A few weeks ago, we took a road trip up the coast for my birthday! We have this tradition for my birthday where we either plan a trip or we stay at the Disneyland hotel for a weekend and this year, the timing worked out to allow us to take a road trip!

This was our 4th time doing this exact road trip, it’s THAT good of a trip! This year, there were some road closures that caused some detours so we didn’t get to go through Big Sur like we have in the past, but it was fun doing a different route this go around.

I’m going to give an exact itinerary of what we did and where we stayed, so here we go!

Saturday, June 28th

We left our house around 9 am (we weren’t in a super rush and knew we were going to take our time getting to our final destination). After hitting Starbucks (it’s not a road trip without an iced chai!!), we made our way!

+ Stop 1: Solvang, CA : each time we visit, I seriously love this place even more. It’s such a cute, quaint little town. Perfect stop for lunch and some strolling, with danish treats in hand!

VISIT IN SOLVANG

– Mortensen’s Danish Bakery : the butter cookies are AMAZING!

-Hans Christian Anderson Museum : this is a small little museum and bookstore dedicated to Hans Christian Anderson, the dutch author of many of your favorite fairytales! I love stopping here, The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney movie, and it was adapted from the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. Our first time visiting, Avery was about 8 months old and I bougth a bunch of vintage little mermaid books that had beautiful covers for her nursery. Across from the bookstore there’s also a little mini replica of the famed mermaid statue that is actually in Denmark!

– stroll along the streets and stop for some souvenirs! Everything is very walkable and once you do find a parking spot (it may take a while if you’re visiting during peak seasons), you won’t want to move your spot until you leave.

-Ostrichland USA : not far from Solvang is this little ostrich farm where you can pay to feed the ostriches! It’s such a fun and unique experience, and also great for kids!

+ Stop 2 : Santa Maria Speedway : after Solvang, the only planned next stop we had was to make it to our hotel in Pismo Beach, but in route to the hotel, we saw crowds and traffic from the freeway surrounding what looked like a racetrack. Then we saw a sign that read Santa Maria Speedway next exit and decided to get off to check out what was going on. There were races going on and we decided to get some tickets and spend some time at the racetrack! Luckily their mechandise table sold ear muffs, we bought 2 for the kids, and stayed for about 2 hours, but left right before the last two races were set to begin. It was starting to get cold out with the sun going down and we were eager to get to our final destination for dinner.

+ Stop 3 : Pismo Beach : We got to our hotel around 7 pm, checked in and unloaded the car, then walked to dinner around the corner to a diner called Cool Cat Cafe! It was SO good!

Sunday, June 29th

We started the day by walking to get coffee and cinnamon rolls, which we enjoyed by the beach! After breakfast, we packed up the truck and drove off to our next destination!

VISIT in Pismo Beach

-Stay at Inn at the Pier, Pismo Beach: such a cute hotel and in a great location where it’s easy to walk anywhere- food, beach, coffee. Felt super safe as well, which is really #1 when we are looking at anywhere to stay.

–Cool Cat Cafe : an old school diner that has a little bit of everything as far as their food selection. They also have build your own milkshakes which were delicious! We shared a nutella oreo milkshake!

–Old West Cinnamon Rolls : this place was all over my Pinterest page for a must visit in Pismo Beach and it did not disappoint. We walked over in the morning for cinnamon rolls and coffee and the cinnamon rolls were AMAZING. Be prepared to wait in line, it’s a super busy spot. When we got in line, the line was already down the block from the front of the restaurant. It does move fast though. You order at the register and wait for them to bring you your food and then you leave. There were like 3 or 4 tables out in front but they were taken the entirety of the time we were in line. But the Pismo Beach pier isn’t far so we planned on taking our food to the beach to enjoy anyway.

+ Stop 1 : Elephant Seal Vista Point in San Simeon : this is a free lookout stop where you can see elephant seals resting along the coast line! When we stopped, they had a visitors table set up with some pamphlets, stickers, and explorer coloring books for the kids which was super cute.

+ Stop 2: Hearst Castle, San Simeon : My husband and I had toured the castle years ago and I loved it and thought my daughter would enjoy it as well. She’s into all things princess and “castle” so I knew she’d get a kick out of seeing a “real” one. I definitely recommend visiting if you’re a history nerd like me. I love walking around the grounds and imagining what it was like for those who lived at and visited the place. After visiting Hearst Castle, we made our way to our final destination, which was Monterey Bay.

+ Stop 3: Monterey Bay!! We checked in to our hotel around 5 pm and then walked to dinner on Old Fisherman’s Wharf– I had THE best lobster roll I’ve ever had and I wish I could have it delivered at home every night lol.

