Discovering Another Mad Dash (Oct 14): Heading Home and Finally finishing this TR #1523 (05/03)

[PrincessInOz]

We will prob see it sooner or later for just that reason I just hope by next trip the hype will have died down some or a lot. If not then we will wait another year after all they did to create it I doubt it will go to the archives any time soon. It just didn't seem to be amazing enough to spend half a day getting FPs then waiting in line for hours (and it would have been hours for the FP and the actual line it was Christmas week)

I wouldn't have queued up for a FP to see the show at Christmas either. When you do see it, I'd be interested to know what you thought of it....

 

[PrincessInOz]

On the Road to Solvang

After the long day at DLR, I was deep in DreamLand. There was NO alarm rudely waking me up this morning as DH and I banned it last night.

So, when we woke, it was way past 8 am and we were in a mild state of panic about it. We had planned to get up and have an early start, catch up with Alison before heading out of the LA area towards our destination for the night, Solvang.

I got ready and headed out for breakfast. One of the main reasons we had picked the RI was for the cook your own waffles. Okay…it may not be Mickey Waffles; but they were fresh and delicious.

I’d texted Alison to let her know that we were up and we eventually ended up arranging to meet in Long Beach, near the corner of 7th Avenue and Bellflower Avenue. Aside from wanting to spend a bit more face time with Alison, the reason for the meet was to hand over a bottle of Disney contraband. I had brought a bottle of Aussie port with me and I knew that if I even went anywhere near the bag inspectors at the gate, the bottle was going to disappear before I could even say Mickey Mouse.

After a minor detour of heading down the wrong street towards 7th Avenue (and thanks Alison for the correcting directions), we made it to our destination by about 10 am.

Alison was already there and enjoying these snacks….

I ended up ordering this bubble tea drink…

…and there were lots of options from the menu.

And yes, I did remember to take a picture of Alison as well….eventually.

We spent some time chatting and I wish I had more time to spend with her and Fran; but not on this trip. Maybe next time.


I was conscious that the day was getting later and it was time for us to push North on the 405, and then the 101. Traffic was reasonable at midday.

We managed to make it to Camarillo before DS spotted a Game Stop from the Freeway. Plus, he was hungry.

Us? We were pretty pleased with the stop. It was at the Camarillo Outlets!

Whilst I had been busy doing research on choice places to visit and stop in the US, DS had been researching his favourite topic….Pokemon. Turns out that there was a free WiFi gift event for a brand spanky, sexy, shiny Entei at the Game Stop this week and DS was anxious to get it. Well, he was anxious for ME to get it as I had brought my gaming machine with me whilst he chose to leave his behind because he didn’t want to chance losing it.

I bet you didn’t know that I’m a closet girl-gamer, did you? Well, you know now.

So, I’m the proud owner of Entei on both my Pokemon Soul Silver and my Pokemon Platinum. DS wants me to trade an Entei to him….I’m still thinking about it. I might relent when Black and White come out.

And for anyone that hasn’t understood about 50% of the words above, don’t worry. Head on over to the Old Fogies thread in the CB and you’ll fit right on in.

After the dinner last night and breakfast this morning, the last thing we needed was a heavy lunch. So, we were very pleased to find this place…

And the soup and salad meal was exactly what the doctor ordered.

DS ordered the mac and cheese, of course. This is the kid’s serve.

Everything was tasty and fresh; as well as healthy……

…..and needless to say, we counterbalanced the health food in style.

Sadly, the caramel apple was way too sticky and gooey; but it was still lovely.
But it turns out I’d picked the wrong caramel apple. The boys really wanted the multicoloured sugar coated apple with Mickey ears!


And the choc coated marshmallow didn’t last long at all!

After lunch, DH and I did the mad dash through our favourite shops – BR, Coach, Diesel, J Crew – the prices were fantastic. But we didn’t have time to linger too long and it was past 3.30 pm when we left….we hit pre-peak hour through the Santa Barbara stretch.

Getting to Solvang before sunset was going to be a challenge!

A quick check of the map resulted in us making a snap decision to detour via the 154…and what a great decision that turned out to be.

The route took us up on the mountain ridge and to the top past Lake Cachuma. The views were spectacular but we couldn’t stop for pictures. If I ever have the time to pass this way again, I think a stop on Lake Cachuma will be in order.

It took us a surprisingly short time to get to the 246 using this route and we found that we were only 5 miles away from Solvang.


