Since we live in Hawaii, this road trip began with two flights. We flew on Hawaiian Airlines from Hilo to Honolulu. We had access to the Plumeria Lounge so we checked it out to see what was available. We found out that the lounge closed at 6 p.m. Additionally, the other fast food places closed up too and my husband was hungry so we headed to the international terminal where my he got a snack from the food court. After hanging out, we boarded our red-eye flight to Los Angeles. Since I knew we had a full day ahead of us, I didn’t watch any of my downloaded movies and tried to get at least a few minutes of sleep. We arrived very early in the morning at LAX and picked up a full-sized car from Budget, loaded up our car, and got on our way.

Our first stop was to UCLA where my husband attended law school. We saw happy graduates commemorating their achievement with champagne and photographs.

We then headed to Santa Monica to check out the pier and get some beach views and then made our way to Santa Barbara. We took some time in SB where we finally stopped for our first meal of the trip. We visited Kyle’s Kitchen and had some yummy crispy chicken sandwiches and huge salads along with some caffeine. We also stopped at Ralph’s grocery store to pick up a case of water. We visit Old Mission Santa Barbara and got a quick background on the history and culture of SB. After a few hours in SB, we made our way to Solvang where many who watched the movie Sideways may be familiar with. We checked in to the Corque Hotel located steps from the great shops in the town. We all wanted to go to sleep but we freshened up and powered through and walked around the town.

The town has a lot of wine tasting stops and surprise, surprise—I decided to indulge. My husband and I enjoyed a wine and cheese pairing at Crawford Family Wines where we met the owner and could hear her love and passion for the wines she and her husband produce.

We had dinner at First and Oak just a block away from our hotel. My favorite dish was the roasted cauliflower dressed with a truffle and chive vinaigrette. We enjoyed duck wings, oysters, Brussels sprouts, risotto, confit potatoes, lamb, and a New York steak. Everything was amazing but as usual, we over ordered and so had no room for dessert. What a great first day on our family road trip. Living Hilo Style going up the PCH! Stay tuned for more.