Our California Adventure- Part 3 {Driscoll’s Berries, Santa Barbara, and Disneyland!}
I was planning for this to be the conclusion of this epic series I’m calling Our California Adventure, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. It feels like I’ve been sorting through pics since my last post and I’m still not showing you all the ones I wish I could!
It’s Day 6 of this adventure, on which we left Ragged Point and continued south on the Pacific Coast Highway. We decided to try the Cavalier Restaurant in San Simeon for breakfast and it turned out to be a jewel right on the ocean. Great food and very friendly staff! It gets my seal of approval.
And the beautiful views continued as we passed Morro Bay and more of the coast…
And, of course, the trip would not have been complete without a trip to In-N-Out Burger! Fun times.
It was amazing to see that they carry with them the very clamshell packages that end up in our grocery stores across the country, filling them by the box, and then by the flat, their eyes trained to know just when the berries are ready to be picked. Many of the workers have been at their job for years and they can pick up to 20 flats per hour!
The manager gave us a quick lesson on picking, showing us how to flip the strawberries 180º to get them to snap off the vine.
Never have we tasted better berries in our lives.
We had so much fun with that, our new friend the berry man offered to drive us a few miles down the road to see the raspberries as well. These are grown separately from the strawberries, under canopies, to prevent the winds from blowing away the bees which are necessary for the raspberries to be pollenated properly.
Unlike the strawberries, the raspberries only require a simple tug downward to be freed from the vine.
They were absolutely beautiful, but the taste– amazing!
So, with as many berries as we could eat, we headed on our way to Santa Barbara. On our way, we drove through the little Danish town of Solvang. We only had time to get a glimpse as we drove through, but it’s definitely worth noting if you are planning a trip down the Pacific Coast.
Our destination for the night was Santa Barbara and the Pacifica Suites hotel. Great hotel for families or couples! Check out their website here.
We ate at a very friendly pizzeria which had recently opened in the area.
Twelve-inch pizzas are made to order with whatever toppings you can imagine, created before you and then cooked in the wood-fired ovens at the end of the line.
Persona Neapolitan Pizzeria— visit their site and visit them in person in Santa Barbara. Yum.
And speaking of yum, one of the best perks about the Pacifica Suites was the cooked-to-order breakfast on the terrace. You’ll love it too!
And this was the start of a very exciting day–the day we would drive to Disneyland. Some would call this anti-climatic compared to all we had seen and done on our trip at this point, but if you’re a regular around here, you know we’re kinda crazy about Disney World, so we were excited to see Disneyland for the first time.
And in true Disney fashion, the Disneyland Hotel was the typical never-just-typical.
We had the perfect view of the resort pool…
And the view inside was just as magical…
Dinner that night was at the fun and fabulous Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney, which was just steps from our room. Visit their site for more photos and info.
And the next morning, we started out bright and early at Disney’s California Adventure park.
And then there was more fun waiting for us at the Disneyland park…
It was dreamy. And although I could write several Disney posts on this alone (and I have in the past as some of you know), I’ll stop there and give us all a break.
I thought maybe I could fit in the rest of our trip in this one post, but I just can’t. I’ll be back soon with the conclusion and tell you about our last day in California and who and what we saw in Los Angeles!
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July 1, 2013 @ 6:34 pm
I read every word and enjoyed every picture, Julie. I am so glad that you can do this with your kids at this age…they grow so fast. What a wonderful vacation you had. LOVE DisneyWorld AND Disneyland. I can tell you had a BALL! xo Diana
July 2, 2013 @ 1:17 am
What a blast! I have really enjoyed your re-cap of your trip…its fun to see other peoples vacations and what was fun and interesting and what wasnt. (though it sounds like there wasnt much of that going on!)
can't wait for the conclusion!