Back to getting it together to update again… ah, procrastination can snowball…
Santa Cruz->San Simeon: Highway 1 along the coast delivered perfect blue skies and seas the entire way. With a stop at Phil’s Fish House in Moss Landing, we made a serious mis-order of the Tuna Special. Who knew you could turn Ahi Tuna into pineapple-sweet American Chinese food?! Sigh. At San Simeon, we found a nice-enough Best Western room with a fireplace and a view of the ocean. The surf sounded great, but the wind was blasting. In the morning, we took a tour of Hearst Castle. A big place, with a mish-mash of furniture and rooms. The most impressive part were the Spanish tiled patios with views in every direction. Nice.
Wildlife spotting: On the way up to Hearst Castle, a Golden Eagle hanging out and a Coyote eyeing our bus going up the hill, but alas, no zebras.
San Simeon->Santa Barbara: More Highway 1, but this time through some silly towns. We cruised through Buellton for some (famous) Andersen’s Split Pea Soup from a Dutch restaurant that was popular when the highway still ran by it. Then to continue our Dutch perusal of the area, we checked out Solvang, a town with few Dutch people left but all the glamour of silly Dutch decorations complete with pretend windmills along the main street. (Think Leavenworth, WA.)
Upon reaching the overpriced burg of Santa Barbara, we didn’t do so well on our pick of hotels. Another Best Western, but this one was 4 miles from the other end of State Street, and the decoration in our room was crazy un-matched 50’s/70’s decorations. Brown thick 70’s tiles, full-mirrored wall, and pink Laura Ashley wallpaper. Holy Cow, is that an ugly combination. The room just called for plastic plants. Not much for hanging out in rooms that could be inhabited by ghosts of past irate interior designers for the motel, we immediately headed downtown. With an eating ahead mentality (always with us), we picked the Palace Grill for dinner. It was almost Louisiana Cajun food, but well… not really. It was like too many LWHOL’s dined there (the main customers, really) and asked for all the spice to be removed from the food. Speaking of LWHOL’s, Santa Barbara was completely overrun with Baby Boomers of all shapes and sizes. Great weather though, and the birds sounded fantastic.
Santa Barbara->El Cajon: A brutal Friday afternoon drive, enough said on that. Too many people, too many cars, too much smog. Ah, Los Angeles.
El Cajon, CA->Yuma, AZ: We drove up through Lakeside into the hills and found all of San Diego in Ramona shopping for antiques, going ATVing and dragging horses around in the back of their trailers. It was a beautiful drive, but step out of the car for 1 second and you’d lose Toto and Dorothy. The winds were intense. Stopped in Ramona and checked out Charlotte’s Antique Store, who informed us that housing in California is crazy (duh) and that eBay is really cutting into the trinkets side of the Antique business. Stopped in at Dudley’s Bakery, did a quick survey of the breads, pastries, and LWHOLs, but left empty-handed. Stopped for lunch in Julian’s (a tourist stop that would like to remind you that Apples are grown in the region). We dined at Buffalo Bill’s for a bison burger and can thoroughly state that Sysco food delivery has really hurt the ‘home-cooking’ industry. Since when did freezer-ready onion rings constitute ‘home-cooking’? Such a very, very sad state of affairs. We stopped by the Desert Tower near Jacumba, CA (”the last of the great roadside attractions” its handout proclaims) and checked out the carved rock formations that they etched and painted. It was the equivalent of a McDonald’s playground size area that kids would love running through. Not much of an attraction, but we found ourselves laughing climbing around it, so I guess it works. Finally, off to the Yuma Cabana, a pink motel with palm trees… old, retro and with a small patio off the room with great temperatures at sunset. 80 degrees, wow.
Wildlife spotting: A wild turkey crossing the road outside of Julian.
