We try to take a week long vacation about once a year. This
year we had our 5 year wedding anniversary to celebrate so we took that
week to hit the road and visit some places we have seen before in our time
togather as well as a few new spots. This website shows what we saw
and did for those 7 days. Enjoy!
Day One: 10/30 Saturday
Drove from San Diego to Glendora to stay with family for the night.
Day Two: 10/31 Halloween!
9am Drove to Pasadena from Glendora to meet with our friends Nicki and Randy and they followed us to Santa Barbara. Got two rooms at the Sandy Beach Motel right on the coast a block away from Stearns Wharf. Had lunch at Longboards on the pier and went back to the hotel to relax. Nicki and Randy took a nap while Ben and I dipped in the pool. As evening came on I donned my Pikachu costume and Ben got into his Jedi garb for a night on the town. Nicki and Randy both wore Pj's. We got dinner and a 66 ounce margarita at Left at Albequerque and walked State street with all the college goblins till we found a suitable horro movie for the night. (House on Haunted Hill). After the movie Nicki was feeling under the weather so they headed back to the motel while Ben and I walked the street and basically just hung out in town till about midnight.
Santa
Barbara Road Map
Thomas
Guide for Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties
Insiders
Guide to Santa Barbara
Day Three: 11/1 Monday
About 9ish Ben and I said our goodbyes and hit the road north on the 101 to San Francisco. On the way we drove through tons of farmland including one part the the state that smells so much like garlic it makes you drool! We got into SF and found ourselves a much overpriced room at the Holiday Inn. After a little relaxing we headed out into the night and hit the wharf area. Had great dinner and roamed to Pier 39 for a little junk shopping.
Day Four: 11/2 Tuesday
In the morning we walked the the Boudin Bakery and got some fresh sourdough bread and then hit the road to head north. I had never been any further north than SF so I had never crossed the Golden Gate Bridge before. We drove north on the 101 for about 5 miles and then decided to go back and catch the 1 instead and stay on the coast. We actually thought we would make it to Bodega Bay but about 16 miles up the 1 and we decided the road was too hairy to go another 60 miles. We parked and roamed around Muir Beach a little and tried to decide where to go next. See this trip was totally improv, no reservations in advance, no idea where we were going :) We headed back south and ended up taking a break on a old military battery above the north end of the GG. Beautiful view from this spot even though it was foggy. From there we decided to go south out of San Francisco and into Monterey.
Monterey: We ended up finding this great little motel called the Butterfly Grove Motel in Pacific Grove. This motel was built only 4 months ago right in the middle of a grove of trees that were full of Monarch Butterflies! The huge room included a jacuzi tub and a fireplace. We went down to the Cannery and had a late lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company.
Day 5: 11/3 Wednsday
Spent this morning driving around 17 Mile Drive and seeing the Lone Cypress as well as other landmarks. A lot more houses have been built there since the last time we went and I don't think I will pay $7.50 to do it again. Seems like you pay that to just roam around a rich neighborhood. Much more natural beauty to see in the State Parks.
Came back and went to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium for the afternoon. It has really expanded since we were there last (1990?). Great place and a must see if you are in the area.
In the evening I peeked out the window of our room and saw deer munching on grass just a few feet from our porch.
Day 6: 11/4 5 Year Wedding Anniversary!
Had a wonderful breakfast at a local cafe (I had cinnamon raison french toast that was smothered with orange marmalade butter, it came with strawberries and whipped cream *drool!*). Our first stop was Point Lobos which is where Ben and I had our very first road trip to back in March of 1990. It was great going back and reliving that first trip togather. After Point Lobos we drove all over Carmel and then hit the Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. Ben and I fed a seagull through a open spot near the floor in the resturant and down below in the water you could see jelly fish and sealions swimming around the boats. Lunch did not agree with me so we spent the evening finding Tums and laying in bed (not exactly romantic). We ended up picking up dinner at McDonald's which I could barely even eat.
Great
Destinations in Monterey and Big Sur
Monterey
and Carmel Road Trip Guide (audio tapes)
Day 7: 11/5 Friday
Well after waking up we decided to head south. Ben wanted to go ahead and make the long drive home but I wanted to stay on vacation for one more day. While packing the car I noticed the whole car was covered in racoon tracks because we had left some of that sourdough bread in the trunk and the little booger was trying to get at it.
We drove south on Hiway 1 through Big Sur and ended up in Santa Barbara exhautsed and hungry about 4pm. We found a room at Travelodge and got some food at the Santa Barbara Brewing Company. After dinner we hit a few antique shops and grabbed coffee and headed back to the room for a night of movies on cable tv.
Day 8: 11/6 Saturday
Left SB in the morning and hit San Diego (home) about 1pm or so. Spent the day loafing on the couch.
All in all we put about 1400 miles on teh delSol and took about 60 pictures. It was a wonderful trip and I look forward to more roadtrips in the future with my honey :)
Other pages of mine:
Our Last
Big Vacation Itinerary (Hawaii Cruise)
Cheri's Homepage