Past Trip: California 2017

August 2 - 12, 2017
Original plan was to drive from LA to San Franciso via the Pacific Coast Highway. Heavy rains caused mud slides and the Pfeiffer Canyon bridge to be rendered unsafe and later demolished. The road closures around Big Sur required an in-land detour on Route 101. We skipped Big Sur, Carmel and Monterey and stopped at Moss Landing to kayak(Monterey Bay Kayaks) at Elkhorn Slough where we saw seals and sea otters before moving on to San Francisco.

Transportation: Mercedes Benz C63 AMG V8 bi-turbo

We had reserved a Jaguar XF, but evidentially that is not how reservations work. Our first thought was to rent a Jaguar F-type, but no way our bags would have fit.
Not that the C63 was a slouch or uncomfortable, but just wasn't what we wanted.

Total Miles: 1260, start 7115, end 8375
Gasoline: 54 gallons, $188, 22.5 MPG

Lodging:
Anaheim Marriot, Anaheim
Queen Mary, Long Beach

 We had a cabin in the second class area of the ship, we found that out on the tour we took. You could tell from the hall decor when passing from 1st class to second.

The porthole view was of the marina.

Fogcatcher Inn Hotel, Cambria

Room was quite large, a separate area for luggage and had a fireplace, which we didn't use. Breakfast was included.

Queen Anne Hotel, San Francisco

This was the lounge in the common area, cookies and sherry was served every day after 4PM. Room was fine, WiFi was non existent in the room. You either sat in the hall of in the lounge if you wanted web access. Breakfast was included, though not as good as at the Fogcatcher Inn.

Holiday Inn Express, Grover Beach, near Pismo Beach
Clean and plenty of room. They had a nice pool, which we didn't use. Breakfast was included. They had a pancake making machine, I passed on that.

Pali-hotel, Los Angeles

Quite a nice hotel. Restuarant had good food but terrible service. Parking was in the basement.


Sights:
Le Brea Tar Pits, LA
Abalone Cove Shoreline Park

 There were warning signs for rattlesnakes, but we didn't see any.

Queen Mary Tour
Venice Beach
Hearst Castle

RaggedPoint
  Lunch at the Ragged Point Inn There was a trail down from the cliff top to the water, but it was too far.

Elephant Seals on the beach, on the way back south to Cambria.

Moonstone Beach at Cambria.
There was a cliff top boardwalk and in a few locations, stairs down to the beach. We only got spashed as we walked on the beach, the water was freezing.

Japanese Garden at Golden Gate Park, SF

Botanic Gardens
We saw the dahlia gardens and some other plantings, but the conservatory was closed on the day we visited. There was free parking on some of the roads in the park, but we ended up in a garage.

Lands End, SF

 Golden Gate bridge from Lands End.

Muir Beach
The parking lot was partially full, the beach was a short walk away.

Muir Woods

 Short hike at Muir Woods to see the old growth coastal Redwoods. Took the wooden walkway on the way in and the higher trail on the way back. Parking here was difficult, all lots were full when we arrived, so we visited Muir Beach first and looked for parking on the way back. The smell in the woods was very pleasant.

Pismo Beach
Pismo Beach reminded us of the Jersey shore.  The photo below was from an area a bit north(Dinosaur Caves Park) of the beach, we parked on Ocean blvd and walked down stairs to the rocky shoreline.

After visiting the tide pools, we drove back to town and parked in the downtown lot and visited the beach itself. It was a very wide beach. I saw a whale's fluke while we were strolling.

Solvang
Danish inspired town, about an hour south of Pismo, should have stayed here. Very touristy, but enjoyable none the less. Very good baked goods and lots of shops to peruse. We took Rt. 154 a very twisty and hilly road back south to Rt. 101. At one point traffic was down to one lane because it appeared a car went off the road.

Beach south of Mussel Shoals
 Jumped on US 1 again for a stretch and stopped for a stroll on the beach. There is an island off the shore connected by a causway, but it is really a man-made oil drilling platform.

California Science Center, Space Shuttle Endeavour, LA
The Space Shuttle was transported by road to the museum and it took 68 hours.
The final display will have the shuttle, external fuel tank and the 2 solid fuel rocket boosters set up in a vertical configuration looking ready for take-off and contained in a new building.

Warner Bros, Studio Tour, LA

 Good tour of the back lot and a sound stage.

Found out that everything is fake, the buildings, the rain, even rusty NYC fire escapes.

Restaurants:
I'll expand at a later time.
Sir Winston's Restaurant on the Queen Mary.
The Sow's Ear, Cambria
Ragged Point Inn,  North of Cambria
Black Cat Bistro, Cambria
Cliff House, San Francisco
The Slanted Door, San Francisco
Plow, San Francisco
Suzu Noodle house, Japantown, San Francisco
Trois Mec, LA
The Hart and Hunter, in the Pali-hotel, LA