left coast roadtrip part one // quirky tavern, quirky inn

It's wanderlust-travel-photo time! The mister and I took our little trip up the coast only last month, but it already feels like ages ago. So much happened as soon as we got back from that trip: our landlords told us we had to move, the mister departed on his wooden ship for another long deployment, and I had to look for a new home all by my lonesome.

So these photos are way overdue, and since we stopped at various places along the way, I shall break them up into separate blog posts. So consider this part one :)

Our first stop was Santa Barbara, and it was just a quickie stop since we needed to head to San Luis Obispo to spend the night. I remembered reading about this neat place called the Cold Spring Tavern, a former stagecoach rest stop from the late 1800s.

This place was awfully charming, and the food was so good! Everything tasted like a home-cooked meal, and the woody, smokey smells of things cooking outside reminded us of his home in Pennsylvania. Husband-approved.

If we ever go back, that "live music & dancing" thing sounds pretty rad. I bet it's a totally different atmosphere at night.

And then we were off to San Luis Obispo, or more specifically, the Madonna Inn! This was probably the first time the mister and I stayed at a hotel strictly for the purpose of just hanging out at a hotel. Because this is no ordinary hotel. I had heard about this magical place and its themed rooms, and the pink steakhouse inside, and the pink bar, and thought to myself, "Well naturally we need to spend a night here, and experience the glorious-ness firsthand."

Our first couple hours were spent enjoying their pool with adult beverages by our side, and it was fantastic. Lots of families there with their kids, lots of pregnant women for some reason, and several busty blonde types celebrating someone's bachelorette party I think. Lots of good people-watching. This was the part where I put my digital camera away and shot a bunch of stuff on my film camera. So no pretty pool pictures here, sorry.

 

We need to talk about this dining room for a second. What a glorious place that is. Just unabashedly, shamelessly pink. Grown men eat giant hunks of steak here, and they love it. And they feel like men as they order another scotch and stretch their arms out on all that pink vinyl.

We decided to keep it casual and have dinner at their Silver Bar instead. The full menu from the steakhouse was available, and my husband later said the steak he ordered was one of the best he's ever had. And you can't really see it in the photo above, but off to the right is a dance floor, and when a live band started playing oldies, we people-watched some more, and ended up dancing to a song or two.

And the room. When I was booking this place online, there were only like five or six themed rooms to choose from (booo), but out of those five or six, the Captain's Bridge room had (to me) the most pleasing color palette and decor. Why hello, sweet chesterfield couch, I am going to sit on you with my husband and take silly photos of ourselves, because that's what I like to do when I'm in a great-looking hotel room. (See here, here, here, and here.)

This is one of those places I would happily return to again and again, and just make it a vacation tradition. Especially with my future kiddos. We'd all have a blast staying in a different room each time, so the kids wouldn't get all bored like "Ugh, not this hotel again." And the mister and I would win the "Cool Parents" award for life. But okay, back to the present. This place was the perfect way to end our first day. Stay tuned for day two at the Hearst Castle :)