6-DAY CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP
[*Disclaimer: This blog post is sponsored by Visit California]
I’m not sure if I’ve ever been more excited to write a blog post before as this marks my first trip back after 2 years of no travel due to the pandemic. I’m sure this will be the case for many this year so for that reason I wanted to take a moment to address what it was like traveling during Covid as protocols might look similar for the next little while.
Note: Before traveling to any country make sure you check on the requirements needed in order to enter your destination. At the time of writing this blog post, as a Canadian traveling to the US, I need to provide a negative antigen test as well as my vaccine passport. Masks are required in the airport as well as on your flight at all times. You are allowed to remove the mask while you eat but then you need to put the mask back on.
Alright, now let’s dive into the good stuff!
DAY 1
On February 2nd I flew to California to embark on a 6-day road trip to explore 3 different areas I had never been to before: Santa Cruz, Ventura and Palm Springs. The best part is I brought my good friend Vic with me and although I don’t mind traveling solo, traveling with friends makes the experience so much more fun especially on a road trip!
We landed at SJC (San Jose) airport and rented a car from Hertz. We opted for a Nissan Altima and to my surprise I loved it! The cost for those interested was about $461USD for 6 days.
We drove down to Santa Cruz which was about 45 minutes and checked into the Chaminade Resort & Spa. This resort was a little slice of paradise that belonged in a romance novel. It was so beautiful and serene, I didn’t want to leave!
Once we unloaded the luggage in our room we headed right back out to catch the sunset at the Santa Cruz Wharf. I hadn't been to a beach in 2 years so being able to see it and hear the waves gave me an overwhelming sense of happiness that nearly brought me to tears.
Once the sun set we got back in the car to head to dinner. We opted for Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Bar which has a pretty good plant-based menu. I love eating plant-based as much as I can and Vic is also 100% plant-based/vegan so we made sure every restaurant we went to on this trip had some kind of plant-based options.
After dinner we went back to our favorite hotel and had the most peaceful night's sleep!
DAY 2
To start our day off on the right foot we needed a chai latte with oat milk so Vic found a spot called Cat & Cloud where we could also grab breakfast. Disclaimer: of all the chai lattes we had on this trip Cat & Cloud was my favorite and we tried at least 4 or 5 places!
Once we had something in our bellies we drove 15 minutes up to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. I had never seen a Redwood tree in my life so being amongst THE tallest trees in the world that could be thousands of years old felt really humbling and magical. To give you an idea, we’re talking “neck fully cranked up” to see the tops of the trees. It was crazy! Definitely highly recommend going just to be surrounded by these beautiful giants for a couple of hours. They have many trails but the one we opted for was a quick 0.8 mile loop trail which was a super easy stroll and short enough that we could take our time taking pictures. The cost to enter the park was $10 for the parking fee.
Once we got our fill of friendly Redwood giants we headed to Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticerria to pick up lunch. There weren’t many plant-based options but we grabbed a veggie wrap, spinach gorgonzola pasta, a brookie and a lemon crackle cookie —my favorites were the cookies. Holy moly, so good!
We packed up our lunch and drove to Capitola Village & Wharf. We decided to pick a spot near the famous colorful Capitola Venetians Condos to set up our picnic. It was such a beautiful day and a great way to enjoy our lunch.
Our last stop of the day was Nature Bridges State Park & Beach to catch the sunset — this was one of my favorite spots to take pictures. Between the color of the sky and the beautiful arched rock it made for the most beautiful backdrop (we took at least 100 pictures here).
DAY 3
On day 3 we (sadly) checked out of the Chaminade in the morning and of course needed to go find our chai latte and some breakfast. We stopped in at Verve Coffee Roasters which is one of the highest rated coffee shops in Santa Cruz. We ordered some avo toasts and an iced chai latte — the avo toast was amazing!!
We made a pit stop at Home/Work, a cute little store with locally made art, jewelry, gifts and apothecary items. It’s worth checking out if you’re in town.
We needed to grab lunch for the road as we had a 5-hour drive ahead of us to Ventura, so we stopped at the Picnic Basket and then to The Penny Ice Creamery. If you haven’t had Penny’s yet you NEED to try it. It’s some of the best ice cream I have ever had with some of the most unique flavors — and yes, they did have vegan options!
The drive to Ventura was long but it was also quite scenic towards the end which we really appreciated. Once we arrived we checked into the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach.
Once we settled in we went to grab dinner at Paradise Pantry Market which is a small little restaurant in town that also has a little shop attached. Not many fully vegan options here but the food was great! This restaurant is known for delicious, nourishing, fresh food and great wine.
