Hey, gang! I don’t know if you have read our Antiquing Highway story in the July/August issue of Country Home yet, but if not, go find that magazine and read it! I have to say that this is my favorite for so many reasons.

With that said, here is the inside scoop: Central California was the locale, and a whole lot of junkin’ fun was our objective. I’ll tell you right now we definitely achieved our goal and then some.

We discovered this well-kept secret from a couple who spend their weekends in Morro Bay, California, which is only about three hours north of Los Angeles. In their e-mail they painted such an ab fab picture we would have been nuts not to check it out.

So Ki and I flew off to L.A. to discover uncharted junking territories. The fun began when we landed. We hooked up with our good friend, Country Home’s own Sandy Soria, who was our chaperone for the weekend. Some chaperone! Sandy is better known as the “Queen of Fun” and she lived up to her title in regal style.

We all hopped in the car with Sandy at the wheel. Ki is not much for city driving, so she opted for the back seat. Sandy and I proceeded to crank up the radio and belt out a few tunes at the top of our lungs, while Ki just smiled, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. First stop was Santa Barbara for some good food and some clothes shopping. We had to shop because my daughter called with some bad news while I was waiting to board the plane. Apparently, I had left all of my jeans for the trip neatly stacked on the bed rather than in my suitcase. That’s what folks refer to as a “Sue-ism." Anywho, pantless junking is frowned upon, so I had to buy some.

We got back on the road and headed off to Los Alamos for some homespun junking. This is where we met our amazing photographers, Jack, Gabe, and Stu. I thought the three of us gals might overwhelm them a bit, but they held their own and we all became instant friends. We had a blast. Perhaps the funniest moment was with Ki and her man, John Wayne. While in the ladies room in a restaurant, Ki discovered a life-size cutout of the Duke and insisted on taking him outside so we could take a picture with him. Needless to say, we got some pretty strange looks. After that Kodak moment, it was time for the Nipomo Swap Meet, dinner, and wine (from a local vineyard, of course), and then a good night’s sleep.

The next day started with the breakfast of champions: enormous, but calorie-free, cinnamon rolls and four cups of coffee. Yee haw! We call that junker’s fuel. It was time to get rolling because we had a busy day ahead. After looking at all of the great cars in Pismo Beach, we headed for Arroyo Grande for some antiquing. Man, for the life of us, we could not get Sandy out of one of the stores. She is crazy for vintage jewelry. So after we finally got her out of there, with a rented dolly to carry her load, it was time for some more healthy nutrition: ice cream. After ice cream, another picture at Ki’s behest, this time with Elvis. It was my turn to roll my eyes.

Back in the cars—boys in one, girls in the other—we were off to San Luis Obispo. Girl shopping!! While we were ooh-ing and ah-ing over the latest fashions, the boys waited patiently outside. Thanks, guys! We did have to leave when I heard one of their stomachs growl from inside the store. Apparently, guys need real food to survive. Good thing Big Sky Café was right across the street. Mmm mmm, tasty treats to say the least. We all hung out more that night and had some good old-fashioned belly laughs. We were still a little wound up, so we stopped in at the local pub in Cayucos for a nightcap. As luck would have it, there was a wedding dance going on. So of course Sandy and I joined in. We didn’t have bridesmaids’ dresses, but that didn’t deter us. After our wicked rendition of “Twist and Shout” (at least we thought so), Ki said we had to go to bed.

For our last day, we started with early-bird shopping at the Sunset Drive-In Theater Super Sunday Swap Meet where we chowed down on authentic Mexican food and snagged some nifty junkables. From there we went to the Cayucos Street Fair. Now that was fun! We were finding so much of the good stuff, the guys couldn’t keep up to take pictures. We needed a little break so we had some lunch. Those boys, always needing to eat. What’s with that? We felt the need to walk off the food, so a little beach time was in order. Our last stop before dinner was at a local vineyard, Justin Winery, where we received a mini course in wine making. Here’s a tip: Don’t get your nose too close to the barrel while the vintner is stirring the fermenting grapes. We all enjoyed a glass of wine outside while the sun set and hot air balloons floated off into the distance. I thought to myself as I was sitting with old friends and new ones: It just doesn’t get any better than this.

In addition to reading about our journey in the magazine, visit the online slideshow of more great photos from our fun trip.

If you’ll be heading to California’s Central Coast soon, make a list of places to stop by checking out the list of great places we visited.

Until next time, keep on junking!

Take care,
Sue and Ki