, Oregon. Just off the highway. So gorgeous!
This was roughly around Gold Beach, I think, although I don’t actually remember exactly where we were at this point. It was literally the side of the highway, which was so fun to just pull over!
My best friend lives in Oregon, but sadly we didn’t really figure out in advance how we could plan with Covid and everything (plus we weren’t going as far north as where she lives), so I didn’t see her on this trip :( But aside from the pain of being so-close-yet-so-far-away with my bestie, we such an amazing time in Oregon! We stayed for three nights at this Airbnb, which was sooo cozy and homey. And with an incredible view from the deck too!
Such a cute wine + espresso setup at our Airbnb!
This part of the trip was also over Grace’s *actual* 30th birthday (November 12 - little sneaky Scorpio), which is why I planned for us to have 4 days here. It was so nice to be able to really unpack, relax, rest, and enjoy the beautiful Oregon scenery. We honestly spent most of the time just sitting around, reading, and being cozy! That’s exactly what we both want out of a vacation. It really could not have been more restful.
Seemed fitting for a road trip through Oregon :)
Can you tell which photos were taken with a disposable camera? I think they add such a fun, nostalgic feel to our trip memories.
Celebrating Grace’s birthday!
We also got the BEST local oysters at Clausen Oysters, which was about 20 minutes from our Airbnb. There was a cute picnic area to sit outside, and we were the only people there.
Days 7-8: Lakeside to the Hummingbird Estate outside Ashland, Oregon
Once again, we were sad to leave such a wonderful destination, but on day 7 of the trip it was time to move on to a night of wine tasting at the Hummingbird Estate in south-central Oregon.
The Hummingbird Estate is a winery with a small bed & breakfast (7 rooms total) on site. We stayed in the Japanese Maple room, named for the stunning red-orange leaves right outside our windows!
We were just at the Hummingbird Estate for one night, but we got a chance to try out a bunch of their wines, and I seriously loved every single one!
It was the perfect, cozy, storybook vibes kind of place to enjoy some red wine and a good night’s sleep.
Days 8-9: Southern Oregon to San Francisco, California
Our last destination of the trip was San Francisco, California. The end of a good trip can be a little bit sad, so I wanted to counteract that by booking a really fun, splurge hotel. We stayed at the newly-opened Four Seasons at the Embarcadero in a Golden Gate view suite. It was truly fabulous! And the hotel’s Covid protocols were top-notch (temperature checks, welcome bags filled with masks, sanitizer, wipes, etc., completely contactless check in and room service).
Does it get any better than this?!
We spent our last night just enjoying the view, ordering delicious room service, and watching a movie. I lived in the Bay Area for years, so we have gotten to do all the fun San Francisco touristy things in the past and weren’t too sad to miss them on this trip.
The next morning, we got room service again for breakfast and then hit the road before it got too late (since we had about a 6 hour drive ahead of us).
After 9 days away, we were so happy to get home and see our dogs again! We got In-n-Out for our last meal of the trip and made it home safe and sound. We did quarantine for two weeks after we returned, though thankfully we had very minimal contact with anyone on the trip and felt super safe.
And that’s all! Hope you enjoyed this (long overdue) recap. I feel so lucky that we were able to visit these beautiful places, and I really hope to return to all of them eventually (especially Trinidad)!