Day 4
We got up early to grab our typical chai lattes, this time at Palm & Boy Coffee which ended up being in my top 3 from the whole trip. Once we had those in hand we drove over to Island Packers for a whale watching tour. I’ve been on whale watching tours before and it’s really a game of “you win some and lose some” so I wasn’t expecting to see anything. Although I was really hoping we would for Vic’s sake, as she had never been on a whale watching tour before.
Well! Not only did we end up seeing whales but we saw a pod of dolphins in the thousands when they came over to ride the front of the boat. I think I recorded at least 30 minutes of videos on my phone of those dolphins — it was incredible! The staff was also amazing and you could tell they really knew what they were doing.
We got back from our tour at around 1pm and headed straight for lunch at the Harvest Cafe Ventura. THE. BEST. FOOD. Most of the menu was vegan/plant-based and honestly blew us away by how much flavor there was in everything we ate.
Once our bellies were happy, we took a stroll on the beach and pier.
For dinner we stopped at The Saloon which had a full vegan/plant-based menu.
DAY 5
First thing we did was walk the beach and watch the surfers enjoy their morning surf and fly the drone to see a bit of Ventura from the air which is always one of my favourite perspectives.
We packed up for our 3-hour drive to Palm Springs but before we started the drive we stopped in at the Frontside Cafe for some breakfast. It’s such a beautiful place and the food was great!
The drive was a little long but the moment we hit the countless windmills we got more and more excited because we knew we were close. We arrived at our hotel, Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa which was such a gorgeous hotel but since we were out most days we didn’t really get to explore all it had to offer.
We knew after a long day of being in the car that we wouldn’t want to do a whole lot so we decided to go to downtown Palm Springs to walk around and find dinner.
We ended up at the Mojave Flea Trading Post which I would highly recommend checking out as they have all kinds of brands from Joshua Tree, The Coachella Valley and a beautiful home decor section.
We ended the night at Chef Tanya’s Kitchen which has some of the best plant-based sandwiches I’ve ever had in my life! If you happen to visit, try the BTLA and the El Cubano — so good!
DAY 6 - Joshua Tree
Our last full day was a big one and it was also a really exciting one for Vic and I because we were headed to Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree had been on Vic’s bucketlist for a long time but it was only really added to mine a few years ago. We knew we would spend all day there so we packed the car with everything we’d need for the day (outfits, water, chargers, etc.) — but before we did that we needed a killer breakfast so we stopped in at Chula Eatery.
Chula Eatery had some great plant-based options to choose from and I would highly recommend checking them out!
Driving into Joshua Tree, we took the entrance on Cottonwood Springs Road and it took us 40 minutes from the hotel. Before we continued to our first destination we stopped in to pay the $30 park fee.
CHOLLA CACTUS GARDEN
Then we drove 20 minutes to Cholla Cactus Garden; one side of the street has groomed paths to walk on while the other is wild. We chose the wild side however, please be careful of rogue cacti that blow in the wind. I stepped on one not once but twice and they hurt (lol). I was also wearing sandals which was not the best idea in hindsight. Overall definitely a must see and if you can go during golden hour/sunset I’m sure the lighting would be so magical.
ARCH ROCK
Our plan was to originally see Arch Rock but when we got there it was full of tourists wanting to get the same picture. So we decided to walk a little bit further and found some of the most beautiful rock formations I’ve seen (I’ll include some pictures below). Once the crowd died down we took a snap at Arch Rock and then headed back.
Note: I did this hike in Birkenstocks, but ideally you really want runners for this. The rocks can be very scratchy on the skin so better to just have a fully covered foot.
JOSHUA TREES
We couldn’t leave Joshua Tree without taking pictures of actual Joshua Trees (aka. Yucca Brevifolia). When the sun was starting to set and the sky was turning pink and purple, we pulled over on the side of the road (not kidding) and snapped these pictures. Joshua Trees are everywhere so it’s often just a matter of pulling over — wherever you want and can safely, to get your pictures.
DAY 7
Before we headed back to LA to catch a flight we had one more stop we wanted to make and it was to see some colorful doors! Our first stop was 1099 East Sierra Way and from there we just went up and down the streets looking for doors.
Note: If you are wanting to take pictures please DO NOT take any on anyone's property. You’ll see some lawns have signs that say “no photography” because they have obviously had many people take pictures with their door. Keep in mind these are people’s homes so don’t do anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with on your own property.
We honestly had such a great time and we really enjoyed the road trip as it made everyday so easy — just pack up the car and go! If you especially enjoy taking pictures or if you're a content creator like me, being able to pack up the car with outfits and anything else makes life so much easier.
If you have any questions about this trip leave them below, I’ll be happy to answer them!