July 22 Santa Barbara - Morro Bay

We woke up, called around for campsites, not getting our first choices (Pismo Beach, Kirby Creek), and opted for Morro Dunes RV Park.

http://www.morrodunes.com/morro-dunes-rv-park/Welcome_.html

We only needed it for the night, and this was the only place near the beach in Morro. For an RV park it was amazing. Everything is neat, and tidy, and the staff are very helpful and friendly. As a tenting site, it's a tiny gravel square in between two small fences with a picnic table and fire bin, but that was all we needed so we couldn't complain. They had showers, washrooms and laundry, and the beautiful Morro sand dunes across the street.

Knowing that we had a place to stay for the night, we headed north along the coast towards Pismo. We found the Outlets there, shopped for a bit and drove through town. Shay was tired and wasn't up for the beach, so we headed to Morro.

We went across the street to the beach, which we could get to by climbing over giant sand dunes. Morro Bay is beautiful. Lots of surfers.

The air was a little too cold for swimming.

I did some laundry while Shay got the fire going to cook our Indian Food. After dinner we went back to the beach to watch the sunset. Stunning.

July 21 Malibu - Santa Barbara

We woke up early to strike our site, and to call to make arrangements for the night. We had two nights with no pre-arrangements, as I couldn't find anything in the area that took reservations. They were only first come first serve. I was counting on staying in Lompoc at Jalama Beach. I had called earlier, and he said that I should call in the morning to check availability, and we should be fine. I called at 7:45 and the line was busy for 15 minutes. When I finally got through, he told me he had 17 people on a waitlist in his parking lot who had showed up in the morning to wait. He didn't think he even had enough sites for them, so he referred me to Lake Cachuma. This turned out to be a great suggestion!


We got to drive through the mountains which were beautiful, and into the valleys. Lake Cachuma is a very large lake, and we were very disappointed to discover that you could not so much as dip a toe in it, as it is Santa Barbara's supply of drinking water. Motor boats and fishing were permitted...


We set up our camp, and made our way down the mountains the other way through Solvang, a town of windmills and German-style timber buildings. It looked like a movie set. Very Quaint.

We made our way down and found Gaviota State Park. You can camp here too if you reserve in advance. There is very little privacy though. We avoided the $10 park fee by parking up the hill. The hiking trail was outside of the park entrance here. We began our trek up the mountain. I heard that there were hot springs up at the top. We didn't find any, mind you we stopped early because we wanted to go to the beach. The climb is through a lot of low and high brush and is very steep at times. I found it tricky in running shoes and purchased hiking shoes for the remainder of the trip. Also, I recommend wearing longer pants or capris, as some of the brush was quite sharp, and I had several scrapes along my thighs. The views were amazing.

A quarter of the way up

Closer to halfway...

From a very high peak, but not the highest.

We headed back down, as carefully as possible. There is nothing to hold onto and the decline was steep. Lots of slipping!


We got back down to the road, and opted to hop the train track and shimmy down the cliff to get to the beach. We didn't feel we should pay $10 for 2 hours. We saw the locals doing this so we followed suit. A little tricky, but worth it. The beach at Gaviota is beautiful, and because it is in more of a remote area there were very few people here. The waves were big and fun to play in, and people were fishing off the pier.

After a few hours, we made our way back to Lake Cachuma. We needed to stop for groceries. We had a hard time figuring our what grocery stores were. We learned that out west, Vons, Trader Joes, Albertson's and Safeways were all grocery stores. CVS and Walgreens are pharmacies. We found an Albertsons outside of Solvang, and picked up the ingredients for a delicious grilled chicken, corn and potatoes dinner, cooked over the fire. Yum!


I had a shower when we got back from the beach. It was 50 cents for a very generous three minutes. Very refreshing. After dinner we sat back and watched the sun set over the lake. 

We had a resident skunk that visited us several times in the evening, and needed some coaxing to leave, and a family of 5 raccoons meandering through the sites that we stumbled across on a washroom visit. Most Americans camp by RV. There were very few people just tenting it, and therefore, fewer people understanding why/how you clean up your site after a meal. On sites though, these were the only animals we saw. I don't think they have bear problems in the south!

Another night of stars filling up the sky, and plenty of marshmallows to go around!

July 20 -Laguna Beach - Malibu

 In the morning, we checked out and walked down the street to have breakfast at the Omelette Inn. Portion sizes were good, and Shay loved his omelette. We ventured over to the Queen Mary, then headed down the coast to Newport and Laguna Beaches.

Laguna was beautiful. The houses were all built on top of one another in the hills, each over looking the one below. Very crowded. Everyone's house is unique, and the streets are so narrow, especially when most people drive Escalades and H2's.

We found that the weather would be overcast in the morning as the fog from the coast rolled in, but by 2pm it was sunny and nice again on the coast. If you drove further inland it was sunny all day.

