DAY 20 - SUNFLOWER SURPRISE

We leave our motel fairly early and pick up an "on the go" breakfast from the local 7/11 store.  We then drive down to Venice Beach.  It is a misty start and too cold to swim but we paddle a bit and watch the surfers who are braver than us but wearing wet suits.  We then commence our drive up the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway).  Unfortunately, Clint (our SatNav man) keeps sending us on the 101 instead of the 1 so we end up back in Hollywood.  After an hour of driving in the wrong direction in the usual manic traffic of LA we manage to get on the right route.  We are hoping to find a nice beach for lunch but after Jane misses a left hand turn off for the beach Jessica has picked out (because Jane thought it was a right hand turn and therefore cannot get across the four lanes of traffic in time) we end up sitting in a dusty windswept layby eating our left overs from yesterdays dinner.

After lunch we press on with our journey and by 3.30pm we arrive in Cayucos.  This is a classic California beach town and it is a real peach of a place.We are staying in the fabulous Seaside Motel http://www.seasidemotel.com .  The rooms are all themed - we are in the sunflower surprise room and we got a free upgrade so Jessica has her own little room. It is a family run motel and they have a wonderful garden which our rooms back on to.

After settling into our room, we decide to go to the Laundromat up the road because we havn't done any washing since The Battle of Little Bighorn.  We drive up to the laundromat even though it is only a little way up the road (like true Americans).  However, we find the machine supplying detergent is empty so we have to go to a nearby supermarket and purchase a whole large container.  We get our washing machine going and then go to give the left over detergent to a local man who is doing his washing (as we won't be needing it any more and we can't fit it in our suitcase.  The man's name is Greg and he is so thankful for the gift of detergent that he offers to take us to his local coffee shop up the road for afternoon tea/coffee.  Greg tells us that he has lived in Cayucos since 1991 and previously lived north of San Francisco.  We chat about our road trip for a while before venturing back to the Laudromat to dry our clothes.  

We then take a walk to the beach but the water is too cold for us to swim so we just paddle about and look at all the wildlife.  There are pelicans, some wading birds with long beaks and then we see a seal basking in the sea.  Another local man is walking his dog and he tells us that there were some dolphins in the sea just off the pier.  We get a few fleeting glimpses of them but they are too far out for a good view.

For dinner we go to Schooners Wharf which is just a short walk from our Motel for some sea food http://www.schoonerswharf.com 

On the way back to our room we go to yet another restaurant to pick up some Coconut Pie for dessert later (does it seem like we are always eating?)