More driving. Endless driving. Coastal scenery. Forests. Traffic. There's a lot of "Santa's" in southern Cali (Santa Paula, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica...etc...we even saw a Santa Claus Lane.). A lot of fields of fruit and vegetables. Part of the highway smelled like broccoli. Part of the highway smelled like garlic. There's a lot of field workers. A lot of towns with Spanish names. A lot of static and Spanish stations on the radio.
We pass a couple interesting towns: Castroville- Artichoke Center of the World
Buellton - Home of Split Pea Soup
When we get to Santa Paula, we stay at the Glen Tavern Inn. (http://www.glentavern.com/) We picked it out ahead of time because it was the cheapest place we could find, and only an hour and half away from Santa Monica. When we walk in there's classical music playing and it's HUGE and GORGEOUS! It's the fanciest place we've stayed at. The guy checking us in is even really friendly (and cute). There's an Italian restaurant Enzo's attached which he said the food is FANTASTIC (we ate there for dinner, and it was expensive but GOOOOOOD).
The lobby of the Inn is full of cushions and couches and lavish and luxurious chairs. The halls are covered with framed old movie posters... The hall with our room only has one room across from us...and when we enter our room, it's HUGE. It has a chandelier and each of us have our own queen-sized bed! THIS WAS THE CHEAPEST PLACE???? There's even a huge fancy sink in the bathroom...marble top and beautiful wood base with attention to details on the side. We even have a huge rustic wooden desk, and our own side tables with our own lamps. And a HUGE FLAT SCREEN TV. Yea...this place would definitely cost more anywhere else! By looking at the website I found out that they actually have murder mystery theater which I can SO SEE since when I saw the lobby I thought of the game Clue...
The next day we get a bit of a late start. Get up a bit late, get ready, get distracted by Comedy Central...and finally head out about 3ish... We drive down Hwy 1 or PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). We drove along the coast and went through Malibu! We drove to Santa Monica...and SAW the Santa Monica Pier...but didn't want to pay $8+ for an hour of parking. There were also a LOT of people. We preferred driving about 55mph along the coast with barely any people and traffic...so we turned around... We got stuck in some rush hour traffic but once we got outside of Malibu it was good again. We found a coastal entrance or beach area just outside Malibu and parked on the road...and went to the beach and got mauled by HUGE WAVES. We laughed every time one of us got knocked down. It was nice because aside from a hippie guy playing a guitar on the stairs, a couple kids jumping over waves while their mom read a book, and a few surfers we had a lot of the beach to ourselves.
Once it got a bit windier and the waves got higher we decided to leave and we drove along the coast as the sunset. :) When we got back to the Inn, I made a nice sandbox on the bathroom floor when I tried taking off my bathing suit and it took a few washes to get all the sand out of my hair...
After our showers, we also noticed our cooler nozzle was open and kinda leaked and flooded the carpet a bit...after using all the towels, it's still kind of wet. I hope it's dry by tomorrow...I don't want to be fined for flooding a room! Hopefully, it'll just remain a funny little secret. ;)
Tomorrow: Las Vegas here we come. :)
Love Always & Forever,
Stephanie
Songs of the day: Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 & California Gurls by Katy Perry
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