Day 23: Off to Santa Barbara

From today on there will be no more nature shots, which is a shame because I liked that the most in the USA by far.

The day started a bit strange. Waking up in the Days Inn Hotel in Morro Bay was somehow eerie. The hotel breakfast was not acceptable as a tourist and the internet at the lobby was just as bad. We spontaneously decided to go to the Starbucks in Morro Bay. Haha, good joke, because that was a stand in a supermarket. The whole town in the morning was also eerie. So we decided to check out and drive to the next bigger town (Pismo Beach) to have a relaxed breakfast there. When we arrived, we had to wait briefly on the waiting list because it was Sunday at 10 o'clock. On Sundays, whole families go out for breakfast here, as if they don't have a kitchen at home. After we were full, the sun also came out, just as I had asked it to in the car before. We didn't finish our food because that is not possible in the USA under any circumstances. We took a quick look at Pismo Beach. Yeah, it was okay but didn't invite for a longer stay. So we continued our journey towards Solvang, a small village that somehow looks like Denmark. On the way there, Uli said to me in the car that I need a vacation. Hm? I think 4 weeks in a row is a bit too short. There was also lively hustle and bustle here, there were Danish bakeries and windmills on every corner. Here, the American spirit was alive again. We were approached several times by strangers who engaged us in small talk, or rather me. I briefly thought about having a T-shirt printed for the next USA trip with 'Please don't talk to me. I'm shy' but I'm afraid that would have the opposite effect.

We strolled through Solvang, drank iced coffee, and then headed to Santa Barbara. After a short check-in and a little break, we drove to a parking garage downtown - and then we walked, walked, walked, etc... I haven't understood this concept yet. Walking on the shopping mile reminded me a bit of Beverly Hills 90210, only that you walk instead of driving in expensive convertibles. But I found it quite uncomfortable and quite far. When the shopping street was finally over, we had to walk through a tunnel and a bit of nothingness until we stood in front of the Santa Barbara Pier. More cars drove onto the pier than pedestrians, and after the parking lot, there were 3 big houses that were restaurants and an ice cream parlor. I already knew that cars are allowed on the pier but it still seems surreal to me. Since there was nothing nice for us on the pier, we continued our long walk to the harbor. Our mother recommended a restaurant to us here. There were plenty of boats at the harbor, and even more and more of them. However, this harbor did not have a special charm, and there were hardly any tourists to be found here. If we hadn't received the restaurant recommendation, we probably wouldn't have walked any further. But now we had arrived at the end of the harbor and climbed the steps up to the pretty restaurant, allegedly having to wait for 25 minutes and receiving a pager, which, however, buzzed after less than 10 minutes. So we climbed the stairs again and were led to the balcony where, according to our mother, we were supposed to sit. The view was really very, very pretty. The corridor was very narrow but there were people standing next to us, eating something. Again, quite spooky and interesting. The food wasn't as expensive as the previous 2 days and even tasted better. Despite the beautiful view, it wasn't particularly cozy due to the noise but that's not the goal here either. Afterwards, we wanted to walk back to the pier and then take the downtown shuttle to the parking garage. Think again, because it only runs until 6 p.m.! So we walked, and funny enough, the path didn't seem so long anymore. Only our feet were burning and the smartphone with the fruit announced 21,000 steps - how un-American! So let's go back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we'll go to the last vacation spot where we'll stay for another 2 days - Santa Monica. The LAST one - can you believe it?

By now, I can't stand these things anymore: American food, hotels, suitcases, and chlorinated water. But we'll still enjoy the last 2 full days.