Up The Coast (Pt 2)

 As soon as we pulled into the driveway of our B&B, I knew it would be an interesting experience. I used to be obsessed with the Gilmore Girls, and I always wanted to have an experience like Lorelai & Rory when Lorelai took Rory to visit Harvard, and stayed in a B&B where there were flowers all over the walls and cats everywhere (minus the fight). When we rang the doorbell, I didn't know what to expect. But soon enough, a very bubbly kind man came to the door to let us in. He was the innkeeper and had just mentioned he was sorry for talking with his mouth full, but he had just started eating a muffin, and was in the middle of baking when we rang the doorbell. As soon as I heard that, I knew I was in the right place.

  

 One of the bathrooms there is pink! And with a clawfoot tub.. I was in heaven when I saw this

We sat down at one of the tables in the cute little dining room, I signed the papers for our registration, and he gave us each a glass of wine and a cheese plate. We sat with him for a little while and talked, and then left the B&B for a night on the town. Downtown SLO is pretty much a college town. There are sports bars everywhere, Urban Outfitters (that's a pretty good indicator), some chain fast food restaurants (like Chipotle) and cute clothing stores. We stopped into a record store where I scored a $3 Elvis gospel record (have you ever heard his gospel music? It's amazing and the only genre of music he won Grammys for!) and then I found an amazingly tacky Elvis book at the used bookstore down the street. After having a beer and sharing a bratwurst at the local German restaurant, we made our way back to the B&B and watched Funny Face before falling asleep super early.

Our dinner / The coolest vintage movie theater in town

 

 The next day, we woke up to a prepared breakfast downstairs, and then checked out early and made our way up the coast to Hearst Castle. The innkeeper had told us about a town called Cambria that you pass on the way, and said it was a must to visit, so naturally we had to! He had also mentioned that this town has a scarecrow festival every year, where they make scarecrows out of paper maché and put them outside of their homes and storefronts. There were SO many, and they were all so amazing.

We ventured into a coffee shop, walked into a couple of antique stores, and overall had a great time. I would definitely visit Cambria again! They also had the most beautiful old Victorian houses.

Some of the paper maché scarecrows

 

  

We made it to San Simeon earlier than we had thought, which was great. What's so cool about visiting Hearst Castle is that along the way as you near the beginning of the property, you see zebras walking around! I wish we'd stopped to take some pictures. It was pretty amazing. They were just hanging out with the other animals that roam free there. We had learned on the tour bus (narrated by Alex Trebek) that Hearst at one time had his very own exotic zoo with all kinds of animals, including polar bears (another strange animal to have at your home), and once he started to lose money, he decided to donate most animals to zoos around California including San Diego and San Francisco.

 

 

We were lucky enough to visit Hearst Castle on a day that was super sunny and clear. It had rained the day before, which has been a really rare thing for us California people, so the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Our group was rather large, but Chris and I stayed in the back so that I could get pictures without other tourists in them.

During the tour, we got to see footage of Charlie Chaplin playing tennis here. Pretty cool.

The Roman pool was easily my favorite part of the whole tour. I mean, just look at it! Who wouldn't want to swim in that? Not to mention, the floors have actual gold built into them.

So glad we made it up to see everything in such a short amount of time! Our next trip is to Palm Springs for our five year anniversary! Until then, I'll be dreaming about those palm trees and mid century houses I love so much...

Up The Coast (Pt 1)

 

Over the past weekend,  Chris and I took a trip up to San Luis Obispo, which is about 3 hours north of where we live. We used to take more trips up north to visit friends, but that's pretty much slowed down lately, and I'd been dying to go back to the Madonna Inn for some time now (which is basically the coolest and most bizarre hotel on the way to San Francisco). It was built in the late 1950's by a man named Alex Madonna who built this hotel as a stop for people traveling along the coast. We decided to stay at a bed and breakfast and just visit the Madonna Inn on our way there, because I thought that would be more interesting, and it was! In fact, the B&B was super cute and cozy, which is exactly what I had been hoping for. I'll be posting pictures of the rest of our trip tomorrow!

We arrived at the Madonna Inn on the way to our B&B (they were about 10 minutes away from each other). Of course, the first thing I had to do upon exiting the car was to snap a million pictures of the infamous Madonna Inn sign. I looked around me and noticed a few other people snapping pictures of signs around the property; clearly this is the norm here. Once inside the bakery, we sat down at a table by the window and I happily ordered a slice of their famous Pink Champagne cake, with coffee on the side. This cake did not disappoint! It's pretty much the best cake I've ever tasted, and it probably helps that the whole cake is pink and has marzipan ribbons (mmm marzipan).

 

After only being able to handle a few bites, we had it boxed up to go and made our way around the hotel to take more pictures. I stopped into the gift shop and purchased a few of their pink wine goblets before heading outside to explore (which I'll share another time).

