LA to Santa Barbara to Morro Bay

Ventura Sunset

It took a while to get out of LA following the conference. I had intent to rent a car from Anaheim and drive it all the way to San Francisco with stops in Morro Bay then Monterrey. The rental car agency was a little backed up so I did not actually get the car till about 3pm on Friday afternoon. I then had to contend with LA traffic and thus could not cover as much ground as I had hopped on my first day. I ended up reaching Ventura for the sunset, found a little beach and watched the ball drop. Ventura seemed like a really nice little seaside town, would have liked to spend some more time here. I debated staying overnight here, but decided to push on towards Santa Barbara just up the road. In total I drove 178m on this day from Anaheim to Carpinteria just east of Santa Barbara.

Always interesting arriving in a new town, starving, and trying to figure out where to eat. I used the UrbanSpoon app and website to try and find the top rated restaurants in an area. It has been hit or miss, but on this evening it helped me find an awesome little sushi bar in downtown Carpinteria.  I had a great meal and then an awesome rest.

The following morning I drove into Santa Barbara and walked around the main strip and then out to the Sterns Wharf pier.  In the distance out at sea, I could see the Channel Islands; a place I would really love to go camping and kayaking – perhaps next year.  I had to continue on so departing Santa Barbara I head up the 101 inland through Lompoc.  You have to go inland here because of the Vandenberg Air Force Base which takes up a huge plot of land West of Lompoc.   I continued north to Guadalupe and Pismo Beach; Pismo Beach would be an awesome place to spend some more time.  There was a beautiful long beach just begging to be walked AND there was a clam festival on, Pismo Beach being the “Clam Capital of the World”.

Moving north, the next stop was Morro Bay known for the massive volcanic plug called Morro Rock.  There was a farmers market in town which I quickly strolled through, then head down to the harbour to view the Morro Rock. It was quite a sight and I would have loved to see the sunset over the rock.  North of Morro Bay was another lovely 10km beach.

Already it was later in the day than I had hoped, I still had to drive the mighty Highway 1 from Morro Bay to Monterey, arguably one of the most beautiful drives in the world, packed with viewpoints to stop and hairpin turns.