The Amazing Travels

Dear Mel, Day 2

Dear Mel,

We've reached day 2 with slightly better travel karma, despite the weather. (Yes, it does rain in CA) We had a nice leisurely lie in and then headed to brekkie which was pretty good. Cereal, pastries and the like. And since our little detour the night before showed us another easier way onto the freeway, I told Clare, "If you see a Sprint Store of a Bank of America, holler." Lo and behold, in the five or so blocks to the freeway, we find both! So after realizing that the Sprint Store was closed on Easter Sunday, I got cash and we headed to our destination... Solvang!

Somewhere around 1911, a bunch of Danes (obviously educated in the Canterbury Monks School of Thought) decided to build a tourist trap in the beautiful yet remote St. Ynes Valley. After tooling about looking at all the cool Danish touristy shops featuring Native American Jewelry, dancing cows, and kookoo clocks (the chocolate shop was closed, but the bakery was open[it must have belonged to one of Viggo's ancestors (Mortensen's) grrr]) and consulting the happy helpful tourist info guy on the proper way to get to San Simeon, we headed onward to our Quality Inn, turning down the $100 dollar a night rooms complete with whirlpool tubs. (Long sentence, huh? English teachers are good at them.)

We spent about an hour arranging our hotels for the last part of the journey (finding a hopefully good deal in Napa - 2 nights at $55 special AAA winter rate.) Cross fingers it isn't a skanky hotel. One night San Fran and one San Jose - near the airport so we don't have to worry about trekking though traffic to get there.

After a late lunch in the room - beach picnic cancelled on account of the rain - we headed out to explore the exciting town of San Simeon... which is really no more than some motels, a restaurant or two, and some beach cottages. We walked along the beach for a while and watched the ocean until we got cold. Then we hopped in the car, turned up the heat and sang along to The Lion King until we were nice and toasty. We went to a Mexican place called El Chorlito for dinner and now back here, waiting for the 9:30 movie... whatever it may be.

PS Turned out to be too fuzzy to watch. Watched new(er) Bond flic instead.

posted by omouse @ 4:13 PM 1 comments

Spring Break!

Dear Melissa,

So I'll probably take this home and post it on our blog first, but I decided that since you weren't here, I'd work in letter format.

Let's just say this holiday has not started out smoothly. Oh, Clare's flight came in on time and I was there waiting for her, and we only hit a little traffic on the way out of LA, and we managed to find the hotel okay.

Then the clerk informed me that my hotel room had been paid for last night. I'd booked the wrong night. Fun. $130 down the drain. The guy at the desk said he felt sorry for us, so he pulled some strings and got us the room we requested for another $130. We can call and talk to his manager on Monday, who might hopefully refund our money minus a $50 cancellation fee. I love making expensive mistakes.

So after perusing the hotel "Dining and Destinations" magazine, Clare insisted that we eat at a place across from the pier because of the title: Eladio's. (Eladio! You are the chulpacabra!) It was nice. I ordered the dinner special of a crunchy minnestroni soup followed by veal cannanoli and a canolli for dessert. Clare had an Angus Burger with garlic parsley fries. She grimaced when I ordered ice tea with my dinner.

Man, I totally forgot to mention our detour. The main drag of Santa Barbara is State Street, and we managed to drive about 10 minutes in the wrong direction, because it parallels the beach before hooking towards the ocean and ending at the pier. We finally realized our mistake and turned around. Though apparently, there seems to be this thing in Santa Barbara for naming hotels after trees: Pepper Tree Inn, Orange Tree Inn, Lemon Tree Inn, and Treehouse Inn - all on State Street. Ours is the Sandpiper Lodge - a standard motel.

Still cringing over my mistake. Which is funny, because I regularly spend that much on a grocery run. Anyway, Clare's asleep and it's almost ten. Then I'll join her.

posted by omouse @ 10:01 PM 0 comments