Days 17 and 18: Palm Trees in Santa Monica
"I just want to see some palm trees. I will try to shake away this disease." -"Santa Monica" by Everclear When we left Morrow Bay, we had a little more inland driving than coastal driving to get us to Santa Monica. We passed through a lot of farm land - the kind of farm land you picture when you read The Grapes of Wrath or Esperanza Rising or anything that has to do with California's role during the Dust Bowl. Strawberries were in season when we were passing through, and the scent of ripe strawberries in the air was absolutely tantalizing as we were driving along with the convertible top down. As soon as we found a roadside stand, we had to buy some. While we might have turned our noses up at California strawberries at a market in Pennsylvania, California strawberries straight out of the fields of California in the middle of July were just amazing. We ate the whole big box in 24 hours! What a nice, healthy treat to take to our hotel