Several times in the night I woke thinking I could hear someone or something on the decking...but it was just the patter of rain and when we woke at 5.59am it was easy to convince ourselves that we needed to stay in bed rather than join Dave on his morning constitutional. A couple hours later Martin woke me so that I could witness the unusual phenomenon of snow falling in the desert! It was an amazing contrast to the sunny blue sky on our arrival just 3 days earlier. This morning the temperature was about 38 degrees and it felt really cold.
We had some coffee as we packed our bags and cleared up - we had pretty much eaten every last available crumb in our usual locust like fashion and as we had been extremely reclusive over the past few days we had decided to treat ourselves to breakfast out. As it happened we knew a place nearby where you can get really good pancakes..........so having said goodbye to Dave we set off for Yucca Valley, taking a detour through Pioneertown en route to see what we had missed by not visiting yesterday.
After bottomless cups of coffee and large pancakes at the C&S Coffee Shop we were fortified for the long drive ahead and set off back up 247 to take the "scenic" route to Santa Barbara - with me driving. It may have been slightly more scenic in nice weather but with grey skies and fairly heavy rain it was just a very long, straight road travelling through a pretty bleak landscape. Following a slight domestic during which the navigational assistance from the passenger seat had the already rather nervous driver swerving manically from lane to lane until there was nowhere else to go, we made a rather hasty stop for gas and a change of roles. Apart from that the journey was rather uneventful until we arrived at the Motel 6 in Santa Barbara.........
When I had booked the room I had failed to notice that there was no fridge or microwave. Apart from that the room was really small and it had a strange smell which I couldn't identify. I don't know if it was just the contrast from the lovely cabin but I really felt that I just couldn't stay there, especially as we had booked for 2 nights. Hasty internet research showed that we could get a room at the Orange Tree Inn (where we stayed in December 2011) for slightly less so we went back down to the reception and fortunately managed to negotiate a refund, then cheekily sat in the car and used the free wi fi to make the booking at the Orange Tree!
Installed in a much nicer room a short time later we decided to brave a quick swim in the "heated" outdoor pool - it was quite refreshing once you got past the shock factor and just long enough to feel like you were getting some benefit out of the swim from end to end. As we had been rather lazy and not done our usual dawn exercise we walked into town - once again striding along at 14 minute mile pace, sweeping old ladies, children and dogs on extending leads out of our way as we raced to get to the SB Brew House ahead of the end of Happy Hour!
After sharing rather too much beer, a plate of nachos, some gorgonzola dip with toasted bread and a mixed salad as a token gesture to healthiness, our walk home was considerably slower and we made a few detours including a visit to a large store where our only purpose was to use their rest room and for some reason try on silly hats (how much beer?) before stopping off to pick up a large tub of ice cream for Martin and a coffee for me. There are apparently some benefits to being back in civilization!
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