Stage one of the holiday was to fly over to San Francisco, spend some time in San Francisco, then head down the coast road, stopping off at various places along the way. We've seen some great things, and it was a pretty varied trip, so here's what happened...
It was a short stage - we arrived late on Friday (having been fed several times during the journey), and collapsed in the hotel room. And what a room! Fabulous hotel - Expedia did us proud with this one. Huge bed, LCD TV, and a Bose stereo... plus there was a television in the bathroom above the sink! Now that's just wierd, if you ask me, but I'm not going to complain. The desk in the room was a lovely marble thing with a comfortable contoured office chair to sit on, and the breakfast in the morning was great. So, if you're looking for a great hotel in San Francisco and they have a good deal at the time, head to the Pan Pacific hotel.
San Francisco itself is just as great as I remember - a wide variety of shops all set in a city you feel happy to walk around, including a huge maternity shop that we found - I felt really rather pampered and came out with just a pair of jeans and a top (our luggage is already kinda overly huge!) We hopped on a tram and went out to Fishermans Wharf, where we grabbed some fabulous views of the city. It's a bit touristy out that way, but it was pleasant enough. While we were waiting for the tram back to Chinatown, I ran to the shop to grab some water, and nearly got run over by a fleet or Segways, heading back to their office following a city tour!
Chinatown was great - it was the Moon festival while we were there, so lots of singing and dancing, lots of stalls selling stuff - all in all an interesting cultural experience. We walked back to the hotel and enjoyed the walk past all sorts of interesting shops. Jetlag hadn't been too bad, but we weren't particularly hungry at the end of the day, so grabbed a quick snack before heading to sleep.
Day two started with us picking up a hire car and starting our drive down the coast. The car arrived - it was this little red "thing" called an Aveo - think it's made by Chevrolet or something, but it's probably the smallest car on the roads out there... and not exactly the same size as a Ford Focus, as I'd been promised. The tiny boot (or trunk, as the Americans call it) was barely big enough for most of our luggage, with one big bag having to sit behind one of the back seats - I think it's smaller than the Puma's boot, which is saying something. Hardly impressed. And to top it off, this damn car had such a tiny engine it felt quite scary trying to get on to a Freeway safely (those things are huge and fast!)
Monterey was our lunchtime destination, where we saw loads of sea lions, seals and a few sea otters, along with some really cool birdlife (pelicans!) Monterey is a gorgeous coastal town, in my opinion, and we had a lovely lunch. Shame we couldn't stay too long, since we had to continue our trip down the coast.
The coastline itself was great - some dramatic cliffs, some beautiful sandy beaches, and loads of turkey vultures circling overhead! The most barren bits are simply stunning, and I'd say that about 50% of our drive was out in the countryside. The other half was spent driving through more built up areas, and it was in those areas that we struggled with the map and the lack of road signage. A lot of the roads we encountered had obviously been there a long time, yet the map knew nothing about them. And to top it off, the road signs are mostly hidden behind telegraph poles, and have really unhelpful directions on them.
The end of day 2 we ended up in Cambria; a small town about halfway between San Francisco and LA, and it's a stunning place. The beach had loads of driftwood on it, and the waves were really enjoying themselves. We were amazed by the sheer number of Turkey Vultures in the area - so many of them flying really quite low to the ground, obviously on the look out for the tame little Ground Squirrels we saw. Dinner was a stunning affair - I had a huge steak, cooked to perfection, with lovely fresh vegetables. The room was lovely - we were given a bottle of wine on our arrival (not much use to me in my condition, sadly), and there was a nice gas fire that came in handy on a slightly chilly evening. Breakfast on the start of day 3 was served in-room, and we feasted on fresh fruit and muffins. The Cambria Landing Inn have two happy customers, as does the restaurant next door (the Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill).
We continued our drive down the coast to LA, stopping in Santa Barbara on the way (another nice place), and headed on to LA. I have to say that the first part of the drive was more visually stunning - this part was more urban, with several stretches where highway 1 merged with the freeway. That bit was not so pleasant in the red thing we had to drive, but we managed to make it to LA. Finding petrol was somewhat tricky, but we finally found some and rolled in to the hotel (the Mariott in Downtown LA) around 6pm. Met up with a couple of work colleagues in the evening for food at the hotel, which wasn't brilliant - pasta with far too much garlic for me, and a less than inspirational caesar salad for James. Service without a smile, which didn't help.
Breakfast on day four was lovely - the hotel are very good at breakfast! From there, you'll have to head over to my PDC blog entries for more information, since that's really the end of the holiday bits. The conference ran from Tuesday to Friday, so that part was more geeky and involved a lot of intense learning! Holiday stage 2 starts tomorrow morning as we head off in to the hills to visit the Sequoia national park, then Yosimite, Death Valley, Vegas and finally, New York. Not sure how much internet connectivity we'll get, but I'll write up some blog entries as we go along and post them when we get home if all else fails!