Scuba diving was more tiring than what we had expected. H and I slept till noon before we headed back to the Bay Area. Despite the late start, we felt we could drive at a leisure pace and get back to Bay Area at a reasonable time.
Our first stop was unscheduled. Hunger struck and we detoured to downtown Santa Barbara, looking for a place for lunch. I spotted a Left At Albuquerque and we sat down for a meal of Gulf Coast seafood enchiladas and chicken mango quesadilla with soup.
Our planned detour was Solvang. Located about an hour northwest of Santa Barbara off Hwy 154, Solvang is a Danish town. The downtown area are filled with European architecture building. We stopped by a candle shop, then walked over to the Hans Christian Anderson Museum, which also housed a coffee shop and a bookstore. I had wanted to tried some Danish pastries, and the lady at the coffee shop directed me to Solvang bakery. We tried some pastries, but were not impressed.
We walked around the downtown area more. There was an interesting doll house store, a Christmas store and a Thomas Kinkade gallery. We stopped by Kinkade's gallery so I could explain to H about "The painter of lights".
After a fairly pleasant stay in Solvang, we continued on our way until we reach San Luis Obispo where we stopped by Madonna Inn. We had seen this building on our way to Ventura and had wanted to visit on our way back.
Madonna inn is located by Hwy 101. We drove around the compound a little and the hotel to have less rooms than we had thought. We also found the building a little run down. Then we went to the lobby to check out the rates.
That's when we realized what Madonna Inn was all about. Each room was individually decorated around a different theme. The most unique room had to be the Caveman room. This room had an all rock interior, including the ceiling and the floor. The bathroom had rock walls and a rock covered shower area. The lobby sold post cards of each room, and there was a book describing the story behind Madonna Inn.
H and I also visited the restaurant. The dining hall was decorated with hot pink table cloth, booth seats and roses. It was too tacky for the both of us.
We continued on a uneventful drive back to the bay area. Normally, when we made out trip south, we took Hwy 5. This was our first trip on 101 and we found the drive pleasant and interesting.
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