Santa Barbara beach experienced a weird mix up of national sports.

Two Dutchies played American football last Wednesday, August 26. The big guy wearing a Dallas Rangers baseball jersey and the skinny dude a soccer shirt with Holland’s national color.

That morning, Jorrit woke up early for a change, around 8am. A bit later (ok hours) I rolled out of my bed and noticed how Jorrit confiscated my laptop and Facebook friends ;-)

Since we couldn’t see much of Santa Barbara in just 1 day, we decided to practice our football skills on the beach (who’s still thinking I’m lazy? OK, actually I am :)

After our traditional Subway breakfast, we headed to Los Angeles. Just 93 miles according to the navigation system. Wow, what a beautiful road trip. Especially cruising through Malibu gave a glimpse of LA’s jet set.

In 2 hours we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express Century City. Pretty cool location nearby Beverly Hills and a convenient mall with awesome shops. With no concrete plans for the night, we dined out at Houston’s Restaurant. I found it on Google where Houston’s rated third as best restaurant in the Century district.

Turned out to be an excellent place for delicious food and a trendy bar for drinks. Definitely one of best Thai Steak salads (and Asian is not even the chef’s specialty). The only problem occurred at 10pm …

The bar closed, so no more beers :(

Woke up late in the morning of day 6 already. It’s Tuesday, August 25 and we’re about to continue our road trip from Monterey to Santa Barbara, CA. Roughly 200 miles to go.

Before we checked out the room in the Monterey Plaza Hotel, we had an excellent breakfast (or brunch really).

Very friendly service and always fun to see Americans struggle when they have no idea where Holland is on the map. We’re equipped with a navigation system, which we programmed to explore the scenic route via the Pacific Coast Highway.

Halfway, we stopped to get water and cigarettes. Jorrit entered a shop, where they funnily enough said water is cheaper at the mini market across (lol). Wish I could say the same for Marlboro ciggies, frigging $9.50 for a single pack.

Just a few miles later, we noticed quite a crowd pulling over to the left. Turned out half a dozen zebras walked around in the meadow.

Who’d know zebras lived in the wild in California? Fortunately it wasn’t a zebra that stared in my headlights a few miles later, but whatever small creature crossed the highway, sadly got to meet the Explorer’s front grill.

After 5 hours, we finally arrived at Brisas Del Mar, our hotel in Santa Barbara. A cozy apartment complex with a typically American indoor yard. Usually I only see those hotels on TV when the FBI is raiding a room to bust a mafia boss :-)

Although I’m sure we arrived in Santa Barbara, our restaurant for the night Palace Grill almost made me believe I flashed back to New Orleans, Louisiana. My Sirloin Steak in Cajun style tasted delicious, just as well as the Dixie beers. Jorrit’s Jumbo Shrimps looked pretty fine as well. Only their self-acclaimed New Orleans’ best dessert set too high expectations.

Every déjà-vu of New Orleans makes me smile anyway. With great memories of Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras, even though I lost an embarrassing bet which caused me to attend a Microsoft event in our secretary’s dress (fortunately stretchy material) and a wig. So frigging glad those (blackmail) photos & videos got lost in action :)