Dog Days in California
A Spring Break road trip to take our dogs to the beach for the first time.
March 2017
Table of Contents
But First, A Little Ramble...
Let me start out by describing the 2 dogs who were lucky enough to take this trip. One was a 10 year old Golden Retriever, Huey, who was 115 pounds. Not because he was fat. He was just BIG! He would hit his head on the bottom of our kitchen table.
He was starting to show his age and we weren't sure how many more good years he would have.
We wanted him to see the beach and the ocean while he could still enjoy it. The other was a 5 year old Border Collie named Lucy. She was still plenty spry and always raring to go on an adventure. Both of them, me and John, and all our gear for a week long camping road trip were smashed into my Chevy Sonic for a trip from Colorado to California. What the car lacked in space, it made up in fantastic gas mileage, which made this our vehicle of choice for a long drive.
McInnis Canyon- Colorado
Our first stop along the way was about 4 hours down the road from home in Grand Junction. We did a 2ish hour hike in McInnis Canyon to give the dogs a good chance to stretch out their legs.
It was a great spot for some proud pet parent photo ops!
This trail system leads to a less popular entrance to Colorado National Monument. I’ve already explored there a lot and dogs are not welcome on the trails there, so we headed back to the car.
We are pretty sure the first casualty of the trip occurred here as we all tried to smash back into the packed car. We hypothesize that Huey’s giant paw pushed out one of my Merrell Trail Glove shoes (that I loved!) and it was left behind. John would later have the same thing happen to (again!) just 1 of his Salomon Hiking Shoes. That is a sign that your car is too full, when things are just falling out left and right when you open the doors.
Las Vegas- Nevada
Our next stop to break up a long section of driving was Vegas. An added bonus was that I got to meet John’s parents who live there. They welcomed me with copiak soup (a Lao version of chicken noodle soup) and a few hours of chatting. John and his parents went out to the casino late in the evening which is not at all my idea of a good time, so I enjoyed the extra rest at the house. John woke me up to hold him while he grieved over his lost $500 when they got home later.
I am writing this post 6 years after this trip occurred, and as I read my travel journal to remember the details, I am struck by how I have grown as a person in the time since then. As an example, John and his parents had fresh homemade egg rolls for breakfast the next day. I turned up my nose to that, proclaiming that egg rolls were not a “breakfast” food and instead had Cheerios and milk that my future in laws had purchased especially for me. Now, my mouth waters at the very idea of Viengkeo’s egg rolls, at any hour of the day!
After breakfast, we headed to Red Rock Canyon with John’s mom to try to go hiking, but we arrived too late and they closed the entrance to more arrivals 3 cars ahead of us. It ended up being okay because we found a little place to hike just a bit further that was off-leash friendly and all to ourselves.
We enjoyed the cliff views and desert plant life for the next couple of hours.
When we got back, we made spring rolls for lunch and took a nap in our little twin sized bed. Huey even got a bath.
John and I got ready to go to a Cirque du Soleil show called Mystere at Treasure Island. I had wanted to see one for forever!
I would describe the experience as half weird, half amazing, and half hilarious. (Yes, I know that's an improper fraction.)
My understanding of the show was that they must be trying to portray what babies imagine, since there were a couple of “baby” side characters. The big fat Baby and his Papa were really funny. So was the old man with crazy hair. The astounding parts came from sky dancers and pole climbers and trampoliners and trapeze artists and a ribbon acrobat. A ventriloquist tied it all together and a giant inflatable snail brought it to a close.
Afterwards, John lost some more money at Black Jack and then we walked to the Belagio to see the giant indoor garden and sample the ridiculously good gelato next to the world’s largest chocolate fountain.
Seriously, their mint chocolate chip is my favorite and I have gotten that particular flavor all over the world.
I get it every time I see my in laws. Then we went outside to see the water fountain and its coordinated dance to the music. We stayed to watch 2 displays; one was set to a Michael Jackson song and the other was very appropriately set to “Viva Las Vegas”. I happily licked my ice cream the whole time and was amazed with how much I actually enjoyed the show. The water shot soooo high! I am not normally very into city attractions on my adventures, but that evening ended up being one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.
We went back to the Vegas house for more copiak (John had like 7 bowls) and then bed. In the morning we had an epic send off complete with pho and some premade deer meat and sticky rice food to eat along our road trip. John’s dad insisted we take a bunch of casino giveaway stuff that we didn’t really have room for (which would continue to be a theme every time we saw him). Before we left, John’s mom gave us some blessings tied on with a bracelet at our wrists.
We did another stop at Red Rocks on our way out and did the famous drive as well as a 5 mile hike before a long sit in the car.
Mojave National Preserve- California
John was asleep during my favorite part; a stretch of twisty, dippy road with a Joshua Tree forest on either side. I was so happy to see them again after what felt like too long since I was in Joshua Tree National Park. (That story is covered in the article titled Wild West Road Trip Part 1.)
We stopped at Keslo Dunes where we could take the dogs for a little walk in the sand. Lucy fetched a stick and Huey ruined his bath by rolling in the sand.
