ATVs in Pismo Beach

Sometimes last minute vacations are the best thing.

Helmet hair!

With Veteran's Day on a Tuesday, my husband and I decided to take advantage of the extra time off by taking a trip up the coast to Pismo Beach.  Ever since we missed the opportunity to ATV in Hawaii on our honeymoon, we'd been dying to try it out.

I was extra excited because this marked our first vacation with our little dog Walle (Wally).

Poor thing never gets out.

On our way up, we stopped at Solvang. Walking the streets of Solvang was like walking the streets of a tv set for a Lifetime Christmas movie. There were twinkling lights and beautiful store fronts. We couldn't stay long, but vowed to return.

By the time we made it to Pismo it was dark, so we really couldn't see much. We went for a short walk before calling it a night. We woke up happy to discover that we had a view of the beach and pier from our hotel room.

We took our time getting up, grabbed a light breakfast from the hotel lobby, and walked down to the beach where some locals were setting up to play competitive volleyball. We watched for a little while as we mapped out our plan for the day. We dropped Walle off at a pet store for grooming so that we could have the afternoon alone. After 24-7 Walle, we ran out of there clicking our heels.

ATVs were a blast! After getting our gear and signing our lives over, we drove down to the beach where we were met by a guy in a truck who shuttled us down to the dunes. He was a zany guy from Oklahoma who moved to Pismo to follow his daughter to college at U.C. Santa Barbara. He said that all his friends were jealous of his California-70-degree-weather-year-round lifestyle.

When we pulled up to the dunes, the guy zipped through how to ride the ATVs, which left us a little nervous. That is, until we hit the dunes.

The dunes covered 8 miles and there were 25  posts to help us navigate. I don't know how 8 miles sounds to you, but out in the sand it seemed to go on forever. We drove for a long time, nearing what we thought was the end, but it was only post 7! The dunes reached heights of 20-30 feet. Right away, I got a pretty gnarly cut on my driving thumb, but that didn't stop us. We had the best time riding, standing up on our bikes, going down dunes, evading beach cops, and doing donuts around each other. We felt pretty hardcore. We only stopped to do some gangsta-bro poses.

"Malibuuu!"

When we got back to our room, we curled up in bed to watch videos from our ride and laughed our heads off. As video-me screeched down dunes and video-Matt did donuts, we realized that video-us did not look as cool as we felt. And if I'm being completely honest, that cut on my thumb... it happened because I pinched myself trying to close my selfie stick.

After Walle got his hair cut, he was such a little angel. My husband said that he was probably happy to be clean, but I thought that he was probably just happy that he could finally see.

We spent a couple of days relaxing in Pismo and stopped off at a monarch butterfly farm on our way home. At first, I didn't see any butterflies, but then my husband pointed out that what I thought were leaves on a tree, were actually thousands of butterflies. It was incredible.

We came back feeling well-rested and oh-so-in-love. I can't imagine a better partner for any adventure. With so much to share, maybe next time I'll try vlogging.

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