Road Trip Stop #7 — Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is like a magical little interlude in the whole trip. Each day the delicious food, lounging, and biking up and down it's streets flowed right into each other. Farmers markets, and wind in your hair, and pure relaxation in paradise. We were gifted the stay in The Hotel Milo by dear friends. It was a luxurious reprieve from the online deals we were getting for the rest of our trip. We Priceline-d a lot and ended up with a range from solid, better than average, clean, hotel rooms to simple, verging on not nice at all (San Fransisco for example! :)) rooms. We were fine with either! Our focus was on activities and the places we were seeing but! this was such a perfect spot to have something that felt a bit more *fancy*. The most charming stucco walls, covered in cascading florals, striped linens, and bright colors, and a sweet little breakfast nook. Plus, we got to walk out our door the sight of the ocean just across the street! It played a large part in our stay and I'm already dreaming of another stay here one day. 

Two must goes if you're in town are:

Recipes Bakery — Right across the street from a bustling famers market it's a prefect opportunity to snag some fresh berries and bike on over to eat some of those fresh, melt in your mouth cinnamon rolls they've become famous for! 

La Super Rica — Known to be Julia Childs favorite spot for good Mexican food (and in my personal opinion, she's a woman to trust in such situations). It did not disappoint, it was highly delicious and reasonably priced. It was a favorite meal of our stay. 

I know we couldn't possibly have taken it all in or eaten at every good restaurant but for the moment I'm pretty pleased with my little Santa Barbara impression. 

Road Trip Stop #6 — Muir Woods, Pacific Highway, and Carmel-by-the-Sea

There's nothing in the world quite like swinging in the matter of hours between such different sites and smells. It puts you in entirely different worlds, each one as surreal as the last. 

The journey to Muir Woods is a narrow, weaving one. Parking is limited so we ended up in a line of cars on the side a dirt road and walking our way there. A hush fell over everyone around upon walking into the grove of Redwoods, the temperature dropped to a dewy chill, and the crisp, clean pine wafts towards you. It's the picture of peace and beauty. 

We headed straight down the coast to try to make it to The 17 mile drive along Pebble Beach by sunset before resting in Monterey for the night. It was a close call having to find our way through back roads and wrong directions from people. We just barely made it in time to see the pink sky over the rolling fog. 

We rose early to eat at the highly recommended Tuck Box. Verging on excessively charming, we walked into a fairytale full of biscuits, jam, and eggs benedict. Delicious and over priced and definitely worth it. 

Down the coastal highway we ooh'ed and aah'ed all day long. It was hard to resist the desire to pull over and take in the stunning new sights around every turn. We didn't always succeed in our resistance and ignored the ETA on our gps as it got later and later. I think you could do this drive over and over and still find the you missed some amazing new sight each time. I can't wait to do it again someday.