(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Solvang by Night

Solvang Gardens Lodge was our residence of choice for the night. I'd found it on the internet and booked it for it's location, price and on-line reviews. We had two queen sized beds in the room..

...and DS was pleased because he wouldn’t need to sleep on a sofabed for the night.

This little gem of a boutique hotel exceeded my expectations. Our room was charming and cozy and it was remarkably clean.

Despite our longer than planned stop at Camarillo, we got there at about 5 pm and our check-in lady was remarkably efficient. She was also really knowledgeable about the local area.
When she realized that we had wanted to see the local waterfalls, she told us that we had sufficient daylight left (just) for us to visit the Nojoqui Falls.
She also recommended a place for dinner that turned out to be just as a unique experience as Club 33 – more on that later.

So, we didn’t bother to unload our bags and headed straight out to the Falls. We had been advised that it was a 7-mile trek out on windy roads and from the car park to the falls was a ¼ mile walk. The car park would shut at sunset.

Light was fast fading when we arrived and knowing that I had a very short window of opportunity to take some shots, I bolted for the falls.

I was to find out later that DS did NOT enjoy the short walk out. I had totally missed the signs advising to beware of Mountain Lion and the little Aussie was really scared. This was his first time in the great US outdoors and I’d been totally oblivious to the fact that the US warnings on animals were different to those in Oz. We only have to deal with snakes, spiders and the occasional Dingo.

I also found out that he was worried that I might meet a lion on my trek out and be attacked by one. But because I had already bolted off, he bravely persisted….and really, the only cat we saw that night was the scaredy-cat walking next to us.

The falls? Well, I just managed to get there in the dim fading light…

I cranked up the ISO settings manually to get some of these shots…

And it was a beautiful, thin spindly fall. The boys caught up with me at this stage. So, we spent some time posing…

Look at how close you can get to the bottom of the falls!

We didn’t have much light left at this stage…and I hope this conveys how dark it was by this time…

We walked as quickly as we could to the car. It would be a shame to be locked in for the night. Thankfully, the ranger had obviously done a round in his off-road vehicle and he was waiting for us at the gates. He must have been impatient to end his workday because we hardly got through the gates when they slammed shut behind us.


We headed back to town in the twilight, and back to our hotel room where we unloaded the bags and relaxed a bit.

I took a walk around the gardens and to admire the night stars.

I guess it goes without saying that the stars are always brighter in the country than in a city.

Somehow…I think I managed to capture a shooting star!

And if you know it was ET or a UFO, I don’t want to know.


Our stomachs started growling after a while and we wandered into town in search of dinner.


In the words of Arthur Conan Doyle, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

Solvang is one of those quirks of California that in any sense of the word is improbable! The truth of the matter is that it is a stinkin’ pretty kitschy town in the middle of Central California that, if you suspend reality for a while, makes you feel like you are in the middle of Europe.

It is predominantly of Danish architecture and culture…

…as these window scenes clearly demonstrate.

And just look at this wonderful Valentine related window scene – a double score for the Photography Scavenger Hunt.

It was as if it was waiting for me to come along to practically trip over it without any effort on my part…

…to find Love – in the form of Cupid’s Arrow.

With these shots in the can, the boys urged me (I still have the bruises from this night) towards dinner.


(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Another Culinary Experience: Root 246 – Organic and Local


Our check-in lady had recommended a restaurant and she described it as “High End with No need to dress up, Kids Welcomed!”. And with this introduction, it ticked all the boxes for us.

After our lunch at Club 33, DH and I were not expecting to hit another “High End” restaurant so soon but were intrigued to go when we found out that the restaurant had a reputation for sourcing organic and/or local ingredients wherever possible.

So, go it was.

The restaurant is located on Alisal Road, which was very pretty lit up at night...

…so it was only a short drive away from our hotel. Really, we could have walked, but it was cold! The outside façade looked old/new world Danish.

I was pleased to see an open fireplace, with a crackling fire in the outdoor alfresco sitting space.

We walked in through the doors and found that our check-in lady at the hotel was right. This was indeed a high-end establishment, if the black suit on the maitre d’ was anything to go by.
But within minutes of discussion, I quickly realized that the second part of the description was also right. This place was high end without being fussy and there was no need to dress up; plus the maitre d’ displayed a very practical touch with DS and us. He was very accommodating; and despite not have any reservations, we were seated within minutes. No need for buzzer or taking our name or anything!

