Day 15 - Barstow CA to Santa Monica CA

We arrived at the end of our Route 66 journey at 4:50 PST - more to come.......
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We left Barstow, after stopping for a photo and video shoot at a very cool mural in town. The first (and probably last) time for both Mark and I staying in Barstow. Not that it was bad, there just isn't much there...except heat!

We had decided before departing that we were going to drive to the very end point of Route 66 - that means along Foothill Boulevard to Pasadena, down the Harbor Freeway to Sunset, then on to Santa Monica Boulevard to Ocean and Pacific Palisades Park along the waterfront in Santa Monica. If you are familiar with LA traffic, that can be quite a task, depending on the time of day.

You can still travel the old highway from Barstow to near the El Cajon Pass, which we did, then exit on the San Bernardino side to pick up the 66 old road again. We inadvertantly stopped at a Route 66 roadside attraction in San Berdu - La Plaza Park. We had pulled over for a Macey Moment, and Trajan went on the play equipment for a bit. As we pulled away, we noticed the Route 66 signage at the opposite side of the park.

On to Foothill Blvd, we saw the second location of the Wigwam Motel, in Rialto. They had more wigwams there than the one we stayed at in Holbrook, but they didn't have the vintage cars parked next to them like the other one, either.

It was time for lunch, and what could be more quintessential California road food than In-N-Out Burger? After a quick stop at the Rancho Cucamonga location, we headed west to Pasadena. We saw the beautiful Colorado Bridge just down the street from the Rose Bowl (my first time seeing it in person). Then we headed south along the Arroyo Seco Highway (aka 110 Fwy) to Sunset Boulevard.

Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards pass though every socioeconomic strata in Los Angeles - from the the inner city urban environments, through Beverly Hills, then on to the beach. It is a very interesting drive! We picked up Santa Monica Boulevard at its eastern beginning point in where it branches off from Sunset in Los Angeles. Then due west til we hit the Santa Monica Pier and The End! WOW - we can't believe we actually did it!