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California Road Trip - Spring 2004 |
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Friday, January 30 - Saturday, February 7: Tooling around the Golden State
So that's exactly what we did in early February. Since air travel was rapidly becoming a no-go, thanks to my advancing pregnancy, and because we definitely wanted to get in "one last kidless vacation," we decided to make use of a two-night free stay that Dave acquired at La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs, and make that the focal point of a week-long (more or less) driving trip around California. We started off with a long weekend in Sacramento, where we visited Dave's folks, made a shopping excursion to buy a crib and mattress (thanks, Mom and Dad Holland!), and squeezed in a viewing of the Super Bowl (way to go, Patriots!) right before a night out to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in downtown Sacramento (thanks again, Mom and Dad!). We had a relaxing, enjoyable visit, and then hit the road early on Monday for the 8-hour jaunt to Southern California, where we planned to spend the night with cousins Rod and Suzanne Holland and their daughter, Emma. We were driving our new chariot -- a 2004 Honda Pilot -- and loving the cushy ride, although the gas mileage made us blanch. (In theory, it'll get somewhat more efficient over time...) The car handled the road beautifully, and between the huge cargo payload and the space case strapped to the roof, we felt like we could've packed for three weeks and still had tons of room. It looked like it was going to be a sweet, easy ride... ...and then the weather caught up with us. The storm clouds moved in and by the time we hit central California and the windiest stretches of Interstate 5, the weather was so foul we could scarcely see through the driving, blowing rain. Passing the big rigs on the road became a nerve-wracking experience, and twice we actually pulled over at rest stops and waited for the storm to abate a bit. We also practiced dodging the enormous blowing tumbleweeds -- at one point, we narrowly missed one that was, no lie, the size of a VW bug. Our relaxed trip had become a white-knuckled nightmare. The four-wheel-drive made us feel a bit safer, and thankfully, by the time we hit Los Angeles the rain had diminished. By the time we reached Rod and Suze's place in Norco, it was down to a fine drizzle, and would clear completely overnight. Whew! We spent a fun night with Rod and Suze, were charmed (as usual) by Emma, and kept everyone up way past their bedtimes. We feasted on Rod's cooking in the morning (and made Suzanne late for work), then hit the road for Palm Springs.
On Thursday, we checked out and headed toward Los Angeles. Our destination for the evening: Pismo Beach, a sleepy coastal town about an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara. I'd been there for volleyball tournaments, but it was Dave's first visit. We got lucky with the off-season and landed a beach-view room at the Sandcastle Inn for something like $60. The hotel is right on the beach, so we checked in, strolled the sand and watched a spectacular sunset. Dave noticed the rolling break (and several longboarders) right in front of the hotel and talked about renting a board in the morning for a quick surf session. For dinner, we tried Steamers, a new restaurant renowned for its clam chowder. It was a bit dressier than we anticipated (Dave's khaki shorts were a bit out of place), but the food was amazing, the wait staff was super-friendly, and we had a great feast. Later, we strolled the (slightly deserted) town , hung out at a local pool hall and shot a couple of games of nine-ball, played some pinball, and then called it a night.
We traveled casually north, checking out Avila Beach; on a whim, we stopped at a couple of open houses and managed to shock even our Northern California-jaded selves with the real estate prices (example: a new home -- not much larger than our own townhouse -- in a new development was selling for $1.5 million). We continued up to Morro Bay, where we had lunch, and kept going toward San Simeon. We opted not to stop at Hearst Castle, but detoured a couple of times to beachside overlooks to take a look at the elephant seals who'd come ashore to snooze and breed; it was that time of year. They were ugly, yet cute -- and big enough to be intimidating.
One thing we hadn't counted on, however: golf. Unbeknownst to us, the tennis players, the PGA was having its largest event of the year this same weekend. Oops! We crawled into Carmel, surprised by the traffic -- until Dave recalled watching some PGA updates on ESPN the night before. We managed to confirm, by virtue of a newspaper, that we were, in fact, screwed; the tournament had already begun and Carmel, naturally, would be sold out. So, we decided to move on to Monterey in the hopes of finding accommodations. It took us a while, and several "Sorry, we're fully booked" conversations, but we finally located a place to stay in a somewhat cheap motel not too far from downtown. It wasn't the Ritz, but it served our purposes (although the clerk was apologetic at charging us the $120, saying that was double the usual price due to the golf tournament).
Overall, as road trips go, it was a blast and a total success. We broke in the new car (which, by the way, held up great), got to see all sorts of places we'd never been before, ate well, slept well, had a lot of laughs, and even had the obligatory adventures with the bad weather and the tournament-related lodging challenges. By our next vacation, we won't be so footloose...we'll have baby gear to schlep and won't be as comfortable winging it. But as a last hurrah -- well, this was well worth it. |
What's a couple to do with a kid on the way, a brand-new SUV in the garage, and not a lot of cash? Why, take a road trip, of course!
The La Quinta Resort was gorgeous -- one of the oldest hotels in Palm Springs, remodeled to an 800-room complex complete with multiple swimming pools, tennis courts of three surfaces, a spa, several restaurants, shops, and a number of other amenities. Our casita, unfortunately, was about as far from the tennis courts (our main attraction) as was possible; but, given that it was FREE, who were we to complain? We spent two and a half great days there, attending tennis clinics, playing on all sorts of courts (our favorite: clay; our least favorite: grass! but at least we got to try it), and even taking advantage of the spa. We ranged into town at night, discovering an excellent Chinese restaurant on the way, and generally had a fun, mellow time.
On Friday, once we determined that the swell was now too big for a "fun" surf day (5-7 foot waves, not ideal for our personal longboard preferences), we visited one of the areas big attractions: the monarch butterfly grove, where each years hundreds of thousands of the brightly colored critters flock. We strolled through the small eucalyptus grove and marveled at the trees where butterflies rested in huge colonies. What we at first mistook for clumps of orange leaves turned out to be monarchs, and the air was filled with their chirping (yes, they make noise!) and alive with the flurrying of tiny wings. We spent almost an hour there, then once again hit the road.
Nature fix behind us, we drove up on Pacific Coast Highway toward Big Sur, enjoying the spectacular landscape on the way -- wild seashore on the left, rolling hills on the right. As we increased in altitude, the balmy and sunny weather gave way to chill and fog. By the time we got to Big Sur, neither of us felt particularly motivated to spend the night there. We'd originally planned to stay at Big Sur Lodge and spend the next day hiking, but the weather turned us off and, after a quick stop at the lodge to make certain we wouldn't change our minds, we decided to continue on to Carmel for the evening.
We spent a happy Saturday at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which I'd never visited. I was completely charmed by the sea otters (Dave had to push me out of the way so the kids behind me had a turn at the glass), spent some time communing with a very intense cuttlefish, and enjoyed the sea-bird aviary immensely. We splurged and ate at the aquarium's restaurant (as opposed to the cafeteria-style cafe) and had a great meal...then decided to head home. We missed our dog, we were tired, and the idea of a nice, lazy Sunday at home was more tempting than more travel. So, we left by mid-afternoon and were back in Oakland in the evening. Ahh, home.