Pacific Coastal Highway

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Santa Maria and Carmel By The Sea

By Michelle



So after our dodgy experience in Malibu we drove on to discover Santa Barbara. What a gorgeous spot. We arrived as it was getting dark so had a wee walk as we watched the sun set over the hills (beautiful) then found a local RV park to stay at. Monday 28^th and we slept in until 9:30, we’re starting to get tired! Went into Santa Barbara and walked the pier until we found a place to get coffees. We had a good look around and decided this place is awesome. Left around lunchtime bound for Santa Maria. Beautiful drive through the Los Padras National Park but we didn’t understand why the landscape seemed so bare. Found out later that the area had recently been destroyed by fire! Totally different vibe in Santa Maria. Couldn’t put our finger on it at the time but it just seemed depressed and not somewhere to hang out. Went to a mall looking for a food hall or similar and nothing. Walked about and drove about and finally found a burger place within another mall. Massive food portions! As we left we passed an intersection filled with homeless people. Seems here the gap between haves and have nots is massive. Homeless are really angry as opposed to the homeless in Europe who just seem sad. You really don’t want to make eye contact with some of the homeless over here, they are not in a good space and there are so many people with mental health issues on the street (nutty rantings etc). It’s really sad L. The drive ended us up at the beautiful San Luis Obispo but Mike will fill you in on that. I’ve been charged with zipping forward to Carmel By The Sea. What a spot!! It is so beautiful with quaint little/big homes and tree lined streets. I loved it and it was my USA birthday so we found this awesome little restaurant called The Mediterranean. Great food and I had a fantastic ravioli, Mike had souvalaki and Jake had pizza so it was just like being back in Europe. So weird info about Carmel. Most people know Clint “make my day Dirty Harry” Eastwood was mayor of Carmel. Interesting fact is that it is a city of no traffic lights, they are all four stop intersections. We were winging that rule as didn’t really get what to do but have since asked a cab driver about the stop sign rules and it turns out it’s a courtesy thing. Everyone stops and then you go again in the order that you arrived in! And that’s a total USA thing.



SLO San Simeon and the Big Sur

By Mike



From Santa Maria we drove north to San Luis Obispo – a charming town with a cool vibe…we make a bee line straight for the Mission there. One of my list of things to do was to go to a Spanish Mission and this was one of the oldest. A beautiful church and surrounds in keeping with the Spanish style of architecture. Very serene and holy place that brought out my inner altar boy and of course I teared up. Loved it.

Find a great RV Park and settle in for the night.

Watching local TV that night and we see two murders in Santa Maria, arson in SLO and a hit and run at Santa Barbara…we’re just following a tourist crime spree!



Off we head to San Simeon but not before filling up and stopping in at the Breakfast Buzz Diner. I had my first Biscuits and Gravy which was basically a scone topped off with a cheese pepper sauce. Interesting… Jacob loved his bacon waffles while Michelles omelette was a big miss as is finding a good coffee.

Coffee Rule#1 When you order an espresso specify that you don’t want them to fill the bloody cup with water!

Coffee Rule#2 When you ask if they do Moccas and they smile and say Mocca Latte oh yes…it means oh no…you’re going to end up with something resembling a flat white most likely

Coffee Rule#3 Order a NZ size and go down one…their large is a bucket and not that nice…

We travel to Hearst Castle, park up and rock up to information…did I hear that guy ahead of me right? Sold out? Surely not? Yep sold freakin’ out.

Very grumpy. No I am not hanging around in the area…this castle is in the middle of freakin’ nowhere…what am I going to do?!

My grumpiness subsides in about 10 minutes when we spot the elephant seals on the coast…they are huge and what’s more the gathering was highly amused as the biggest one of them all was desperately trying to pin down a young damsel and have his way with her…she managed to get away.

We continue up the coast to what is some of the most spectacular coastline I have ever seen. I can’t really describe it…rugged – the power of the Pacific and the resolute land holding its own. The coast just seems to go forever.

The fact that you are driving so close to the action and looking down from such a height make it an unbelievable experience. Big Sur? Big Sir!

Bonus is that everyone on the road are there for the same reason so slowing down to a crawl to take in the view is common place. Lots of places to pull up and get out. Everyone accommodating so everyone can enjoy…nice.



Must say after a few days Yoda and I are getting on really well.

Yoda - “An exit right approaches but stay true to your path”

Obi – “feel the force”

Yoda – “driven well you have”

Me – “thanks Master”



Santa Cruz
By Jacob





Oh where to begin? Well firstly I had to wake up stupidly early which was a pain. Like seriously, who wakes up before 9am, it’s not healthy. Anyways after my body finished disagreeing with my life choices I began to wake up properly after an hour of traveling to the first sights of Santa Cruz which was a lovely little ‘Balgelry’. I enjoyed my gorgeous, extravagant buttered bagel, while my parents enjoy some lame herbs and crème bagel or something. While we were chowing down on those bagels my dad decided to use his experience from his youth to hit up some young tour guides. After dad seduced them with his Tongan charm, we managed to get directions to the waterfront / pier. After we drove past the skater dudes and surfer bros we parked near the water and walked to the pier. The views were absolutely amazing, they were gorgeous, they were breath-taking, and there were shops… FULL OF SKATEBOARDS!! Oh and there was a beach and stuff, I think? Seriously though, the waterfront was beautiful, the waves slowly unfolding against the cold sand as the tide is being dragged away from us. We decide to walk the pier and approach the bunch of shops ahead of us. After browsing the food and merchandise we move on to the local carnival. After we walked to an overly glorified rainbows end by water (glorified by my parents). We proceeded to then travel to downtown district. We walked through the streets and saw some awesome washboard and banjo playing. After that I went into a skate shop and just bought nothing important, just a LONGBOARD FROM SANTA CRUZ. So I rode that down the street, thanks to my parents for making me do it.

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