[California Road Trip] A night at San Luis Obispo + Bubblegum Alley + Big Sur

It is time to bid goodbye to my Airbnb in Los Angeles (LA), as we were heading to the next portion of our California road trip. We left LA at around 10am and we took the 101 North Freeway. Baby had planned a 2-day journey in order to take the scenic route, and our stop for a night's stay was at a quaint little town called San Luis Obispo (SLO). This would be a halfway point before continuing on our journey to San Francisco (SF)!

 

The driving time from LA to SLO was approximately 3 hours. The view and the scenery on the route that Baby took was awesome!! We were in awe of the beauty of nature, and some of the views were postcard perfect!

 

 

Baby made a detour to the Pismo Beach Premium Outlets for me to do some shopping. I love my sweetest Baby, you know me the best!

 

I bought a watch from Aeropostale at USD18, and a zipper sweater jacket at USD20 and some random lip glosses at USD2 each. I also picked up a statement necklace from G.H Bass & Co too.

 

 

My favorite purchase of the day were the 2 wristlets from Coach during my outlet haul. Happy me! I got a Double Zipper Corner Wristlet for my Mommy, which I paid a paltry USD35 for! I also bought for myself a Hologram Wristlet, which cost me USD25!

 

 

After shopping, we had pizza at Gino's Pizza for lunch before we continued on our road trip.

 

We reached SLO near the evening, around 5pm and we checked into the Hampton Inn & Suites, which was located off the highway.

 

San Luis Obispo is one of the many towns located midway of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is fairly close to the Pacific Ocean!

 

Amazingly, by sheer luck and chance, we were fortunate enough to visit on the day where the weekly Farmers' Market takes place! This event takes place at Higuera Street in SLO, and various farmers and merchants set up stalls to sell their products and food. The very sweet aroma of fresh BBQ filled the air, and we were happy to find massive BBQ cook out was also taking place!

 

Long lines were seems from various stalls selling BBQ, and we had a hard time deciding which ones were the best. While trying to decide, a stall handler spoke to Baby, and mentioned that they were the champions of BBQ competitions for a few years running, and Baby immediately lined up to get some! We indulged ourselves on some of the best BBQ we've ever had in our lives! The Baby Back Ribs and Beef Ribs were tremendous, and had a sweet caramelized and smoky flavour. If we could, we would have devoured the bones as well!

 

 

I must again re-iterate that we were glad to have stopped at SLO as part of our road trip. The Farmer's Market really has a lovely atmosphere, and the driving time to the town centre of SLO was a mere 5 minutes away from our hotel.

 

 

Parking was easy, and the market was very big and fun. Most importantly, it was safe to roam around at night! If you ever come to California, and are planning on a road trip, I would recommend SLO as it's a nice place to spend a night!

 

 

Apart from the stalls and food, there were many other shops as well, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a Bath & Body Works store here! The store was having a 'Buy 3 Get 3 Free' promotion, and I just had to get in on that. In the end, I picked up 6 bottles which cost me USD43 (inclusive of tax). Among the 6 bottles, one of them was a bottle of shower gel which I got it for my Baby.

 

SLO itself has a very unique attraction, which is called 'Bubblegum Alley'. It's actually a narrow back alley which has been added into the Guinness World Records. Like its namesake, the alley is the biggest alley in the world covered by USED bubblegum on it's walls!!

 

 

I took a photo of myself standing somewhat near to the walls at Bubblegum Alley, and the used bubble gum festooned everywhere was DISGUSTING. OMFG! IT WAS GROSS! After taking a customary photo, I left the place asap as I was getting turned off by the whole place, haha! 

 

Back at the hotel, it was a great stay for us as the room was above my expectations, and had a nice décor, with a comfy king-sized bed. Our stay came with breakfast and it was pretty decent.

 

The next day, we checked out and departed SLO after breakfast, and we continued the scenic route highway. This route takes a longer time, but the objective was to drive along the renowned Pacific Coast Highway, where the mountains and the Pacific Ocean come together for an amazing scenery. The additional time required was of no consequence, as we wanted pamper ourselves with beautiful scenery on this road trip holiday.

 

We drove down to Big Sur, a massive vantage point on the mountain pass overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and the scenery along the highway was unrivalled in its majesty and splendour. We made various stops to take photos, such as this one at Willow Creek.

 

BEWARE OF PHOTOS GALORE!! 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 We stopped at the Coast Gallery & Café at Big Sur as our rest stop for lunch. We had a quick meal there in order to allow Baby some rest after all the driving before continued on our tour.

 

 

The next iconic point was the historic Bixby Bridge, located within Big Sur itself.

 

As you can see from the photos, this was another magnificent scene, and looked like a perfect completed painting/artwork to me. I couldn't believe that I had the opportunity to see such natural beauty, and the only word that kept coming to mind was 'WOW'.

 

 

 

I can't help but stress that these beautiful scenes are amazing, and naturally, we took tons of photos against this wonderful backdrop from mother nature.

 

 

 

Next up! My 2 nights stay in San Francisco!