After my internship at Disneyland ended in August of 2017, my friend Maggie flew out to Los Angeles so we could make a road trip out of the return to Wisconsin.
It was pretty late at night when Maggie flew in, so we pulled up along the beach on Highway 1 to rest for the night. The first day had quite a lot of driving, but it wasn't long until we discovered Bravo Land. It was a short stop for us since we had to grab In n Out (Maggie's fiirst!) and hit the road.
The goal was to stay along the beach, but also not to use maps. This took us away from our chosen road and onto the path less travelled quite a few times. We discovered the Los Banos Creek Reservoir and we stopped to stretch our legs. The area was peaceful and a great spot for some fun photos. Afterwards, we found ourselves in Gilroy, home of the world's greatest summer food festival dedicated to garlic. Maggie lives for garlic so it was a must to treat herself at the Garlic Shoppe.
Gilroy was only a hop, skip, and a jump from the beautiful San Francisco. We went straight to Pier 39, the main stop for tourists. There we checked out the shops, had a burger at Hard Rock Cafe, and opened oysters for pearls! The entire time, seals barked at us from the pier, unfortunately, I don't speak the language so I couldn't see what they needed. When we drove out, we decided to drive up one of the steepest streets in San Fran, Filbert St. It was pretty scary since I wasn't 100% sure my car would make it up the incline.
We crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and found a parking lot on the other side, View Vista Point. We parked our car and settled in for the night, right next to a van painted to look like the Mystery Machine. In the morning, we took photos of the view and admired the memorial saluting veterans.
After a short drive, we pulled over to Van Damme State Beach and bothered the seagulls. The pit toilets there were probably the deepest I have ever used, so we got a good laugh out of using them. Glass Beach was just a little ways north, and we spent a long time there running around and looking at rocks. I even caught a photo of a California Ground Squirrel.
Our next stop was Chandelier Tree, one of the few drive-thru trees in the Redwoods. It's kind of wild taking your car straight THROUGH a tree instead of around it. This is definitely something that should already be on everyone's bucket list. Afterwards, we hung out with in the picnic area and checked out the gift shop.
Up the road stands the Grandfather Tree and One Log House. We stopped and took photos of the wood carvings and trees. The One Log House was closed so we were unable to venture inside. In the parking lot stood a car that a tree had fallen on.
While we never really did get to visit the Redwood visitor center, or do the things others do in a National Park, we were still able to drive through and see the trees and the gorgeous nature. We crossed over a bridge on the Redwood Hwy that was guarded by golden bears, just before Klamath, CA. Once we hit the border in Brookings, OR, we pulled over for a picture with the Welcome to Oregon sign. Since Maggie had flown in and didn't get the opportunity to take a picture with the Welcome to California sign, we crossed the road so she could get a photo of us leaving the state. A little ways into Oregon, we stopped at Meyers Creek Beach Viewpoint for a stretch of the legs.
One of my favorite stops in the whole trip was Hobbit Trail Trailhead in Florence, OR. We had got caught up behind construction, so I pulled over into the parking lot and we walked around the woods. I ended up running ahead of Maggie, just to see what was ahead. It was a gorgeous view of the ocean that couldn't be seen from the highway.
We drove North to Tillamook, OR where we saw my old friend who I had worked with at Wall Drug. Somewhere among the trip we stopped and got coffee from Dutch Bros, a drive through coffee shop chain I had never heard of. Somewhere in California or Oregon, we stopped at a rock shop that had this cool pipe made out of a car I wanted to share with you all. Unfortunately, I am writing this 3 years after the trip, so it's hard to pinpoint places. In Oregon, Maggie also learned that someone has to come out and pump gas for you. We were also pulled over because the light above my license plate went out. I never got the chance to fix it, so right as our trip ended and I was on my way home, I was pulled over again! But made it over 1000 miles until the second incident so that's something to be proud of!
Maggie wanted to see what Washington looked like, so we drove ourselves more North than expected. After sliding through Idaho we came into Montana and stopped at the St. Regis Travel Center. We enjoyed a huckleberry burger at Huck's Grill and explored the gift shop which included a small aquarium.
It was going on sunset when we made it to Yellowstone, and we saw the last barely visible eruption of Old Faithful. We drove to a parking lot to sleep for the night and once I woke up, I drove a little more. Maggie told a spooky story about monsters in the woods, so that helped keep me up for most of the night.
We had finally hit the last stretch. We came into territory I was familiar with. First stop was Devil's Tower. I didn't even realize what week it was until I saw the rows and rows of motorcycles. It was Sturgis Rally week which brought out the best of tourists. We did stop into Sturgis so we could check out the various vendors and two wheeled action.
For lunch, we ate at the Mongolian Grill in Rapid City. Much like HuHot, but smaller and they have some pretty cool toilets. We Stopped in Keystone for some walking around the town and checked out Mt. Rushmore at night. We set up camp at my favorite spot, Wrinkled Rock Climber's Trail. It was the first place we were able to set up the tent, a good break from sleeping in the car for most of the trip.
In the morning, we picked up blended coffees from Holy Terror Coffee in Keystone. I thoroughly enjoyed mine and can't wait to get back and try another. Soon we were in Wall, SD, home of the Wall Drug store where I had worked in 2015. I introduced Maggie to the Wall Drug Backyard and we were sure to check out all the cool stuff the place has to offer. We did the Badlands loop and ended at the Badlands Ranch Store where we fed the prairie dogs peanuts.
We did stop at the Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, MN in the last moments of our trip. It was fairly late at night and soon we were back at home, wondering about when our next trip would be.
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