By: Samie

Travel Dates: November 23rd-29th, 2024

Day 4

(Morning at Airbnb, Coffee & Breakfast at Frontier, Stop at Luna Sourdough Bread, Drive Back to LA, LA Airbnb, Homestate Tacos, Frozen Yogurt at Menchie’s, Evening at Alyssa & Evan’s Apartment)

After an early morning and a very full previous day, our very last morning at our Joshua Tree home got to be a very relaxing and peaceful one. We didn’t have any time-sensitive activities or events on the agenda for the day, so we got to take everything at our own pace. With the opportunity to enjoy one more sunrise in the serenity of the desert, the obvious choice for our morning was a quiet, simply beautiful one.

Something about our relationship that I’ve always appreciated is how comfortable we are with silence and independence. It is unspoken that we enjoy being in each other’s company, of course, but we also feel at peace without needing to explain our selves when we want to sit and soak up some silence or do our own thing. Luke is more of an early bird, whereas I am more of a night owl. This works out well for us because he takes his independent peace time in the morning, and I soak mine up at night.

Around 6:30, the sun’s golden light was filtering through the many windows of the Airbnb. This caused me to stir, only to see Luke had already risen. I shuffled around to see what he was up to and got to sneak an outside peek into his morning tranquillity has he enjoyed the warmth of the dawning November sun that would not be nearly as comfortable or enjoyable to soak up back home. I snapped a quiet picture of him before finding my own happy place, plopping back into the cozy bed for a little while longer.

When we were finally ready to get up and going and bid our most generous desert abode adieu, we packed everything, both previous and new, into our suitcases, emptied the fridge of any remaining drinks and snacks, and made our way back into town to grab some coffee and breakfast for the road.

Our first stop was at a unique little café called Frontier. The day was already heating up, so while Luke ordering an iced coffee was pretty much a given, I decided to opt for iced as well. We both went with a solid coffee go-to, a latte. Luke got caramel, and I went with pistachio.

For breakfast orders, Luke ordered the classic egg sandwich with avocado, and after the heavenly experience I had the day before, I just had to try another plain bagel with cream cheese. While we waited for our food, we sipped our drinks and took in the fun vibes and atmosphere and friendly greetings exchanged between the baristas and regulars.

We then made our way over to a a little bakery called Luna Sourdough Bread. We had just picked up our breakfast, so we knew we were on the lookout for some sweet treats for the road or some goodies that would travel well and stay if it sat around in the Airbnb for a night or two. Some of the motivation for this pit stop may have been our love for pastries or it may have been that it donned the name of our eldest lovely little dog. Either way, it made the list as a stop. We snatched up a croissant, lemon tart, slice of carrot cake, and 2 cookies from the display window. Then it was time to hit the road!

With a solid variety of snacks and drinks in tow, we began the approximately 2 hour drive back to Los Angeles. The bright, blue, cloudless sky beckoned out beyond us with each mile we traveled. It was easy to soak in the sunshine simmering in through the car windows as we cheerfully chatted and chowed down on our goodies.

We had left Yucca Valley around noon, which put us arriving within the city limits of LA just after 2:00pm. We plugged in the address for the new Airbnb we would be settling into for the remainder of our time in California. However, we would be arriving before our 3:00 check in time. We started by making sure we could find the place first. Then we asked our phones to find a nearby gas station to fill up our dependable rental Malibu friend after the trek here. Then we turned back and once again returned to park outside our Airbnb, messaged our host, and were able to get all checked in!

While the flight tickets to Los Angeles had been amazingly affordable despite being within the traveling window of Thanksgiving. However, the accommodation prices were a much better reflection of holiday prices, especially close to Studio City, where Alyssa and Evan’s apartment is located. Any housing within our personal budget was further away. This meant that if we drove to their place during times of heavy traffic, either morning or evening rush hour, despite it only being a few miles, it would put our drive at potentially hours, plural.

Fortunately, with us being there for vacation, we had much more loose and unrestricted travel options and could avoid most rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, after checking into our Airbnb, we wanted to relax and settle in for just a little while before making our way over to Alyssa and Evan’s apartment so that we could all head out to supper together. Since we had checked in at 3:00, even an hour of relaxing would put our travel time within the evening, after-work rush hour. Our Airbnb was just immediately so welcoming and cozy with its huge, plush bed, that we couldn’t resist laying down and turning our brains off for a while, even if it meant braving the traffic later.

