San Luis Obispo via Train car

As a Christmas gift, Travs brother gifted us two tickets on Amtrack Coast Starlight train up to San Luis Obispo. Our spring breaks landed on the same week, so we decided it would be a nice vacation for us to take between our school quarters. We took the train from Union station, in LA, to San Luis Obispo. The train continues on all the way up the Western coast to Oregon. Our stint was long enough for us to relax in our sleeper car, have some lunch and enjoy the sights.

First stop after we made it to SLO was of course, food. Firestone grill had rave reviews from friends and yelp alike, so we knew we had to check it out. It did not disappoint, and I'm not even a huge BBQ fan. We split a tri-tip sandwich with house made BBQ-sauce and a cajon chicken sandwich. Seriously delicious.

Highlight of our trip, if you ask Travis, is our trips to Batch. Ice cream sandwich shops seem to be popping up everywhere, and each place we have been too seems to put their own unique spin it. Batch, is probably the best one we have been to yet, but I won't mention how many ice cream sandwich shops we have tested. Their cookies are so fresh and warm, that we we back again just for a cookie. If Batch opened up near LA, I wouldn't complain.

The bed and breakfast we stayed in was absolutely adorable. Trav's brother, the one who got us the train tickets, recommended this place. House of Another Tyme is decorated in antique clocks and small jars full of sand from all around the globe, and is ran by the sweetest couple. Each morning we were greeted with a fresh bowl of fruit, hot tea and a nice breakfast. The last morning we were there, we were joined by two Swedish couples who asked if all American breakfasts were "heavy." Sadly, I think all typical "American" entrees are "heavy."

If we ever visit SLO for more than a day again, we will be booking our hotel reservations at The Madonna Inn. If you haven't heard of it before, it has no relationship to the superstar Madonna, and every room has a different theme. The entire hotel is over the top and worth a stop by if you are driving though. We stopped in for dessert one night at the Copper Cafe and split a slice of pink champagne cake and a piece of vanilla with raspberry filling. The portions were enough to feed a small party, so we ended up taking most of it back with us and enjoying it on our train ride home.

Dinner at Big Sky Cafe was the best meal of the entire trip. They pride their selves on sourcing local food, but don't seem to unpretentious. Other highlights of our trip include lunch at urbane cafe, and enjoying coffee (hot chocolate for Trav) at the local coffee joint: Scout Coffee.

We did manage to go on an amazing hike in between all the eating and sleeping we did. So amazing, that it's going to get it's own blog post tomorrow! Gotta balance out all the "unhealthy" food with some exercise-even on vacation!

It was definitely nice to get away for a couple days and not have to worry about a schedule or deadlines. Despite the conductor racing to get home and giving this girl motion sickness, the train ride was an amazing experience. We are already dreaming of the fun trips we can take on the train going up the coast.

Firestone Grill / Batch / Scout Coffee Co / Copper Cafe @ Madonna Inn / Urbane Cafe / Big Sky Cafe /

When in Venice

Abbott Kinney Road in Venice Beach, California is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots. I mean it has my favorite paper store, urbanic, one of my favorite coffee spots, Intelligenista, and some pretty delicious food (insert Gjelina here). I had heard about Gjelina through some of my favorite foodies, and took advantage of the one time I had to pick Travis up from LAX after he had been gone for a week long work trip from North Carolina, to head over to Venice to try out this hot spot. It did not disappoint.

We split the smoked mozzarella, confit tomato, jalapeno, arugula and lemon + bottarga pizza, crispy duck leg, and a side of asparagus. We finished our meal off with a butterscotch pot de creme with salted caramel and creme fraiche. Apparently we think we are still in Paris.

It was a perfect date night to welcome back Trav and to converse over his East coast work adventures. It's probably a good thing we don't venture down to Venice that often, because between Intelligenista, Urbanic, Gjelina, and all the other places we have yet to explore we would be pretty broke-but well fed.

Gjelina: website / twitter / facebook

Queen Bean Caffe

I'm a sucker for a good coffee shop-especially local ones. Since moving back from San Diego I've been on the hunt for a good local spot. Queen Bean Caffe kept coming up in my instagram feed via some of my friends-so one Monday Trav and I decided to take a drive and check it out.

Along with wonderful and delicious drinks, they have a small selection of breakfast and lunch items and the cutest little cereal bar. We split a bowl of steel cut oats + a tomato and chicken omelet. The steel cut oats were as delicious as the oatmeal I get from hotels. I have a special place in my heart for oatmeal served at hotel continental breakfasts. I don't know why, but to me-it's delicious. And for the life of me I can't replicate it at home-and I eat oatmeal on a daily basis. Oh well.
Anyways, I finally decided on a french toast latte (read: side of cinnamon + sugar). But man was it delicious! If I go back, I'll probably opt for my usual non-fat latte (read: non-sugar filled drink). And Travis got his usual hot chocolate since he doesn't drink coffee (he just isn't a fan of the flavor).

The shop had so much natural light and the cutest decorations. It is definitely a future brunch location + study spot for sure!

Website | Blog | Facebook

Carnitas snack shack

Pork lovers unit at Carnitas Snack Shack. This is anything BUT a "snack" shack considering we were both so full we felt like we were going to explode by the end of it all. I had read about this gem through San Diego Magazine's Best of San Diego website and knew we had to try this place out ASAP. It did not disappoint.

Trav got the steak sandwich and I tried to carnitas tacos topped with guacamole + salsa fresca. Both were AH-MAY-ZING and I'm not a huge red meat person at all. The only thing I regret is not finding this place earlier. Or maybe it's a good thing because we would be there every other day.

Caroline's Seaside Cafe

 Going to school down in San Diego, I don't think I really took advantage of all the great restaurants in the area until around my junior year.  Anytime Trav would come down to visit me we would use it as an excuse to venture out and try new places to eat. I love that he loves trying new places to eat with me-he even gets adventurous with his food choices! This is a big deal seeing as how the first couple years we were together I don't think he ate anything but cheeseburgers when we would go out!

Caroline's Seaside Cafe is a modern cafe tucked away within the campus of UCSD and sits on La Jolla beach. I won't go into detail about how we got lost trying to find the dang place but it was SO worth it once we did. The few times we ate at Caroline's we were there for brunch, but they also serve lunch foods as well. I can't think of a better place for brunch-amazing views, great weather and delicious food.