AMERICA the 1st

DAY TWO PT 2 - 23rd October 2008

After leaving Santa Monica we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara. Our drive was simply beautiful and took us through Oxnard, Malibu and Ventura.

Click here to view a Google Map of the area.

The drive was comparable to The Great Ocean Road. but with a safe road. hahah. Coast on the right and water on the left differences were: Great Ocean Road - single lane road, windy, rocky with a few beaches but some spectacular formations. Pacific Coast Highway - roads very straight, not windy, the beaches were large like Santa Monica. Massive Hills (almost mountains on the right).

Driving up the road was a real thrill because we hit a lot of places i had heard a lot about through popular culture. Starting of in Santa Monica, going through Malibu and onto Ventura (Ventura Hwy....in the sunshine). I expected Malibu to be like the surfing world capital - with people everywhere - some massive resort/hotels with 'dudes' or 'stoners' everywhere.

Aerial Shot of Malibu. Two and a half Men is also set here

But the Malibu I saw didn't seem developed at all. From the ground it seemed like there were just a few odd shops and that was it. I expected Phillip Island or Noosa or something. From the road all i saw was the odd hotel, a few eateries and a couple of surf shops. I guess to the places credit it had not 'sold out' and seemed very rustic and untouched. Very classic indeed. Maybe the Governator or his predecessors had listed the whole area along the Pacific Coast Highway as Heritage listed which meant it could not be commercially developed. I'm sure McDonalds would love to litter the place with outlets all along here but to the area's credit there were none of these big super corporations to be seen.

The whole look of the place had a real 70's feel to it. Very underdeveloped, almost rundown and not commercialised at all. Perhaps the Governator has ensured parts of California are heritage listed or something. Driving past servos. One had a massive 76 sign. The place reminds me a bit of the movie 'From Dusk 'Dawn' - minus the vampires and bikies - although i did see some in Santa Barbara later that night. What a pack of marshmellows. Its really dry and seems to be infuenced by Mexico or Spain. Things like arched windows, the food and the names of places. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Ventura, Carpentaria.

As we headed North - north west along the Pacific Coast we connected up to the I-1 which connects L.A to San Francisco and this took us through Ventura. Ventura seemed like a more typical town. Although we only drove past it on the Interstate i could see that there were some more densely populated areas (suburban style) with palm trees all around the place.