Well, it’s Monday, November 07, 2011 and we’ve now been in California since Saturday the 5th. From the moment we drove over the “border” we could tell we were in California. For one thing, there was variety! From the landscape to the fruit and vegetables available at the roadside stalls, you had choices. Not that you couldn’t find choices in other states, but most of the time you had to look for them rather than them being offered in the same place. Another thing we noticed was, of course, the roads suddenly became CROWDED. I wasn’t too sure how I felt upon seeing the Pacific ocean, and I’m still not. On the one hand it’s beautiful and feels like home, but on the other hand it means we are home which means the trip is drawing to a close. Well, what did I expect? I don’t know, to be honest. But more about that later. We spent our first night in California at the Goleta Holiday Inn. We couldn’t find an RV park in the area and our friend Julia Crookston lives in Santa Barbara and has an 8-month-old business in Goleta and we just couldn’t pass up the chance of seeing her. Cork has known Julia since 1984 and I’ve known her since ’98 and she’s GREAT. A chef by training, Julia decided to open a kitchen/café showcasing jams, preserves, granola etc., but primarily to be able to use her canning expertise. Anyhoose, she opened this little spot and it’s taken off like crazy. They serve sandwiches etc…, but even better, they have close to a 1300 square foot commercial kitchen. I’ve always been an armchair entrepreneur, hatching idea after idea of things to do, many of them centering around food, and this kitchen rocked. It wasn’t just the appliances, but the fact that there was enough space to actually keep things orderly. One of the things I always tell Lily when she heads into the kitchen is to “Set yourself up for success.” (she hates it when I do that) which means to get everything you need out and ready so that you’re not running around trying to find things in the middle of your recipe. The problem in our kitchen at home, and the RV, is that unless you’re making peanut butter and jelly, there’s not enough room to really do that. It was a dream kitchen…
We left Goleta and headed north to Pismo Beach by way of Solvang. Solvang is a little town constructed to replicate an old Danish town. It’s not really my thing, but I did love the groups of old men sitting around speaking Danish and smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. And the “Seen on TV” shop… and the giant sock monkey. I’m sure it’s not Danish, but there it was. CRAZY! After Solvang we headed west a few miles to Anderson’s, famous for their split pea soup, and had, wait for it, split pea soup, then off to Pismo Beach.
