Day 5, San Diego to Long Beach. This part of the drive we wanted to keep short with only a couple of stops and use the rest of the day to look round LA. We travelled through the mission beach area to Torrey Pines and had quick stop at the world famous golf course. It was nice to have a walk round the club house\hotel and the practice greens. Then we followed the coast to Dana Point for a coffee break and a quick walk round part of the Marina. Then back on the road and next stop Long Beach. We drove past so many other fantastic looking beaches and places we could have stopped given more time. My wife left the hotel booking to me, so only knew places we were visiting without the detail. Long Beach was to be a surprise as we were staying on the Queen Mary, now used as a floating hotel and museum. It worked my wife liked the ship and the upgraded cabin, it is a little dated now but it’s still impressive in its own way. With a little imagination you can see what it would have been like in its glory days, defiantly worth a visit. After checking in and dropping off the bags we headed to the Beverly Hills area. As we are not interested in looking for the rich and famous or knowing that they live behind that big wall. We just wanted a drive round and have a look at some of the more well known places. We also decided that during this trip we would not do any of the parks we could do in Florida. So first stop Rodeo Drive for a walk round and to see how the other half live, then we drove round more of Beverly Hills. We followed Sunset Boulevard east towards Hollywood. We had a look round Hollywood driving round part of Hollywood boulevard, we then made our way to find the Hollywood sign. We finished up in a street below the sign looking up at it, I am not sure if you can get any closer these days. We were going to have dinner out, we looked on the satnav and decided to try BB Kings. Following the sat nav instructions as we got closer I sort of guessed from the signs it might be at universal, which it appeared to be. We were told by the car park attendant that it had been there but had closed about 3 years ago (not Rogers Satnav). At that point and after a long day of driving we decided to head back and have dinner on the boat. Looking towards the fairground and Long Beach at night with all the lights makes for an impressive view.
Day 6 Long Beach to Santa Maria. After breakfast we spent a couple of hours looking round the Queen Mary doing the self guided tour. The tour includes the public areas and some of the working side of the ship including the engine rooms. Although it’s not open to the public someone allowed us in to see the art deco swimming pool, it’s original and in need of a good clean but was still worth seeing.
We then started our drive to Santa Maria, again so many places you could stop given more time as this part of the world has an abundance of beaches. We had a quick look at Venice beach then headed to Santa Monica, here we spent a little time walking along the road overlooking the beach and pier. We then followed the coastal road to Santa Barbara, now we both liked Santa Barbara, it just feels like a nice place to be. We walked around part of the beach area, out onto the pier and had a coffee. We could have spent more time here but finished with a quick look at the mission and headed north to Santa Maria. This is not a tourist area it was just a place to stop for the night it is allegedly famous as the home of BBQ, as dinner approached that was worth further investigation. We asked about places to eat and the BBQ connection and were directed a little way up the street to AJ Spurs. Now if you like plenty to eat and good value this will appeal. Check out the web site for the menu and pictures of the starter www.ajspurs.com, we went straight for the main course, just as well because as a starter (which is automatically included with the main) a large pot of soup, a bowl of beans and a bowl of salsa arrived. The waitress suggested a spoon full of each mixed together, great call. We only had a little as had we eaten all of it we would not have been able to get to the main course. Next thing to arrive was a reasonably large salad, I am not a salad lover but it was quiet good. With the main course you get fried potatoes as per the menu but also garlic bread and rice. The steak was cooked BBQ style and was excellent, boy am I glad I went for a small one. To finish with, or is that to finish you off you can have an ice-cream float or a liqueur (Baileys), again included with the main. Then back to the hotel for some next day planning and a much needed sleep.
Day 7 drive the Big Sur coast to Monterey. After being forced inland by Vandenberg AF base we got back to the coast to start the drive north at Pismo Beach, apart from the beach we had another pier to explore and another great area to walk round. Just before going onto the pier was a warning sign saying that a shark had been seen at the end of the pier the day before. So I had the camera trained on the people on surf boards at the end of said pier, sadly there is never a shark around when you want one. Other than the beach area the place was memorable for the shop selling small worms, crickets and scorpions and of course the chocolate covered version of each. We then followed the coast to San Simeon and Hurst Castle. Thanks to all who recommended this as I had not initially considered the castle but was so glad we did. The mist was hiding the castle when we first arrived but had lifted by the time we got the bus to head up. We took the tour of the main rooms downstairs, and then spent an hour or so wandering round on our own. Unless you have been and looked around the castle it would take too long to describe. I enjoyed the whole experience and other than the rooms I particularly enjoyed the Neptune pool, the indoor pool, the gardens and the view. We had a quick look at San Simeon harbour before getting back on route to drive north along the coastal highway. We had a quick stop at an area a little further up the coast to look at seals and or sea lions which were hauled up an a beach located just off the main road. I enjoy driving and having seen pictures of the area had been looking forward to this part of the coast. The views along this whole stretch are spectacular in places. Looking at parts of the road perched on the side of steep slopes you wonder how they managed to build it. The other thought is how it stays in place, then seeing some of the repairs it obviously does not always. We made a few stops at general pull over points to admire the view and take pictures. We also stopped at some of more well known named places like Bixby Bridge, Point Sur Lighthouse and McWay Falls. McWay falls are not that impressive as such it was the whole area, the walk to the point, the view and the fact that someone had actually built a house along the track. Well after another great day we arrived at our B&B in Monterey, the Jobbawok inn. This place is a little quirky but I would have no hesitation recommending it. We arrived after 6 and a few of the other guests were just finishing the complimentary wine and nibbles before heading out. We finished off the nibbles, unpacked, got ready and had a walk down to Cannery Row for a look round. We had already eaten so we decided to call it a night and head back early for in my case coffee or you could go for supplied milk and cookies. Well that was the plan but some crazy fool had left out more of the complimentary wine and well it seemed rude not to.
Day 8, Monterey and then drive to San Francisco. We had talked to a couple of the other guests the previous evening and again today at breakfast they were an interesting and friendly bunch. One had a problem with black widow spiders where he lived and had received numerous bites over the years, another had an infestation of Scorpions and sometimes we think we have problems. We were going to start with the Aquarium made even more pleasant by the free tickets, courtesy of the man who had the black widow problem. We spent most of the morning at the aquarium, with so much to see the time passes quickly. We headed back along Cannery Row towards Monterey’s version of Fishermans Wharf, with a short stop at the Ghirardelli chocolate shop. After exploring the pier at Fishermans Wharf we walked back to the B&B to collect the hire car. We backtracked to Carmel which we had missed the previous day as the drive had taken longer than expected. Carmel is a pleasant place to walk round and again a bit like Santa Barbara has a good feel to it. We decided to drive to San Francisco via a more inland route so we came in from east past the airport. Getting to the airport at about 5:30pm on a weekday was fun, mind not as bad as the traffic on the other side leaving San Francisco. We were staying at the Chancellor Hotel and although it was at Union Square we got there without too much of a delay. The traffic cleared a little as we got into the city, the one way system appeared to help. We parked outside the hotel, checked in and then took the hire car back to the airport. The traffic had cleared on the return and we made good time, the car return process was fast and efficient. As we had no bags we decided to try the BART system to get back to the hotel, it was straight forward to use and a lot less expensive than a taxi. It was getting late and after a long day we wanted to eat something basic, quick and local. I quite like American style diner’s and we used Lori’s Diner, which was only a few doors up from the hotel.
That’s about half way through the holiday and we already felt like we had done quite a lot, more later.
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Originally Posted by davec
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