Malibu, Solvang, And The Search For Seals

This last week we have been busy sightseeing and enjoying the parks pool and hot tub. We are at least 25 miles from Santa Barbara in the south and Solvang in the north. Needless to say we try to combine our trips. The road getting in and out of here is very rough and slow going.

There is a Ralphs grocery store (Krogers) in Santa Barbara. It is right next door to a Sax Fifth Avenue. I think they share prices! This is the first grocery store I have ever been to that has underground parking and an elevator taking you to the entrance. Thankfully we only needed a few items.

There is a Wal-mart in Oxnard about an hour away. So it is still cheaper for us to ride the motorcycle an hour both ways to get groceries. Oh, I forgot to mention that the hour ride is along the coast! Perfect!

When we decided to go and get our weekly groceries, we made a day trip out of it and headed south on highway 1 to Malibu Beach. We packed a lunch and followed the coast. We did not stay too long, we just wanted to ride through Malibu and eat our lunch over looking the ocean.

The beach itself is pretty long and it was crowded in certain spots and pretty empty in others.

 

We wanted to find a secluded spot to eat lunch, and we found a trail that the surfers use to get down to a stretch of beach not used by many people. We found a spot on the bluff looking down on a few surfers.

It was very quiet and we just sat on the edge and enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the sound of the ocean. I think if we would have had a tent, we would have just stayed there for the night.

We ended our day by heading back north and getting our groceries. That was probably the prettiest drive I ever took to a Wal-mart.

We also went to Solvang, which is a Dutch tourist town. It is full of shops, bakeries and restaurants. We walked the town and enjoyed the perfect weather.

We had a great outdoor lunch at the Mustard Seed

And of course for desert we had to go to the bakery.

Solvang is a great little town to walk around and shop in. There are also many restaurants and wine tasting cafes.

Thursday we took a long motorcycle ride, about 325 miles round trip, to go and see the Elephant Seals. They are located just north of San Simeon in a spot called Elephant Seal Beach.

The ride along this stretch of highway 101 and 1 took us through Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Cambria and San Simeon. We rode past the Hearst Castle and could see it on the hill.

The scenery through the rolling hills of the wine country to the rugged coast of Big Sur was nothing short of spectacular. We took lots of pictures and I will post several here.

Lake Cachuma just north of us.

Our picnic lunch spot just south of Cambria

Cambria

Elephant Seal Beach

Seals Everywhere

Southern edge of Big Sur

Between the coast and our campground vineyards are everywhere.

We stopped for dinner at a great little Mexican restaurant in Cambria and then we stopped in Solvang for a Danish dessert and finally arriving back home around 8:00pm.

We can not wait to see the coast from San Simeon up to San Francisco but that will have to wait for a few more weeks when we migrate north. For now we will play closer to home.

Enjoy Your Day!