Tuesday morning we were up early again so that we could check out of the Hostel, have breakfast in a cafe next door and pick our car up. It was a monster. I'd ordered a 'standard' SUV (Jeep Grand Cherokee or similar. Turned out to be a Chevrolet 'Tahoe LT' V8) so that we could travel in comfort (estimated distance ~4000 miles). It's one of those ones that require climbing into. That kind of size. It's bigger than a Mercedes SUV that we have in the UK. What is a 'full-size' SUV you may ask? I'm going to tell you anyway. Bloody gigantic. Roughly the size of a Mercedes Sprinter van, or Ford Transit. Enormous. Big enough so that we, in our frankly silly-size car, feel slightly intimidated.
We headed south around 10am out of SF with a minor detour due to one-way systems and, er, navigational hitches, headed for Highway 1 - the Pacific Coastal Highway. Weather was bright and sunny, if a little chilly, but as we got further south it warmed up to around 15-20 degrees.
Our view on the right whilst driving was the Pacific Ocean, on the left, National Parks consisting of forests, vertical cliff faces, ravines and awesome vista . Stunning. Better than stunning. Slightly frightening at times with sharp turns that clearly, if not taken, led to a couple of hundred feet straight down into the drink. Neither of us were sure how a piece of arnco might withstand a 2 tonne SUV impact. We stopped at a place called 'Big Sur' around 2pm for lunch. Burritos were chosen, and of American portions. Both of us managed to eat about half before being too full. Big Sur wasn't actually that large, as we soon left it and emerged onto the coastline again.
We arrived in Santa Barbara at Arlene's house (found via Air B'n'B, a great site for finding unusual places to stay) around 6.30pm, after travelling for 8 hours with a half hour break and had covered 361 miles. It was dark and Arlene's place was in the hills above the town and not trivial to find, stuck way up some winding lanes amongst millionaire's houses. All of Santa Barbara looked nice, wealthy, but these houses were a cut above, although Arlene's wasn't as she and her husband had moved here about 50 years ago when it was still quite a small place. Arlene was lovely, probably in her 70s, but didn't look it, fit as a fiddle with a house that was a treasure trove of things that she had collected over the years and enchanting & welcoming. We chatted to her for a while but, feeling hungry, headed out to the Enterprise Fish Company restaurant, recommended by Arlene. When we arrived, it turned out that they had a special on Lobsters for $29 (usually $50) - it was cooked to perfection, served with liquid garlic butter, shoestring fries and grilled vegetables. Frankly, awesome. No other words. I washed it down with Sierra Nevada ale, one of their dark ones, and was suitably tasty while B stuck with a cranberry juice that was, perhaps needless to say, one of the best she or I had ever tried. Still feeling that a small corner could be filled, pudding was a molten chocolate cake (recommended by the waiter - a hot sponge with melted dark chocolate in the centre), served with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and dusted with icing sugar. It sounds heavy, but was deliciously light. B says that she was in heaven.
Got back to Arlene's around 10.30; she was asleep and we flopped into bed completely shattered. It had been a long but fabulous (darling!) day of driving.
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