California Central Coast, USA – Highway 101, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Solvang, El Capitan Canyon, & Glamping (8/13-17/2012) – We loved our trip along California’s famous Highway 101 enjoying the beautiful tranquil California Central Coast with our Toyota hosts.
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Wayne & Pat in Solvang, California,
with our Toyota Venza
- California’s Central Coast, USA |
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California’s Central Coast
California’s Central Coast of California is a region that remains calm and tranquil. Situated between the megalopolises of San Francisco’s Bay Area Southern California, the Central Coast provides wide-open natural spaces, nice beaches, beautiful Spanish missions, and a more peaceful way of life. The Central Coast includes some of the classic tourist country of California - particularly the scenic version of the drive (or train ride) between San Francisco and Los Angeles. One of the U.S.’s most scenic driving routes, US Highway 101 goes virtually its entire length offering beautiful ocean and countryside vistas.
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| Beach in Santa Monica, California, US |
Some places to visit are Hearst Castle at Simeon and the Monterey Peninsula, home to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the 17-Mile Drive, Cannery Row, and downtown Pacific Grove. Population in the Central Coast is concentrated in a series of fun-to-visit small to medium sized towns and cities such as Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, Morro Bay, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach, Cambria, San Luis Obispo, Solvang, and Santa Cruz.
The following are some of the places we enjoyed on our trip:
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Santa Monica Pier - View from Our Room
at the Lowes Santa Monica Beach Hotel |
Santa Monica, California
Our first night, we stayed at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel enjoying laid-back contemporary comfort right on the beach. While Pat enjoyed the pool, Wayne bodysurfed some waves in the shadow of the Santa Monica Pier (see photo). The Santa Monica Pier has been famous for years being the end of the famed Route 66 Highway. We walked to the nearby cliff-top Palisades Park and trendy Third Street Promenade.
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Wayne & Pat Enjoying Our 3-pound Lobsters
at The Lobster Restaurant
- Santa Monica Pier, California, USA |
We had dinner at The Lobster restaurant located on the Santa Monica Pier. The original restaurant opened in 1925 and became popular through the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Our 3-pound lobsters with side dishes were amazing.
Toyota Venza
Toyota hosted us on this trip and loaned us a new 2013 Venza crossover car (see photos). We had seen the fun ads on TV about the Venza showing the daughter with hundreds of Facebook friends saying it was not fair that her parents, having only a few Facebook friends, were having so much fun. At first we were not sure about the Venza. We ended up liking it and became those fun-loving parents.
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Pat Driving our Toyota Venza on Stearns Wharf
- Santa Monica, California, USA |
The Toyota Venza ride is very smooth and comfortable and the car is excellent for a driving trip adventure and looks great for a night out. It has some nice features for us active retired or soon-to-be retired ‘parents’ including easy access to get in and out with a lowered back-end access with a power liftgate making loading easier. The reclining back seats fold down with a simple pull of a lever in the back creating a large area to haul things around. The powerful engine made driving fun and the Entune touch-screen multi-media system that includes navigation, entertainment, rear back-up camera, and location information finding is fun to use and useful. The Venza even has an iPod hookup and hand-free phone capability.
With all this and Toyota’s great record of ergonomics, safety, and reliability, the Toyota Venza deserves a look.
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| Beach - Point Mugu State Park, California, USA |
Point Mugu State Park
We stopped at the beach at Point Mugu State Park (see photo). This State Park features five miles of ocean shoreline with bluffs, sandy beaches, sand dunes, rugged hills, and uplands. There are more than 70 miles of hiking trails. The beach features swimming, body surfing and surf fishing.
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| Beach - Santa Barbara, California, USA |
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is less than 100 miles from hyper-metropolitan Los Angeles but differs vastly. With a temperate climate and lush nature surroundings, Santa Barbara has wide sandy beaches, highly rated wineries, and a large variety of shopping and dining choices. Santa Barbara’s 90,000 residents enjoy the sort of cultural and social amenities usually found only in much larger cities. We had lunch at the oceanfront Harbor Restaurant on Stearns Wharf and drove through Santa Barbara’s downtown's main street (State Street) and the Santa Barbara County wine country made famous in the movie “Sideways” (see photos).
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Dinner in Barrow Room
- Stanford Winery, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
We had a special evening planned for us by our Toyota hosts at the Sanford Winery with wine tasting and a catered dinner in their barrel room (see photo). The prime rib with cognac sauce was very impressive. Sanford Winery was one of the first wineries that took advantage of the unique combination of climate and soil conditions in this area that are much like those in France's famed Burgundy province. Sanford Winery produces award-winning Pinot Noir and other wines.
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Our Cabin - Glamping at El Capitan Canyon Resort,
Santa Barbara, California, USA |
Glamping at the El Capitan Canyon resort
An increasing popular travel experience is called ‘glamping’ – glamour camping. Yes, you are out in nature. The difference is we saw a deer from the window of our cabin that featured room service and web access at the El Capitan Canyon nature resort (see photo). Located just 20 miles north of Santa Barbara, the El Capitan Canyon resort is spread out over 300+ acres on the picturesque Pacific coast with miles of hiking trails and walk to El Capitan State Beach. El Capitan Canyon is a place for those who have the desire to unwind, relax, and commune with nature.
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Here We Are 'Fishing' at El Capitan Canyon,
San Barbara, California, USA |
In a camp-like surrounding at El Capitan Canyon you can enjoy services and amenities, like massages with a view, typically found in a traditional resort - really roughing it. Nestled in historic groves of oak and sycamore trees along El Capitan Creek, cedar cabins and safari tents are grouped in villages called “Stone Pine,” “Peace Tree,” “Lone Stone” and “Shaded Creek.”
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Pat with Rambler - Quicksilver Miniature Horse Ranch,
Santa Barbara, California, USA |
Solvang
Danish immigrants founded Danish-themed Solvang and a number of Danish descendants live here. The drive to this area is beautiful and it is fun to wander around the pretty little town of Solvang. Driving through the tree-lined Santa Barbara hills, we visited the Quicksilver miniature Horse ranch where we met the miniature horse Rambler (see photo) and we stopped for freshly picked tree-ripened apples at the Apple Lane stand.
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Lobby of SLS Beverly Hills Hotel
- Beverly Hills, California, USA |
SLS Beverly Hills Hotel
Ending our trip back near Los Angeles, Toyota hosted our stay at the contemporary luxury SLS Beverly Hills Hotel (see photo). The SLS is a completely novel guest experience. The essential components of the SLS guest experience are style, luxury and service - and they delivered in a unique way. The SLS Beverly Hills Hotel is just steps from The Beverly Center and nearby are the sparkling storefronts of Rodeo Drive, top Beverly Hills and Los Angeles restaurants and nightlife venues, celebrity haunts, and The Getty Center.
Our trip’s farewell dinner at the SLS was amazing. We were treated to 21 separate modern Spanish cuisine “tapas” at the Bazaar by José Andrés. This wonderful culinary experience is nothing like we have ever had before blending Old World delicacies with avant-garde delights - one amazing dish after another with wine parings.
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Wayne at the End of the Famous Route 66
- Santa Monica Pier, California, USA |
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This trip was just a 5-day driving adventure and we look forward to return and explore more of the wonderful California Central Coast. We gratefully thank our Toyota hosts for having us as their guests on this wonderful experience.
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