“I left my heart in San Francisco / High on a hill, it calls to me. / To be where little cable cars / Climb halfway to the stars!”
Tony Bennett – “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”
We have never had a road trip before. So it was both, a new experience and an adventure. Together with my siblings (Sara´s) we explored the PCH (Pacific Coast Highways) and U.S. Highway 101 up to San Francisco. We drove through stunning landscapes, had beer in a bar with that kind of music and people we love. It was wonderful to hit the road and finally end up in Frisco. Definitely a city we would love to live in for some time.
We started our journey from Los Angeles, where we currently live. All in all we had 9 days off for driving to San Francisco, staying there and heading back home. Our focus was on the trip itself because a lot of people said: “Take more time to drive to San Fran than to stay there. The beauty of the route is breath-taking!”, and yes, it definitely is, but so is San Francisco. Our advice is: Take your time for the route but also for the city. We would recommend 5 days to find out how often you can take a full ride with the cable car from the very beginning to the end. We only had 3 days. But let´s start with the first stop of our road trip.
1st stop: Santa Barbara
Less than two hours away from LA is Santa Barbara, a small and cozy city also known as the "American Riviera" because of its Mediterranean climate. All buildings were built in a typical Spanish Colonial Revival style what reminded us even more on holidays.
While our son was happy about his cotton candy ice cream (that kind of ice cream you only like when you are a child or very hungry) we enjoyed the fresh air on Sterns Wharf, a huge pier with lots of shops and restaurants. At the end of the pier is a big platform from where you have a top view to the open sea. Next to Sterns Wharf is the harbour, which is also worth visiting. Downtown Santa Barbara offers you a huge variety of restaurants, shops and cafes filled with happy shiny people and a good atmosphere. What we can recommend is Handelbar Coffee Roasters. The coffee and their lemon scones are incredible delicious. We also visited the Superior Court Of California County Of Santa Barbara with its huge watchtower and the nice overview from it. For your interest: Even today court hearings are still taking place there. If you go through the corridors you´ll see signs which are informing you about ongoing trials.
2nd stop: Solvang and Pismo Beach
On the way to Pismo Beach we stopped by at Solvang, a small Danish city formally known from the TV series “New Girl”. One part of the city really has some traditional Danish looking houses, but it is more a tourist thing than a real one. So, if you want to go there: One hour is more than enough time to take a walk and drink a coffee.
We arrived late at Pismo Beach that day. We only grabbed something to eat at a fantastic Italian restaurant (this blogpost turns out to be more a food guide than a travel diary) and fell into the bed. The next day we visited the Pismo Dunes and had a lot of fun there. It´s like a small desert.
3rd stop: Bis Sur State Park
On our way to the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park we explored plenty of lonely beaches, watched sea lions in the nature, said “Hello” to a fat snake who seemed to had its feast for months and enjoyed our ride on the coast and through the forrest. We spent two days at Big Sur and it was wonderful there but also very expensive, so next time we would prefer to stay only one night.
We did a hike near our accommodation and had the feeling to go where the giants’ live. Imagine a path through a big forrest and after 45 minutes the way ends and a huge lonely beach appears. That was exactly our kind of trail. We built our own small “house”. Some visitors already created a sort of temple with colourful stones and seashells. There was also a lot of wood on the beach – it was just a paradise for kids and grown kids like me. Our advice: Don´t forget to bring enough water and food as well as sunscreen.
In the evening we had dinner at the Big Sur Taphouse and it was just perfect. It seems like a lot of locals also go there. They have delicious beer, music from bands like Cage the Elephant or Modest Mouse. The menu offers delicious vegetarian dishes, so everyone was happy. We can really recommend this place.
All in all, it was a wonderful journey and we´ll always keep it in mind. In our next blogpost we will write about the time we spent in San Francisco. We'll only say this much: This city is so
fantastic, incredible, phenomenal and astounding that we must use so many adjectives as we can to describe it, even this is a No-Go! 😉
Soundtrack #11:
Hier findest du den Sound, der uns begleitet.
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