We got a cute family photo taken here that would hang in our living room for years afterwards. Nevermind the black dog sort of peeking out from behind us, he belonged to the people who were taking our picture and wouldn’t leave Lucy and her stick alone.
Diving Monterey Bay
We crash landed into a Motel 6 around 1 am and scarfed down some breakfast early in the morning before driving to the Aquarious dive shop. The dogs got a little lovin’ before they were going to have to wait for us in the car while we dove. Thankfully the weather was cool and they can both be trusted with the windows all the way down.
We had shlepped all of our dive gear from Colorado in our packed car only to be able to use half of it. We both had Atomic Split Fins, which we paired with Deep See dive boots. I brought my Henderson 5 mm Wetsuit because I get cold so easily, even in the tropics. John had a triathlon wetsuit he used for a while, but he recently upgraded to this O’Neill Wetsuit with a chest zip to make it easier for him to get on and off without help. John had his Tusa Freedom Ceos mask. I like my Scubapro Sub Vu Mini better. It doesn’t have a blind spot over the nose and it also has side view panels. We both dive with snorkels on, although we have been told by guides before that we shouldn’t. I prefer to have it in case of an emergency where I am out of air and still need to swim far at the surface to reach safety. Mine is a Mares Ergo Dry and John’s is a Tusa Hyper Dry (I did not yet have my GoPro, so there is no underwater footage from the dives on this trip. But I highly recommend the GoPro Hero with this Dive Case and Handle that I use now. I have been down to 104 feet with this set up and never had an issue. Also, at the time, I did not have a Dive Flashlight, but I do now. It’s great for illuminating creatures in murkier waters like Monterrey for filming.)
So we happily lugged our Stahlsac Dive Bag into the dive shop where they promptly informed us we would want thicker wetsuits, hoods, and different boots for keeping our feet warm.
That should have been our first clue. Our second clue should have been that we were the only divers going out with our guide. Our third clue should have been that our guide wore a dry suit. It was our first shore entry dive and the water was FREEZING!
We saw lots of invertebrates like starfish, anenomes, and nudibranchs. Our guide placed a spiny crab in our hands and tossed a rainbow nudibranch up in the water for us to see it dance. I was reminded of a flamenco dancer twisting her long skirts up and around in the air.
The best parts were when we were visited by sea lions. One stayed around for a minute, twisting and spinning and looking at us like, “did you see that!?” Another time, 3 of them raced by in super streamlined formation.
My mom of course had to comment that they were probably running away from a great white shark that was prowling the waters near us! Rolling eye emoji.
I also loved swimming through the kelp forest with the light streaming through from above. It looked just like the documentaries of the sea that I love watching. Both the sea lion and the kelp forest would later make it on to a mural I painted in my son’s nursery while pregnant and unable to dive.
This was the first time we learned that there were different sized tanks you could rent, so we had purchased a bigger tank for John and we were actually running out of air at the same time. Usually I slightly resent him when I have to come up early with him when I still have plenty of air. This time I was sort of counting the minutes because my jaw hurt soooo bad from my teeth chattering on my regulator. I had been cold the whole time but of course wasn’t going to be the one to cut short any of our time underwater.
The exit back through the surf to the shore was REALLY rough. I was just constantly being sucked back in and thrown around like I was in a washing machine.
I felt like I was going to drown even with my regulator in my mouth.
Some other dive staff who were standing by helped us out. One took my gear in so there was less weight on me. Another helped me swim in and time the waves so I wasn’t wasting energy fighting the sweep back towards the ocean. I was so exhausted when I got out I could barely walk. Our dive guide, Scottie, ended up calling it, so there wouldn’t be a second dive that day. It was just too rough and the visibility was getting worse because of the churned up waters. I was disappointed of course, but didn’t want to go through that exit experience again. Plus I was so cold, it would have taken a lot to force myself back in the water. We have since added a dry suit certification to our diving tool box when we were in New Zealand. (Stay tuned for the article detailing that trip. Subscribe for updates when new content is released.)
We dried off and warmed up at a little park while the dogs stretched their legs. We walked them down to the end of a pier to check out some sea lions sunning themselves. Then we went back to the dive shop to return gear and get our refund for the second dive which we then applied towards dinner at Hula’s. I had ahi tuna and seaweed salad for the first time, plus my standard pulled pork sandwich.
Lawson's Landing and Dillon Beach- California
Then we had a 3 hour drive up past San Fransisco to our campsite at Lawson’s Landing. It was already dark when we got there, but we found our spot and got set up. We walked the dogs across the dunes to the water and checked out the stars for a minute before heading to bed.
We spent about half our nights on this trip in our Big Agnes Manzanares 3 Person Tent (This is an older model that is no longer available. Both the Big Agnes Copper Spur 3 person tent and Big Agnes Black Tail 3 person tent seem comparable. Our tent has the MTNGlow lights included in it that you can see in the picture below. This seems so superfluous, but I love them and would highly recommend purchasing a tent with this already attached.) We brought our Big Agnes Lost Ranger 15 degree bag for John and Big Agnes Roxy Ann 15 degree bag for me. (Both of these links will take you to a 3-in-1 sleep system that is the new model from Big Agnes. We just have the original sleeping bags without the extra outer bag.) Ours zip together for romantic nights spend cuddled up listening to the sound of the waves just a few yards away. My Sea to Summit Inflatable Pillow made camp sleeping feel a little more like home.
