#interstate 1

[wiquuul-y]

[jsbwt]

On the road to San Francisco

After our long day in LA we slept quite late and then set off, heading north to San Francisco. The plan was to visit Malibu and then take Interstate 1 along the coast to San Francisco. We arrived in Malibu after an hour to find that most of the beach is owned by private individuals with huge houses backing onto the beach. When we eventually reached a public beach we had to pay to park there but later found places where you can park for free and access the beach. After Malibu we drove to Santa Barbara and then onto Ventura where we did a bit of shopping and had lunch. We then followed interstate 1 over the San Marco pass (spectacular) and spent the night in a little town called Pismo, about 260 miles south of San Francisco, where it was blowing a gale. In the morning we left Pismo quite late, the wind had dropped but it was still chilly. Our plan was pretty straightforward - head towards San Francisco and see what happens! We started on interstate 101 making good time, then turned back onto interstate 1 to follow the coast. What a road trip. The road follows the coast, winding up and down the cliffs and mountains for miles and miles. The views are spectacular. We passed Randolf Hearst's castle and saw literally hundreds of elephant seals on a beach at Piedras Bianca's (near St Simeon) moulting, throwing sand over themselves to help the process. The drive up to, through and beyond Big Sur was the best coast drive I've done (and I've done a few now!). The most surprising aspect was that it is the first time I've felt my car to be completely original and exclusive. I've never seen so many Ferrari's! There were so many that every time we stopped to admire the view we were inundated by well groomed, well heeled yuppies and dirty old men with flash girlfriends taking photos of us and our car to show their friends how the other half live! Joking apart, it really was almost 1 in 10 cars was a Ferrari with plenty of BMW's, Mercedes and Lexus' making up the numbers. Which reminds me, when I was here 20 years ago, maybe 95% of the cars were American - Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Dodge, Chevrolet, GMC and Ford. They were horrible, massive things that rolled all over the road. Speeds have increased here now and maybe 75% of the cars are Japanese - the rest are Ferrari's! Rather than continue on to San Francisco tonight we stopped at Santa Cruz, staying in a hotel overlooking the boardwalk and the "iconic" amusement park with the 1924 wooden rollercoaster. We're off to San Francisco tomorrow, staying in a fancy hotel in Nob Hill for 3 nights. Then I think the pressure to get to the Grand Canyon and home will increase as MM is keen to get back to her grass cutting now spring has arrived!

[n3bulla]