California's Central Coastline

The Central Coastline is often wild and turbulent compared to the beaches of southern California. This evening it seemed lonely.

We arrived in San Simeon just in time to see the sunset. The sun fell into the a distant cloud bank that we hadn't even seen, so it all vanished quite quickly. In spite of the brief performance, we were delighted to not have missed it.

This morning we packed the car and left our Carlsbad vacation room at approximately 10:20. Not exactly an early start. I know we both quietly wondered what a day-long car ride would be like with 3 pooches. So we were pointed north with everyone buckled-in. This time Max was in the backseat with me and Chloe; Mitzi was in the dog-seat in the front next to Mr. Fun.

We took Hwy 5 to the 405 through Los Angeles (where we did encounter some traffic coming out the north side of the city). Then transitioned to Hwy 101 and made a stop in Thousand Oaks for a quick McDonalds lunch that we took to a nearby park so the pooches could stretch, sniff, and all the other things dogs do. Then back in the car headed toward Santa Barbara. Got through that beautiful area with very little slow-down and then the highway turns inland to Buellton, Solvang, and Los Olivios.

We were doing fine until we got into a group of cars that were going a little too fast and as we rounded a curve the California Highway Patrol was hidden from sight and bingo . . . Mr. Fun said, "I think we were exceeding the speed limit and he 'll probably pull over three cars at once." Well, he didn't pull over three. He just pulled us over.

It might be Friday the 13th, but call it luck, good fortune, or blessed (which I prefer), Mr. Fun managed to not get a ticket after talking with the officer. Whew!

So we were back on the road. At San Luis Obispo we turned off of Hwy 101 and turned toward Hwy 1 and the Central Coast. We went through Morro Bay, Cayuous (a favorite place), past Harmony, with a population of 16, through Cambria, and finally we are stopped for the night in San Simeon at a "dog friendly" motel. We are just south of the Big Sur Coast and tomorrow we will travel through that country all the way to Monterey where we have reservations for the entire weekend. Woohoo!

When we started out this morning we hadn't even considered that this is the beginning of the 3-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. If we had thought about that yesterday, we probably would have driven north yesterday. Thankfully it didn't seem to affect our journey.

It's been a good day with 3 well-behaved pups . . . all except for Max who decided to jet out of our motel room as Mr. Fun was hauling our stuff in (thankfully our room door opens to an inside corridor). I ran as fast as I could to catch him, but couldn't until he came to the end and the door to the outside was closed). That was a panic! Mostly though, the pups slept all day and didn't cause any problems.

Now I am tired and I've just noticed I have 3 sleeping dogs and a sound asleep Mr. Fun. I know it is time for me to do the same.

Good night from San Simeon (this is Hearst Castle country),
Rosie (& Mr. Fun, Chloe, Mitzi, and Max), aka Carol