Road trip to Santa Barbara; Big Sur closed, and 16 miles of denial; the alternative: Salinas Valley, the salad bowl of the world; the Mexican at San Simeon; not visiting Hearst Castle; San Luis Obispo Bay – say that 10 times, quickly; the very big rock at Morro Bay; declaring a lucky day; my main problem with road trips; San Luis Obispo: two missions (church and café); Los Olivos, but alas no wine; Solvang, a little Denmark; beautiful Santa Barbara; Stearns Wharf and sausages; Derek at Joe’s Café, the world’s most generous – and ethical – barman; life-saving meatloaf and short-rib; Newport Beach, here we come!
Prologue
This is a huge one! But I have managed to cover the whole of the rest of our Pacific Highway road-trip… so hang in to the end for some gorgeous pics of Roy and Santa Barbara. Here’s a preview:
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Big Sur Road Closure Denial
Driving down Highway 1 via Big Sur promised magnificent Pacific Ocean views, and was meant to be the highlight of this journey. Disappointingly, Highway 1 was closed. We’d seen the warning sign well beforehand, but started along the route anyway, in full denial. After 16 miles came the inevitable roadblock where we had to turn back. The nice man explained that this little landslide was “small potatoes”; there had been a major slide further along the Big Sur route.
Anyway, here’s a stunning photo from Pexels by Scotty Morris, just to remind us of what we did not get to see. Click here for more.
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Salinas Valley & Highway 101
So, nothing for it but to go back to Monterey, take Highway 68 to Salinas and join Highway 101 to head south along the inland route. The huge, wide and fertile Salinas Valley has been called the “Salad Bowl of the World”*, based on claims that it produces 70 percent of the nation’s lettuce crop, along with strawberries, artichokes, tomatoes and spinach.
*The USA or the world? Does it matter?
Though it’s initially a sight to behold, this truck-thronged highway can become boring after a while… mainly for the driver, who can’t be fiddling with Duolingo like his esposa in the passenger seat. So we were happy to turn right at Paso Robles, back to the coast, and somewhat surprised to find ourselves in the hilly Monterey County wine-growing area I mentioned in my previous post. (Click here, if you like … but remember to come back.)
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Not visiting Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle is a popular attraction, for which you have to book online; here is the website. Sitting pretty on a high hilltop, it’s a spectacularly grandiose mansion that was conceived by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and built during the period 1919 and 1947. Roy had toyed with the idea, but we were put off visiting the site by the enormous car park, the many shuttle buses, the lateness of the day… and the fact that we had not booked.
As you can see from this jetty signboard, below, people are grateful to the Hearsts for their historical contribution to the area.
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Road Trip to Santa Barbara: The Mexican at San Simeon
Having regained the coastal 101 route, we turned right up to San Simeon. It was still chilly and windy, perfect weather for a hearty plate of beans, rice and whatever at El Chorlito Mexican Restaurant (est. 1979; click here for the menu).
Roy’s “whatever” was machaca con huevos, an egg and beef scramble. (Hold the rice, he’d said, so they did that but doubled the bean quotient.)
Mine was pork stew in green salsa, which was a tad bland and needed a lot more chilli.
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Morro Bay
For anyone doing a road trip to Santa Barbara, Morro Bay makes a good stop. This lovely seaside holiday town has a fabulous, long waterfront lined with bars, restaurants, a brewery and so on. Its downtown main street had been blocked off for a low-key fair complete with beignet-fryers and other purveyors of comestibles, a sheepskin merchant, a vendor of smoked carnivorous pet-snacks, jewellery and more.
More importantly, Scout Coffee was open, cheering Roy up no end after his longer-than-usual day at the wheel.
Morro Bay’s standout feature is a huge volcanic rock formation. We arrived to semi-foggy conditions and a chilly wind, a colony of seals barking forlornly from a platform a few hundred metres beyond the marina. Still full of cheesy beans from lunch, the restaurants didn’t appeal – but they did look good, and they were doing good business.
Next morning, we woke to clear skies, the sun beaming down warmly on to the famous rock, and the promise of a wonderful day ahead.
But what is this monstrosity, blocking out the sun? Apparently, the three smokestacks of Morro Bay Towers, looming 450 feet tall, used to be part of a power plant that was commissioned in the 1950s, is no longer operational and will be pulled down in due course.
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Morro Bay to Santa Barbara
After yesterday’s disappointment with the closure of Highway 1 along the Big Sur coastline, today was going to be a lucky day, I decided.
The problem with road trips
The problem is that I want to stop everywhere. And when that’s not possible, I tend to experience pangs and feel cheated. I mean, how likely am I ever to be in this area again? Roy correctly reminds me that we’re on a road trip, the goal being to get from A to B each day with minimal time behind the wheel and only as many stops as were needed to refuel with caffeine.
Lecture delivered and message grudgingly accepted, mi esposo relented and agreed to three stops today en route to Santa Barbara: San Luis Obispo, Los Olivos and Solvang. As it turned out, these three destinations couldn’t have been more different.
