The Getaway - Part II

The next day, we woke up quite early to eat breakfast. We had quite the long day ahead of us. Breakfast included hot coffee, danishes, and orange juice. It was adequate, but I was expecting a little more out of this bed and breakfast. I guess, for the amount I was paying, I would have liked maybe some eggs and a little more variety. We gathered our food and headed to one of the hotel's gardens. It had a couple of water fountains, with Koi fish. I noticed some people walking around, and . . . being that I am not aware that my voice carries, started to joke about the short shorts this guy was wearing. And then, I saw a woman with raging man-face. She looked like Ernest Borgnine with tits.

Turns out, I was making fun of a whole room, because they all sat down at the same table, and later on, I saw them coming in and out of the same room. Doh! Oh, and Ernest Borg-tits . . . actually a tranny. Which explains everything. I got a better look at "her" while refilling my coffee. Oh well, they heard me making fun of them and what can I say . . . I'm sorry? Nah . . . fuck it. Even on vacation I'm a jerk. LOL.

So, we had woken up pretty early to head up to Hearst Castle, which is another 100 miles north or so. We hopped in the car after showering, and cowering in fear at the stuffed animals that were nailed to the bathroom walls, and took our little day trip north. Once we hit the Pacific Coast Highway 1, the drive really got pretty. I recommend just taking a trip north of San Luis Obispo for that stretch of highway. You can see beaches, green fields, surfers, and even local wildlife that you might not see outside of an aquarium.

We got to Hearst Castle, former home of William Randolph Hearst, now a California State Park, and paid for a guided tour. A bit on the expensive side though. 20 bucks a person. But, what can I do, try to stow away on top of the bus that takes you up 1000 feet up a hill to the mansion? Maybe if I were super cheap. We boarded the bus, and enjoyed the views all the way up to the castle, and then took the guided tour, which highlighted some of the gardens, the diverse antique architecture that makes up the Hearst Castle, and even marveled at the indoor pool's 24 karat gold tiles. Yes, there was more gold in one those tiles than in our wedding bands. Kinda weird how the rich live . . . or used to live.

After that, we took the bus down the hill to the Visitor's center. We got some fudge and some souvenirs. Heather insists on getting shot glasses from the places we visit. I indulged her, and then we took a small trip 4.4 miles north to check out a beach that is full of Elephant Seals. We parked and played with some friendly Chipmunks before walking on the board walk. If you've never seen these creatures up close before . . . well . . . just know that you should with an empty stomach. Why? Those Elephant Seals fart every 30 seconds or so. And even if they are 100 yards away, you can still hear, and most definitely smell, their flatulence. After 15 minutes of picture-taking, it got to Heather, and she could take it no more. We got back into our car, and started heading south on the PCH1.

We stopped again at a beach, to walk on the sand and play with some puppies apparently. Not her puppies . . . get your mind out the gutter. There were some very friendly dogs out there, and since we're so fond of canines, we hung out with them while we jumped on some beach rocks while looking for interesting sea-shells to add to Heather's collection. We spotted some hermit crabs, which she found to be quite amusing.

Continuing our trip down the PCH1 back to Solvang, we stopped for some grub in Cambria. I forget the name of the place, but it served up some great hamburgers. If you're ever in Cambria, eat there. It's the first eatery on your left as you take the Cambria exit. After lunch, we continued our trek south and then took the 41 East. That little detour was originally intended to find a store, which we never found, but it did provide us with a nice drive down a canyon. It dropped us off 16 miles north of San Luis Obispo, and we then took the hour and a half long drive back to Solvang.

This time around, we actually arrived in town while the shops were open. Amazing, and we checked some of them out to look for a nice little souvenir that would make a nice Mother's Day present. We found something at a little shop just up the street from the bed & breakfast. It was a couple of salt and pepper shakers in the shape of a Danish man and woman. Cutesy type of crap my mother eats up. And, ofcourse, the requisite shot glass was purchased from another store to mark our visit to Solvang.

We headed back to the room for some television time. It was around 7 PM and we had been out all day. We had left our hotel at 9:30 . . . so you can tell that, after 12 hours of sight-seeing and driving, we were pretty pooped. At around 8:30, we decided to go to dinner at a country-looking place in Buellton. We had actually wanted to go to the Hitching Post 2, which is where part of the movie "Sideways" was filmed, but it was packed, and . . . after I took out a pole with my car's rear bumper, we made a quick jaunt to the AJ Spurs which was right next door. Their prices took me by surprise. A little over 20 bucks per person, but in the end, you do get a ton of food plus dessert, so it was almost well priced.

We were going to hit up the same bar that we went to on Friday night, but we were too tired to go out drinking that night. We headed back to our room, and went to sleep. It was kind of weird sleeping in a king sized bed though. Try as she could, Heather was not able to steal the whole bed. It was just too big. She actually felt a little lonely because I was on my side of the bed for most of the night. Eventually, I made it over to her side to keep her company. I guess we're not used to sleeping in such a big bed. At home, we share a full size, and we're practically on top of each other the whole night. Not that I'm complaining, I wouldn't want to sleep any other way . . . but the king size bed was different.