We were shown through to the dining room, passing by at least 2 other rooms in the process. Aside from the outdoor alfresco area, I saw a wonderfully chic room with the bar and a living/sitting space. I had thought to go back to take pictures, but other matters took over and I never got back to that thought. The dining room was also partitioned into two areas and we were seated in one of the areas.

Our service for the night was one of the best of this trip. Our server, Janet, was informative, friendly and completely attentive to our needs. In fact, all the other servers seemed to keep a watchful eye over every table; not just the ones they were assigned to and at times, we had our needs taken care of by another server, when Janet was busy elsewhere. We had our water glasses topped up regularly and DS’ needs taken care of really well this night. DS even had a meal specially provided for him…off-menu!

Janet noticed me taking a picture of the menu….

…and I asked if it was okay for me to take pictures. The answer was most unexpected. Not only could I take pictures; but I was also asked if I would like to meet the chef and visit the kitchen. Janet told me to take my menu into the kitchen.

What a pleasure and unexpected surprise this turned out to be. The chef is Bradley Ogden.

This Blunder from Down Under hadn’t quite realized it yet and I had to come home to google…but Bradley Ogden is one of those celebrated US chefs. If you don’t know who he is, you go google him and see what I mean. Without knowing it at the time, we had obviously been recommended one of those Destination Dining locations!

At the time, I thought him very gracious and accommodating. He was more than happy for me to snap away and even signed my menu for me.

The kitchen was full of chefs/people at work…

Janet showed me around the back kitchens and the refrigerators and I snapped away to my heart’s content. I was just overjoyed to have been able to have this special and personal culinary/cooking experience.

But what about the food?

After I got back to the table, Janet took our orders. As there was no kid’s menu, there wasn’t anything on the restaurant menu that took DS’ fancy. So, we asked if they would make plain pasta for him with some sauce. Janet checked with the chef and we were in luck – turns out the kitchen could provide one of his favourite meals for him and it wasn’t listed on the menu.

Whilst waiting for our meal to arrive, we were served with the delicious and dense homemade whole wheat bread.

The darker bread at the back was a surprisingly sweet dark rye and blueberry. It was almost muffin like, only with a bread texture. I’m not sure I liked it – somehow bread should not be that sweet.

Those of you that have been around my PTR will know that I had the pleasure of dining at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze restaurant in Melbourne. Whilst the food was great, it wasn’t completely outstanding; and one of my complaints was the lack of an Amuse Bouche that seems almost compulsory when fine dining.

No such complaints here!

The lovely smoked salmon nugget was served on rye and teamed with a delicious vinaigrette (it was either olive or caper, I forget which now). I just love seafood with dill; so the dill garnish was just the perfect topper for me.

We were still full from yesterday’s lunch, so DH and I decided to split an appetizer. We chose the Organic Caeser Salad.

The very accommodation kitchen even split the salad for us on two plates. I’m glad that they stopped the splitting line when it came to the poached egg.

Even DS liked the balance of flavours in the dressing. But he can’t fool me… I know it was the Parmesan Cheese that he loved in this dish!

DS had been offered his favourite Parmesan Cheese, with a side of homemade Parpadelle Bolognaise. Definitely not on the menu but available on the night.

It was superb.

DH is a pescatarian vegetarian and he chose to order the parpadelle with local Santa Ynes Valley grown mushrooms and spinach for dinner.

If you’ve followed my previous recommendation and googled Chef Bradley Ogden and/or Root 246, you may have come across a review by the LA Times. The reporter ordered a tagliatele mushroom and asparagus dish that was described as “bland and too greasy.” DH didn’t order this particular dish but it sounded close.

I don’t claim to be a good food critic; nor do I claim to be a critic in any sense of the word and certainly not like a newspaper food critic…I just claim to be a foodie, critical for good food.

So, I was surprised to read the tagliatele review when I got home. Perhaps the kitchen had taken the comments on board or had just been a little off that day; but the winter version of this dish – the parpadelle, mushroom and spinach – was neither bland nor greasy.
For my money, the dish that was presented to DH on this night was full of deep earthy tones from the mushrooms and there was definitely no sign of anything greasy about the meal. I particularly liked the combination of the earthy mushrooms with the iron afternotes from the spinach in the barely there cream sauce. And the silky parpadelle was perfectly al dente and slipped down my throat!

I ordered the scallops, clams and Dungeness crab with pasta.

