The food at the Hacienda was fantastic and there was so much of it! It was one of the better meals of our whole trip. After that great dinner, we headed back to the hotel and had a good sleep. The day had ended quite differently than it started. In retrospect, the best parts of the trip were at the beginning up in the Northwest, before we got down to the crowded part of California. Even so, there were some moments worth remembering. Driving south from Salinas, we drove through a very busy Monterey and things only got busier as we headed south. Fortunately, my wife was there to make sure I took all the right turns, and to add inspiration to my driving of this little 3 cylinder commuter car in the hectic California freeway system. In spite of our best navigational efforts, we still found ourselves lost in the middle of a busy 6 lane highway and I managed to take one of the most interesting wrong turns of the whole trip. We ended up driving up and down a canyon of zillion dollar mansions, mostly hidden in the woods, me gripping the steering wheel for dear life while tractor trailers ran as close as they could behind me, and my wife oohhing and ahhing at the houses. You have to wonder who lived back in there. I still remember seeing a rickety old cafe on the side of the road in the canyon, fancy cars and fancy people all dining in a place that looked like a hippie spot. We should have stopped, but I was afraid to even slow down at that point. It was "floor it" going up hill, and "hope I don't have to use the brakes" going down. My view of Malibu was quite different than what I had seen on television!
