This Good Thing Must Come to an End

Our final day of the road trip was spent doing a few things we hadn't had a chance to do earlier. Our chosen breakfast establishment was Brekkies by Chomp. On the way, Matt and Joe stopped and ordered some Aebleskiver one of the things still on our to-do list. These warm round pancake balls are bigger than a donut hole but smaller than a muffin. They are denser than a typical American pancake and covered in powdered sugar and raspberry sauce. The five of us shared three while we waited in line at Brekkies. Breakfast was good, but because we were seated outside, we fought with a bee who kept buzzing around our table. Eventually, it landed in my syrup cup and I promptly covered it with my receipt so that it couldn't escape. Our friend's death was tragically sweet.

After breakfast, we drove to Solvang Bakery where I purchased some bread and pastries. I saw a flour sack towel that made me laugh out loud and on impulse I purchased it. It still makes me smile as I think of the imprinted saying.

     "I hate it when I mean to buy seedless grapes but instead I accidentally get...         well you know...oreos."

It was time to say goodbye to Little Denmark and head back to Santa Barbara. We decided to walk down Stearn's Wharf since we only had about 90 minutes before it was time to hit the road again. I would have liked to have visited the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center, but sadly, there wasn't enough time. We did get to look at the local artists selling their masterpieces along the sidewalk. There were a lot of interesting and not-so-interesting works of art.

Before we left Santa Barbara, we made a quick trip to the very first Motel 6. In 1962, two contractors opened the very first one in Santa Barbara and it is still there. Our Trolley guide told us about it and we knew we had to go by and take a photo. After all, Motel 6 was always Matt's motel of choice in our early years of marriage. The original cost of a night's stay was you guessed it, $6.00 a night. Our guide told us that over the July 4th weekend, there was a two-night minimum stay and people paid over $800 for those two nights. That's incredible. At that rate, they better leave more than just the light on for me!

Our last stop was back to Newbury Park. We arrived a little before 2:00 p.m. and the plan was to go to a late lunch with Marc and family. Marc arrived home right after us from an ocean swim. He is training for an Ironman Triathalon in October. We tried several restaurants but either the restaurant was almost closing (The Waffle Experience), the wait was too long (Lazy Dog and Bandits) or it was just closed (Red Robin). So we ended up at Little Calf Creamery for some salads and sandwiches. The nice thing about this place was that it also sells ice cream, shakes, and malts!

Back at the house, we played a few games. Jackie convinced even Matt to play who is notoriously NOT a game person. It was a fun time relaxing and laughing together. Around 6:00 pm, we were back in the car for the final leg of the journey home.

Matt drove home which gave me time to rest a little, peruse my newly purchased Subpar Parks book and catch up on some podcasts. One of the podcasts we listened to was Alpha-Bytes. Zach and his friend Raysan started this podcast a few years ago.

We listened to "P is for Phineas" about their adopted dog. It was nice to hear Zach's voice while we drove. He might not have been able to be with us in person, but listening to his voice on the podcast, made me happy. It felt like he joined us on the trip in a small way.

We arrived back in San Diego and dropped off Joe around 9:15 pm. Both Joe and I had to get up for work the next morning, so I was glad to get home before the crack of dawn. Although it was a short little trip, I am happy with what we were able to see and do. There were some educational parts to it, some goofy things, a good amount of relaxing, and a few more stories and private jokes were born. All in all a nice time. 

To view more photos from our trip: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10157808878566300&type=3