We were not in such a hurry to get moving this morning, we enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the Copper Kettle, the Madonna Inn’s café and set off at about 11am. We have just over 200 miles to drive to get us to our hotel in Pasadena, which we will be using as the base for our day out in LA tomorrow.
Today we are letting the Sat Nav take us there via the shortest route, so it is straight on the freeway. After about an hour we pull off fore some petrol, we are driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee at the moment an it is certainly a thirsty beast. At around lunch time we find ourselves passing close to Solvang so decide to take a detour and a break from the journey and have a look around. Solvang is a Danish town in the heart of California, obviously very aware that the Danish look to the town attracts tourists the town has ensured that only building in the Danish style are built in the centre and has become a thriving tourist destination. It is very nice and we have exceptional Danish pastries, but you cannot help but feel it is all a little contrived and that the only reason the community build in this way is for the visitors benefit.
We stop once more on the way to Pasadena, again for a comfort break and we arrive at the hotel just after 4pm. We are staying at the Sheraton tonight, I got a great rate on-line, and it is exactly what you would expect a Sheraton to be. Our room is large with two double beds, the hotel is very clean and tidy, our bathroom feels as though it has recently been redecorated, though the hotel is not too old, so it probably hasn’t.
After a spell in the room we head out to have a look around and get something to eat. We drive through downtown Pasadena which looks like a very nice town (The americans probably call it a city, but then everything seems to be a city!). The centre is very modern and well laid out, just off the centre there is a full supporting service of all the usual suspects you find around a US town, fast food joints, coffee shops, mini malls etc. The college looks very new and a good place to study and is not too far from the centre of town, and the housing, again not far from the centre looks new and spacious. You have to wonder what was here before all this new stuff was built?
We end up eating at McDonalds, not the most adventurous of establishment, but quick and easy and you know what you will get!
After we have eaten we head for a supermarket to pick up a few basic items, including the essentials of beer for me and wine for Lisa. I get Lisa a case of 4 small bottles of wine as we will be travelling and this is a good way to do it rather than having to worry about open bottles. For my beer I get Karl Strauss - Red Trolley Ale, a Californian beer brewed in San Diego, originally brewed as a christmas special but it became so popular that they now brew and bottle it all year round, and I can see why.
Back to the hotel we watch a bit of telly and I catch up on my journal, we are not too late to bed as tomorrow will be a long day.
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