Road Tripping California
- Sep 27, 2020
- 4 min read
After Covid-19 really putting a twist on Spring Break plans... well ALL plans, we decided to book a trip to California. We were able to do incredible hikes, drive through unimaginable sceneries, walk and talk with the locals, and enjoy a relaxing end to our vacation along the coast of Monterey, CA.
This is how we were able to hit all of it in six incredible days:
Day 1: Philadelphia, PA to Las Vegas, NV
Fly into Las Vegas just in time to explore the lovely city at night time! We stayed at an airbnb through the Vdara Suite, 27th floor, which gave us a beautiful view of the fountains at the Bellagio. We kicked off the night by walking through the Cosmopolitan hotel to truly witness the gambling scene, then enjoyed walking through Paris Hotel to find ourselves on the main strip. After lots of walking and a long day of travels, we wound up at the TacoBell Club where childhood meets Las Vegas with hard, I repeat, vodka-filled BAJA BLASTS. YUMMM. After enjoying nostalgia from childhood in a frozen cup we headed back to our hotel knowing the rest of the trip would want us well-rested.
Day 2: Drive through Red Rock National Park to arrive at
Death Valley
By 7:30am we were on the road towards Death Valley (a little over a 2 hour drive). We drove through Red Rock National Park, which made the drive so beautiful and so easy. We hiked Death Valley slightly on the later side (it recommends not going past 11:00am), but we managed to do a solid 6 mile hike in there. Note: pack lots of sunscreen, hats, spray water bottles and water bottles for this trip. It is brutal and the deserts can be deceiving as there are many many hills and what might only be a mile or two left could be straight up and downhill for a mile or two. We were thankful we overpacked water bottles and spray sunscreen as we used it all during this hike. After replenishing with Nuun electrolyte tablets and eating lots of salty nuts from whole foods, we headed back on the road towards Mesquite Sand Dunes. These dunes were hot and dry, but worth a quick pit stop walk around on our trip. From here we drove up to Alabama Hills to drive on Movie Road and hike around the neat sculptures in the area. We ended up camping here (pictured below) for the night at Lone Pine Lake where the sun hits the mountains beautifully during sunset.
This night was my favorite campsite of the trip. We found a perfect (free) spot right overlooking the water. It was cool enough that bugs weren't that big of an issue. We filled up on pb&j's, then walked around the lake during sunset. The stars were beautiful and so clear, we downloaded the constellation app to grow an even greater appreciation for the stars. Note: it gets very chilly here at night, pack layers!
Day 3: Mammouth Mountain and Lakes (MY FAVORITE DAY)
We woke up and got breakfast on the road at a cute little diner in Alabama Hills and drove towards Mammoth Mountain (just under 2 hours of a drive), with a quick pitstops at Willey's Hot Springs. This was my favorite hike of the trip, and it was the longest coming up around 12.2 miles! Mammoth Mountain is the coolest town with the cutest attractions year round. In the winter, which I would love to do, you can rent one of the lake houses along the various lakes in Mammoth Mountain for a weekend of skiing, sledding and snowboarding. This trip, we hiked it up to the top where the highest lake has snow laying on it and an incredible view where mountains are kissing clouds. We enjoyed protein bars at the top here and a little snow ball fight to keep us cool for the hike back down. Along the way, there are different lakes you can kayak in, and go swimming in, as well as a really cool waterfall a few miles into the hike. After that, we went for a chilly swim at the bottom of the mountains. Another reason this place rocks is because it is all natural springs waters that have a built in dam to feed the town.
Willey's Hot Springs: slightly overrated, but still a fun stop to make!
Pictured Below: Looking out by the waterfall, overviewing the lake.
Day 4: Mammouth to Monterey
Normally, this drive would not be too bad and you can drive through Yosemite National Park, hike and camp there, add a cool spot onto the trip. However, Yosemite was closed when we went due to Covid-19 regulation, so we ended up driving, quite literally straight up and around Yosemite to find ourselves in Monterey. This drive was pretty exhausting, so we spent most of the day walking around the quaint town of Carmel for the day. We had an incredible brunch at Wave Street Café then settled into our hotel (Hotel Pacific). That night we strolled the town, enjoyed watching sea otters along the beach and $30 worth of street tacos- yum.
Day 5: A Day's Worth of Monterey & Carmel-by-the-Sea
Our hotel was located just outside of the main town- walking distance from the the Fisherman's Dwarf, which made it easy to get lost walking around from Pacific Grove area to Del Monte area. Long walks on the beach and random pop-ins at cute cafés, one of which we ended up going to every day for the rest of our trip! Aloha Coffee & Café ended up being our go to! The Hawaiian Cold Brew Coffee and Acaii Bowls with peanut butter was up my diet for the rest of the trip... Awesome owner from Hawaii that moved to Monterey and opened up his own coffee / smoothie shop. We loved getting to know him and enjoy the town area. Pictured Below: a smoothie bowl to go from Aloha Coffee & Café
Day 6: The Sanctuary Resort
We said our goodbyes to the town and headed North to the Sanctuary Resort for a day of recovery and relaxation. This place is awesome. Our room had a little fireplace in it and a nice outdoor patio that overlooked the scattered fire pits and sand games on the beach. We enjoyed an evening on the more secluded beach where we watched the sunset and snuggled up in blankets over a fire pit.
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