West Coast Road Trip Day 1: L.A. to Morro Bay
Yesterday was the first day of my solo road trip from Los Angeles all the way north to Springfield, OR. I started in L.A. after concluding a week of working on set, and made my way up to Morro Bay with stops in Santa Barbara and Solvang in between.
The day started out beautifully as I picked up my rental car from Budget, and decided I ought to spend a little extra time puttering around L.A. enjoying the sunshine. When time became a concern, I headed out for Santa Barbara and was treated to a last dose of that famous L.A. traffic on the way.
By the time I arrived in SB, it was grey and raining again (so un-SoCal). I had lunch in mind, and La Super-Rica Taqueria came highly recommended from a colleague in L.A., so I figured it was worth a stop. I got drizzled on while I stood in what was probably a comparatively short line for tortillas that were made by hand to order, easily the freshest I've ever had. After housing some tacos and taking some photos, I sadly had to depart from scenic Santa Barbara and keep heading north.
I ended up in the quaint little town of Solvang around 4pm, after driving up and down mountains and through unreal clouds and Southern California scenery. Solvang was founded by a group of Danes in 1911, craving a taste of their homeland away from typical California, which explains the Danish style to most of the buildings and prevalence of Danish bakeries and shops which have become quite a tourist attraction. Honestly my favorite part of the entire drive up the coast might've been the miles between Santa Barbara and Solvang; the road twisted and climbed unpredictably into the mountains in a way I neither expected nor had ever experienced.
That night I stayed at the Silver Surf Motel in San Simeon, chosen sort of at random online since it had favorable reviews, good pictures, and pretty decent prices at a location near to my first stop slated for day 2: Hearst Castle.
Lake Cachuma
Chorizo quesadilla
Ending the day with a motel room Dark & Stormy (minus the lime)