Epic Trip 2 - Travelling through California - My story

The first morning of this trip starts early.
Jetlag hit us and we were pretty much up at 5 a.m.
We are slowly getting ready and are good to go at around 8 a.m.

(On The Pier In Santa Barbara)

When we planned this trip we decided to hit the road up north right away and explore Los Angeles at the very end.

First things first. When you are doing a road trip you need a few things from the store.
We went to 'Wholefoods' in Venice which was close to us since we were staying in Culver City for our first night and it had a big parking lot. It is not uncommon for stores in Los Angeles to have street parking only or a tiny (and full) parking lot.
These are the essentials we got:

• 2 palettes of water
• a variety of granola bars (we eat a lot of Cliff Bars in the U.S.)
• crackers
• bananas
• plastic forks and knives for our breakfast (it’s usually free in the U.S.)

In addition we decided to get pre-cut fruit and freshly made Smoothies for breakfast. Wholefoods usually has a Juice Bar in all their stores where juices and smoothies are made to order. It is perfect when you are on the go.

(Race Car in Santa Barbara)

Now that we started the day off right and are set we are making our way to the Highway 1 or PCH (Pacific Coast Highway).
This Highway stretches along California’s beautiful coast. It starts in the south at Dana Point – north of San Diego – and it ends in Leggitt – north of San Fransisco.

This route will be the most scenic and if you are doing a similar trip you should definitely take this route. The PCH is going through the cities along the way, if you were using the big Highways and Interstates it would be half the fun. :-)

So now we are on the PCH for the first time passing all the famous Malibu houses right on the beach and some even build on poles into the water – unfortunately they are build right next to the busy street as well ;-)
At the end of our trip we will be visiting Malibu again.

(Stop at the beach close to Santa Barbara)

We are soaking up the beautiful view of the pacific ocean and the picturesque mountains on the other side, following along the PCH... when all of a sudden we are lost somewhere in Oxnard.
The PCH is named differently in some sections like 'Main Street' within a town. Not sure exactly where we went wrong but we found our way back to the water ;-)

Our first stop is in Santa Barbara. One of my favorite places on this trip. Santa Barbara is fairly small, has a great big beach, palm trees and mountains. There is also a big pier called Stearns Wharf with a museum and seafood restaurants on it.
Since I am not the biggest fan of seafood and meat we chose to find a place downtown for lunch.

(Santa Barbara)

What a cute place! The downtown area of Santa Barbara is packed with small restaurants, icecream parlors, coffee shops and boutiques. Everything is clean and just so pretty.
We had our lunch at the 'Natural Café', a healthy sandwich with lots of lettuce and avocado. Very yummy.

Now we are leaving Santa Barbara behind with many viewpoints on the way for pictures and memories.
When we arrived in Morro Bay we visited the 'Morro Rock' which this town is known for. It is a volcanic plug that is laying right at the coast. It is quite the plug.
After sightseeing we went to the beach and watched the beautiful sunset.

(Morro Rock)

A long day is coming to an end. Due to the jetlag and the long flight the day before we are very tired at this point. Falling asleep has never been easier – the very comfortable bed might have helped ;-)

(Sunset at the beach in Morro Bay)

Our lovely host said goodbye with these words the next morning: "I hope you were able to get a good rest. You two looked like zombies just needing a bed to sleep in yesterday" :-D
We didn’t feel quite that bad but I guess our tired eyes did not lie.......................................

XO
TabeaLouise