Ahh California

You could travel the world But nothing comes close To the Golden Coast Once you party with us You'll be falling in love

We're in California and like Katy Perry, nothing comes close to the sunny warm coast of California :-) For us, it's such a wonderful welcome, the sun I mean ;) Coming from the east, when we had some of the coldest nights (minus 10C), the warmth of +19C of Santa Barbara was SUPER!

We had taken a short detour after leaving Vegas as we wanted to visit the Hoover Dam. It was crowded and traffic was bad so the anticipated 45 minutes drive turned out to be close to 1.5 hours. Plus the 2 hours of walking around, it was close to 4pm when we finally started our drive heading to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara wasn't in the plan but our accommodation in LA wasn't available until 28th so we had to figure out where to go on 27th and we decided on Santa Barbara as it's in the same direction as LA. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the quaint beach town is such a beautiful place :)

Most places were full when we arrived late in the evening to Santa Barbara and the kind lady at one of the inns we inquired helped us find a room at Mason Beach Inn. Upon checking in, we were recommended to visit Roy's in downtown for dinner. Food was great - I had grilled chicken while blue eyes had pork :) The portion was not the typical American meals that we had, which was huge, and we each had a glass of wine to wind down the hectic day.

The next morning, we woke up late and missed breakfast so we decided to have brunch at the seaside. We found East Beach Grill on Google and thought the location was perfect. Unfortunately it turned out to be a cafe-like place, which you have to queue to order and food was just not as tantalizing as I'd imagine it to be. We took a stroll along the beach, which led us to Stearn's Wharf, a touristy area with restaurants and gift shops. We took a break to have some drinks (beer & Coke) while basking in the sun and enjoying the gorgeous view from the jetty. Lots of people around and the restaurants were mostly full. There were also quite a number of people fishing. PK saw one man catching some star fish :)

After the relaxing break, we decided it's time to leave as we wanted to drive while there's still some daylight so that we can watch the scenery along the way. The drive to LA was picturesque since the journey passes the coastline.

And we're happy to discover that the flat we rented in LA is as described on Airbnb website - homey and well equipped. On top of that, it's much bigger than we expected and we're thankful for the extra space. So far, California has been a great experience :)