You can see the blue sky creeping in from the top corner. This was a beautiful beach in Laguna. We parked on the street, but there was a lot I think? We stayed for a few hours, then made our trek to Malibu. Word of advice. Driving north through Los Angeles in between 4 and 7 is a very bad idea.

We sat in this for awhile, then got fed up and got off to find the 1. The 1 was still busy, but at least we were right on the coast and had beautiful views of Santa Monica and Malibu. We didn't have time to stop at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, but we drove by it and it looked nice. Malibu was very unique too. The houses were still built up on cliff sides and over looked the ocean, but they seemed to be further apart from one another.


We arrived at our pre-booked campsite in Point Mugu State Park, Thornhill site in Malibu around 8:45 as the sun was setting.

If you want to do beach camping along the coast during the summer months you must book your southern california locations online a few months in advance. I waited a little too long and didn't get all of my first choices. However, after staying the one night on the beach in Malibu, we were happy we didn't have several booked in a row, as it was very misty and wet at night, so by morning (when we had to pack up our tent) it was very wet.

Point Mugu was nice. It was essentially a strip of road on the side of a beach. All of the sites are beside each other, with no privacy. There is a fire pit with a grill. We made our own fire ring down by the ocean before reading the "no ground fires" sign. This site was great for us, as it was easy to get to (right off the 1), and everyone was in their RV's by 930, so we had the beach to ourselves. The sky cleared at night and we saw so many stars. Very pretty. The mountains and sand dunes were piled high behind us as well.

July 19 Universal Studios -Long Beach

We woke up early Tuesday morning, and packed up the car. Check out was easy, but the continental breakfast blew. It is essentially in the lobby and consists of three dry cereals and packaged honey buns from the vending machine. One family was monopolizing the table that was there for guest use, so we left in search of food and coffee. Already missing Timmy's!!

We stumbled upon this random Mexican restaurant, that was more of a walk up window with a few seats, en route to Universal. I didn't have high expectations, as I hate eggs and breakfast foods, but was very happy when they made me a BLT. It was the best BLT that I have ever eaten: texas toast, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and so much crispy bacon. Shay loved his Mexican breakfast sandwich, and the freshly squeezed oj was delightful!

We made our way to Universal Studios. We parked in the Jurassic Zone for $15 and walked through the Universal Village to get to the park. Take note of landmarks near your parking zone, because knowing the name, gate, level and spot number isn't always enough.

We had pre-paid Front-of-line passes to Universal that we ordered online a few weeks prior. The passes got you entry and access to the front of every line for every ride, attraction and show. $140 per person, but totally worth it! Again, something I would highly recommend. Several people helped us find our way through the front gate to pick up our upgraded passes. They checked our back pack for weapons. We had water, that was ok. You might even be able to bring food in, which I would highly recommend, as food is typically expensive.

Notice the wait time of 45 minutes...not for FOL!!

It was a gorgeous hot sunny day. We decided to go for the Studio Tour first as we heard it gets busy. We had to figure out how the passes worked, which were now laminated cards that hung around our necks making us feel like groupies. As we got down to the line up for the studio tour there were already a few hundred people waiting, and the wait time was reading at least 45 minutes. We were walking the wrong way when we were stopped by people who worked there, and told to go the other way. We walked down a gated aisle made only for people with passes. It led us right past everyone in line, and directly to the front, where people in the regular line were being held back until we found seats on the tram. We felt really bad at first looking at their hot sweaty faces, but we paid for it, and this is what we were promised. UNBELIEVABLE, worth every penny. I wish they had this option for everything! Groceries, Canada's Wonderland, women's washrooms, Emergency Rooms. 


The Studio Tour is a lot of fun as you get driven through all the back lots, and old sets. They were filming some old fashioned TV show when we were there, and took us down Wisteria Lane. I don't watch Desperate Housewives, but still, very cool to see. Our driver was very animated and Jimmy Fallon added some humour. We are big movie fans, so we thoroughly enjoyed all the gimmicks. Some people could find it hokey or cheese-ball, but definitely a good time for film buffs. The King Kong 3-D portion is phenomenal. Highly recommended. At Universal they might try to sell you the upgraded VIP pass for triple the price. It includes parking, lunch, a few extra tours and they get off the trolly and walk around the wreckage from War of the Worlds, but it seemed as though they were on more of a schedule, and really it didn't seem worth it at all.

City sets on the backlot

I can't remember what show they were filming here. A period piece.

Night Rider!

Warning, Flash Floods...

Welcome to the Wild West

Amity Island....swim anyone???

Wisiteria Lane

Whoville

Bates motel....

