DAYS 13, 14, 15, and 16- California!

The hot, dry deserts of Southern California

Lucky day number 13 of the road trip saw us saying goodbye to Sun City West after a relaxing two days visiting Nancy's family and getting our tan on by the pool.  We headed out pretty early for San Diego for the longest drive of the trip so far.  There wasn't a whole lot to do as far as sight-seeing along this stretch, so we mostly just stuck to the highway and aimed to arrive in San Diego as early as we could.  We did however, pass through some pretty intense landscapes along the way.  Southern California greeted us with the biggest, sandiest desert in the country- stretching along both sides of the highway as far as the eye could see.  We climbed up some very steep, rocky mountains in the middle of the state before coming back downhill and arriving mid-afternoon in the bustling city of San Diego along the Pacific Coast.  We couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment as we gazed at the ocean- we had, after all, conquered over 3,000 miles of our journey thus far.  After another tasty lunch of unique burgers (this one was topped with spicy gyro meat), we decided to explore a little of the city.  It was too late in the afternoon to check out the world-famous zoo, so we just spent a little while walking around the lovely Balboa Park, before stopping in a couple of shopping malls, which proved to be a little underwhelming.  By this time in the evening we all felt pretty exhausted, so it was back to the hotel for an early night in.  Andy and Dan took advantage of this time to work on some music for our upcoming album.

Total travel time:  7 hours

Total miles:  375.1

Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica

The following day (Day 14) we turned our direction due north and headed up the coast towards Santa Monica, where our hotel for the night was the luxurious Shutters on the Beach, a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the Santa Monica Pier and a stone's throw away from the beach.  This was a place well worth waiting for.  After some not terrible, but not all that great, hotels along the way, Shutters was very welcoming indeed.  Unfortunately for us, the weather wasn't all that great, so we didn't get to enjoy the beach, but we did have some time to relax by the pool and hot tub.  After a nice healthy lunch at the Urth Cafe, we ventured into Beverly Hills for some retail therapy on El Rodeo drive.  Although we didn't catch a glimpse of any celebrities, we still loved walking through the boutiques- Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, and Dan's favorite- Dior.  Dan got some new jeans and Andy got a new swim suit which he debuted that afternoon at the hotel's hot tub.  Later that evening, we walked over to the Santa Monica Pier for some yummy pizza.  Luck just wasn't on our side that day, because by the time we got there most of the attractions and rides were closed.  Oh well...the pizza was still good and so was the bottle of champagne we brought back to our room.  ;-)  Dan and Nancy called it a night soon thereafter, and Andy went out to meet up with his friend Vivian for a fun night out on the town exploring LA.  It's always nice seeing people we know on the road, especially when they know the area and can show us around!  

Total travel time: 3 hours

Total miles:  159.9

The ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pier

We were so bummed to have to leave Shutters the next day, especially the most comfortable beds we've ever slept in.  But, a McDonald's breakfast and Starbucks run were just what we needed to perk us up and give us the energy we needed to hit the road.  Day 15 was another long travel day on Highway 1 up the coast to Big Sur.  We had left kind of late in the morning, so we didn't stop much on the way to Big Sur.  The one town we did stop in was Ventura, a decent sized city at about the mid-point of our drive.  Ventura was noted in our travel books for it's quirky thrift shops, something Nancy just couldn't pass up.  We parked along Main Street and explored a few of the stores.  A lot of them held some really unique and interesting collectibles, but after having spent a lot of money in LA the day before, we decided it was best to keep our wallets shut.  The mexican restaurant we were planning on eating at, La Super-Rica, was one of Dan and Nancy's favorite spots from when they had visited California before, so they were naturally very excited about stopping here again.  But as our luck would have it, the day we were there also happened to be the one day of the week they were closed.  So, it was another In N' Out burger for lunch...which isn't too bad of a second choice.  It was about another hour of driving before we hit the area of the state known as Big Sur.  Now this is the part of the drive that makes Highway 1 famous- the rugged 5,000-foot mountains towering above you to the right, while the steep cliffs fall to your left to meet the waves of the Pacific crashing onto it's base.  Every once in a while you could catch a glimpse of a gorgeous secluded beach along the shore.  This drive was completely breathtaking, but be sure not to gaze too long at the scenery while driving, because the extremely windy and narrow road could prove fatal.  We stopped for dinner at a very nice restaurant on a secluded cliff overlooking the water.  The delicious food, pleasant waitress, and view of the ocean made for a very enjoyable meal.  By now the sun had fallen and we were anxious to get to our lodge about half an hour up the dark, windy road.  We checked into the rustic but very comfortable Big Sur River Inn and it wasn't long before our heads hit the pillows and we were out like a lamp.  

Total travel time:  10.5 hours

Total miles: 304.9 

Andy and his friend Vivian out in LA

Cliffs along the coast of Highway 1, Big Sur, CA

Once we finally dragged ourselves out of bed at 9:30am (yes, 9:30 has actually turned into sleeping in for us) the next day (Day 16), we actually felt very rested and refreshed and decided we needed a hike!  We drove a few miles down the road to the Pheiffer Big Sur State Park.  Here a two mile trail boasted some nice views of the valley as well as a small, but pretty set of waterfalls.  The park also contained one of the oldest redwood trees in the area- The Colonial Tree.  Although the diameter of the trunk wasn't as large as some others, this tree was notable for both its' height and age- at about 1,100 years old, this tree stood over 300 feet tall!  Now pretty hungry after our hike, we grabbed some pizza at a cafe near our hotel and headed back out on the road towards San Francisco.  It was this part of the drive that we came across probably the most spectacular vistas of the trip so far.  Turn after turn provided the most stunning views of the cliffs and the ocean you could ever see.  After a while, the road flattened out again and we were back in civilization.  Our one stop for the day other than the state park was in Santa Cruz, at a place called The Mystery Spot.  After reading about this place in the books, we just had to stop and check it out.  This was a small area on a hill in the woods where the laws of gravity and physics just didn't seem to apply.  Our small tour led us to a little cabin purched on the side of a hill where weird, unexplainable things happened- like, you would find yourself leaning over to the point where you normally would fall on the ground, but somehow were still lifted up.  Or, you would stand beside someone taller than you, switch places with them and then seem taller than them.  Or, balls and water seemed to roll uphill.  You could definitely sense some sort of very strong magnetic pull in this place, but scientists over the years haven't been able to figure out what exactly causes it.  Some guesses are a fault line deep under the earth, high levels of carbon dioxide gases leaking out, or perhaps the most radical of all- alien spaceships which crash landed here several years ago and part of their remains are still underground.  Whatever the reason may be, The Mystery Spot is still a very unique place which you should check out if you're ever in the Santa Cruz area of California.  After this, we were just mystified out, and decided to head straight for our hotel in South San Francisco to rest up for a long day tomorrow of heading in to explore the city!  

Total travel time:  8 hours

Total miles:  147.2