We left Los Angeles at around 1000H and took the Freeway 101 also known as the Ventura Highway going north. We were heading first to Santa Barbara to enjoy this small tropical bay city in central California. The trip was only less than two hours passing some not so well-known towns I never knew because honestly this is my first road trip out of Los Angeles area going to the north of California.
The GPS was pretty much accurate at this time and the first stop we did was the Santa Barbara Mission Church. Sprawling on top of the hill the small church appeared splendid and majestic with its modern concrete facade walls and adjacent convent offices. I heard from a volunteer inside the church that it was damaged from an earthquake sometime in the 1930s and the community had reinstalled a new one almost the same as the old ones. We toured the place and took pictures for our own remembrance.
From there we then headed to the town's famous vintage court house just few blocks from the old mission church. The court house was also a beautiful edifice to reckon with. It has a tower with big functional clocks on all four sides. We also toured inside the building and saw a lot of old furnitures, antique doors, and beautiful vintage arts.
The courtrom walls were painted with intricate paintings and the lectern was made of very old and special wood, very antique and vintage to look at. Sprawling outside was a well manicured lush green lawns at the backyard as seen from the terrace on the second floor. From the tower we can also spot the 360 degrees spectacular and awesome view of the whole city. Mostly seen were the dominant and uniform brick adobe roofs of the houses and buildings reminiscent of its colonial history.
From the court house we headed to Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. It is a nursery for orchids located outside the town where we feasted our eyes with the beautiful blooms of cattleyas, cymbidiums, phalaenopsis, and various varieties of orchids I never knew and saw. We took pictures of the flower blooms to document our trip and I also bought two seedlings for me to grow at my apartment.
From the orchidarium we went to look for the famous Stearn's Wharf along the coast line of Santa Barbara. Spreading along the blue-green waters of the Santa Barbara bay was a long wooden pier which they called the Stearn's Wharf. We drove inside the pier and parked at the end part then strolled the whole length of the pier. We also took pictures of the place and decided to buy some magnets for our own collections as well as decided to eat something before hitting back the road for our long road trip to San Simeon.
After our lunch we left Santa Barbara and decided to hit the road again taking the straight Ventura Highway and Route 154 going to San Luis Obispo up north. We decided to drop the first two lighthouses on our list because we were not sure if they allow visitors to go inside the property because it was listed as a private property online plus we don't have time anymore because it was almost 1400H that time when we left Santa Barbara.
The trip to San Simeon was almost two-hours-and-a-half and we arrived there at around 1600H roughly. It was already gloomy and cold when we got there. The sea breeze was very nippy and heavily windy. We decided to look for the Piedras Blancas lighthouse but when we found it the entrance was been cordoned to the public. It was close so I just decided to take pictures of the lighthouse from afar zooming my camera's lens to amplify its size. This was the first lighthouse we saw for this trip.
After our short stint at the lighthouse we decided to pass by the viewing deck of the elephant seals on the nearby San Simeon Parks and Wildlife and gleefully watched them snort and sleep while lying on the sandy beach. They waddle, wiggle, squirm, squeal, snort,and play. It was fun to watch them for minutes. We also took pictures of them lazily spreading, resting, and sleeping on the coarse brown sand of the San Simeon beach. Their shiny huge bodies were covered with the brown sand and they enjoyed laying on it like a soft mattress.
From there we decided to look for a hotel to take respite because it was almost dark. We decided to stay at San Simeon Holiday Inn and stayed there for the rest of the night. My gas tank was almost bottomed down so I decided to have it filled in the morning. We both felt tired so we decided to stay in the hotel and plus it was very cold outside. We were still full from our lunch so we decided to skip dinner.
The next day we will be visiting the famous Hearst Castle of San Simeon built by a very rich newspaper and mining mogul. We know it will be a stunning day tomorrow. We don't know what awaits of our planned adventures but we were ready for whatever will happen. We know there will be a lot of surprises that will happen during the entire trip and we were ready for it as well. We went to sleep and dreamed about it.
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