I should mention that if you come to this hotel, go to the bar, talk to the bartender (he's really sweet) and order the Pink Cloud. It's like drinking a strawberry milkshake, only with a little vodka mixed in ;)

We headed outside to check out the views (there are gorgeous mountains everywhere) and I was curious to see what the spa/pool area looked like. I wish I'd been a little bolder and peeked into a room that a maid was cleaning, but I didn't want to be weird. If you didn't already know, each room is themed and pretty much every room has an abundance of color and textures, and they all have fun names (like Sugar & Spice, Love Nest and Fabulous Fifties, to name a few). I hope someday to be able to stay in this hotel! For now, I'll just continue to use their bathroom on the way to wherever I'm heading, pick up a slice of cake, and admire the scenery (and the pink!!)

Memorial Day

This is the first Memorial Day that we've spent traveling. I thought it would be fun to get out of town for the day and drive to Palm Springs, which is only around an hour and forty minutes away, which isn't bad considering how far away other places are, like Vegas and San Francisco. I had originally wanted to go to the Madonna Inn, which I've been to many, many times (or at least, just in their lobby, gift shop, and restaurant), but we felt like it would have been a lot of driving (3 hours) for just a short visit around the hotel. We left the house at around 10:30, and got to Palm Springs at 12. Of course, the first thing that I always like to do when I hit the town, is to drive by all of my favorite houses - the ones with the pretty colored doors, retro gates and mailboxes, etc. I obviously never miss out on driving by the two homes Elvis lived in during the 60's-70's, the Honeymoon House and the house on Chino Canyon. So we spent the next hour driving around the neighborhood, snapping pictures left and right of the cutest and most interesting homes around.

{Elvis' Honeymoon House, aka The House of Tomorrow}

 

{Black & White}

 

 

{Orange + White}

 

{Marilyn Monroe's gorgeous black and white house. I vow to have a striped awning and striped umbrellas in my future home. Oh and just to give you an idea, this house was located behind Elvis'. Not directly behind, but if you go to the left of her house, you can see the backyard to the Honeymoon House. Pretty crazy to think they were such close neighbors!}

 
 

{Lime + White}

 

{Lime + Gray}

 

{Blue, White + Black}

{White, Orange, Black + Yellow}

 

As we drove into town to grab some food, I noticed that what is supposed to be the best vintage furniture store in town was FINALLY open! I had heard from local business owners that this was the place to find the best of the best, but that the owner only opened up the shop when he wanted to, meaning you never knew when it would be open. The last time we were there it was closed (on a Wednesday), and the guy next door had told us a story of a woman who had driven three separate times to the store from Los Angeles, hoping it would be open and it never was. The guy also apparently never answers the phone, making it hard for anyone to truly know. I felt really lucky, though that it was, and boy, it really was amazing.

  

 

After looking around for a while, we were just too hungry to concentrate, so we drove a couple of blocks up and decided to eat at Jake's. I took a picture of my dish but Chris' was much more photo worthy. 

{Chile + Corn Strata}

 Next we were off to the Saguaro to do some much needed lounging around. I was finally able to wear my Modcloth bathing suit for the first time! We sipped on lemonades, lounged on their yellow (very comfortable) chairs, and took a couple of swims in the pool. Can we go back, already?

 

 

{The couple sitting next to us at the pool told me I reminded her of Maryann from Gilligan's Island, which I have to admit was kind of cool to hear. So I did my best impersonation (though as you can tell, it was mighty hot out there, and I felt like I was melting by that point}

 After some much needed pool time, we headed into El Jefe to grab some margaritas during their happy hour, and chowed down on their skirt steak nachos which were as good as they sounded!

 

{No trip to Palm Springs is complete without a visit to Norma's at the Parker for their yummy pie shakes. I got mine with vanilla ice cream, apple filling + pie crust, and Chris' was caramel ice cream, banana filling + graham cracker crust}

 

Shops/Clothing Mentioned:

 Elvis' Honeymoon House

Dazzles

Jake's

El Jefe/Saguaro Hotel

Norma's at the Parker

Bathing Suit: Modcloth

Palm Springs Vibes

I've been fortunate enough to take a couple of spontaneous trips out to Palm Springs recently. Since moving to the east side of Los Angeles, I'm now so much closer to little getaways like this! In fact, it only takes about an hour and forty five minutes from my apartment which may seem like a lot of time to some, but for LA people such as myself, it's not so bad. I think what I love most about Palm Springs is the architecture. All of the mid century buildings make me so happy because they're full of color!

These houses are making me feel inspired to rummage every vintage shop for the perfect high-waist polka dot bikini, lounge by the pool, and sip an ice cold lemonade.

 

 

 

 

images courtesy of pinterest