and the Destination was...

So you know that Mr. R was taking me away for my Birthday last weekend, but none of us knew exactly where to, not even me, not even as we headed North along California's 101 Freeway. Darling Mr R had a horrible headache so he asked me to drive and only told me head toward Santa Barbara as he nodded off to sleep. The possibilities narrowed only slightly and my head swam as I sped up the freeway.

Closing in on Santa Barbara, I woke Mr. R and feeling better, he took over the driving. We made a pit stop in the adorable town of Solvang, CA which is modeled after a Dutch village. We stretched our legs and browsed the bakeries and shops. I was quite surprised to find this among the cuckoo clocks, marzipan, other other European themed beer steins:

(this photo was taken with a certain Prairie Princess in mind)

After a fantastic dinner, we climbed back in the car as this was not our ultimate destination. Following a brief (not that brief) detour in an attempt to drive along the coast as the sun set we were somewhat back on track. Note: I am usually the navigator with my superb powers of direction and map reading abilities, but since I did not know where we were going Mr R had to make due.

Later that evening we reached...San Simeon a tiny town along California's Central coast. This area has beautiful coastline, gorgeous hillside views, and is the site of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst's Hearst Castle.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we visited the castle.

Next we saw the elephant seals coming in for their yearly trip to the area to shead their fur for the summer. By this time, even though the day was still beautiful, we were freezing as it was a lot colder further North and along the coast than L.A.'s 108 degrees! I didn't pack anything except cute strappy sun dresses so it was too cold to pose for any more photos.



The rest of the weekend we spent wine tasting, tinkering around the area, and relaxing. I thought it was a wonderful weekend; however, Mr. R was a little disappointed because he didn't think it lived up to our past getaways. He says he is going to do better next year, but it was just what I needed.



I am such a lucky girl!