Not a Typical New Year Celebration

Always Take the Scenic Route

“Good morning San Diego, this is the weather speaking. Expect rain, cold wind and partly cloudy skies for the remainder of the day.”

Chad and I left Aj’s in the morning around 9:30am to go find breakfast in North Park. We did not want to give up our precious parking spot so we walked downtown to go have an amazing breakfast that was suggested the night before. To our amazement, all of the shops/restaurants, except for the yoga studio, were closed until 10am. Who was going to feed us?! Frustrated and annoyed with the menus of the nearby food places, we trudged back the way we came and hopped in the car. Hungry and crabby, we both circled the blocks hunting for food but gave up. We high-tailed it out of there and traveled north to start making out way back home. This is where reality began sinking in; the trip would be ending in less than a week. But, a week is usually an average vacation time so we still had time to enjoy the journey a little longer. Highway 5 became home for the rest of the day and we stopped randomly to eat, stretch our legs and use the bathroom. Breakfast was an exasperated attempt and we gave up to eat in a town called Encinitas. The sky was dark grey and begging to pour any minute. Chad and I both agreed that San Diego wasn’t as amazing as we thought it was going to be. It was busy, crowded and a hassle. It may have been different if we researched areas to spend time in, but we didn’t. While walking around Encinitas, in our opinion, this town was worthy of living in. The neighborhood streets ended with steep cliffs eroding into the ocean and Chad was drawn to the sound of the waves. These waves were massive and had no mercy on the rocky cliffs. We spent countless minutes taking in the noise of the waves, the smell of the salt, the feel of the wind on our faces and the remaining taste of breakfast on our tongues.

People also looking for a view of the ocean would join us at the railing, look for less than 5 minutes and turn to leave. Are they not ever satisfied when they finally see or get what they want? Must they always be looking immediately for something else and not take time to smell the flowers? This idea of taking in the beauty, resting and being still has been the occurring theme of our vacation. I am thankful for the peace we have decided to create. Chad and I made our way to another dead end that rested in a nice looking neighborhood. The path way led into a garden and overlooked the ocean. I curled up on a bench while Chad overlooked the waves. Thinking I would only rest my eyes, I actually fell asleep for at least 30 minutes. I woke up startled, not knowing where I was and was very relieved that Chad was sitting on the next bench over. It never occurred to me until that moment that he could have just left me there to sleep and went on his merry way. Thank you Chad for not leaving me in a random state so far from home! Not long after waking up, a lady came up the path and starred at the ocean with coffee in hand. We made jokes with her about morning coffee and the ocean waves which lead to a brief conversation with her. As she was describing her story about choosing this town for retirement, she looked over and pointed across the waves. A large black object rose out of the waves then a giant whale tale flipped out of the water. In bewilderment, we all stared out to see if it would pop out of the water again, but it kept on its course. The local told us that it’s rare for us to see the orcas and we spotted one!

“How long have you guys been together?” came the random question from the local lady. Chad and I looked at each other and laughed. We responded and gave a little back ground as to what we were up to with the 3-week road trip. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and told us, “if you can go on a road trip with each other and sleep in the car, you guys are good to go.” Then begins to hum the wedding bells chorus, “dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum.” We all burst out laughing and she started to retreat to her waiting husband in the car. She then smirked, laughed and said that this garden is a great place to become engaged. “With the ocean in the background, it’s perfect!” “Ew, ew, ew,” said Chad as she left and we both laughed the encounter off. No engagements today if we could help it!

Huntington Beach Caves

Stopping for coffee and treats at Starbucks in a random town, I joked with the cashier about not knowing where we were. She was almost appalled that I didn’t know I was in Huntington Beach. Well fine, let’s go find this beach! Chad found the beach and made sure he let me know that HE had found it. This is because Chad always has great ideas and they have a high percentage of actually working out. He wanted to just look at it. Screw that, I wanted to touch the ocean and feel the sand. I raced down the steep slope and was amazed with what I found at the bottom. Imagine a sappy romance novel set in a beach town where the couples sneak off to the beach caves in the dead of night. I found the caves! This was the first time coming into contact with rough rocks and cliffs where I could explore the caves below. Begging Chad to come explore with he, he shook his head vigorously nooooooooo as he did not want any chance of recreating any beginnings of a romance novel. Fine, suit yourself! I went on to explore without him and he kept his distance to view the ocean.

I discovered small tide pools that hosted sea anemones that I played with using a stick to make them close their flailing arms. They were all over the rocks in and out of the water, obviously waiting for the tide to come in to open up again. The waves were crashing into the rocks and there was a fear of getting completely soaked without warning.

A not so happy New Year

Skirting around Los Angeles, I hunted down a sea food dinner in Santa Monica. We went to the Water Grill and we skipped the reservation by claiming spots at the bar. We had a small feast of raw delicacies like oysters, crab, snails, and mussels with a bowl of clam chowder. It was great to have the fresh sea food but the quantity was not very filling for $70. I can check that off having fresh seafood by the ocean off my bucket list.

It was time to look for places to sleep and we didn’t want to be in city limits for safety reasons. While walking back to the car after dinner, we could see a pier reaching into the water decked with flashing lights of an amusement park. The streets were scattered with people looking for New Year’s dinner and strange figures resting in the dark for the night.

We walked by a few benches and Chad said he found my place to sleep for the night, the bench. Clinging to his arm, I talked about being a leech and not letting go. He didn’t like this at all, you know because public affection is basically a sin with him, and I let go on the condition of me still being allowed to join him on this trip. I’m still waiting for the incident where one of us will be hopping a flight back to Minnesota while the other drives because we can’t stand being around each other anymore. Searching for places to sleep yielded very few safe sleeping locations and we headed out of town to drive as far as we could. Being the Navigator, I was in charge of finding a sleeping place. I had a hotel parking lot lined up and when we got there, the hotel had hired parking lot guards. Obviously this was not going to work and it also told us that this neighborhood where ever we were was not sleeping worthy. This mistake cost us an hour of drive time but I was able to use a restroom in a fast food burger joint. Yippee. Getting back into the car, fireworks were lit off and this signaled the new year. Two tired, crabby people stared at each other in the car and we shrugged. Here’s to starting the new year in a random town in California, exhausted, still hungry from lack of dinner food and nowhere near a camping place for the night. At least we were still on talking terms, but barely since I miss calculated sleeping arrangements.

The early morning ended at a truck stop around 2am and we went through the motions of getting ready for bed. What an exhausting day and to think it was a holiday. We car camped with 3 other car neighbors and didn’t stay up later than we needed to. All this driving was starting to wear on our bodies and we were beginning to always be tired.

We ended the night all nestled into our sleeping bags and recounted the day’s events, laughing at the random stranger at the ocean overlook, the whales, the stretches of beaches and the mishap with the sleeping spot. We were able to laugh it off and rested deeply until almost 10am. It wasn’t the typical New Year celebration, but we were still on talking terms so I didn’t complain one bit!