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If you’ve ever paid a visit to the Admissions and Registration desks, and you have if you’ve ever been a student at PCC, you’ve probably seen Mark Nordby.The vivacious records clerk, who’s been providing service with a smile full-time for the past seven years, is an old hand at PCC: Before graduating from the school, he served as a campus cadet and tested his broadcast chops at the campus radio.

When his weekends arrive, he doesn’t squander a second, as this miles-encompassing three-day trip he shared with the Courier will ably attest.

1. Goody’s Restaurant, San Gabriel

For this weekend, I took Friday off from work and started my day by going to Goody’s in San Gabriel for a delicious breakfast: buckwheat pancakes and then homefried potatoes with bacon and a big glass of orange juice.

2. Shopping Downtown, Santa Barbara

After breakfast, my girlfriend and I drove to Santa Barbara, walked around and looked at the shops. It’s cool to see the locals. There’s this independent music store with a lot of cool guitars that I stopped into and really liked.

3. Rusty’s Pizza Parlor, Santa Barbara

We had lunch at Rusty’s Pizza. It’s really good, so everyone’s always talking about the place. They just have bomb pizza.

4. Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill, Cambria

Cambria is in central California, halfway between here and San Francisco, and we go there to ride bikes, visit the tide pools and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Last time we watched the sun go down, picked up a good coffee drink, and had dinner at Moonstone Bar & Grill. The water is right outside the restaurant, so it’s nice, but you have to watch out for the birds, because they’ll jack your food.

5. Hearst Castle, San Simeon

On Saturday, we toured Hearst Castle in the morning. There are a few tours, but the one I like best is the partially outside tour where you get to see the pools and a movie on Hearst’s life. Hearst Castle is great. There are still wild zebras and boars up there, and at night, if you drive up the coast, all the lights are on and it looks so cool and eerie.

6. Andersen’s Pea Soup, Buelleton

On Sunday, we went to Buellton to get delicious homemade split pea soup at Andersen’s. I love split pea soup and theirs is the best.

7. Chumash Casino, Santa Ynez

Later, we dropped some quarters in the slots at Chumash Casino. We saw a reservation and thought, “Hey, there might be a casino on the grounds,” and we found it. I didn’t win anything, but it was fun.

8. Danish bakeries, Solvang

We made a stop in the Danish village of Solvang to sightsee. There are a ton of bakeries there and at one of them I bought my mom some Danish cookies.

As told to Brittany Wong

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