Travel Journal: Cambria, California

March seemed to whiz by, with every weekend booked solid, sometimes with two or three different obligations on one Saturday. It was with great pleasure that I spent the last weekend of this never ending month on the ethereal shores of Moonstone Beach in Cambria. Keep reading for more of my favorite parts of my weekend in the quaint beach town.

Friday

We left town almost immediately after school, which was exciting after a full week of standardized testing. I was a little bummed about missing Stockdale Idol and the Sadie Hopkin's dance, since my friend's band was making their debut performance, but was equally anxious for a change of scenery.

After the long drive, in which I provided serious bops as the designated DJ, the whole family was too exhausted to even notice how adorable our hotel room at Cambria Beach Lodge was. We all slipped right into our pajamas and watched stand up comedians on Netflix.

Saturday

Now bright-eyed and bushy tailed, my mom and I rose early for a morning walk on the beach, per our tradition. We followed a path that started right outside our hotel and took us over the beach and through the blossoming wildflowers. Seeing all of the native wildlife, we made a mental note to bring my dad and sister back out to the trail with us, since my dad was on a mission to take pictures of birds for some reason. I think he might just be getting old.

After the sun rose, we went back to the hotel for a continental breakfast of coffee and croissants, and woke up my dad and sister. Once they were dressed we headed back to the trail, this time stopping to let my sister sift through the assorted pebbles on the beach. Dad spent most of the hike complaining about forgetting the zoom lens in the room and how it kept him from getting a good shot of the birds that flew by. My sister probably had the best time on the walk after discovering that the squirrels on the trail were tourist friendly, and spent most of the morning feeding them crackers from her own personal stash.

We decided later to head into town for an early lunch. A quick drive through the rolling hills, and we were in the middle of the quietly charming downtown Cambria. We shuffled through the curiously empty streets, like strangers in a strange land, until finally stopping into a tiny antique shop called "Grandma Had One". Once inside, I was immediately drawn to the vinyl section and after at most 10 minutes had found what felt like buried treasure. "Reflections in a Crystal Wind" by my favorite folk duo, Mimi and Richard Farina, in perfect condition for only $12. I readily forked over the last of my tutoring money to the shopkeeper, who gave me a pop quiz on who the 60s singers were before letting me purchase it. He was pleasantly surprised when I passed, and happily parted ways with the album that was actually apart of his personal collection. With my record under my arm, we left the antique store and marched like a row of ducks into the tea shop next door. In the tea shop, a sweet old women talked my dad in circles and we left with a bag of herbal tea, powdered honey, four honey sticks, and two sea salt caramels, which I shared with my sister. We had a quick pizza lunch at JBJ's Round Up Pizza and Grub and then got back in the car to meet my dad's friend and his family at their hotel.

Since we arrived at Cambria Pines Lodge earlier than expected, we spent a few minutes exploring the hotels expansive and whimsical gardens. Like a maze of roses and other exotic flowers, it was the perfect place to get lost for a while. My personal favorite part was the Butterfly garden, a door leading into a special section with flowers meant to attract butterflies. Our moment of tranquility ended soon though, and after meeting up with the other families, we headed off the Stepladder Creamery, the purpose of our trip.

Driving through the rolling green hills, with a view of the expansive blue ocean the entire time, we arrived at the refreshingly green farm and were greeted by the bleating of over 70 goats. Our tour guide briefly explained the history of the Stepladder Creamery, the original owner's hobby of cheese making turned business was particularly fascinating, but the baby goats really kept us from listening to intently. Eventually our guide let a few of the goats out of the pen, and my sister excitedly grabbed the smallest one and spent the rest of the tour cuddling with Goat #40.

After playing with the baby goats for a while, the whole group washed our hands with their handmade goat milk soap, and headed inside to try some of their signature cheeses. My personal favorite was the Bob Ross, a cheese created by the owners on accident, and aptly named after the painter who believed there were "No mistakes, only happy little accidents". The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the sun, playing frisbee and petting the farms ginormous herd dogs. After leaving we stopped in San Simeon to see the elephant seals do their thing, because if your dad doesn't make you stop and watch seals sleep, did you even go to the beach. The drive back home to the hotel was a moment that will go down in infamy in our family history. Dad spotted some bird he'd been looking for the whole trip and turned the car around and gave the camera to my mom so she could capture the bird for him, but alas she failed. So he did another U-turn. After a total of 6 drives past the bird, who was calmly perched on the fence totally unaware of the chaos in the car, Dad finally gave up and drove in silence only speaking up to make fun of Mom's blurry fence photos.

For dinner we left for Morro Bay, the beach were my dad proposed to my mom, although this time he was a little less romantic, obviously still peeved about his bird. We walked through the town, stopping for a free taffy sample from Carousel, and finally decided on dinner at Dorn's. I had the pasta pomadora, which was very tomato heavy but still warm and delicious, with a bowl clam chowder. My sister and I split a hot fudge sundae for dessert. With full bellies we drove back to our hotel, listening to Tom Petty songs because I find his voice very peaceful. Full of carbs from the unlimited bread rolls, we crashed immediately.

Sunday

Sunday was a bittersweet day, since we knew we would be leaving soon. Mom and I got up for another walk on the beach, in which we planned out my outfits for the week and my posts for the weekend. At sunrise, we went back and had breakfast with Dad and Caro, and then headed out for one last bird watching hike. I think I pushed Dad over the edge on this walk by whistling the song of the Killdeer, another bird he'd been looking for during the trip. When he realized the song was in fact just me, he ignored me for the rest of the hike.

Once back at the hotel we packed our bags and loaded up the car. We drove all the way home without stopping, because I had to tutor and go to rehearsal when we came back home. Thus ended our relaxing weekend.

Thanks for reading!