VISIT in San Simeon

– Elephant Seal Vista Point

–Hearst Castle

Monday, June 30th

We stayed two nights in Monterey and it was a perfect amount of time. We got in on Sunday around 5 pm and walked to Old Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner (I’ll include where we ate down below). It was nice getting two nights where we could try different places for dinner. When we woke up for our first full day in Monterey, we walked along the coastline to a diner called Winston’s Brunch Place, it had great reviews and did not disappoint. One of my favorite things about vacation and what we look for when choosing where to stay, is the ability to walk wherever you want to go. The walk was like 2 miles to get to the restaurant but it was beautiful and we had the stroller and carrier for the kids with us too.

After breakfast, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (which in my opinion, is one of the best aquariums EVER!) Avery was pretty tired afterward so we grabbed lunch at the hotel and rested for a bit before the next excursion.

Around 5 pm, we got in the car and drove about 20 minutes out of Monterey Bay to visit Carmel by the Sea. It’s the most charming little sea town. About 8 years ago (wow), Joey and I actually took a trip and stayed a few days in Carmel and that’s when I fell in love with the town. It’s so quaint and charming and has this storybook vibe to it (a few stores and houses are actually known for being little fairytale homes). We found a parking spot along one of the main streets which was lucky and then walked to a little italian resturant to make dinner reservations. For about 2 hours while we waited for our dinner reservation, we walked and shopped in all the cute little boutique stores. We also stopped at a bakery to get some treats to take back to the hotel with us after dinner.

It was such a beautiful day which we ended eating cannolis in bed watching Spidey (Avery’s choice lol). Top to bottom a great day and a great way to celebrate my actual birth day!

Tuesday, July 1st

The last day of a vacation is always the worst. I woke up immediately having the blues that it was time to head home. But after walking out to the balcony and breathing in the ocean air, I shrugged it off and reminded myself it was still vacation so I had to enjoy the time we had left!

We got dressed and then walked from our hotel to breakfast down the street. There was a wait so we put our name down and walked down to a coffee shop on the water while we waited. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our venture home.

VISIT Monterey Bay

-Stay at Intercontinental, The Clement Monterey Bay : this was the most beautiful hotel, right on Cannery Row and overlooking the ocean. Our balcony actually overlooked the entire bay and it was such an amazing way to wake up and be able to sit on the balcony for a little bit soaking it all in.

–Old Fisherman’s Wharf : there’s something special about walking along a wharf and seeing the ocean on both sides. There are a ton of souvenir shops and restaurants. We had dinner at Old Fisherman’s Grotto and it was AMAZING. Literally still dreaming about the lobster roll. If you bring a stroller (we did), just beware that most of the places are very tiny so they don’t allow strollers inside the resturants. We had to park ours outside until we finished dinner. Of course we also popped into a souvenir shop for Avery to grab a mermaid stuffed animal.

–Monterey Bay Aquarium : no brainer, especially if you have kids!

–Winston’s Brunch Place : great breakfast stop! I love biscuits and gravy and since it was my birthday, knew I needed to find a place to get it! It was a walk from our hotel but there’s a bike path from the hotel that you can take the whole way and it’s along the water which was so beautiful and honestly a great way to start the day!

–Wave Street Cafe : another great breakfast stop! This is where we ate before leaving and heading home.

–Tidal Coffee : walkable if you put your name down for Wave Street and there’s a wait, you can walk to Tidal Coffee and get your drink overlooking the water while you wait for Wave Street to call or text you letting you know your tables ready.

VISIT Carmel by the Sea

Just visit the town in general, you won’t be disappointed. It’s just a one of a kind type of place!

–Tuck Box : a cute little storybook cottage! It is a functioning tea room and was closed when we visited, but it’s so cute to see in person and take some photos!

–Pepe’s Little Napoli : amazing Italian food!

–Carmel Bakery : the window in front was enough to convince us to stop by. Full of cannolis and sweet treats! Avery wanted a gingerbread man but they were sold out!

-shop! walk into any one of the souvenir shops to grab a cozy sweater or tee! I wish I remembered the name of one of the shops we wandered into, I got the cutest hat there!

After loading up the truck, it was time to head home! We ended up stopping in Paso Robles for lunch and to stretch our legs a bit and then stopped for dinner to-go in Santa Clarita before officially getting home to Orange County around 10 pm.

It was the best trip and I seriously already wish we could do it again. That’s my biggest problem honestly, I just can’t get over all the fun we had and want to go back within like an hour of us leaving lol. But hey, I think that means we did the trip right, right?

I hope you enjoyed reading and have some inspiration to visit Monterey Bay!