Stop #1 – San Luis Obispo, aka SLO, road trip to Santa Barbara
The first stop, representing the first re-caffeination opportunity of the day, is strategically important for the person in the passenger seat. It can be a make-or-break situation. If mishandled, it may be very difficult to achieve and maintain a happy balance throughout the rest of the day.
Thanks to my trusty Google map – yes, I do use Google for this purpose – I was able to home in on several coffee shops in downtown SLO. Fortunately, they were near the beautiful Mission de San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.
We would have gone in, but the church was absolutely packed for the Sunday morning mass.
Downtown San Luis Obispo has a lovely vibe, with its laid-back atmosphere, solid Spanish architecture and attractive shops, cafés and restaurants. And because SLO is a college town – it’s the home of Cal Poly Tech (California Polytechnic State University) – it’s full of youngsters exuding youthful energy. Sort of the opposite of a cruise ship.
I’m ecstatic to report that the coffee at Scout SLO was just as good as it had been yesterday at Scout Morro Bay. Whew.
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Stop #2 – Los Olivos, road trip to Santa Barbara
Ideally, as the hour of 11 had just struck, we would have been able to indulge in a wine-tasting on a sun-drenched terrace at one of the appealing venues in this gorgeous little town.
Hardly had I said, “It’s wine o’clock”, when I saw a woman emerging from a shop and putting out a sign to that effect. I must have read her mind.
But someone had to drive, so I settled for a mocha at Lefty’s.
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Stop #3 Solvang
Wow, another theme park type of destination, this one about all things Danish. Not just Danish pastries, no – though the town has plenty of bakeries specialising in them – but the country, community and culture of the Danish people.
It’s full of picturesque half-timbering, windmills, Danish language signs… and more than two million tourists a year. Almost ready to drive on through, we decided to stop for a minute and find out more.
It all started back in 1911, we discovered, when three Danish immigrants bought nearly 10,000 acres of land in the Santa Ynez Valley to create a Danish community. First came a Lutheran church, then a school, and residents started to build their homes in Danish style. Over the decades, it evolved into the tourist magnet that it is today.
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Santa Barbara
Overnighting in Santa Barbara
Our accommodation in Santa Barbara, though comfortable and in an excellent location to enjoy the lovely downtown precinct, wasn’t within walking distance of the beach and waterfront.
So, before checking in, we headed for Stearns Wharf and were lucky to find parking on the wharf itself. Speaking of luck, look at this weather!
Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara
Turning right at the land end of the wharf, we passed a long line of art exhibitors.
Following our noses, we then found this tucked-away beer garden with shady outdoor seating and a good vibe. A sharing platter of four different grilled sausages with mustards and sauerkraut went well with an IPA from San Diego CA… but we had to save space for dinner at Joe’s Café.
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Joe’s Cafe, Santa Barbara
Actually, it would have been wiser to line our stomachs before bellying up to the infamous bar at Joe’s Café. This State Street steakhouse is the oldest bar in town, having been established in 1928. What Roy had read about its stiff drinks turned out to be dangerously true.
Not only did barman Derek fill the martini glass to the brim with virtually neat vodka and gin, but an additional “chaser” of the same mixture came in its own little carafe, in a small bowl of ice. On top of the small whiskey we’d already had back at the hotel, we were ready to topple off our bar stools.
Have I mentioned that US bartenders don’t use measures? Neither do Roy and I, and this endearing habit of theirs makes us feel at home. It may even be one of the best things about the USA.
Kudos to Derek for not allowing the thoroughly impressed (not to mention well-on-the-way-to-pissed) Roy to over-tip him. In fact, he insisted on giving us $15 change for the $20 Roy tried to give him. Wow.
Roy had the meatloaf; I had the short-rib, served with mash and mixed veggies. This was classic American comfort food that possibly saved our lives.
Now, I admit this is not the prettiest food that I’ve ever photographed… or eaten. But it was real food, and it puts the lie to the notion I may have had that ultra-processed and fast food is all you can get in this country.
It was the same on the Amtrak overnight train journey from Portland OR to San José CA. (Click here for that blog post.) While it seemed that most of the train passengers were ordering what Americans call sandwiches, meaning burger-like bread-and-meat combinations with chips, normal meat-and-veg or fish-and-veg options were available, too.
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Downtown Santa Barbara
What an attractive town Santa Barbara is! Even during what must have been rush hour, Monday morning walk down the partly pedestrianised main drag, State Street, was pleasant and peaceful. What’s more, they clearly make an effort to preserve the Spanish character of the architecture. Business name signs – including Starbucks – are low-key and in keeping with the aesthetics.
In short, Santa Barbara was one of my favourite stops. I’d love to go back.
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Up Next?
Well, having crammed so much road-tripping and sightseeing into this huge blog post, we’ve now almost reached our friends the Campbells at Newport Beach, CA. Let the party begin!
