Awesome Stops on Pacific Coast Highway to Take Your Dog in a 2020 Mazda CX-9

August 3, 2020
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Nowadays, the best therapy is a car ride adventure. Exactly what we’ve been doing since the COVID-19 closures. We spent the weekend cruising SoCal Orange County Pacific Coast Highway in a Soul Red 2020 Mazda CX-9 Signature.

Mazda provided Golden Woofs a 2020 Mazda CX-9 Signature to test drive in exchange for sharing experience about the vehicle. Golden Woofs only shares information we feel is relevant and useful to our readers.

Awesome Stops on Pacific Coast Highway to Take Your Dog

Pacific Coast Highway, also known as California State Route 1 or PCH, s one of America’s most famous highways (second to Route 66). Many visitors to Southern California take PCH because of the scenic views of the ocean.

Huntington Beach, CA
Surf City Huntington Beach is known for its long 8.5 miles of beach which is excellent for surfing. Huntington Beach is dog friendly and the 1.5 miles of dog beach is visited by SoCal residents and tourists. KB loves it but due to COVID-19, we just went for a quick stroll in downtown Huntington Beach Main St, the anchor pathway to the must-visit iconic Huntington Beach Pier.

The 2020 Mazda CX-9 Signature is very spacious. The CX-9 is a seven-seater; where the rear seats can be folded down (enough room for two big suitcases or large dog carrier). KORU BEAR had an option to say at the back but he is most comfortable just to be on the second row back seat. He enjoyed a relaxing 13 minutes drive (6.3. miles) to Balboa.

Balboa: Newport Beach, CA
We drove to the historic and scenic 3-mile stretch known as Peninsula and visited the white sand beach. Balboa is known as a hidden fun gem for dogs. It’s charming to take a stroll along the waterfront.

The vibrant color Soul Red Crystal of the Mazda CX-9 stands out, especially on a cloudy morning. We receive lots of compliments. Mazda debuted the body color Soul Red Crystal last 2016 to symbolize its KODO—Soul of Motion design.

Crystal Cove
One of our favorite SoCal Orange County PCH scenic drives is when it opens up to Crystal Cove with the view of State Beach. It was a smooth 9minute drive (4.4 miles) to Laguna Beach, CA.

One of our favorite feature is Mazda’s windshield-projected Active Driving Display; a heads-up display that provides relevant driving information such as speed, navigation, direction and more.

Laguna Beach, CA
We stopped at dog-friendly Heisler Park. The oceanfront view is awesome and walked around the park for 2 miles.

Definitely during this pandemic, Heisler Park is a great place to visit; you can certainly keep your social distancing with its wide open space.

Dana Point, CA
From Laguna Beach, it’s a 8-mile drive to Dana Point – a scenic town and known for being a whale-watching mecca. We visited the mile Bluff Top Trail with amazing view of Dana Point Harbor.

The weather on our PCH scenic drive ended up to be sunny with mild wind. We found a hidden spot to enjoy a view of Orange County.

The new Mazda CX-9 is built with your comfort in mind with great headroom. We folded down the third-row seats and created more than 70 cubic feet of space. It was awesome to just chill and utilize the trunk space.

The 2020 Mazda CX-9 recently earned a Top Safety Pick+ from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). To learn more about Mazda CX-9, call your local Mazda dealership. Many dealerships are now offering “no-touch test-drives” and home delivery.

Lots of Golden Thanks to Mazda for making our weekend drive memorable to see awesome stops on Pacific Coast Highway.

Sunday Funday at Dog Friendly Great Park

July 9, 2017

Dog-Friendly Great Park was Angel SUGAR’s favorite place to go for Sunday Funday. We are continuing the Sunday Funday tradition …
KORU BEAR at the Great Park’s Palm Court.

The Great Park is located in Irvine, CA on the site of the old El Toro Air Force Base (Marine Corps Air Station El Toro). It is approximately 1,300-acre green space. Since it is a former military base, there’s an exhibit of an old military aircraft.

It’s a huge beautiful park, and we love the dog friendly Sunday Farmer’s Market.

Happy Sunday Funday!

Weekend At Dog Friendly Dana Point CA

March 10, 2016

Last weekend, we visited Dana Point, CA – located in SoCal and is approximately half way between Los Angeles and San Diego. The City of Dana Point is named after Richard Henry Dana Jr. He described Dana Point, once known as Capistrano Bay, as “the most romantic spot in California.” The original plan for Dana Point was for a Spanish-style town with streets named after Lanterns. Actual lanterns were laid out for the street lights, inspired by the old sailor’s kerosene lanterns.

