Over the weekend, two of my close girlfriends and I road tripped to Santa Barbara!  One of those friends is moving to Houston around Thanksgiving time, so this was our last hurrah together before she leaves.

We started our journey bright and early on Saturday morning.  By 7:45 we were all loaded in the car, coffee in hand, and on the road.  We took Hwy 101 south to Salinas, where we cut over to Hwy 1.  Hwy 1 is definitely the long way to go, but is by far more scenic.  If you ever have the chance of driving the California coast, I highly recommend taking the trip down or up Hwy 1.

Our first scenic stop was at the Rocky Creek Bridge, a historic bridge built in 1932.  It is located just a little south of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

For lunch, we stopped at a place in Morro Bay that’s a health food store up front with a small cafe in the back.

Sunshine Health Foods is located at 415 Morro Bay Blvd, Morro Bay, CA 93442-2143.  It seems that they do not have a website, but if you’re ever in the area plan to have lunch here.  The food was SPECTACULAR!

I had the black bean taco.  Midge had the tempeh taco, which was a mix of quinoa and finely chopped or shredded quinoa.  Champers had the black bean tostada.  All three dishes were so delicious… maybe even the best thing we ate all weekend, and we ate our share of yummy food.

After more driving and a few stops later, we made it to Los Olivos.  Several scenes from the movie Sideways were filmed here and Neverland Ranch (the former home of Michael Jackson) is about 5 miles north.  Our sole purpose for stopping here was to see Neverland and boy was I excited!  When we first pulled up, we were the only car there and Midge was afraid that security would run out and chase us off.  But they didn’t.  And more cars showed up while we were there.

You really don’t see much from the front gate, except the front gate.  If you were really enthusiastic about seeing where Michael Jackson lived, you should probably charter a helicopter to fly overhead.

Neverland Ranch is located at:

5225 Figueroa Mountain Rd

Los Olivos, CA 93441

A little more driving and we arrived in Santa Barbara!

We headed straight for the place that we were staying.  Instead of a hotel, we opted to stay at a little rental property, which was located in the back of the owner’s house.  It was not what I expected.  Here’s a YouTube video of the property:

It was nice.  The landscaping in the yard was nothing like what is featured in the video.  My main problem with this place was the lack of cleaning that took place before we arrived.  There was dog hair all over the area rug and cobwebs and spiders throughout.  On a positive note, it was close to everything:  the beach, downtown and Lazy Acres (my new absolute favorite grocery store… I wish we had one here).

After settling in, our first stop was the beach, where we were lucky enough to spot some dolphins way out in the water.

After a long and relaxing walk, it was time to get ready for dinner at Spiritland Bistro, on the Corner of Victoria & Garden St.  Midge and I had the Raw lasagna, which was really tasty and Champers had the salmon.  For dessert, I had the Raw lime mousse… delicious!

On Sunday, we hit Lazy Acres for some snacks and other supplies.

Lazy Acres is located at 302 Meigs Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93109.  They have the most amazing organic juice and smoothie bar.  In fact, juice and smoothie bars abound in Santa Barbara, which I’m pretty jealous about.  Raw and vegan food is very easily found.  I wish that were the case here.

I had the veggie feast, a combination of 10 veggies.  I had mine with apple instead of garlic.  So good.  In fact, before we left town on Monday, I went back for a 32 ouncer to drink on the way home.

On Sunday night, we had snacks back at our place and watched some movies with the fire going.  It was a super relaxing weekend!