day 38

Coos Bay to Trinidad

Took another morning beach walk. It was much smellier than the previous day as tons of seaweed had washed up on the shore over night, but still a perfect way to start the day. Had some yogurt, showered, got things packed up, and started heading south towards California.

My friend Carlos had been telling me for a long time about Secret Beach on the coast of Oregon, and we made sure to stop there. The trailhead starts at a random pull off in Brookings along the 101. The trail goes down, down, down to one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. The last portion of the trail to get to the beach was a steep scramble down a rock. I was totally content not going down there but Jared cheered me on and convinced me to be brave and climb down. I am so so happy he did. There were just a few other people there, Vin was loving running around, the views were incomparable, and the water felt amazing on my feet - a real highlight of the whole trip.

Climbing back up the rock was a doozy! Jared somehow did it carrying Vinny at the same time (what), and I made it up but was full of anxiety, heavily breathing the whole time. At one point I had to look at my feet to find a good foothold and saw how high up I was and almost heckin’ lost it. But we all made it up in once piece, moseyed back up to the car feeling pretty dang good.

Pulled into Trinidad, picked up some things at the store, and dropped our stuff off at our AirBnb - a giant dome with an incredible outdoor shower. We were going to do dehydrated dinner and bag salad again but couldn’t pass up the opportunity for herbed waffle cones full of mashed potatoes and brisket at the Lighthouse Grill. After eating we went for a sunset walk around town, returned to the Lighthouse Grill for some French Toast ice cream (yum), then back to the dome to get cozy.

day 30 - 33

A lil zip down to SF and back

Thea and I flew out of Seattle so I could attend a work event. Spent the next few days watching presentations, eating great food (Freddie’s, Fog City, Good Good Culture Club), catching up with work friends, laughing too much, and staying up way too late.

In a whirlwind of serendipity, the Missouri Lounge happened to be having a soft open that thursday night. I spent way more time at the work party than I had anticipated but decided to take a lyft to Missouri on my way home just in case. I tried the door and it was locked, but I could hear one of my favorite bartenders inside so I knocked. On first knock they got quiet and were like no way am I answering that. On second knock, she asked who it was and my voice got all high when I said “umm hi it’s Carolyn I don’t know if you remember me sorry just wanted to say hi.” She opened the door and welcomed me in with a hug, a shot, a cookie, and a catch up. I got a good look at the changes in the bar and am so excited to go back. We hung out for a half hour or so and when I thanked them for answering the door they so sweetly said it was a perfect way to end their first night.

Flew back to Seattle on Friday with Jared and Vinny in tow! Got back to the house in Madrona to put our stuff down and headed to Bongo’s for dinner with our friend’s Leslie and Evan who we hadn’t seen in far too long. I had a very good jerk chicken plate, but unfortunately Jared had a completely dry burger - mixed bag.

day 3

Newberry Springs to Yucca

Woke up, had some yogurt, went for a desert walk, and jumped in the pool before heading out

Drove out of California and into Arizona. Listened to Bruce Springsteen, Nilüfer Yanya, more book, more TAL

Took a longer route so that I could drive on as much of Route 66 as possible. Stopped at Ludlow Cafe for a bite, played tag with some trains, pulled over at a giant crater, paid $8.50 a gallon for gas (yooooo) and generally got cooked by the sun.

Drove about 24 miles of dirt roads with insane views to my hipcamp in Yucca. It was out there, lemme tell ya. It was well over 100 degrees when I arrived, so I set up my camp chair in the shade of my car and read for an hour or so. Once it cooled off a bit I went for a walk around the property, then made myself a little dinner and enjoyed the sunset before heading to bed.

I was pretty nervous to sleep out there! The owners were on the property but not super near, I was the only guest, and it was so hot I needed to keep the front of the tent open. I kept waking up and having trouble falling asleep until I woke up a little after midnight and saw that the stars had come out. I took a stab at photographing them with my camera, realized that it was completely silent outside because there was nothing to be afraid of and slept like a heckin’ baby till the sun came up.

day 2

Morro Bay to Newberry Springs

Woke up early, made myself some yogurt and fruit and realized I forgot coffee filters. Packed up the car and headed back down to the waterfront for a jog. Glad I didn’t make coffee because I got to stop at Scout Coffee for a perfect iced latte and goat cheese scallion scone.

Drove about 5 hours to Newberry Springs, where it was a cool 103 degrees.
Listened to more of my audiobook, a good episode of This American Life [835 : Children of Dave] and a bunch of music

Officially made it into the desert!

Stopped at Roadhouse Restaurant at Kramer Junction and had straight up the BEST grilled cheese with avo since the Missouri Lounge closed. It cost $13 with an iced tea and tax. The server was so sweet and thought my lunch looked so good she ordered the same thing.

THE grilled cheese with avo

Arrived at my airbnb - a guesthouse at a property owned by a very cool artist, and jumped in the heckin’ pool.

day 1

El Cerrito to Morro Bay

Listened to The Nightingale audio book and Charli XCX on repeat

Arrived around 5pm to a beautifully foggy evening. Got my car organized for sleeping and headed into town. Took myself on a long walk by the water, got some fish tacos at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant, and moseyed back to my campsite to snooze.