..but it is a gas tank trip and there is a ton of stuff to do.
The beach at the Coronado Hotel is lovely and it's always fun to grab an ice cream at the hotel. Shelter Island is a fun place to stay. The Best Western Plus is surprisingly nice for the price, mainly because the entire back side of the hotel over looks the marina. I've stayed a couple of time for work and its so nice to wake up to the boats and seagulls.
Oh one word of warning, don't put your finished room service back outside like you would in an enclosed hotel or you'll wake up to huge seagulls dragging the tray and contents all over the place making a hell of a racket.
I'm not a zoo and sea world person but Balboa Park is free and a great place for a picnic and games. The are some great coffee places close by as well as restaurants and the newly famous Deli Lama. You have to try this place out for a sandwich. It's eclectic decor and friendly staff make it a great snack stop and even better a place to pick up sandwiches for said picnic.
I didn't trawl all over SD as there are too many places to go and things to see but I bummed around the shops and shoreline and found it a relaxing day away.
The down side to SD, now that I'm no longer driving at 60mph is that everyone in SD drives at a snails pace compare to LA. Now that might be nice for those who are trying to fully escape the LA vibe but for me I found myself banging on my steering wheel one too many times.
I've found that writing about my single travels is often like traveling with someone, because you're relaying information as appose to just experiencing it almost secretively. This leads me to my dilemma which is the main thing I love about traveling solo is the solo part and this blogging lark is changing that experience. I guess I'll just blog until I no longer feel my solo freedom and then quit it.
Weird. not what I expected but I guess its not really that surprising. If I'm taking the blog's needs into account its really no difference and taking a noter damn persons needs into account.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Central Coast
So seeing as after twelve years I'm sporting a new car and it was my BD weekend the skiing in Big Bear was followed by a drive up the California coast to Moonstone Bay in Cambria.
It was another gas tank of gas, trip...well just about. Out of anxiety my husband filled up before I could eak out the last drips of gas to prove my "theme"so I'm not 1005 sure but just about.
The coast is beautiful and well worth the escape. The air fills your lungs as the city shrinks in your rearview mirror. There are many hotel/motel type places that aren't expense up in the area and its popular with Hearst Castle visitors, which we became.
The area is pretty and there are a number of good restaurants in the area. The trout and the caramel ganache thingy for dessert at The Black Cat Bistro were ten out of ten, as was the waiter. The atmosphere was very nice except for the overweight gentleman with the sinus issues snorting and clearing phlegm from his throat every forty-five seconds (I kid you not!) If he and his date, who was clearly deaf or immune to his gurglings, had not arrived towards the end of our dessert I'm would have been in peril of stepping out of my British reserve and screamed, "Take your disgusting snottiness outside to make those gag inducing noises!" Before stabbing him in the throat with my ganache covered fork.
Hearst Castle is....well...interesting I guess. He was clearly a very interesting man and I think I would have got on very well with him. The "Castle" however, and I'm not just saying this because I'm British...well not entirely, is NOT a castle. It's a concrete building that has been designed and decorated to be a faux castle. Each room is decorated with art, ceilings, wall pieces and fixtures clearly pillaged from Europe after the war and shipped to New York before being bought up by Hearst.
I say its interesting because the man inherited more money than god and spent it as and when he pleased. If he liked it he bought it. If he thought two pieces looked good together regardless of whether they went together he had them created into one piece. Like I said I think I'd have liked the guy. That being said it felt a little like a movie set, almost authentic but not quite.
My main issue and I get that it probably costs a lot in up keep, but the three tours they run all cost twenty-five dollars each. So although there is a discount if you book all three tours, you're still looking at about sixty-five dollars (ish) to see the entire place. For what you get it's a little steep. After doing the upstairs tour and the grounds, my thought is that one tour gives you enough of an idea of the place that you really don't need the other two. However if you never plan to go anywhere in the world where there are real castles you might as well spend the extra.
We thought about stopping in Solvang to step back into a weird dutch time but passed in lie of getting home in time for the "Good Wife."
As far as gas tank trips go I think the California coast is worth it every time.
(And FYI I'm not prove reading all of my posts so forgive the typos.)
It was another gas tank of gas, trip...well just about. Out of anxiety my husband filled up before I could eak out the last drips of gas to prove my "theme"so I'm not 1005 sure but just about.
The coast is beautiful and well worth the escape. The air fills your lungs as the city shrinks in your rearview mirror. There are many hotel/motel type places that aren't expense up in the area and its popular with Hearst Castle visitors, which we became.