It was only an 18 mile drive from where we staying to their apartment. It ideally would’ve only taken 30 minutes to drive there. Since we risked hitting traffic to relax, it took us over an hour and a half to get there instead. Now we can officially say we’ve experienced the after-work traffic of the 2nd largest city in America. We are not itching to do it again anytime soon.

Before heading over to meet up with Alyssa and Evan, we wanted to stop at the Buffalo Exchange on Ventura because of the joyful memories it still brought us from our first Buffalo Exchange in San Francisco. Luke and I had continued the tradition in Nashville back in July, so we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to continue it here. We extended the invitation for Evan and Alyssa to join us, but they passed.

It will forever be near impossible to live up to the extreme success we had in San Francisco, whether that success was alcohol-goggle induced or not is irrelevant. We will still probably never stop. I did find a lovely jacket that I was able to buy and knew I would be able to manage to wear back home with me.

We then made our way over to greet and check in with our favorite Hollywood experts so that we could decide where we wanted to go to eat this time. After deciding on pizza last time, we couldn’t pass up on another food favorite of ours, so this time we were going for some tacos! The taco place they recommended is called HomeState. It was within walking distance of their place, and it was a beautiful night, so we began the evening stroll over.

We found some lovely seats out on the patio, surrounded by heaters so even as the evening sapped the heat from the air around us, we would remain cozy and warm. We started with some drinks to sip while we waited for our food. Everyone else at the table are beer drinkers and got a Modelo with lime. I, however, don’t drink beer, and they had an appealing seasonal drink called the frozen CranMarg. It looked too delicious not to try.

We got some chips and queso to share and then started with a couple tacos each. I ordered the Brisket and Tijuana Panther tacos. The Brisket taco came with shredded brisket, guacamole, and shredded cabbage. The Tijuana Panther came with shredded brisket, queso, potatoes, and pico de gallo. In case it isn’t clear, I really like brisket. Luke also got a Tijuana Panther taco and a Don’t Mess with Texas taco for his second one. The Don’t Mess with Texas came with refried charro beans, bacon, potatoes, and cheddar.

They were easily some of the tastiest tacos we had ever been fortunate enough to savor. So much so that Luke ended up ordered two more, an exact repeat of his original order. It was an exceptionally delicious, cozy, and delightful meal! Plus, that CranMarg was quite strong, and once we had our fill of tacos, I was very much ready for some sweet dessert, as it is what my CranMarg addled brain specifically requested.

One of my favorite desserts is something I am sadly deprived of back home. I love frozen yogurt. However, the closest frozen yogurt shop to us back home is a grueling 3 hours away. Devastating. I figured there was absolutely no way the enormous city of Los Angeles wasn’t equipped with frozen yogurt shops. I was gloriously and unequivocally correct.

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt was only one block over. I have two moods when it comes to frozen yogurt. Either I’m feeling fruity flavors and toppings or chocolate flavors and toppings. This stop had me feeling chocolate. I got a yogurt base flavor that was close to chocolate, but I do remember it wasn’t quite chocolate. My memory is hazy, unsurprisingly, but I think it was some kind of a salted caramel, as that is a common go-to for me when I go the chocolate route. We all cheerfully snacked, scooped, and spooned our way back to the apartment.

We spent the rest of our evening once again enjoying each other’s comfort and company, an unfortunately rare commodity in our current residential statuses. The last of our party, Alyssa’s and my mom and our sister Rebekah, were currently on a plane to meet up with us. Their flight wasn’t landing until very late that night, and as excited as we were to see them, Luke and I lived two time zones ahead, so even 10:00pm felt like 12:00am to us, so we knew the likelihood of us being present for their arrival was low.

We stayed as long as our energy allowed us, soaking up as much family time as we could while we could. This may have also included time with our fur niece and nephew, their cat Artie and dog Nova. Artie is definitely more social of the two, so I rewarded him with some pets and scratches.

Our energy supported us for a solid hour before we knew we needed the last of it to make the drive back to our Airbnb, so it was time to say goodnight, knowing we would have the entire day and the following day, Thanksgiving, with everyone gathered. On our way out, the ground was once again damp, which meant snails making their way about. It might not have excited me quite as much as the first time, if I hadn’t seen what must have been the world’s smallest and cutest snail!

We were able to safely arrive back at our Airbnb just before 10:45, right around the time our mom and Rebekah’s flight landed. We spent the last of our remaining energy sliding into our pajamas and crawling into bed. We were both swiftly asleep by 11:15, according to my Fitbit. We would be thankful for the restful night’s sleep, as we had the main event everyone had come together to celebrate the next day! Stay tuned for the lowdown in the next 13 Going on 30 Birthday Crossover post!