We are still north of Los Angeles. On Christmas day we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (no toll on the holiday) down US 101 to north of Santa Cruz. Traffic was light but heavier than I thought it might be on a holiday. There were few things open – Starbucks and Safeway, mainly. We bought some ready-made sandwiches in a Safeway in San Mateo and ate in the car. We’d been worried that we wouldn’t find anything and were happy with what we found.
I misjudged how long it would take to get to our hotel. We arrived at 2 and the room wasn’t ready. But after the busy-ness of Bay Area traffic, we were happy enough to sit in the lobby and read our books. Dinner was in the hotel bar watching the Baltimore Ravens wallop the SF 49ers. I have mixed loyalties on a game like that – I’ve lived near both Baltimore and San Fran – but enjoyed watching the game, regardless who won. (Not so for most of the others watching with us.)
Tuesday we set off south again down highway 101 along the coast and then past rich farm country in the Salinas Valley. We stopped early again near San Luis Obispo. The hills and trees were resting for the winter and looking quite bleak.
There’s been a little more green as we have come south. Today we saw orange and lemon trees in full fruit.
And today we came down as far as Santa Barbara. The easy driving of the Central Coast area is over for this trip. We’ll have two days of traffic around northern LA.
In Santa Maria around lunch time, we could go to a Red Robin or one of several Mexican restaurants. We chose Las Compadres, which turned out to be Salvadoran rather than Mexican. It was good, but quite different. I took the tiniest bite of the large green pepper and was glad I hadn’t bit off more. I like spicy food, but my gringo palate was not ready for that one.
Staying at all these different motels, I sometimes wonder if whoever designed a place ever stayed in a motel. It may look spiffy, but sometimes the usability suffers. I’ve developed a pet peeve for bathroom faucets that look all modern but send the stream of water within an inch of the side of the sink. How are you supposed to get your hands under there to wash them? The hotel last night was really comfortable, but the signs in the hallway were hard to read unless looking at them from a certain angle. I have, so far, no complaints about the beds, though.
We’ve gone through San Rafael, San Bruno, Santa Cruz, San Ardo, and Santa Maria, among others. It seems a bit remarkable that all these places have kept their names and didn’t become, a hundred or more years ago, Johnson City or Brownsville or some such.
Travels with Kate 