We woke up slow and had a breakfast of hard boiled eggs and fruit for me and a chipped ham sandwich for John. (You’re probably from Western Pennsylvania if you read that and knew what a chipped ham sandwich is. It’s just deli ham that is sliced sooooo thin, it’s falling apart. Some people call it “shaved” ham, but it is still not the same thing! It has to be even thinner!) We took his saat (an outdoor Lao woven mat/carpet thing) to the beach along with my Kindle.
It was actually too chilly for a long stay on the beach, but we made it work. The dogs got to enjoy the sun and sand and waves. I read my book and took a bunch of pictures of them playing and ate some sandy Twizzlers.
This is definitely an article that lacks space for the dozens of cute doggie pictures I took on this trip. I HIGHLY recommend checking out the Full Photo Gallery to see them all.)
We had an Airbnb that night up in Fort Bragg, which was about a 3 hour drive up the very scenic Route 1.
Fort Bragg/Glass Beach- California
The next day, we visited Glass Beach which was really cool. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area, just to see all the variety of sea glass that washes up there. Very fun to photograph up close.
As we headed out to our next spot, the road left the coast and went more into the forest. We found a place to easily get down to the river to give the dogs a little break playing in the water. The water was that beautiful silty blue/green that is the calling card of glacier fed source.
One of my favorite pictures of John and Huey was taken here.
Avenue of the Giants
Next, we took the little scenic detour to do this little side road lined by Redwoods. It was my first ever taste of what would become a love affair with the Redwoods.
I made John drive so that I could spend the whole time with my neck craned out the window trying to see the tops of these true giants.
I even made him pull over a couple of times so that I could take better photos. (I absolutely HATE taking photos from a moving vehicle.)
Eureka/Clam Beach- California
Just one more hour, and then we were a little North of Eureka at the campground on Clam Beach. It had been a long day. We got to spend some time at the ocean and then settled into our tent.
I fell asleep but then was awoken by the sound of a melodious voice and some bongo drums playing in the night. I listened for a while and actually really enjoyed the music. But I couldn’t fall back to sleep and I was really tired. I got up to go to the bathroom to scope out the situation. I saw it was several young people around a campfire. On the way back, I took a peek at the campground rules and verified that there were quiet hours starting at 10pm. It was probably about 2 in the morning and I wanted to go back to sleep. So I wandered over and complimented their music, but also politely asked them to abide by the quiet hours so that people could sleep. They complied, although they made a snide comment as I was walking away. I did drift off to sleep again, but I regretted saying something afterwards. They were just a bunch of kids enjoying their time together in nature and not actually causing any trouble. And they were REALLY good musicians/singers.
So if those people find themselves reading this page someday, I'm sorry and I hope that you had a bunch of other opportunities to jam together on a beach.
Redwoods National and State Parks- California
In the morning, a 1 hour drive was all that stood between us and Redwoods National and State Parks. We knew the dogs couldn’t be on any of the trails there, so we were just going to quickly whet our appetite on a small walk and plan to come back to do the Park justice another time. We went to the Lady Bird Grove and that was the perfect place for a quick and easy walk through HUGE trees. A great place to go if you can only be in the Park for a short time.
I returned the following year and gave the Redwoods the time they deserved. Check back soon for that article, or Subscribe for updates when new content is released.
We got a tip that dogs could walk the Cal Barrel Road nearby, so we went there afterwards to give the dogs a chance to stretch their legs and enjoy the sniffs in an old growth Redwood forest.
Going Home
We had nearly reached the end of my time off of work, so it was time for a 14.5 hour drive to meet more future in laws in Northern Utah for a break before we finished the drive back. I met John’s 2 older brothers and their families and tried some of his favorite childhood fast foods: Taco Time and the family sized breadsticks from Pizza Plus. Then it was 8 more hours home just in time for work the next morning.
Both of these beloved pups have since passed. Huey belonged to John long before I met him and Lucy was always my baby girl for the same reason. Nonetheless, losing each of them was devastating. An excessively long memoir of Lucy can be found here. It was written just a week after her death and was part of my healing process through the raw grief. Please forgive its length and lack of organization. I am honored to have had them both bless my life and pleased I could share this fun road trip with them.
Additional Reading:
- Pacific Northwest Road Trip- Coming soon! Subscribe to get the updates when new content is released!
- Mom’s Bucket List: Seeing the Redwoods- Coming soon! Subscribe to get the updates when new content is released!
- Sawdust and Sunshine: The Life of Lucy, An Adventurer’s Best Friend
Links provided will take you to Amazon to purchase. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Anything linked here is something that I actually own and used on this adventure, unless otherwise noted.