Thank you Casa Del Mar Inn for a king-sized sleep in a quaint little cabin with an excellent shower and fabulous continental breakfast.
Casa Del Mar Inn
We decide to explore the heritage of Santa Barbara and find ourselves at the Old Santa Barbara Mission. It was the tenth mission to be established by the Spanish Franciscans who basically built it to bring Christrianity to the Churmash Indians. The Mission itself has been built and rebuilt four times due to upgrades and also being destroyed by an earthquake in 1812.
We take a stroll around the Mission and grounds enjoying the Spanish inspired architecture, however Raelene has to duck through the doorways as obviously the monks were a lot shorter than we are today.
Santa Barbara Mission Hallways
Mission Gardens
Mission Cemetary
Random Cactus
Santa Barbara Mission – Front View
After spending about an hour we hit the road in search of the famous Pacific Coast drive towards The Big Sur and Monterey.
Along the way we decided to stop for lunch so we take a random freeway exit and find ourselves pulling into Los Alamos which apparently was a prospering and popular stagecoach stop from 1861–1901. The Union Hotel opened in 1880 to serve overnight travelers and has been rebuilt following being destroyed by fire.
Union Hotel – Los Alamos
Union Hotel – Los Alamos
Perhaps we should have done some research on the route but we trusted our Tom Tom (who obviously didn’t get the memo) … the road is closed between Ragged Point and Carmel due to the road being damaged in February 2017 and is washed out in sections.
San Simeon – North Coast
San Simeon – North Coast
Road Block – Ragged Point
Not to be deterred we grab a really, really bad cup of coffee and head back the way we came and head towards Monterey via an alternative route (2 hours) longer than intended. We find a hotel in Monterey and don’t even bother about dinner … we are too tired and we go straight to bed.
The Crimson Koalas 