Spring Break Road Trip {Santa Monica Beach}

Here we are at part 3 (see part 1: Yosemite here and part 2: Kings Canyon and Sequoia here) of our epic spring break road trip. Our original plan was to go to Death Valley after the sequoias and then spend a day skiing at Brian Head after that. But, the weather made us question that plan. The forecast for Monday in Brian Head was supposed to be super cold and super windy, neither of which sounded super fun for skiing. So we did some brainstorming in our hotel in Bakersfield and came up with a new plan. And this was it:

Day 5 (Sunday, 20 Mar): We woke up and got ready for the day, including eating breakfast IN the breakfast room (this is a big deal during covid times). Then we drove south to Santa Monica Beach. It was on this drive that we listened to church (love those broadcasts) and counted hundreds (literally) of Teslas. (This stretch of driving completely demolished all other Tesla count records . . . and may have ended our tallying for good.) We found a cheap parking spot off the main drag and piled all our leftover pizza and snacks into a backpack and walked down to the beach, where we soaked up the sun (and wind) and enjoyed the waves and birds for a few hours. We wandered down the rec path to the pier, made a loop around that, and then headed back to the sandy spot we started at to hang out for a bit longer. It was lovely and relaxing (the beach part, not the driving - thank you, Gregg for handling the big city traffic!), and eventually we headed back north and east through and toward the deserty parts. We stayed in a cute little motel in Ridgecrest, aka the middle of nowhere (we actually saw a billboard just outside the town that said something like "you're 100 miles from anywhere" and that felt really accurate).

Here's our route. I actually really like having these
for reference. I may keep it up for future trips.

The highlight of the breakfast room: automatic pancake
maker!

Two cute kids on the beach.

I loved these vivid flowers on our walk to the pier.

Gregg had some fun getting action shots of the kiddos.

Did I mention the wind? It was windy.

Ha! Glamour shot of the year right there.