Hotel California

We've been enjoying the idiosyncrasies of the little motels we:ve been staying in this trip. Even the name brand hotels each have their own flavor. Our Woodland Hills Knights Inn was run by 2 older men of indeterminate ethnicity who said almost nothing but smiled incessantly. In San Luis Obispo we lucked out and got a huge room, because all the smaller downstairs rooms had been taken by a traveling baseball team. The owner was extremely helpful, talkative and knew everything about his town and the way to Hearst Castle. Last night we were at a tiny little Mom n Pop motel outside Monterey that was sandwiched between a CostCo and some auto repair shops. It was neat and clean, and the owner was also very helpful, but we had the Leaning Tower of Minifridge.

After a minimal breakfast we headed across the road to the Sand Dunes (They call it Sand City) and enjoyed the great views.

Sam and Sarah wanted to climb the dunes so they headed up the first one we saw. It turned out it was steeper than it looked, but they made it to the top to pose.

Our next stop was Monterey itself, which is an old fishing and canning village transformed into a tourist attraction. The present town looks nothing like what is described in John Steinbeck's novel .

We drove through and north to the tip of the peninsula. Here, the dunes give way to rocky hills. Sarah and Sam climbed out and up. The water was even colder here than in Malibu a few days ago. At least the sun came out!

Next we headed to Hollister CA to see where all the t-shirts and sweatshirts teenagers wear come from. We got stuck in some bad traffic on CA 101 and decided to take an alternate route through some back roads which turned out to be very scenic. Lots of agriculture fields of broccoli, artichokes, garlic, red and green leaf lettuce, cabbage, cherries, and peaches being picked by migrant workers along the way.

Finally we made it to Hollister.

We had lunch at the "Best of Times" cafe. Everything was homemade and delicious. There was a Farmer's Market going on in the streets

with great produce and other stuff,

so we bought some peaches, pomegranate juice for Sarah, local honey,

some baked goods and Mexican Churros. I even managed to get Hollister on my back!

 We drove the last leg of the trip through the Silicon Valley and lots of rush hour traffic. We got a pleasant surprise when our room was upgraded to a nice sized suite with a full kitchen. We're here for 5 days so it's a great deal for us. We did some errands and got some New York pizza (a lot closer than in LA) and everyone's off to bed. Tomorrow we'll begin exploring SF and the surrounding areas. Reply, please!