Advertisement
Published: July 28th 2015
Bruce and I have been very happily married for 20 years - there is a reason for this which we learnt very early on in our marriage. When we are traveling to new places, he drives and I navigate - otherwise we'd have been divorced many years ago! There are two reasons for this:
1. Bruce can't navigate himself out of a paper bag. He couldn't even find his way around New York where all the roads are in a grid and numbered.
2. When driving a left hand drive car, I have a tendency to think the car stops at my right hand side and therefore don't leave any room when I pass. This was demonstrated when Bruce almost died when I overtook a combine harvester in Greece. His life flashed before him as he screamed at me to pull out.
With all that in mind we decided to mix things up a bit today - it's always good to add a little excitement to a marriage! I decided to give Bruce a rest from driving after his epic day on the winding roads yesterday and see how he fared with the navigation and decision making!
Our first
stop was San Luis Obispo which has been labelled as the happiest place in America. We arrived with few dramas - just the words "move over" muttered every few kilometres! Walking along behind Bruce as he held my phone out in front of him while trying to understand which direction Google Maps was taking us, we felt like we were following a tour guide - he was just short of a flag. He managed to direct us to Bubblegum Alley - a revolting multicoloured alleyway consisting of thousands upon thousands of pieces of pre-chewed gum stuck to the walls. Not wanting to break with tradition, we each added our own pieces to the disgusting creation!
Mission Plaza is home to a Moon Tree. A redgum whose seed was taken to the moon in January 1971 on the Apollo 14 mission and planted on its return. It's the same age as Bruce and there are several around the U.S. As we were admiring the tree, Bruce noticed a couple of tiny hummingbirds fluttering around his head. He was quite animated about them and Izzy told him he sounded like David Attenborough. When Lily asked who he was, Izzy proceeded to
do a spot on impression and then continued to tell her a little family history in that his brother played Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street! She takes after Bruce for retaining weird information. Nice to know she's listening when I talk to her though!
A quick stop at Pismo Beach was next on the agenda before heading to Santa Barbara for lunch. It was here we joined the 101 Highway where we turned up the music and blasted out Guy Sebastian's 'Don't worry, be happy' with the lyrics, 'I was driving driving driving down the 101, singing California Dreamin' at the top of my lungs'. Just another little experience I wanted to make happen!!
Arriving in Santa Barbara with Bruce exiting the car a little pale with white knuckles and making a bad choice for lunch, it was unanimously decided we switch roles back in the spirit of saving our marriage!
Parking on the pier at Stearns Wharf, we had a wander along the beach front which is seriously lacking in cafes. Who needs Santa Barbara when you have Rocky Foreshore?!
Back in the car for the last leg of our road trip down
the 101 to LA, we finished listening to the final few songs on our holiday road trip playlist as we drove to our hotel in Beverly Hills. And where's the only place to stay in Beverly Hills? Rodeo Drive baby!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.26s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0584s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Big trip...
I've just stumbled across your blogs, and I see your trip is about to end. I'm yet to read your previous blogs, but just wanted to say good luck with that massive flight back home! :)