The area is pretty and there are a number of good restaurants in the area. The trout and the caramel ganache thingy for dessert at The Black Cat Bistro were ten out of ten, as was the waiter. The atmosphere was very nice except for the overweight gentleman with the sinus issues snorting and clearing phlegm from his throat every forty-five seconds (I kid you not!) If he and his date, who was clearly deaf or immune to his gurglings, had not arrived towards the end of our dessert I'm would have been in peril of stepping out of my British reserve and screamed, "Take your disgusting snottiness outside to make those gag inducing noises!" Before stabbing him in the throat with my ganache covered fork.
Hearst Castle is....well...interesting I guess. He was clearly a very interesting man and I think I would have got on very well with him. The "Castle" however, and I'm not just saying this because I'm British...well not entirely, is NOT a castle. It's a concrete building that has been designed and decorated to be a faux castle. Each room is decorated with art, ceilings, wall pieces and fixtures clearly pillaged from Europe after the war and shipped to New York before being bought up by Hearst.
I say its interesting because the man inherited more money than god and spent it as and when he pleased. If he liked it he bought it. If he thought two pieces looked good together regardless of whether they went together he had them created into one piece. Like I said I think I'd have liked the guy. That being said it felt a little like a movie set, almost authentic but not quite.
My main issue and I get that it probably costs a lot in up keep, but the three tours they run all cost twenty-five dollars each. So although there is a discount if you book all three tours, you're still looking at about sixty-five dollars (ish) to see the entire place. For what you get it's a little steep. After doing the upstairs tour and the grounds, my thought is that one tour gives you enough of an idea of the place that you really don't need the other two. However if you never plan to go anywhere in the world where there are real castles you might as well spend the extra.
We thought about stopping in Solvang to step back into a weird dutch time but passed in lie of getting home in time for the "Good Wife."
As far as gas tank trips go I think the California coast is worth it every time.
(And FYI I'm not prove reading all of my posts so forgive the typos.)
Back up the mountain.
So the 60 mph thing lasted two weeks. I can't do it! I'm a London driver through and through and being the slowest on the road is like being a fish flapping around out of water trying not to breathe in air.
So back at my normal speed I headed back up to Summit Mountain in Big Bear for my birthday. And sure enough it's free to ski for the day on your birthday if you present your ID.
Didn't travel alone for this trip, it's my birthday after all I'm not a total sad sack. So My husband and I went skiing for the day and it was great. Yes its March and the snow was partially man made but who the hell cares, its FREE!
The upside to skiing on a week day in March is that there are no lines, NONE! We skied straight onto the lifts, skied down the mountain and then straight back onto the lifts again the entire time we were there. I'm inpatient and a passionate hater of lines (queues as we call them.) I'd rather take the long way somewhere than be in a line, in traffic, just waiting of any kind goes against my nature.
I know I mentioned if you're a hardened expert skier it probably isn't your kind of ski resort but for a 90 minute trip up the road for most of us its perfect. Its also snowing like crazy up there as I type so it'll be even better this week.
Went back to Teddy Bear's diner as it was a Friday....and yes...the Fish and Chips were on. Sad to say they were bloodily awful and take it from one who knows Fish and Chips. I guess one can't expect seaside quality fish up a freaking mountain.
So to finish the Big Bear blogging...its worth it. Half a tank of gas and a days free skiing. That's my kind of cheap road trip.
So back at my normal speed I headed back up to Summit Mountain in Big Bear for my birthday. And sure enough it's free to ski for the day on your birthday if you present your ID.
Didn't travel alone for this trip, it's my birthday after all I'm not a total sad sack. So My husband and I went skiing for the day and it was great. Yes its March and the snow was partially man made but who the hell cares, its FREE!
The upside to skiing on a week day in March is that there are no lines, NONE! We skied straight onto the lifts, skied down the mountain and then straight back onto the lifts again the entire time we were there. I'm inpatient and a passionate hater of lines (queues as we call them.) I'd rather take the long way somewhere than be in a line, in traffic, just waiting of any kind goes against my nature.
I know I mentioned if you're a hardened expert skier it probably isn't your kind of ski resort but for a 90 minute trip up the road for most of us its perfect. Its also snowing like crazy up there as I type so it'll be even better this week.
Went back to Teddy Bear's diner as it was a Friday....and yes...the Fish and Chips were on. Sad to say they were bloodily awful and take it from one who knows Fish and Chips. I guess one can't expect seaside quality fish up a freaking mountain.
So to finish the Big Bear blogging...its worth it. Half a tank of gas and a days free skiing. That's my kind of cheap road trip.
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