The seafood was perfectly cooked and the tomato-based sauce was spicy and full-bodied. My only slight and incredibly minor issue was with the tomato paste garnish; which was piped into empty clamshells. For me, the tomato paste turned out to be more of an inconvenience than an enhancement for the dish. I found it hard to mix the paste into the sauce and at times had the harsh acidity of the dense tomato paste to deal with against the tender and delicate seafood. Perhaps a pesto may have worked better in its place.

We argued over dessert. Originally, the thinking had been that we would share one dessert between the three of us….but that was before the dessert menu arrived at the table!

DS took one look and declared that he wanted Banana Split. Is he for real???
I tried to push him in the direction of something else and in the end given the choice we had, we settled on 2 desserts.

I should have known that this was not going to be any ordinary Banana Split.

So fun!

And I ended up with the organic Apple Sorbet with grapefruit and a butter cookie, fresh and warm from the oven.

Both desserts were wonderful and so full of flavour.


And after we settled the bill, we all rolled ourselves out into the cold air and back into the car, drove down the road and collapsed into bed.





[Up Next – Day 4]

 

[usnuzuloose]

I am loving this whole TR I hope I can only do as well as you. You are the closet way I will see WOC. I love it. I love all the pics in solvang. Its been a long time since I was there. I will have to try the bakeries sometime. It is hard when you want to do so much and not enough time and exhaustion sets in. But there is always next time. Cant wait to read more.

 

[skiingfast]

Hmm looks very tasty. I want a scoop of the banana split and you DH's entree in particular.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

I wouldn't have queued up for a FP to see the show at Christmas either. When you do see it, I'd be interested to know what you thought of it....

There will be a trip report LOL and I will track you down to let you know.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

I too love Solvang! When we lived in Southern California it was a traditional Mother's day weekend for my mom, my sister & me. waterfalls, shopping and relaxing and good food however I don't think that Root 246 was there the last time we were there. Hopefully there will be another trip there in my future.

 

[franandaj]

What a great find! When you said Bradley Ogden, I'd heard the name, I thnk he went on Iron Chef USA too. That meal looks awesome! Beats all the drive through and take out we ordered today. Sometimes I'm happier with my own cooking, but don't have the energy! Looking forward to the rest of your updates!

 

[franandaj]

Oh yeah, I forgot, route 154 is a great alternative if you are driving during the day! Back like 25 years ago when I young enough to camp we would stop in the campground along 154 on our way to my parents house...now that I'm an Old Fogie we stop at a hotel!

 

[tiggrbaby]

What a lovely day! You brought back memories of a family vaca in '79 when we stopped in that town.

 

[skier_pete]

Great pictures of the falls and the night sky! I think I am more impressed by those than the WoC pictures.

You are pretty unlikely to be attacked by a Mountain Lion, and in fact very unlikely to even see one...regardless of what the signs say.

Your meal looked especailly yummy. Truth be told, I have no idea who that chef is. While I enjoy the finer things - I enjoy the "Diners, Dives and Drive-In" style of eating more - especially when done right.

SP

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That town is so cute!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I am loving this whole TR I hope I can only do as well as you. You are the closet way I will see WOC. I love it. I love all the pics in solvang. Its been a long time since I was there. I will have to try the bakeries sometime. It is hard when you want to do so much and not enough time and exhaustion sets in. But there is always next time. Cant wait to read more.

It was probably all the food that we had on this trip...but we did look briefly into the bakeries at Solvang. NONE of us felt like snacking. I'll have some daytime shots of Solvang streets coming up shortly. I'm running out of bandwidth and will need to upload my pictures more slowly.

Hmm looks very tasty. I want a scoop of the banana split and you DH's entree in particular.

That banana split was fantastic. We got strawberry, chocolate and vanilla flavoured icecream in each little bowl. All bowls had banana and the marshmallow on top; but in the strawberry section, we had a berry compote; the chocolate had warm chocolate fudge and I forget what the vanilla came with. Each had nuts and other toasted delights. Really Yum. And I thought that the mushroom spinach pasta was lovely!

There will be a trip report LOL and I will track you down to let you know.

I'll probably be lurking....

I too love Solvang! When we lived in Southern California it was a traditional Mother's day weekend for my mom, my sister & me. waterfalls, shopping and relaxing and good food however I don't think that Root 246 was there the last time we were there. Hopefully there will be another trip there in my future.

It's a great little weekend spot. Wish I lived closer to enjoy it more often.

