We only had time for a quick trip for the Fourth this year but we wanted to do something that felt, you know, American.  A mini road trip up the coast was just the thing.  We decided to take the scenic route – duh – so we headed west to jump on PCH stopping to fuel up at The Fountain Room, our fave Beverly Hills breakfast spot, and grabbing coffees for the road at Primo Passo in Santa Monica. 

We stopped to stretch our legs just past Santa Barbara at Refugio State Beach.  Cam had camped there during a high school surf trip, but hadn’t been back in years.  The weather was perfect and the campground was packed for the holiday.  We walked up to the point at the north end of the beach to check out the killer views.  

Pismo Beach was the perfect place to stop for lunch - such an incredibly cute beach town.  The massive line at the Splash Café convinced us we had found the best spot in town and it did not disappoint.  We got some delicious clam chowder and a basket of steamers.  Apparently Pismo is famous for clams – who knew?   On the way back to the car we were lured in by the smells coming from Old West Cinnamon Rolls and had to try one.  It was so big we couldn’t finish it but you must try one if you’re in Pismo.  The cream cheese icing is insane. 

We made into to Cambria and checked into the Cambria Beach Lodge - a recently spruced up old motel.  The location is awesome; it’s right on the water and on the town end of the little beach strip.  We played around on the beach for a bit before heading next door to The Sea Chest for dinner.  We loved this place so much!  It is super old school and kitschy – two qualities we always love – and they have pretty much every kind of seafood.  Most of which come with some kind of garlic butter sauce – hooray!  It’s cash only and they don’t take reservations but they have a little bar so you can grab a glass of wine while you wait.  We were bummed to learn the Sea Chest is closed every Tuesday.  We would have one hundred percent returned for round two the next night. 

In the morning we grabbed two of the hotel’s Linus bikes and rode into town for coffee.  After checking out some of the antique stores we picked up sandwiches from Sandy’s Deli for a picnic at the beach along with the Have’a Chips and Cracker Jacks from the minibar – a seriously perfect 4th of July lunch.  Later we rode down to the park at the far end of the beach where there was a little party for the holiday.  We snacked on buttery corn on the cob washed down with ice cold Coors Lights.  Pretty much heaven.  Later we snagged the very handy wool blanket from our room and snuggled up on the beach to watch the fireworks. 

We obviously could not go to Cambria with out checking out Hearst Castle so we headed over there Wednesday morning.  You have to buy a ticket for a tour to get up to the castle.  They say each tour is an hour but they bus you up the hill to the castle and it ends up being about 2 hours total.  It is definitely worth it though – the history of the castle and the Hearst family is super interesting and the views are amazing.  Glynn’s favorite part was the marble ladder in the indoor pool.  On our way out of town we picked up more sandwiches from Sandy’s and cruised back down the coast.