Oxnard, Oprah, and Olalliberries?

So the past 48 hours found us going from Palm Springs to Channel Islands to Ventura to Santa Barbara to Cambria, and watching the temperature dip from 110 to 65.  We left Palm Springs Friday morning, after one final brunch and a farewell drive (with the top down and sunscreen on) through the desert heat.  By the time we were halfway to the coast, the temperature had already dropped to the upper 70's.

Lots of windmills spin farewell as you head out of Palm Springs

Since we were hitting the Santa Barbara area on a Friday night, the hotels we researched had been either booked or incredibly expensive.  Therefore, we had opted to break up our PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) adventure by staying one night near Oxnard (which is, apparently, the Filipino capital of America - LA Times article if you're interested :)) and the second night in Cambria.  This enabled us to save some money, split up the drive to allow for fewer hours in the car each day and maximize our exploration of California.  Sure enough, I could never  have imagined the Oxnard/Channel Island area of California - a naval base with a thriving Filipino population, nor would I have guessed that much of CA 1, which often doubles as CA 101, does not hug the Pacific Ocean.  However, those stretches are equally stunning and majestic, with mountains (and horses and cows, and, once, a deer) all around. 

The Pacific Coast Highway? Yup :)

The view from our Channel Islands/Oxnard hotel

 After arriving at our hotel, we quickly hopped back into the car to head to Ventura for dinner. Santa Barbara's quiet southern neighbor, this is a lovely town on the ocean. The next morning (today - well, yesterday, since I'm writing this at 1:00 AM while the family sleeps after yet another game of Shangai) we headed to Santa Barbara to spend the day sightseeing in that wonderful city. Before exploring Santa Barbara, we decided to take a drive through Montecito, the area where Oprah Winfrey supposedly owns a 45 acre estate and other notables such as Al Gore, Joss Whedon, Drew Barrymore and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss each own a residence. What a breathtaking neighbohood that is (and nobody is selling maps of the stars' homes to provide a moment's disturbance to your privacy!) Santa Barbara is a lovely place to shop and dine, so we spent hours just walking up and down State Street, popping into the stores and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Around 4:00 PM, we headed to Cambria, our stop for the night. Since Dana was insistent that we stay on CA1 whenever possible (his Father's Day present ;), even when the GPS suggested otherwise, our trip took a bit longer than expected, but, as the adage says, "it's about the journey not the destination," so we enjoyed whatever the PCH had to offer us (even when there was no P to be found for miles). In the end, we arrived at our perfect inn - Sand Pebbles - which more than made up for our Pacific craving. 

Cambria - our stop between Santa Barbara and Monterey

After enjoying the beach for nearly an hour, we headed off to a late dinner in downtown Cambria and discovered - and quickly became addicted to - Olalliberries.  Have you ever had an Olalliberry?  Initially created in Oregon, this blackberry/rasberry hybrid apparently grows even better in California, which is why we'd never heard of it, let alone eaten it, before tonight.  I hope none of us has an allergy, as we ate Olalliberry jam (with the bread brought to the table), Olalliberry lemonade (Maddie) and hot tea (Daniel) and a dessert sampler which included Olalliberry pie and an Olalliberry cream cake.  Then, in an Olalliberry induced state of rapture, we retuned to the inn to close the third night in a row with a game of Shanghai (the boys keep winning, but this time I stole the 4th spot from Maddie!)

Olaliberries - saying it is almost as fun as eating them :)

Tomorrow we're off to the Hearst Castle, then to Monterey, for our final three nights.  We will also get to travel one of the more  spectacular stretches of the PCH (including, of course, Big Sur), this time with plenty of Pacific Ocean to earn the historic highway its name.  With a semi-permanent address to call home for the next three nights, I should be able to post more regular blog entries.  Steinbeck country beckons!  Until tomorrow....