I ended up switching to the static map and removing all labels through the styling rules in that map's API. Not sure why I got downvoted for this, but hope this helps out any others looking to do the same thing.

style_params = [
        "feature:all|element:labels|visibility:off",
        "feature:poi|visibility:off",
        "feature:transit|visibility:off",
        "feature:road|element:labels|visibility:off"
    ]

base_url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap"
    url = (
        f"{base_url}?center={lat},{lon}"
        f"&zoom={zoom}"
        f"&size={size}"
        f"&maptype={maptype}"
        f"&{style_params}"
        f"&key={api_key}"
    )

Resulting image

Cheers,

Dillon