the photo i was waiting for

I'd wanted to a) drive along a palm-lined, sun-drenched road for ages and b) take a photo of the aforementioned... today I did both!

Left Pismo Beach and followed Interstate 101 inland a little. Mrs BH wanted to go to the spanish mission at Purisma. It had been abandoned in the mid 1800s and then was rebuilt using traditional building methods during the New Deal as a make work project. I think there were about three other people there in total, and I had to find somebody to pay the entrance fee to! It was very atmospheric walking around the old buildings and imagining what life might have been like in a frontier mission 150 years ago.

Then onwards, back south along 101, which was largely again hugging the coastline.

The photo opportunuty arose when we drove along the seafront at Santa Barbara - you can really understand why people go there on holiday - it just seemed idyllic! Unfortunately we didn't have time to stop apart from to find an eco supermarket and buy some lunch, which we ate at Carpinteria state park.

Very excited to see signs for Ojai, and obviously we had to listen to Ray LaMontagne's song of the same name, which of course describes hitching a ride down the PCH... yay!

And then onwards through Malibu and into Los Angeles...