WEEKEND IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA | PHOTO DIARY

I feel like it's been a lifetime since I last wrote in my blog, even though I last posted in January. I used to write in my blog all the time, at least once a week. I just never seem to find the time anymore. It's one of those things where there's so much to do and not enough hours in a day to do it all. So unfortunately, my blog gets left behind a little bit. So my readers, I apologize for the lack of posts. But the good news is that I am back today to talk about my trip to the Northern side of California!

My friends Cherise, Julia, Georgia, and I drove to Santa Monica before we headed up North. We spent the evening in Santa Monica to take pictures, talk, and rope climb on the beach, walk along the pier (definitely ride the rides if you have the time), look inside the shops in the shopping center a few blocks down, and stayed up to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The show ended at 2:40am so we drove from Santa Monica to Atascadero, where we were staying at Georgia's house.

We arrived in Atascadero around 6:30am, so you can imagine what we did once we got there...SLEEP! We slept until 2pm! Since we slept most of the day, we couldn't stay inside any longer, so we took a 15 minute drive down to downtown San Luis Obispo and stayed there until the night sky fell, looking in the shops, river crossing, people watching, and eating all evening. I ate even when I wasn't hungry, which I normally never do, but when I'm traveling there's so many restaurants and cafes I want to try food from that I can't help but stuff myself. My favorite eating spot from the whole trip was a vegan cafe called Bliss. They have the best gluten-free vegan donuts EVER! I highly recommend it for delicious vegan food or just healthy eating. They have really great smoothies and acai bowls! Bubblegum Alley is also a disgustingly interesting place to visit. It's just what it sounds like, an alley where people stick there spit up gum.

The next day we fortunately did not sleep until 2pm, but got an earlier start and hiked Madonna Mountain. That was my first time hiking in a few years, so it was a struggle, but it felt good, and even better once we made it to the top and got to look over all of San Luis Obispo. The difference in scenery from Southern to Northern California is astonishing! There's so much greenery and wildlife in Northern CA, whereas Southern CA is really dry and deserty. We later went to walk along Moonstone beach in Cambria and watched the elephant seals lay out, not minding all the humans watching and taking pictures of them. Afterwards we ate dinner at Robin's. They had items on the menu that were vegan and can be veganized, so I veganized their pad thai ($19 and worth it!) and got their vegalicious sundae (not worth $9 but still good). That night we rented a movie at Redbox but the disk was so scratched it wouldn't work, so we ended up giving each other massages (sounds weird but felt so good).

The next, and last day, we went to SLO Donuts, where I got a vegan granola bar and African Nectar tea, before we visited Madonna Inn, aka one of the cutest hotels I've ever been in! Afterwards we went to Pismo Beach to lay out on the sand and eat lunch. I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to find food over by the beach since it was all seafood, but luckily the restaurant we went to had a vegan burger. We then left straight from the beach back to Southern California, not without stopping at the gas station for snacks for the way home though. I feel like it is a tradition we have to get snacks at every gas station we stop at. We do it every trip. I got a chili cucumber popsicle, chocolate coconut water, and peach mango coconut water.

I hope this wasn't too long of a post for guys, but now it's time to enjoy the pictures! You can also see my vlogs from each day on my YouTube channel.