Taking a few moments to document the annals of our trip before I forget. I’ll build this post out and add pictures once we get home.

Santa Barbara – dinner at Brophy Brothers, long wait, casual, good food, great value. Walked around on the pier, chilly but peaceful. Morning Santa Barbara Mission, chapel was beautiful though pics couldn’t do justice. Packed a lunch and drove north to San Luis Obispo.

In San Luis Obispo we stayed at le Petit Soleil a charming B&B with French style. We stayed in the Van Gogh room which came decked out with art, books about Van Gogh, and relaxing French music. We walked around downtown and had frozen yougurt sold by the ounce. For dinner we ate a whole rack of ribs at Moe’s Barbeque and then watched 3:10 to Yuma at the Fremont theatre which was a magnificent 350 seat theatre with a fresco’d ceiling and a gigantic screen. Sleeping that night was a wreck (for me, not Sarita) though as the hotel was near train tracks which rumbled me awake at 2:30 and 3:30, and then at 5:30 the dumpster at a nearby cafe apparently needed to be emptied. The funny thing was the guestbook in our room had similar comments like “what a charming place, great french music, etc.” which were all signed and then had post scripts like “THE FREAKING TRAIN WOKE US UP”… I figured how bad could it be, but found out very quickly that night…

The next morning, we picked up sandwiches at the cafe next door (whose dumpster woke me up, apparently my appetite wasn’t as upset) and made our way up the coast to Cambria where the famed Hearst Castle sits. My gosh. What an amazing place. Our tour guide was hilarious, scolding one lady for stepping off the carpet and then when she wouldn’t tell him her name (he used people’s first names throughout the tour) continued to call her “I’m not Telling”. We toured the libraries and kitchen and even the bedroom of William Randolph Hearst. The pools, both indoor and outdoor, were clear and enticing. Jumping in however would have been frowned upon. The guide thanked each one of us by name at the end of the tour (about 15 people whose names he collected throughout the tour). Prior to taking tour #2 we watched the National Geographic film “Hearst Castle: Building the Dream” on a gigantic screen; the film could not compare to seeing the mansion with its breath-taking views, winding staircases, and ornate fixtures.

We stayed in Moonstone Beach that night at the Pelican Cove Inn. Watched the sun set from the beach after dinner at the Moonstone Bar & Grill. The next day we drove to Big Sur and did some hiking.

We collapsed when we arrived in Carmel at Carmel Country Inn for a few hours before catching the sunset at a surprise bonfire Sarita planned on beach. The next morning we toured Art shops (purchased a 20×24 oil painting called Umbrella Trees from Don Craghead) and drove the Pebble Beach 17 Mile Drive.

From Pebble Beach, we drove to Monterey, had lunch at Thai Bistro in Pacific Grove, and saw the Monterey Acquarium.

That night we stayed in Half Moon Bay at the Beach House. Caught our third sunset at Sam’s Chowder House and fell asleep shortly after watching Dodgeball on TV.

The next morning we explored downtown Half Moon Bay and had lunch at Pasta something right near the beginning of Downtown.

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