What a great find! When you said Bradley Ogden, I'd heard the name, I thnk he went on Iron Chef USA too. That meal looks awesome! Beats all the drive through and take out we ordered today. Sometimes I'm happier with my own cooking, but don't have the energy! Looking forward to the rest of your updates!

Well....you are close enough for the weekend trip....It just means no Disney!

Oh yeah, I forgot, route 154 is a great alternative if you are driving during the day! Back like 25 years ago when I young enough to camp we would stop in the campground along 154 on our way to my parents house...now that I'm an Old Fogie we stop at a hotel!

It is very pretty. I don't think I've taken this detour before. I usually drive up the 101.

What a lovely day! You brought back memories of a family vaca in '79 when we stopped in that town.

Hope the memories are good ones....

Great pictures of the falls and the night sky! I think I am more impressed by those than the WoC pictures.

You are pretty unlikely to be attacked by a Mountain Lion, and in fact very unlikely to even see one...regardless of what the signs say.

Your meal looked especailly yummy. Truth be told, I have no idea who that chef is. While I enjoy the finer things - I enjoy the "Diners, Dives and Drive-In" style of eating more - especially when done right.

SP

Thanks Pete. The rest of my vacay are all non-Disney; so I hope you enjoy them as much.

Yeah - I knew my chances of meeting wildlife at the falls will next to none; but poor DS didn't. He's a city boy through and through. So, this was one of the first times he's been out and about countryside where we've made him get out to walk. Plus he's at the age where he wants to learn and is taking a much more keen interest in the boards and signs. He just freaked (a little) when he realised that I was out there by myself.

BTW - I realised that I didn't answer your question about whether I felt like I was missing anything by taking pictures. It's funny - I didn't spend the entire time behind the lens; and figure it was about 30 or 40% of the time that I was looking down the lens. The rest of the time that I wasn't on the camera, I spent that time thinking about how to get a shot of that particular part of the show!

That town is so cute!

Wait till you see the daytime pictures! I might put that post up...rather than waiting till I have all the whole day's pictures loaded.. In fact, I think I will...soon.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Solvang Gardens – Continental Breakfast

This morning, there was NO alarm rudely waking us up as DH and I were officially on holiday. Always the eager beaver, I got up and ready before the boys had even begun to stir.

After checking in late last night, I had looked around the hotel’s gardens in the dark and I was keen to head out and work out what sort of day we had in store for our drive to Monterey.

The English garden at the back of the hotel turned out to be charming in the morning.

The quaint red brick is where they hold their massage treatments.

I’ll need to be back at some stage.

I made my way to the front gardens…

…to grab the promo shot for the hotel.

The front gardens were also equally as pretty.

By this stage, the boys had gotten up; so we made our way to the breakfast room. A continental breakfast was included in the tariff. Breakfast was nothing spectacular; but it was free.

We all looked at the Danish pastry on offer…

..but after the food we’d eaten for the last 3 days, we decided on a lighter meal.


DH and I settled on oatmeal…

I do my best….*sigh*…..but DS decided on the Froot Loops.

You’ll be pleased to note that I upped the nutrition value by making sure DS had a banana with his meal.

I also needed some external stimuli to kick-start my brain..

…before we packed up and drove the very short distance into town.

I did say breakfast was nothing spectacular...


(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Solvang by Morning


I had really wanted to push on out of town and head off up the coast. But DH had other ideas this morning.

We had last been in Solvang in either 1999 or 2000. DH wanted to find a shop in Solvang that sold Tiffany lamps. He specifically remembered a lamp that was shaped like a musical instrument and wanted to head back there to see if it is still available.

Yes, I know….but I know better.

It would probably be quicker to give him the time to look around town than try and reason with DH. Thankfully, Solvang isn’t really that big.

We passed by Root 246 and I was pleased to be able to take a shot of the building in the daytime.

We re-traced some of our steps from last night…

…only to find more windmills in town.

We stopped to admire some of the local features….

….and stumbled across the pretty little squares…

…all the while, DS came shuffling along.

We searched high and low, through various shops…

….by which stage, even DH was figuring out that we had a snowflake’s chance of finding the lamps.

We stopped to ask the locals if they knew the shop….

….some were frozen in surprise!

A few even gave us a glazed stare.

As we followed the breadcrumbs….er…pinecones…trail this morning…

…we sure took in the sights of busy, bustling Solvang.

Time was moving on…

…and finally even DS took a stand…

We all knew that DH was staring at blue skies…

So, we turned the corner and headed for the hills…

…and along the Road to…..