Today, Street of the Golden Lantern is a starting point for getting to places in Dana Point like the Lantern Village. Other popular lantern street names are Street of the Blue Lantern, and Street of the Crystal Lantern.

The most popular thing to do in Dana Point is Whale Watching. Dana Point is known for having diverse marine ecosystems in the world. Also, Southern California has the largest concentration of blue whales of anywhere on earth. Blue Whale watching in Southern California is popular during the months of May through October.

Dog Friendly Dana Point

Festival of Whales Parade + Street Fair
Last Saturday, March 5th, was Dana Point’s 1st weekend celebrating the Festival of Whales. We watched The Festival of Whales Parade and Sugar enjoyed the giant balloons. The Street Fair which included pet vendors was managed by Pet Project Foundation, partnering with City of Dana Point.

Trail & Park
Sugar had a pawsome time exploring a beautiful trial and a park. From Bluff Top Trail, we saw a spectacular view overlooking the Dana Point Harbor. It’s also an educational walk; we learned some history facts of Dana Point.

Heritage Park, located at Old Golden Lantern, is considered as an event park. Many use this park for special events because of the amazing view. Lots of grassy areas for dogs to run.

Doris Walker was a member of the Orange County Historical Commission, a founder of the Dana Point Historical Society and Annual Festival of Whales. Doris believed that romance is adventure as it unfolds.

Dog Friendly Dining
It was not hard to find a dog friendly restaurant at Dana Point. We ate at Bonjour Cafe, dog friendly patio. Wow, the servings were huge. It was delicious, plus great service. It’s always nice to dine at a dog friendly restaurant; sit down, have a nice meal, and your dog is next to you.

Dog friendly Dana Point is not far where we currently live, ~30 miles. Definitely, we will come back and hope to meet-up with our blog pals Two French Bulldogs and visit some of the finest Dana Point beaches.

SUGAR Visits California Scenario

October 21, 2015

We visited California Scenario, locally known as Noguchi Garden, located in Costa Mesa, CA. California Scenario is recognized as one of the country’s distinguished sculpture gardens.

In Southern California, Noguchi’s 1.6 acres Garden is the most recognized and publicly visited outdoor sculpture oasis. It was built to enhance two office towers built on Segerstrom family land once used as a lima bean farm.

California Scenario Desert Land — Desert Land – Symmetrical mound planted with a variety of cacti, agave and other desert plants.

Internationally acclaimed artist Isamu Noguchi designed California Scenario. The design symbolizes various geographical characteristics in California including indigenous plants and landscape materials.

Noguchi Garden water use — Water Use – A granite wedge symbolizing the end of the California Scenario stream.

It is an abstract metaphor that consists of six elements: 1) Forest Walk, 2) Spirit of the Lima Bean, 3) Water Use, 4) Desert Land, 5) Water Source, 6) Land Use, and 7) Energy Fountain.

California Scenario Energy Fountain — Energy Fountain – Embodies California energy. The fountain is 12-feet-high and twenty five-feet in diameter, and made of granite bricks and stainless steel.

The centerpiece of the garden is the Lima Bean, sculpture, made up of 15 rust-colored granite rocks and signed by Isamu Noguchi.

It was created in honor of Henry Segerstrom’s friendship with Isamu Noguchi. Henry Segerstrom was a bean farmer, contributed to the agricultural heritage and changed the face of Orange County.

Noguchi Garden LIMA BEAN — Spirit of the Lima Bean – 12-foot-high granite boulder, indicative of the land, once used as a Lima Bean farm.

California Scenario is a peaceful place to stroll. The garden and sculptures make for interesting photography. Will definitely visit again.

Dog Walking at Dog Friendly Orange County Mall

August 19, 2015

Dog Walking at Irvine Spectrum, Dog Friendly Orange County Mall

Here in Orange Country, there are many dog friendly places we can take Sugar. Outdoor mall dog walking is a pawsome alternative to dog parks. Irvine Spectrum is a popular shopping mall, and it’s dog-friendly.

Dogs on leash are allowed to walk through the grounds of the mall.

Super Cool!!! There’s a ferris wheel and merry go round rides (but dogs are not allowed).

Many restaurants offer dog friendly patio sitting.

Dogs are welcome at many retail stores.

LOVE Old Navy’s back to school mannequin display. Sugar wants to be the Old Navy’s Dog 🙂

We also went to Target and Sugar had an opportunity to take a photo with the #TargetDog.

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