Malibu
Malibu is a very affluent
city, home to lots of Hollywood movie stars
and famous for its big surf. We walked
along the Pier and gazed out at Surfrider
Beach, all 27 miles of
it. Unfortunately the sea was as flat as a tack and
we didn’t meet any movie stars but I wasn’t disappointed as I can now name drop
with the best of them!
Santa Barbara
Another
30 miles north and we reached Santa
Barbara. This
has got to be one of the most picturesque places on earth.
Mediterranean whitewashed buildings, terracotta pantiles, arches, courtyards and brilliant coloured bougainvillea everywhere.
Mediterranean whitewashed buildings, terracotta pantiles, arches, courtyards and brilliant coloured bougainvillea everywhere.
We
called into the Information Centre and the lovely ladies welcomed us with open
arms (no customers). They found the
phone number of the Beach House Inn
where we stayed 2 years ago and booked us in.
Sure enough the Manager recognised
us straight away (but why?) and in a matter of minutes we were happily
installed. All the rooms are self
contained and have a big log fire and homely atmosphere.
The
Farmer’s Market is on every Tuesday in Santa
Barbara and we know from past experience that every
man and his dog rocks up for this event.
It’s always fun and we spent ages “people watching” and drooling over
the super fresh fruit/veg and listening to the buskers in the street.
Woke
up the next morning and Allen said, “We need to buy an electric kettle!” Allen goes into a decline if he doesn’t drink
at least a gallon of tea in the morning.
Being a coffee drinking nation
all the hotel/motels has coffee machines but no tea making facilities.
Wal-mart is a great
supermarket and usually the staff are very helpful so Allen asked the assistant
if he sold electric kettles. “EEERRR….(blank
expression)….you mean you want a vessel for boiling water?” Allen
looked puzzled and said, “Yes, I suppose I do.” The assistant replied, “Sorry we don’t have
any.” Allen was flabbergasted and asked,
“How do you boil water at home?” He said, “I don’t. I go to Starbucks and let them boil the water!!” The story ends with us going away empty
handed.
Buellton
The
afternoon got even crazier. Allen made a
reservation at “Pea Soup Anderson’s Inn” at
Buellton. Who in their right mind stays
at a place called that? The Answer: It was
cheap!
Actually
the room was great, very spacious, clean and tidy, had Internet, TV, King size
bed - all good…..but there was one thing wrong, all the walls were paper thin
and when I spoke to Allen the man next door answered me.
It’s
a family owned business who have been making their famous Split Pea Soup since 1924.
Of course we love to try new things so true to our word we consumed 2
large bowls of soup. It was very tasty despite its fluorescent green
colour.
Later
that night the secret recipe started to make itself known.
Uncontrollable
flatulence and remember I mentioned the paper thin walls.
Solvang
We
travelled further north to the Danish immigrant village of Solvang,
near the Santa Ynez Mountains.
Decorative windmills line the street with freshly baked pastries on
every corner. Danish architecture,
gourmet sausages and wine tasting all in one little valley. The locals manage to keep it authentic without
being too corny. Loved it.
Pismo Beach
Next
destination Edgewater Inn at Pismo Beach (still driving north up the coast
road) and luckily had a great view
of the ocean. We thought it was time to
blow away the cobwebs so braced ourselves for an exhilarating walk along the
beach. In a moment of madness we dipped
our toes into the Pacific – FREAKING FREEZING!!
I won’t try that again.
Pismo
is a quirky town with equally quirky shops.
How do you fancy chocolate covered scorpions, dried worms and frogs
legs? The main street is packed with
60’s type burger bars, fish and chips and ice-cream parlors. Not a bad place to stay but every morning the
“marine layer” (fog) rolls in and doesn’t lift until around lunch time.
Pismo Pier is where all the
fishermen congregate so Allen walked to the end to see if anyone was catching
fish. He stopped to talk to a young man
and ended up showing him how to rig a line and the conversation progressed to
the usual fishing stories.
This young man
was impressed with Al’s fishing knowledge and also his ability to withstand
gale force winds in just a tee-shirt and shorts.
San Luis Obispo – we finally made it.
This is where we collect the RV…..but first we must socialize!! We were thrilled to meet Rudi again (owner of Highway Campers)
We bought him
a present from Oz!
Gladys (his girl wonder) Fred (her hubby) and Autumn (their lovely granddaughter). We all went out for a meal at Apple Farm and
Rudi kindly wore the gift we bought him – an Aussie hat with corks! Onya Rudi.
We
dropped the hire car back to San
Luis Obispo Airport
and got a taxi to Downtown SLO. We
wandered around some of our old haunts
while waiting to take possession of the RV.
The Franciscan Mission dates back to 1772 and part of it has been made into a Museum but the Chapel is still used for Sunday Mass. The grounds are beautiful.
We could hear music so we crossed the road to “The Network Bar & Restaurant” and we watched a group of students rehearse for a production of South Pacific.
It was excellent and I soon got
into the swing of things and joined in the singing….the Manager loved our enthusiasm and came over
with two free beers! Now it was time to collect the RV and we were getting excited. The RV was the same Make, Model and Size but it wasn’t the original one.
Our first
night was spent at “KOA Avila/Pismo
Beach” and it felt like we’d never been away. The bed was cozy but much smaller than we
remember! HA
Now that we have a home on our backs the 2012 Journey begins.
End of Second Post
