30 July 2016

We started our day nice and early after an excellent sleep in the lovely motel in Cayucos. We had a delicious breakfast provided by the motel that we ate in our room. We took a walk down the main street and looked in a few shops. Tried some 'famous Cayucos brown sugar and salt cookies' - think I know the reason they have yet to become world famous...they are an acquired taste! Then went into a coffee shop and ordered 'The Red Eye' - same as yesterday - a shot of espresso and filter coffee. Zing!

We said our goodbyes to this sweet little town and its slow pace, and goodbye to the Sea Shanty restaurant, and headed for the Highway 1.

Our next stop was Pismo Beach for...WALMART! Yay! Andrew is finally seeing the error of his ways in thinking that Walmart should only be visited once on a US holiday. Clever man. We browsed around picking up a few bargains, and went on our merry way back to the coastal road.

We decided to stick with Highway 1, rather than the main Interstate road (101), because it's how the trip started, and it seems right to try and run its length if we can. We entered a small, and really poor little city called Guadalupe (no, we didn't take a wrong turn to the Caribbean). The houses were quite run down, and tiny, and the shops looked as though they hadn't changed much since the 1950s. It's a 'blink and you miss it' size, and is completely surrounded by farm land. It was a real hive of activity, crops being watered and harvested by workers who I imagine live in the town. A real glimpse into how small towns survive in such a huge country. This town is a world away from Pebble Beach.

Believe it or not, we were starting to get hungry, so we decided we would stop at the next town, whatever it may be, to eat. Next town, Orcutt. Again, seems to be stuck in a clean and innocent time-warp. It had some great architecture, and we found a great cafe called 'Old Town Mexican Cafe'. A vast menu of Mexican dishes. Andrew had the 'special' - a meat omelette with cheese, beans, rice and tortilla. I had the Burito 'lite' (still huge) and little legs had...a burger (no chance of branching out into anything more elegant). It was fantastic, and cheap. Now we are really seeing what the average American pays for his food, and it's not much. Bellies full, we are off again.

We now needed to make up some miles in order to make it to Ventura in good time for dinner (urgh - please don't mention food), so we hurtled along Highway 1 until we were forced onto the 101 (the road runs out) and heading for Santa Barbara. The traffic started to get very heavy, the whole world heading for the coast on such a sunny day (the temperature is finally starting to rise - I might even lose the sweatshirt that I've lived in for the whole time we've been here).

Oh wow - Santa Barbara is beautiful. It was crazy busy, and I can see why. Long wide, white sandy beaches, a fantastic promenade with people jogging, walking their dogs or cycling. We followed the signs to the pier, and could hardly believe our eyes to see that you can PARK on the boardwalk. On THE ACTUAL PIER! So, on we went, click clacking over some rather rickety boards, and parked. FAB!

We walked back to the beach (ice cream in hand) and just took in the views, and Oli dug out the word 'Hornchurch' in the sand, just in case Casey Neistat decided to fly his drone over the beach.

Beautiful California. You are amazing.

Back in the car and in heavy traffic to Ventura Beach. It will be our home and resting stop for a few days. To give Andrew a break from driving, and for Oli to spend some time swimming, playing volleyball on the beach and for us all to generally relax before we hit crazy LA.

We checked into the Crowne Plaza, which is right on the beach. We had read very mixed reviews of the hotel. We had researched Ventura a lot, and it seems like a very interesting town, with something for all of us. The hotel was a little soulless, very large and more business like than we had thought. We had specifically booked a sea-view, and we have one, as long as your can crane your neck 6 feet over the balcony and round a corner. It wouldn't be a Read/Bryan holiday without us changing our room, and a quick check with the front desk resulted in them saying they'll try to change us to a better room tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Andrew and Oliver tested the pool, which gets 10 out of 10 (it's heated).

So we were feeling a little deflated, and decided to walk (yes, we can still walk) into town for five minutes. SO glad we did, there was a classic VW car show on, the roads were closed and there was a band playing. You could sit in the VW camper vans that were being proudly displayed by their owners. All lovingly restored. There is loads to do in the town, so the hotel may be a little on the disappointing side, but it seems we were right about the town.

More food - this time at a 50s style diner - The Busy Bee Cafe. Oliver tried his first Turkey and Jack (cheese) sandwich and it was a hit. Baby steps on the food front.

Off to bed and really looking forward to reading more than one page of my book without it falling on my face...

Night night xxx