Highway 1

To get from LA to San Francisco, we decided to skip the 767 and take a road trip. Reviews on the web said it was one of the most beautiful drives that you’ll ever do, and so far we haven’t been disappointed. Better yet, from what the locals of the tiny, super friendly town of Cambria tell us (where we’re spending our first night), the best is yet to come!

(Note: I have to write up posts for the rest of our LA trip, but I wanted to get this down before I forgot the names of the places we were at today.)

Malibu, Ventura, and Santa Barbara

Unfortunately, I managed to pick up a sore throat for my last day in LA. By this morning’s drive, it had developed into a sinus cold, so for me, driving into Malibu was just a long, confusing sinus headache. I know that we got out and walked around at a lookout somewhere, but the view wasn’t all that spectacular so we ventured onwards in search of a drug store pharmacy. Thankfully we found one not too far down the road in Ventura. Truth be told, we actually found a Chipotle first, so we ate lunch there for four reasons:

1. It’s been ages since we’ve eaten Chipotle;
2. Their food is fresh, as opposed to all the lunches we’ve had for the last week which all included french fries;
3. Chipotle is about 20% cheaper in California than it is in New York; and
4. There was a Peet’s Coffee right next door.

After lunch and some wonderful, wonderful drugs, we continued to Santa Barbara. Once the drugs kicked in, it was like a cloud had been lifted from my head, so I could actually appreciate the drive and surroundings a bit more.

Our first stop in Santa Barbara was to the Mission – a huge church type complex built in 1786. We paid our $4 a pop to do the tour, and it totally sucked. However, it had three saving graces – firstly, the building itself was quite cool. Secondly, Kristy loved the gardens, especially because the cemetery had a Moreton Bay Fig smack bang in the middle of it! And thirdly, they had some awesome chalk artwork in the carpark – it was most impressive!

We drove through the town centre of Santa Barbara, and observed that the whole place had a very Spanish influence. At the bottom of the hill we found a skate-park, so we watched some of the local kiddies pulling off their rad moves.

Pismo beach and Sycamore Mineral Springs

Our next stop was at Pismo beach, a small beach town with that served a local delicacy called the Tri-tip steak sandwich. We didn’t think it was anything special, but we did enjoy watching the surfers below the pier. The wind whipping off the water was brrrrrr!!!

On our way back to the highway, Kristy noticed that not long aways down the road was the Sycamore Springs wellness centre, and for the most affordable price of $25, we could have our own private outdoor hot-tub on a hill for an hour. The hot-tub was filled with naturally hot spring water, which comes out at around 60 degrees celcius. (They then use cold water to bring the hot-tub temperature down to a more reasonable 40 degress.) It was absolutely awesome, and super relaxing!

Morro Bay to Cambria

The last leg of today’s journey first took us through Morro Bay. Now, they may think that their only claim to fame is a giant rock (appropriately called “Morro Rock”) which sticks out of the ocean a decent way, but I’m telling you, that’s not all the little town has to offer. They also have more stop signs per intersection than any other place I have ever seen. Every intersection had a four-way stop sign (or at least a two-way). Not one traffic light to be seen. Truth be told, it’s really frustrating, especially when you’re tearing down the beach to try and catch the sunset!

Suffice to say we made it, but not by much! We watched the final curve of the sun descent below the horizon about twenty minutes before we arrived in Cambria, where we are staying the night. Kristy found a lovely little hotel to stay at in the Lonely Planet guide, and we managed to pick up a room (complete with wireless internet!) for about $70 for the night. Not bad! Now its time to make the most of that money by hitting the sack; it’s past midnight, and I’m exhausted! The lengths I go to to keep you people informed, I tells ya… !