From SF to LA- on the road again

I love roadtrips! My family and me, we did some in the USA and also in Canada and those were the most fun vacations so far. Now, a friend of mine and her brother were invited on a wedding in December in Oregon. So we planned a few weeks ago already to rent a car and drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles, since it was a huge coincidence that the three of us were in almost the same place at the same time. Let me sum up the last days:

On Saturday, 29th of December, we met and picked up the car from “Avis” in San Francisco, which we booked a few days before that date. Initially, the plan was to have two drivers but unfortunately this agency would only allow one driver, who is under the age of 25. With the car, we headed to our first stop: Santa Cruz. There we spent some time walking around the Pier and getting used to the wonderful warm weather. It is really hard to keep the Christmas Spirit up here or to even remember that it is December- it felt like we were on a summer holiday. Afterwards, we drove to Monterey, where we spent the first night in “Motel 6”. We checked in and went to have dinner close to the beach, where we also went for a little walk until it got dark. I tried to remember the California road trip I did with my family in 2014,  because we almost took the same route back then, but everything looked different. The only thing I could remember was the 17-mile-drive in Monterey, which we did on the next day- at least half of it. We were in a bit of a hurry, so we did not stop at every point. We left the little city and took the famous Highway 1 to Pismo Beach, our next destination. This highway leads through a beautiful state park, passes the mountain Big Sur and offers a great view over the Pacific Ocean, since you drive along the coast the whole time. To be honest, some spots on that road were prettier than the Amalfi Coast in Italy…
Before arriving in Pismo Beach, we wanted to see the Hearst Castle but we only made it to the Visitor Center because we did not know that you would have to take a shuttle up to the castle. Plus, they closed really soon, so we would not have the chance to do it anyway. At the hotel in Pismo Beach (“The Quality Inn”), the parking lot was really dark and there was a long line of people standing in front of the reception, so we were a little bit confused until we knew what was going on: they had a power outage. Fortunately, the man could manage to check us in and give us a room, but there was nothing we could do, so we drove a few minutes to the next Walmart, since my friends wanted to see this huge store for once. We spent an hour there before going back to the hotel. They told us it would take about three hours until the power would be back. That meant, we went to bed pretty early, after taking a shower in the dark with only the flashlight on my cell phone. On the next day, it was really cold in the room because of the outage the heater did not work either, but at least the breakfast, which was included, was delicious!! We packed some things for the upcoming ride and made our way to the Oceano Dunes, where we took a lot of funny pictures. It is a great place to relax and enjoy the ocean and nature. We did not want to leave so soon, but we had to drive to Santa Barbara (crossing Malibu) in order to arrive in L.A. that day. Unfortunately, we had to bring the car back to LAX at 6pm on the 31st of December, so we only spent less than one hour in Santa Barbara before driving to the Airbnb we rent in Venice Beach. We brought our stuff to this great apartment and went to the airport. We returned the car, got the money for the navigation system back, since it did not work properly the whole time and took an Uber back to Venice Beach, where we did some grocery-shopping for the next few days we would stay here and also for New Year’s Eve. I do not really celebrate it, because in my opinion, there is nothing special about that day, which was why we did not go to a club or a party. We stayed in our flat and watched TV, drank beer and champagne and 15 minutes before midnight, we went up to the roof (which was actually forbidden). Up there, I expected to see a lot of fireworks around us, but there were only three or four, which was very disappointing. And a few minutes after midnight, the whole fuss about the New Year was over and we went to bed around 2.30am.

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On the next two days, we explored the surrounding area: We took a Uber to Venice Beach and strolled around there. Before watching the sunset, we also went to see the Venice Canals. It is a nice little city but without a car, it is really heavy to get around here. There are bus stations, but I only saw a few busses stopping there, which is why we always took a Uber. I did not know how great and easy Uber it, but I am fascinated by it. One thing you have to do in the US is eating at “In-n-Out Burger”. We did this, although there were so many people in line for dinner, but it was totally worth it. I would say this Fastfood-chain is one of the best in America.
Another time, we took a Uber to Santa Monica, where we walked around the beach again, onto the Pier with a theme park just like in some movies and to downtown, where we did some shopping. Afterwards, we went to “Bubba Gump”- FINALLY!!! I wanted to go this restaurant in San Francisco already but the waiting time was simply too long. And now we made a reservation in the morning, so we would not have to wait. I love this place and it has been some years now since I have been there for the first and the last time in Hawai’i. It is known from the movie “Forrest Gump” and among the locations of it in the US, there is only one in Europe- in London to be precise. It should be on everyone’s bucket list!

Just now, we made ourselves a dinner and are watching Netflix. We will either pack our things today or tomorrow morning, because we will move to another apartment in the city. I am really excited about that!
And the best day is yet to come, so stay tuned for it!