Some things about California still amaze me; you can literally drive anywhere and in about an hour feel as if you’re in a completely different place. Here in L.A. drive east and you hit the
“Inland Empire” (Nascar and big truck country), northeast
(desert and UFO watchers), south
(where frat guys and sorority chicks live when they have babies), north
(mountains and ski resorts), southeast
(real indians, casino’s, and “premium” factory outlets.)We drove about 3 hours up the coast and spent the weekend in a small town called
Cayucos. A coastal place among open rolling hills, mountains, and the ocean that has only about 3,000 people that live there
(probably equal to about 3 blocks of my neighborhood.)The main street looks like the one in that movie “Cars” – you know where the main highway bypasses the downtown, except this place wasn’t a ghost town. They have some pretty nice locally owned B&B’s, small motels, and pretty good restaurants. This one place called
“Hobbe’s” had amazing food, a fancy outdoor patio with a butterfly garden
(daughter loved that), and a snazzy wine bar
(wife and I loved that.) Obviously the locals around the area eat and drink well.
For anybody ever visiting L.A. a drive up the coast between Santa Barbara and Monterey is a must. It amazes me how these small towns are still able to stay so small when L.A. and the bay area are crazy huge.
If we would have kept driving, we would have paid a visit to my new best friends in Cuppertino and begged for an iPhone now. I’m probably going to be one of those crazy people down at the Apple Store this Friday trying to get one. But only if the AT&T pricing plans for it aren’t ridiculous – because paying $90/month for a phone isn't sexy.
Anybody out there doing any summer weekend road trips with the kids? It sometimes seems like small vacation towns cater to retired people or couples without kids these days. It's always good to find those kid-friendly places that don't have amusement parks or miniature golf courses.
