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Monday 14 January 2013

Wonders Of The Golden West Part 15...

After a fantastic few days in San Francisco it was time to leave and head south to our first stop, Monteray , for refreshments and a short stop to look around taking in the sea otters basking in the bay, Cannery Row, the quaint shops, restaurants and buildings before taking the coast road where we saw lots of birds and seals.

We made our way to Pebble Beach along the 17mile drive spotting the Lone Cypress, which is the official symbol of Pebble Beach and a frequent fixture of television broadcasts from this area. We passed multimillion dollar homes, (including Whitney Houston's)  the Del Monte Estate, the Rolex clock and the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course before we reached our destination for lunch, Carmel.  
Carmel is known for being dog-friendly, with numerous hotels, restaurants and retail establishments admitting guests with dogs. Carmel is also known for several unusual laws, including a prohibition on wearing high-heel shoes without a permit, enacted to prevent lawsuits arising from tripping accidents caused by irregular pavement and it is where Clint Eastwood was Mayor for one term.  We grabbed a delicious ready-made sandwich and a drink from a local supermarket which we ate in the little park enjoying the sunshine before exploring the little town and taking some photos, then it was time to hit the road again, passing asparagus fields and Vandenberg Air Force Base to our destination for the night Lompoc.


After a good night's sleep the last day of our tour had arrived and we packed our suitcases for the last time, boarding the coach we headed south to our first stop of the day, Solvang.   Solvang was founded in 1911 by a group of Danes who travelled west to establish a Danish colony far from the midwestern winters. The city is home to a number of bakeries, restaurants, and merchants offering a taste of Denmark in California, it even has a windmill!

We would have liked to have spent more time in this pretty little town but we were pressed for time and needed to get on to our next stop, Santa Barbara, for lunch where we had a great pizza at Rusty's Pizza Place right there opposite the beach.    After lunch we had a mooch round the Beach House, where we admired the surf boards and purchased some t-shirts.

The bus was calling again to take us on the final leg of our journey down Ventura Highway to Malibu where we stopped for a group photograph and envied the beach front properties, before boarding the coach again for the last few miles back to Los Angeles and the Airport.   We passed Cher's house and Pepperdine University, which had a dramatic display of American flags on its expansive lawn beneath the Theme Tower - one flag for each of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on 9/11, a very poignant sight.   Our last views were of Santa Monica beach as we headed into LA and had to say goodbye to our travel companions and the Wonders Of The Golden West.



We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and have some wonderful memories, which will last forever.  I hope you've enjoyed our trip as much as we did .    Where will we go next you may be asking.   Well nothing has been decided yet, but CHINA has been mentioned, I'll let you know.

25 comments:

Richard Lawry said...

Looks like a great trip!


An Arkies Musings


Cloudia said...

Love the area. You should be a travel program host!
Aloha, Sis

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

lovely trip indeed! and china? good for you! sarge and i went to taipei and japan but could not go to mainland china when we were there in the 1960's.

smiles, bee
xoxoxoox

Ron said...

Once again, m'dear, you didn't disappoint us!

Faaaaaaabulous slide shows. Your pictures turned out awesome!!!

All I kept thinking about when I saw those photos of the palm trees and beach, was that I bet you were in HEAVEN, because I know how much you love warm weather and sunshine!

" including a prohibition on wearing high-heel shoes without a permit, enacted to prevent lawsuits arising from tripping accidents caused by irregular pavement and it is where Clint Eastwood was Mayor for one term."

OMG...can you believe that?!?!?

Thank you so much for sharing this trip with us, as I thoroughly enjoyed everyone of these posts.

Oooooo....CHINA! How wonderful is that. Can't wait!

Have a great week!

X

Travis Cody said...

Wow! That was a lot to do on your last day. You definitely needed another day in Solvang, if only to enjoy the various food you can get.

My sister lives about 3 miles east of there, so we've wandered about many times.

suan zhang said...

exquisite and eye-catching shoes I has ever seen, get one at http://www.upere.com/upere-wedge-sneakers-c-1.html.

Melanie said...

Awesome!!!!!

Commander Zaius said...

Great pictures!

Valerie said...

'a prohibition on wearing high-heel shoes without a permit'

Hmmm, *thinking* ... wonder how that would work here? Think of all the eventual spinal injuries it would avoid.

Loved ALL of this post, Pearl, and the pictures are terrific. I really should go on a trip like this.

Valerie said...

Forgot to thank you for providing all the awesome entertainment.

Dianne said...

I love Carmel, wonderful town
you really did take an amazing journey

Akelamalu said...

It certainly was Richies :)

LOL thanks Cloudia x

I'd love to go to Japan Bee, it's V.E.R.Y expensive though!

I so enjoyed the weather on all our trip Ron, though San Francisco was colder than anywhere else!

Yes indeed it was a really busy last day Trav but we wanted to see as much a possible. We would really have liked to have stayed in Solvang overnight instead of Lompoc.

Thanks Melanie

Cheers Beach

So glad you enjoyed it all Valerie. You really should do one of these trips I just know you would love it.

Daryl said...

China? No, you must come to NYC!!!!!!!!

Akelamalu said...

It's MWM's 65th birthday this year and he's expressed a wish to go to China Daryl. However next year I will be 65 and I want to come to NYC!

Jeff B said...

Awesome!!!

You've brought back some great memories of places I've been privileged to see, and plenty of great shots of places I'd yet like to see.

Thank you for the great tour!!!

Akelamalu said...

Glad you enjoyed the memories and the shots of maybe places to see Jeff x

Flowerpot said...

China, eh? Blimey!

Akelamalu said...

Possibly Flowerpot, haven't decided for sure yet.

Maggie May said...

You've certainly visited some lovely places. The photos helped to visualise it all the more.
China would definitely be a very different experience.
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Unknown said...

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MorningAJ said...

Solvang looks gorgeous - and really very Danish!

China sounds interesting.

G-Man said...

Pearl....?

(Waits patiently)

A Lady's Life said...

It is always so interesting to see how other people live . You learn so much.
Like Whitney Houston for instance. She had a lovely life and didn't appreciate it. And I can see Clint Eastwood passing high heal laws making so many cow boy movies lol
But if you wear high heals to inappropriate places, how is it the city's fault?

Akelamalu said...

We have been lucky to visit some fantastic places Maggie. Not made our minds up about China yet.

Glad you enjoyed it Fiona

Solvang is lovely AJ

Sorry G, I just can't get back into 55s just yet.

Whitney Houston wasted her talent and her life in my view Lady's Life, such a shame. I think Clint Eastwood actually repealed some of those silly laws when he was Mayor, rather than making them. :)

katie eggeman said...

These last pictures are a wonderful reminder of our trip to CA, this month. We had lovely weather for January. That is typical for Santa Barbara and the central coast.