Day 6 – California Highway 1 – better known as the Pacific Coast Highway

Some of California’s finest views: rocky sea cliffs, roaring surf, sandy coves, wildlife, historic towns - and Keanan Thayer regurgitating, burping and sleeping for most of it.

Our day began in Buellton with a coffee and Thayer’s first spew before we hit Highway 1. We stopped at Hearst Castle built by the famous media mogul William Hearst in the early 1900’s. The castle/ranch is the second biggest private property in the US. Hearst wasn’t what you would call an introvert, the gregarious old chap actually fitted 22 carat gold to his pool tiles. One of our companions on the tour, a lovely 16 year old boy asked many a fine question and provided loads of laughs for us later when trying to re-create his accent and the five mentions of ‘ummmmm’ ‘like’ and ‘totally awesome’ that preceded every sentence.

Elephant seals, feral squirrels and enormous seagulls that would have been much cooler if they were the condors we hoped to see made up all the wildlife seen on the drive, but this didn’t matter as the scenery alone was like, ummm, totally awesome.

The drive which took four hours included about 10 stops at different townships in search of the elusive North American bread roll. Malena had all but given up on life itself, repeating over and over “just find me a McDonalds Jon”, before Jon Buchanan came through with the goods.

A giant billboard of Kenny Loggins was a sign of things to come as Malena took the wheel for the first time and the team headed into the ‘danger zone’ that is San Fran.

Once we checked in, we headed out for dinner in China Town. We reached House of Nanking seven minutes before closing but they let us in (we are loving Californian service). Our lovely Chinese host  decided she would order for us and the food hit the table within 2.5 minutes (literally).The food was fantastic and before we knew it we were back out on the street wondering if that meal actually happened or if it was just  a dream.