Tuesday, 5th
August
(Los Angeles)
Camarillo Outlet
Today a long leg of our trip awaits us. We want
to leave LA and reach Morro Bay driving along the California's
coastline. Morro Bay is not very far, almost at the midpoint between
LA and San Francisco, and we can spend all the morning for a last
"shop till you drop" at the Camarillo Outlet,
just outside LA.
When I say "just outside" I'm referring to LA's standards.
So we get to the outlet when it's 10.30 a.m.
The next four hours are enough to melt our credit cards but our
purchases are really great for both quality and price. I "rob"
the Nike shop and the Levi's too. Magda enjoys more traditional
shopping but she tries hard too.
We eat at the outlet's Subway and leave
feeling loaded with food and shopping.
Morro Bay
We soon reach the coast driving on the CA-101 enjoying the beautiful
views while the highway runs along the coast a bit close here
and a bit farther there.
We also pass through Santa Barbara where
we just stop to fill up with gas. We would have liked to stay
longer on the California's coast but we decided to use our time
differently and we have no regrets. We'll have a chance next time.
The CA-101 leads us to Morro Bay where
we arrive at about 6 p.m.
We stay at the Motel6 that we reserved
from Page when we decided to review our last part of the trip's
schedule. Unfortunately smokers-only rooms are available but is
not a big problem since the smell of lingering cigarette smoke
can hardly be smelled. Today, for the first time from the beginning
of our trip, we have to unload everything we have in our car and
pack our luggage for tomorrow's departure.
Before straightening everything out, we visit Morro Bay's center.
The main street, the Embarcadero, follows
the bay where the town is. There are many interesting little shops
and the view itself is very nice. In particular, the big sea stack
is very photogenic. The colors are so particular that when we
develop our photos, they look like black and white ones.
We walk all along the Embarcadero and back. We eat in a little
restaurant where we enjoy the great fish and the beautiful sunset
that colors the bay red. Both Magda's salmon and my hamburger
are very good and we get back to our motel satisfied of the dinner.
Before sleeping we need about an hour to clean up and get things
ordered. Finally everything is ready for tomorrow's last leg of
our trip.
Wednesday, 6th
August
CA-1
At about 7 a.m. we're already awake. While Magda fixes breakfast
I load all our luggage into the car. We eat quickly and we start
our trip to San Francisco. We'd like to be at the airport at 8
p.m. to have enough time to get through all last formalities without
being in a hurry. Our flight departs at 11.55 p.m.
After leaving Morro Bay we can finally get to the famous CA-1,
one of the most famous American scenic byway. I don't exaggerate
when I say that, along the 130 miles of CA-1, we probably stopped
about twenty times. Just after each curve there's a new view.
Even though I don't really love the sea, I must admit that I did
love this part of the coast.
I specially liked the Big Sur, one of
the most savage parts of the California's coast. Here some landscapes
leave you astonished. It's hard to imagine another place where
earth, sea an sky can meet with such harmony and inspire awesomeness
at the same time.
At about noon we arrive to Carmel where
we eat lunch at the Pizza Factory (13$).
At the city's visitor center we get all the last information we
need. The next two hours are spent driving on the 17-Miles
Drive, a road that follows some of the Monterey's
coast. We heard that this road should have been a kind of 17 heavenly-looking
miles. Nevertheless we don't really like it. The road passes through
a residential area for the rich with lots of golf fields and not
much nature still intact. Only the very last part is a what we
expected but then, we still have in our minds the amazing Big
Sur.
San Francisco
We leave Monterey at about 3.30 p.m and we're are almost at the
end of our trip. The last part is pretty slow due to traffic but
we anyway get to San Francisco with enough time to buy come last
things in downtown. I want to check the official Rand McNally
shop and we also find some time for a last coffee at Starbucks.
The car has to be filled up before giving it back to Alamo.
I don't know why but I imagined that returning a car was quite
different from what we discovered. It's much easier than I would
have supposed. When you arrive at the airport, signs tell you
the direction to follow to get to your car rental company. Once
we get to a huge multi-level parking lot, we park our car in a
long line of returned cars. A man (doesn't look different from
any car park attendant) quickly checks the car and prints out
a receipt. We have nothing else to do than to greet him and leave.
An elevator and a shuttle leads us to the right terminal. We then
wait for our airplane to Chicago, and then the one to Rome.
Our holidays are over. It has been surely the best trip of our
life and, flying back, we already start talking of next year on
the road.
The end
)
