It was our first wedding anniversary, and John and I decided to go to the famous Highway 101 to California. We have never been to California before, so we carefully examined the trip.
John and I flew to San Diego Airport, rented a car and began our journey. California seemed like paradise to us. Warm, dry climate with beautiful tropical plants and trees. It was just great! We felt we should be close to Heaven!
Later that evening we went to a nearby beach and watched the sunset. Subsequently, we crowned in the evening with a late dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Then we settled in our hotel and planned our trip the next day.
We woke up early in the morning and had a light breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards we went on a journey along the California Coastal Highway, known as Highway 101. This special day was our first wedding anniversary, and we were young children again, happy and carefree! We saw the most beautiful beaches and stopped watching the ocean along the highway. For us, such beauty and miracle fascinated!
I discovered that California is basically a desert landscape. He has such a history and beauty, with a wonderful Latin American influence.
I felt I could look at the ocean for the rest of my life and not get tired! The beautiful blue green waters and the aquatic life are wonderful after the description! The sounds of the ocean so calm!
We drive through many famous California cities traveling north on Highway 101. Malibu was just one of many hip cities on our journey.
Our goal was to go from San Diego north to San Francisco on Highway 101 and stop to see along the way. Every evening we wanted to shoot the sun around the ocean. Of course, we also filmed videos from beautiful attractive beaches and other attractions.
The second night we got to Camarillo, California. We settled in a beautiful hotel and decided to go to the local beach to watch the sunset. The map we used showed a couple of beaches five miles from our hotel, so we started driving around them. We were in a rural orange grove and a strawberry country. It all looked very nice and calm.
We started driving along the main street in the neighboring town, which allegedly led to the beach. When we worked, we saw how the police did what seemed to be a drug bust on the side of the street. It was very creepy, seeing people on the ground and chained to handcuffs with ominous looking spectators at the scene. We continued driving a few blocks further, and in a separate incident, police cars surrounded the car, which hit the light pole. The police had a man pinned to the ground and handcuffed to other people. The incidents we saw in this small town were so shocking to me that I told my husband that let me just return to our hotel. This is exactly what we did as best we could! We had dinner next door to our hotel that night in a quiet family restaurant.
These two accidents, so close to each other, on the same street and in broad daylight, really made me nervous. Traveling through a new state, new cities, knowing no one, or a lot about the areas in which we traveled. My mental red flags went up, and I suddenly became very wary of our trip!
After a night of rest, we felt rested, and it was a beautiful day. We set off again. The highway led us into the foothills of the mountains for many miles from the ocean. The scenery was new and different as we drove. We had a great time again, trying to forget about the incidents of last night.
I could just imagine what it was, for example, in the days of the wild west, the Indians were looking at the hillside or cattle that had been brought down by cowboys. Mountain, desert landscapes made me think about old times.
Our destination that day was Morro Bay, California. We drive through beautiful Santa Barbara on the way there. We decided that it was a city that was worth stopping on the way back to see some kind of spectacle.
Soon we were back again, moving along the edge of the ocean. It has always been our favorite part of the disc. We got to the quaint, beautiful Morro Bay in the early afternoon. We saw it right away. We saw the famous giant rock formations coming out of the ocean, and people who surf nearby. The wind was blowing very hard, and it was amazingly cool for our jackets. I got the impression that all of California was sunny and warm. Not true! Sometimes sunny and cold!
Then we decided to go on a short trip north to the coast to see other attractions. The scenery became even more beautiful when we drove north. Destroyers coming from the ocean to the beaches were awesome! We saw sea stamps and a beautiful lighthouse. We met some interesting people who could be visited in picturesque areas. As we drove north, we saw heavy fog rolling, so we no longer took the risk. We returned to our fancy hotel room and rested for a while.
We had dinner at the harbor in the Morro Bay in the evening in a beautiful seafood restaurant and met good German people sitting at the next table. They set off on a journey along the west coast at the bus stop. They could not speak much English, but they were very friendly and funny. We communicated regardless of the language barrier.
After the morning shopping, we decided that San Francisco was too far north for these middle-aged travelers to go. We decided to slow down a bit and start looking on our way back south towards San Diego on Highway 101, of course!
Santa Barbara was the first in our list of cities to go on a journey down the highway to 101. We stopped at the visitor center and ventured to the pier nearby to see the sights. Of course, our camcorder always rolled, so we could cherish the scenery for many years. We met good people from California, and we talked a little about our individual home states. Then my husband and I grabbed a fresh seafood sandwich from a small open-air café and watched a dolphin swimming near the pier. Soon it was time to get back on the road and head further south.
My husband used his new GPS to navigate our routes. John loved how he took him where he wanted to go. I did not like it, because we often traveled on longer routes to our destinations. From time to time it made us on routes through some abandoned neighborhoods.
In Santa Barbara, we made a wrong turn and found ourselves on a side street off the highway. We decided to lift the block and turn around to try to get back on the highway. Suddenly, it would seem, because of what, a large group of Latin Americans began to run at our side of the road, racing through our car! I started screaming and my husband shot at our car and started through the crowd of screams. They turned out to be very dangerous. Somehow my brave husband made us turn around, and he saved us from the situation. As I turned and looked around, a large group of men shook their fists and shouted at us. My heart was still racing, and I wept for fear.
We still do not know what it was, but it scared me half to death! I immediately had a migraine and my husband, and I could not even talk for ten minutes. We were both out of breath from the shock of the whole ordeal. I was nervous before the rest of our trip to California. After that, I started following local news at our hotel, and the media talked about gangs and gang violence in California in general. I suddenly realized the danger I had never expected before.
We spent this night in Huntington Beach, California. I didn't even want to go out for dinner. I went to bed early and I told my husband that I was ready to return to St. Louis. Louis!
The next day we found our time and went further south. We did not stop until we reached La Jolla. We got a nice motel there along the beach and stayed for three nights. We stopped near the motel, seeing the sights around La Jolla. It was safe there and the area was very beautiful!
I was still looking at previous unsuccessful experiences, and I remained safe with my husband wherever we went.
On the last day of our trip, we went to San Diego and made a trip to the battleship. We then went on a tour of the sights of Coronado Island and had a late lunch, looking at the harbor.
I was very ready to go home the next day when we flew out of San Diego. I said I would never go to California again!
I can ever eat my words and visit northern California. But I would prefer to go there with friends who know the area well.
I do not know if this was simply our bad misfortune or if these terrible incidents often happened to tourists in California, and this is just a big, well-kept, secret one. If you go on tour to California or other places near the Mexican border, and to the west, if you want, do your homework! Especially safe trips! Learn all that is possible about crime rates in the areas in which you travel. Then learn the rules of road safety and be aware of expectations. Also prepare for the unexpected!
We had many other places in many other states, and I had never experienced such horror or something close to him that we experienced in California. It was a real adventure more than we ever thought possible!
In general, we enjoyed amazing landscapes and bought good memories along with bad houses with us. We ourselves taught the journeys that my husband likes to call adventures.
If you are planning to travel, happy trails and safe travels, wherever you go!
