So the next portion of our trip consisted of driving into Santa Barbara. I loved how cute this little city by the sea was, with it's Terracotta roof tiles all over the place!
I was also mega excited to stop here because when Mel, Mara and Arne had gone on their California road trip last summer they had found an amazing cupcakery here with a frostinator - a machine that basically let you make your own cupcake! Sadly...we discovered it had since closed down!
But what Santa Barbara lacked in cupcakes, it made up for with those palm trees, and blue skies and ocean views!
It doesn't get more Californian than that!
We also had a quick beach stop at Carpinteria, and Byron got right in the sea again because he just can't get enough of the water!
We made our way to our campsite, that was way up in the middle of nowhere pretty much! and so we passed these wild turkey's on the way!
We set up camp for the night, and sadly because of the area we were in the forest fire danger was high and so open flames were not allowed at the campsite so we had to give s'mores making a miss that night!
We headed out for an evening hike...
and came across this cute little swimming hole...
and we were surrounded by these amazing views!
We drove back to camp...
and By captured this awesome shot just before we plunged into darkness!
The next morning we arrived in Malibu, which By was more than a little excited about because he had arranged a surfing lesson! He surfed before in Cape Town but that was over 8 years ago so he wanted to have a little refresher!
The boys got right down to business! His instructor had been surfing for over 40 years and had a wealth of surfing know how to pass on to By!
I took touristy pics while they went over the basics!
Most of the beaches in Southern Cali are divided into surf zones or swim zones.
Here's By all suited up...ready to go in for his first try.
He got up first time!
and after an hour or so was looking like a pro!
It was tiring work but he loved every minute of it, and decided that Malibu was one of his fave parts of California we had seen so far!
The beach where he surfed was actually Zuma beach, which is Gwen Stefani's favourite beach too so we were in good company!
As far as I was concerned there was only one option for lunch...we had been in California for 8 days at this point and still not eaten at an In-N-Out so that of course had to be rectified immediately!
Loving my milkshake!
and drooling over the burgers...
and animal fries which have to be ordered from the secret menu!
Despite the fact that at least you can get milkshakes here, I still had to say that Five Guys burgers win over In-N-Out for me! but it was a fun little pit stop and brought back lots of memories! especially since we stopped at the one in Thousand Oaks!
We also ended up driving right by Pepperdine University so I had to snap a pic because my good friend Milah who I met whilst living in Turks and Caicos had just got accepted to study there! So jealous that every morning she'll be waking up to those California skies!
I can't exactly remember what we stopped for, but we stopped at this little parade of shops looking for something...and suddenly Byron was like 'isn't that Crumbs that you love?' I was like 'whaaaaaaat?' because Crumbs cupcakes are the best I have ever tasted! When my friend Jade came to visit us in Turks and Caicos, she flew via New York and as a joke I asked her to bring me NY cupcakes...but she totally did! a whole box full and they were the best and most delicious cupcakes I had ever tasted!
They used to only be on the East Coast so I was not expecting to see them in California at all! Thank goodness for Byron and being so observant...I would not have noticed it otherwise! and thank goodness for timing...they were due to close in less than 5 minutes!
So they were a bit thin on the ground with their flavours...but that didn't matter!
Red velvets galore! We ordered our cupcakes, I gushed to them about how I think they make the best cupcakes ever and that we'd come all the way from Vancouver which they loved hearing! and we picked our cupcakes and off we went!
Yes Malibu, we're a little bit in love with your charming ways!
Our day cycling along the promenade in Malibu was one of my fav of our trip too. Love that place and the craziness of Venice Beach just next door. Love it!
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