LA to San Luis Obispo - 8th to 12th May 2012

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. 


  

 

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.

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