Day 3: San Luis Obispo, CA - Carlsbad, CA

Sight-seeing: Solvang, Santa Ynez, Malibu, Santa Monica, Long Beach

On the final day we “slept in” and didn’t leave until 8 a.m. since we only had 5 hours of driving left and not very many intended stops. 

All of the street signs in San Luis Obispo used this font.

First we drove through a cute little Dutch-themed town called Solvang on the way to Santa Ynez, which was charming but not worth driving out of your way to see. 

Brett told me that Pepperdine was known for having one of the prettiest campuses in the U.S., so of course when we got to Malibu I had to check it out. We didn’t think about how out of place the Auburn might be on a college campus, but based on the looks we received it must have been quite unusual. Brett and I agreed that Point Loma wins the best campus contest.

Because Santa Monica was south of L.A. traffic, we stopped for a brief lunch—the first time on the trip! Our final stop was in Long Beach at the Queen Mary, an impressively large and stunning ship. The first 30 minutes of parking was free, and I was worried we may have exceeded it putting the top down for the last part of the ride since we had to remove everything from the trunk and wedge one of my dad’s monstrous trophies at my feet. However, the employees were so impressed by the Auburn that they didn’t even check our ticket when we left.

Queen Mary

For the last hour and a half until we arrived at Brett’s house in Carlsbad we drove with the top down, which may have actually been quieter than driving with the top up... 

When all was said and done, we visited 10 of the places on my dad's list. Although it didn't last long, it was a special trip that neither of us will forget. May the legacy live on.

Stats:

Total Miles: ~1300

Average gas mileage: 15.6 MPG

Costs incurred:

Lodging- $130

Food- $100

Gas- $300

Cheaper than shipping it!