Day 12: 330 miles to San Luis Obispo

It’s amazing how long it takes to pack up a months worth of stuff from a hotel room! We eventually managed to get up, breakfast, pack and load the car for an 11am departure from San Diego. We had such a good time here, the city is just beautiful and there was so much more to see. I think we’ll definitely be back!

We set out on the 330 mile trip to San Luis Obispo for our one night stop-over at the quirky Madonna Inn. The first half of the journey was fairly urban and stop start as we made our way back and around LA. Traffic was slow and heavy in parts yet we were all in good spirits. Our rental car (Ford Edge) is very spacious and comfortable and nice to drive which has made the whole driving experience so much more pleasant.

We made good use of the Car Pool express lanes and made reasonable progress around LA to eventually meet up with the Pacific Coast Highway at Ventura and it was stunning to drive alongside the sea. We then cut inland at Santa Barbara and went over the Santa Ynez mountains which was absolutely breathtaking, both to look at and to drive through.

After 7 hours (with a couple of quick toilet stops) we eventually rolled into the car park of the Madonna Inn. We entered reception only to be told that they had cancelled our room earlier today, due to the previous occupants leaving it unrentable, and had no other availability of rooms. They had tried to contact us via email but we were on the road and unaware!

We were obviously very cross and disappointed and they were absolutely no help to us which did not make things any better. To cut a long story short, I rang around the local hotels to find us some accommodation. Most places were obviously full but thankfully, upon hearing our plight, the manager at the Best Western Royal Oak, just up the road, managed to fit us in despite being full! If only the Madonna Inn had been so helpful given they had put us in this situation!

We squeezed into smallish bedroom (we’ll be sleeping like the Waltons) grateful to have somewhere to stay. The girls were happy as it had an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) next door which we visited for supper. Sadly, they did not serve alcohol!

Whilst it is disappointing to have our plans spoiled, thankfully it is only for a one night stop over and we will be back on the road tomorrow for the 180 miles up to our holiday home in Monterey hoping for better luck!