[Next Up – On the Road Again]

 

[usnuzuloose]

You know sometimes the simple breakfasts are just as good. I enjoy staying at places that have breakfast. I love all the pictures of solvang. Sometimes you go with the flow of what the better half wants and enjoy it. I cant wait to hear about what you did after our meet.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That town is just so adorable... I think my parents would really like to go there one day

 

[PrincessInOz]

You know sometimes the simple breakfasts are just as good. I enjoy staying at places that have breakfast. I love all the pictures of solvang. Sometimes you go with the flow of what the better half wants and enjoy it. I cant wait to hear about what you did after our meet.

I still have to get to our DisMeet.

That town is just so adorable... I think my parents would really like to go there one day

Your parents??? You're not implying anything about Old Fogies, are you???

 

[PrincessInOz]

Road to Pismo Beach – Chasing Wildlife

We’d spent a bit of time this morning exploring the town of Solvang. It was about 11 am when we finally left and headed down towards the coast.

I spent some time soaking in the pastures I could see from the window.

And managed to capture this icon for The King’s Highway – El Camino Real.

These Bells, hanging on the Franciscan Walking Stick, mark this historic road since 1906.

This royal road serves as the connection between the 21 Missions of California. The missions were originally set up approximately 30 miles apart, or a long day’s ride on horseback. The El Camino Real stretches all the way from lower California up into Sonoma County. It is one of the roads that I drive on when in Silicon Valley, when I wish to avoid the 101.

We kept driving along the 101 and our destination was not that far away.

Aside from Disney, I have a love of the outdoors and particularly love seeking out wild animals in their native habitats.

Today, I was chasing Monarch Butterflies at the Pismo Beach grove!

We were advised that at last count there were over 22,000 Monarch butterflies in Pismo feasting on Milkweed plants.

They sure look a lot like Australian Eucalyptus trees to me!
I reckoned there were about 20 or 30 Eucalypts in this patch and I guess that means that there are about 1000 butterflies per tree.

Turns out the milkweed are protected flora in the US because of their importance to the Monarch Butterfly migration; and after feeding; the gum trees are where the butterflies hang around. The ranger told us that it takes about 3 generations of butterflies to migrate all the way up north into Canada and only 1 generation to fly all the way down south into Mexico. We were also told that the Monarchs are one of the largest butterflies in the world with a wingspan of up to 4 inches.

Whilst we are all familiar with the distinctive orange and black striped wings on the upper side…

…the underside of the Monarch is a creamy yellow-white colour.

Beautiful!

We headed out of the grove and decided that as Pismo was only a little way down the road, a lunch stop was in order.

DS decided that he wanted to eat Nachos for lunch; and so we found this Mexican restaurant in town. It was also the first Mexican restaurant we saw.

Given where we had been dining so far, the décor could only be described as simplicity at best.

But we were here for the food; and I was happy to see that a few Hispanic looking families frequented the place. It’s a bit like picking a Chinese restaurant in a foreign Chinatown – always look for the restaurant with the most number of Chinese eating and it’s likely to be the best one in town.
Service was pretty prompt – you gotta love the complimentary corn chips and salsa that arrive the moment you sit down.

The salsa had a nice zing to it; so I was very optimistic that we could be in for a reasonable meal. We checked out the menu…

….and after placing our orders, we waited for our meal to arrive.

DS got his desired nachos.

Don’t be fooled by the picture….the meal was ENORMOUS!

DH and I had wisely decided to split the lobster enchilada…

…just as well; because our meal was equally as ginormous!

Yes, the food was good. I will be happy to stop by this way again.

I was a little dismayed to learn that DS had decided that he was going to make a major dent in the nachos. In the end it took him over an hour before he waved the white flag.

Still, I made the most of the opportunity. I knew that there was a beach and a Californian pier nearby….and convinced DH to stay with DS whilst I headed off for a bit of sun and surf.

I wasn’t the only one enjoying the day at Pismo Beach that day…

I went in search of my picture under the pier..

…and met the occasional stray person and dog walking…

…before I finally found the angles I’d been seeking.

I made my way back to the restaurant and it turns out the DH and DS had also decided to come out to play in the sand. I’m sure you’ll appreciate that it was such a lovely day that we all just wanted to mess about on the beach and enjoy the sunshine for a while.

It was close on 3 before we got back in the car. D’oh. Late. Again.

But we pushed on along the Road to….


(Continued in Next Post)