We had two things planned for Saturday – getting vegan donuts and meeting our rock painting friend Danny and his family in Carpinteria.

Right before I left for the trip Veg News came out with their 2023 list of best vegan restaurants. There was a restaurant in the LA area in almost every category, but the one that really caught my eye was Donut Friend, which was voted the #1 vegan donut place.

Oh! Let me start at the beginning of the day though. Val and I went on a short run around campus, then went to Tiff’s where Val braided my hair (she did the day before too – thanks, Hair by Valerie), then we headed to the donut shop.

Val and I both have major sweet tooths and were so so pumped to get donuts. I walked in and my mouth with agape with how beautiful they all were. I had a hard time deciding on which I wanted. Thankfully, we each picked out two so I got to try a lot! We got X-Ray Speculoos, Caramel on Parade, Custard Front Drive, Pumpkin Piebald, Saves the Danish, & Jimmy Eat Swirl.

We tried the custard and pumpkin in the shop and they were amazing. I think that custard donut may be the best I’ve ever had (I brought one home for Steven, which he ate Sunday and enjoyed). I wish I could go there more often, but it’s probably a good thing it’s a couple of thousand miles from home.

We stopped at Starbucks on the way out of town and picked up drinks courtesy of my snis – she sent us a gift card to use on Thursday. Thanks so much snis!

Then we continued on to Carpinteria, which took about an hour and a half. We chatted the whole way, of course.

When we got to town we met up with Danny and he showed us around until his wife and daughter came and joined us. Their town is so beautiful – just a small downtown right next to the ocean. It wasn’t super crowded, which I appreciated. Very chill vibes!

We walked a bit more then got lunch at The Good Plow. Tiff and I split the falafel burger and fried cauliflower tacos, and Val and I split the brussels sprouts.

After lunch we checked out a makers market in Summerland (and I got a chai from Red Kettle Coffee),

then we headed back to Carpinteria and Danny’s family went home. Tiff, Val, and I went to a t-shirt shop,

then we continued on to Rincon Beach. Danny had mentioned the tide would be low so we could check out the tide pools. I’m so glad we did – it was super neat! We saw starfish, anemones, a million clams, crabs, and other creatures I’d never seen before!

We set up a little camp and each painted a “create” rock,

then we took some silly jumping photos,

and headed back. While we were walking back to the car, we saw dolphins jumping the waves! That was truly magical for this Midwest girl.

It was awesome to get so much time with Danny and his family, and to see the beautiful area they live in. We had been talking about going to the ocean but I hadn’t thought about how fulfilling that would be. I’m really glad we did.

I drove us back to Tiff’s, which took about 2 hours and twenty minutes, yikes. But, Tiff googled some great questions on her phone to ask and we had deep, connecting conversations, which made the trip so memorable. Thank you Tiff!

We went to her place and shopped her homemade ceramics, painted a bit, and ordered a mediocre vegan pizza from Jay’s (sorry, gals) then finished our rocks and called it a night early so we could get packed up and ready to go for our early flights. Wah!

While there, I kept saying the days felt really long but went by so fast. I know you know what I mean. I love how time moves slower with them, since I am truly focusing on things I love doing each hour, and feel absolutely present. I’m so grateful for our time together.

I packed up Saturday night and went to bed and was delighted both cats slept with me! I was up at 4:45 am the next morning (I should note, we all went to bed at reasonable times on this trip and I tried to get a decent amount of sleep) and did a bit on my computer then got ready and took care of a few house things. Tiff picked us up at 6:15 and drove us to LAX. It was a bummer to say goodbye, but we’ll all be together again in February!