San Luis Obispo to Oxnard

We said our goodbyes in San Luis, and for three hours, our family of four was alone, once again on the road. We jumped on the 101 South, toward Ventura County. We drove through Central California, the heart of West Coast agriculture. Along the 101 South, between San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara are miles and miles of grape vineyards.
The highway winds between rolling hills of various crops, and then in an instant hooks at the edge of the California coast. It switches back and forth between country and coast like this for miles and miles.

Just outside of Santa Barbara we passed Santa Claus Lane, in the beach town of Carpinteria. There used to be a humongous Santa Claus there with an entire village with shops and restaurants. Most everything was removed and renovated in the last few years. A giant Santa once waved from the 101 exit. Some people in Oxnard rescued the Santa from demolition, and moved him there. He once sat on the 101 South for over 50 years.

South of Santa Barbara, and north of Los Angeles, we came into Ventura County, where Hubby and I lived our first two years of marriage. Our first home was off Seaward Avenue. But rather than turn left at this intersection, we turned right. If you are from California, you know why we took a detour.

In N Out Burger was the very first drive through hamburger stand in California back in 1948. The company is privately and family owned, and will never ever franchise. There are well over 150 In N Out locations. The menu has been nearly the same for 60 years. All of the shakes are made with real ice cream, the burgers never hit the grill until they are ordered, and the buns are made from old fashioned slow rising sponge dough. The french fries are fried in cholesterol free vegetable oil, and are hand cut in front of the customers. Anybody that leaves California and comes back knows to stop here. There is a not so secret menu passed by word of mouth by Californians, to order custom burgers. The associates are trained on the secret menu, but it is not published at the restaurant. In N Out has expanded a bit into Nevada and Arizona, too.
I had been trying to take a picture of the California mission bells that lined the coast from the car, but I just wasn't fast enough. Sitting in the In N Out drive through, I spotted one along the 101.
There are 150 bells along the 600 mile historic El Camino Real. In Spanish it means The Royal Road, and is also known as The King's Highway. This 600 mile stretch is the California Mission Trail, connecting the 21 missions commissioned by the King Carlos III of Spain. Before they were vandalized, there were once 450 bells. Since road signs were sparse in the early part of the last century, these bells were placed as landmarks all along the coast of California, to mark the mission trail. They are shaped like a shepherd's crook, or Franciscan walking stick.

Our food was ready. Hubby paid for our food, and we headed down Seaward Avenue, toward our very first three story townhouse, two blocks from the beach, on Oxnard Shores. Farther down the road we turned into Channel Islands Harbor to our hotel. We lugged all of our stuff from the car, into our room, and unpacked our In N Out dinner.
The boys shared this cheeseburger. These are the famous sponge dough buns. We ordered the burger from the secret word of mouth menu, "Animal Style." That means it is a mustard cooked beef patty, extra pickle, extra spread, and grilled onions.

We really should have deviated from the diet for this, but we didn't. Also on the secret menu is a "Protein Style." This means the burger is without bread, wrapped in hand leafed lettuce. Hubby ordered his burger, Protein Style, Animal Style, with "Double Meat." Yeah, that means just what it says, two patties When you order anything off the secret menu, they don't charge extra, even for double meat!!

Our kids shared the french fries, and it killed us to pass on these fries.

This was Son2's first In N Out experience, and he just scarfed all of his food! The boys shared the chocolate shake made with real chocolate ice cream while we just stared and salivated.

After sleeping on air mattresses the last several nights, we finally recharged with a great night's sleep. The suite had two bathrooms, so Son2 slept in a crib in one, while Son1 slept in the living room. It was so quiet, and we slept in with just a few minutes to spare for breakfast.

We checked out, and drove out to the last place we lived in California before we moved to Virginia, in Port Hueneme. We found our old house in the same condition we found it the first time. The vacant house was being painted, ready for the next tenant. Our teeny little beach house had three bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a living and dining room, a laundry room, and kitchen, and was all of 1,100 square feet. Again, this house was just a stone's throw from the beach, at the end of our road. At the traffic light we pulled into Port Hueneme, and Hubby showed Son1 his old work place.

Our last stop in Ventura County was in quaint Filmore. It is a small valley town just below the Los Padres National Forrest, and within the historic tree farming belt. There are many road side fruit stands as you come into the town. Hubby's cousins live here. They were such good friends during the first couple of years of marriage. His cousin R. is deploying to Iraq for 6 months at the end of June. They missed the family reunion, but we wanted to see them before he left. Their children were in my wedding.

I love their courtyard! They built this three years ago but we hadn't ever seen it, complete with morning glories, jasmine bushes, and creeping moss in between the stones. They were wonderful hosts and remembered our dinner favorites from years ago. Desserts were a whole course in themselves, too! We indulged and figured the diet could wait. Ha!

But best of all they blessed us with a humongous pirate ship to take to my parents in San Diego. It was once their son's from long ago. They kept it for children that came to visit well after their son had outgrown it. But since Son1 is deep in a pirate phase now, and they saw how much joy the ship brought him, they generously sent us off to San Diego with pirate figures aboard the large ship.