Our weekend trip to California’s Central Coast.
We’ve got a beach dog!
Dog beaches outside of the Bay Area just hit different.
The sun shines a little brighter, the water’s warmer, and the beach entrances are more easily accessible with a shorter walk from parking lots.
Our very first stop in SLO was at Olde Port Beach.
Kenzo learned to dig for the first time in the sand. Our boy tried very hard to hide his stick from his friends.
For dinner, we ate at Firestone Grill in downtown SLO.
I don’t eat a whole lot of red meat so personally, there was way too much tri-tip in my sandwich. I gave JT about 60% of it. It was such a great value though for $17.
The next day, we drove from SLO to Solvang, and JT took us to Ostrichland as a stopover. We arrived for the 12:30 PM slot, and those ostriches weren’t even hungry anymore. I recommend going earlier if you want to gain the whole experience of feeding them.
On our way out, we returned nearly an entire bowl of food.
Kenzo was so brave and had no fear approaching them at the fence. He kept wondering why they smelled differently than he’s used to.
JT found a dog-friendly restaurant with an outdoor patio for lunch called peasants FEAST in Solvang.
The wait for our table was about 35 minutes so we walked over to Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery for some pastries.
For lunch, I got carnitas tacos with the most spicy habanero salsa I’ve ever tried. 10/10 would recommend getting it on the side.
JT got a smoked salmon sandwich with crispy potatoes. We both thoroughly enjoyed our dishes.
The service here was excellent. The servers were attentive not only to us, but also Kenzo. Someone brought out a water bowl for Kenzo without our asking, and multiple people even gave him the pets.
After lunch, we took Kenzo back to the car for him to take a nap. This is where having dog mode in our Tesla comes in clutch: we’re able to keep him cool while keeping an eye on him via the app.
Road tripping with Tessie makes bringing a dog highly convenient.
JT and I perused the small streets of Solvang while Kenzo was in the car.
We stopped by a Thai cafe and got a Thai tea for a pick-me-up. JT was taking a photo of me and I got photobombed by this adorable couple behind me.
After Solvang, we went to another dog-friendly beach down in Santa Barbara called Arroyo Burro Beach.
Kenzo-chan had so much fun running around with daddy.
All in all, it was a fun-filled weekend celebrating the best dog dad. Happy Father’s Day, JT!