A Long Detour Home

Morro Bay and Pismo Beach

On Monday morning, July 30, we reluctantly left the Smiths and headed for the California coast.  We decided that while we were in California, we'd better go see the ocean before we returned to St. George.

We took California Hwy 41 all of the way to the coast, which turned into a winding, tickle-belly-bumping countryside road, almost more than we bargained for!  It was kind of an adventure, not knowing what or who was around the next turn. 

 California provides one-fourth of the nation's produce, and as we had traveled through the San Joaquin Valley where Missy lives, we saw acres and acres as far as the eye could see of vineyards, olive trees, nut trees and citrus.  Then as we neared the coast, we saw every vegetable imaginable planted, as well as every kind of berry.

We finally arrived at the ocean at Morro Bay and looked for a place for lunch.  There were several choices along the ocean.  We picked one, then shared a seafood platter of sand dabs, calamari and fried clams.  The sand dabs were delicious! And right next door was a salt water taffy shop where I could choose my favorites - molasses, huckleberry, maple and vanilla (I know vanilla sounds boring, but have you ever tried vanilla salt water taffy?  Yum!).

As you can see in the pic, it was a bit foggy, and it was windy and chilly, yet there were lots of people in and on the water.  

Roger said, "If I want to go to the beach, give me Hawaii!" 

I guess a chilly beach is better than no beach!

 We next stopped at Pismo Beach to check it out. 
 Missy and Jedd were going to come there the next weekend.  I think Jedd's boss has a place where they were going to stay.

 All along the way were cauliflower fields, which they were harvesting.  Roger took this pic of a tractor hauling the boxes to be filled by the women on board, after the men alongside picked the cauliflower. 

 And there were vast strawberry fields.

We stopped to buy Roger's FAVORITE to see if they tasted better when vine ripened.

The answer is YES!

A really pleasant surprise was to discover that Solvang was just 35 miles northeast of Santa Barbara.

I have heard of this little Scandinavian village for years; I knew it was in California, but really didn't know where.  It was settled by the Danes in the early 1900s, and it is mainly a quaint little tourist trap, but we loved it!

 Most of the shops closed at 5 (WHAT were they thinking!), but I browsed through the one below.  

It would have been fun to be there for a Scandinavian meal in one of the many cute restaurants, but we found a great Danish pastry shop.  There are actually six bakeries in this little town! 

We also found a chocolate shop where we bought a schokokuss, a small chocolate-covered marshmallow treat that Denmark is famous for. As you know, I LOVE chocolate-covered marshmallow and Roger is indifferent about it, but when I gave him a bite, he took a huge one! 

"Wow, that's really GOOD!" he said.

We should have bought two!

We finally reached Santa Barbara and headed for the ocean.  There was the coolest wharf that you could drive onto and park, then walk around to the shops and restaurants.  We found this gem at the end of the pier.  You could watch the cooks take the live lobsters and crabs out of big tanks, then prepare them as you watched.  It was a tiny place and as patrons would arrive, they would sign a clipboard hanging out front (which it took us a minute to figure out). We didn't realize that we were going to wait for well over an hour when we signed up, but it was fun looking out over the water and people-watching some of the tourists and local Californians.

We wish we could go back and try pretty much everything on the menu.

Roger had fresh crab louie . . .

. . . and I had my FAVORITE, steamed clams. They were the best ones I have ever had!

We got back on the freeway, north of Los Angeles, finally ending up in an Econo-Lodge in Victorville for the night, checking in past midnight.

Big, big day, but such a fun adventure!

Next day, we drove back to home sweet home.

We loved our little California Get-away!

Okay, so when Roger read through this post, he said, "You have to tell about the cinnamon rolls!"

When I had looked up Pismo Beach on Travel Advisor the night before we got there, the #1 recommended place was Wild West Cinnamon Rolls.  I thought that was the name of a restaurant.  We had already eaten lunch in Morro Bay, so I wasn't watching for any names I had seen on the blog site.  Driving to the beach, we drove right past a huge sign all across the front of a place saying, Wild West Cinnamon Rolls. Of course we had to stop and check it out!  It wasn't a restaurant at all, but a bakery, with, you guessed it, cinnamon rolls!  And of course we had to try one.  We later found out that when Missy/Jedd went to Pismo Beach that weekend, they waited in a long line to get one for breakfast. Delicious!
The End