Thursday 29 April 2010

Up in the mountains: part 1

Towards the end of the California road trip we drove up State Route 154 or the San Marcos Pass north of Santa Barbara. I kept hearing a reference to Red Rock (I think) but am not actually sure if that's the name of the mountain we drove up or something else, but it's very beautiful nonetheless!

On the way towards the summit we even saw a view that reminded me of the Big Island, a very obvious extinct volcanic crater although the views were spoiled a little by the haze.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Cold Spring Tavern which I believe is very well known in the area. It's a fun place and certainly somewhere I'd love to visit again for a good night out but a designated driver is definitely required!

Although I don't have any pictures, there were a few memorials along the road to the tavern. It seems a lot of people drove off the road on their way to or from the tavern. There are some pretty steep drops of the road and it isn't a place to drive if you are even the slightest bit off form.

Lunch was nice and not too expensive for a change although as usual everywhere we visited in Central California likes to give you a meal that'll feed a large family for a week, but this place wasn't as bad as some I could mention!

More pictures to come of one of the springs in part 2 and click on the pictures for larger versions if you want.

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