Travelogue: Central California - San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara

 

Even though Spring has sprung in Colorado, a week-long trip to central California was an absolute horticultural extravaganza. I've been to both northern and southern California many times, but never really to the central coast. A good friend lives just south of San Luis Obispo (SLO to the locals), and her pictures over the years of her year-round garden, hikes on the beach, and drives through the vineyards finally convinced me to visit her!

Nancy never has to buy flowers from the market!

We stayed four nights in SLO--a friendly college town (Cal Poly) filled with great restaurants, too many coffee shops to count, a few bookstores, and an awesome Thursday night Farmer's Market, which is held year-round, every Thursday that isn't a major holiday. We're talking music, food vendors, and the most amazing produce--gorgeous strawberries, as well as artichokes, asparagus, onions, etc., and tons of flowers, succulents, and jars of honey, preserves, and pickled everything. It was amazing...and in early May!

We visited the beach towns of Morro Bay and Pismo Beach and then took a day drip north to Paso Robles to walk around their lovely town plaza. 

Pride of Maderia - my new favorite flower

After a great visit in the SLO area, we headed south to Santa Barbara, stopping for lunch in the Danish-inspired town of Solvang. Really enjoyed driving through the Hans Christian Anderson park, filled with enticing hiking trails and shady picnic spots.

Typical building in Solvang

I absolutely fell in love with Santa Barbara. Right on the beach, the city must have a super-strict building code because everything works together beautifully--the white stucco with red roofs, the vibrant street art, flowers everywhere. Even the airport is decorated with painted tiles--one of the prettiest airports I've ever seen, actually. And the Santa Ynez mountains form a perfect backdrop to this pretty little city.

We stayed at the funkiest hotel ever in SB. The decor was eclectic, ranging from Regency to Renaissance to Art Deco to Ancient Rome--there were pictures, bric-a-brac, statues, busts, vases, you name it, covering every inch of space, but it was so comfortable and only half a block from the beach.

Guard lions at the Villa Rosa pool.

Fun Fact: my husband and I are big fans of the show Psych, which is set in Santa Barbara. However, it was actually taped in Vancouver, which is more set up for TV show taping than is SB. I read that the show's creator visited SB on his honeymoon, and the whole show is practically a love song to SB. I get that. The show captured the SB vibe perfectly.

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