War of the Worlds

We went to The Terminator show next. We ran there like kids, and the line had already entered. The show was about to start and the gate was closed. The two "guards" were about to turn us away until the next show until they saw our passes. They opened the gate, told us where to go, and radioed ahead to hold the show for us. AWESOME. The show was fun. Somewhat interactive, a little dated, but entertaining. T2 fans can't complain especially if they didn't wait in line.

Krustyland and the Simpson's ride was our next stop. I think The Simpson's could open up their own theme park. Next to the King Kong portion of the Studio Tour, this was by far the best ride. We had a hard time finding fault with any of the rides or shows (aside from Shrek which blew), because we didn't wait in line for any of them! I can see people being more disappointed with some of the attractions if they waited 45 minutes for it. 


Jurassic Park and The Mummy rides are both a walk away in the lower lot. Jurassic Park could have been much better. We had higher expectations and came up with a much more satisfactory version, however the plunging splash was a welcome refreshment. They do have several cooling zones throughout the park which are very necessary on hot days.


We ran through the House of Horrors and loved it, again we're Halloween people, so maybe not to everyone's taste. Lots of cheap thrills. Chucky came at me with a knife, and a werewolf grabbed me from the forest. I screamed. 


A very fun day. We did it in 6 hours or so, because of the passes, and left in a good mood. Bring Sunscreen and lots of water.


We drove to our hotel for the night which was in Long Beach. We booked it on Hotwire. (another great site). We booked a 4+ star hotel in Long Beach walking distance from the beach with all of the amenities. It ended up being the Hyatt Regency. Definitely not a 4 star hotel, but for $96 we couldn't complain. The pool and hot tub were nice, the room was dumpy and in dire need of renovations. The bathroom was dingy, and the shower/tub was cracked. Nothing extra accept a hair dryer. The Super 8 had nicer rooms. We weren't upset because we didn't pay full price for it though.


We picked up some camping chairs at Walmart, and ate dinner at King's Fish House. It was very good. A little over-priced for a fancy Red Lobster, but it was tastey. The honey crusted Salmon was delicious.


Parking at the Hyatt was $17 for overnight guests. We didn't walk to the beach, but we could see it from our hotel room.

July 18 -Los Angeles-Culver City/Hollywood

We flew into LAX on an Air Canada Jazz flight. For two people flying into LAX and out of Seattle we paid about $1200. This included extra roomy bulkhead seats which were glorious on the way there, but non-existent on the way home (smaller older plane maybe?).

The roomy seats started the trip off right, and helped us to forget about the ridiculous customs hustle we had to endure to fly into the U.S.

We packed two suitcases and an over-sized golf bag, along with our carry-ons. Not the easiest luggage to move around an airport in, but mostly necessary. Packing was difficult, as we planned to camp most of the way, and therefore required a tent, pot, sleeping bags, cutlery etc. If you plan to shop go easy on packing clothes. We had to purchase an extra suitcase to bring everything home (including the camping chairs we purchased at Walmart and couldn't just throw away).


Finding the Hertz bus at the airport was easy. It is big and yellow. You can't miss it. It, and our exuberant driver Cheri, brought us to the rent-a-car center where we were given our pre-paid red Nissan Sentra. I recommend the pre-pay. They told us there would be a return fee added, there wasn't, and they said taxes would be added, and they weren't. We couldn't check into our hotel as we had our car before noon, so we headed straight to Venice Beach.

The water was amazing. Great waves for surfing and there was also a long pier. We ate at this little burger joint that we thought would be a dive but it turned out to be delicious. I think it was called Thomas' Burgers. Souvenirs are cheap here and parking was $9.00 for the lot, and there was metered street parking. 

A local surfer at Venice Beach

The bathrooms are gross. We had to change there on the way in, and settled on changing in the car on the way to our hotel.


Our hotel was located in Culver City. Very close to Venice beach and Santa Monica. I would highly recommend this location.
We stayed at the Culver City Super 8, for about $100. We had a king suite. Very nice,
large room, with fridge and microwave.


After checking in, it was mandatory by the better half that we check out the pool. It was outdoors, and very clean. Parking here is also free. Wifi is included, but was kind of slow. 

http://www.super8.com/Super8/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=14189


It was time to explore Hollywood at this point. We hopped in the Sentra and headed towards Santa Monica Blvd and the Sunset Strip. This was around 5pm and traffic wasn't too bad yet. It worsened on Sunset but gave us an excuse to drive slowly.

We didn't make it to Rodeo Dr., but we drove through Beverly Hills, and found our way around Warner Bros. Studios, and Universal. Sony Pictures was closer to our hotel. Streets lined with palm trees...very cool. After some wide-eyed driving we found our way up to Mullholland drive. Very windy, but the amazing views of the entire city are well worth it. The Griffiths Observatory is also out this way. We didn't make it, as we were too tired, but heard good things.

Once on the hill, a bunch of people were stopping at the top. We thought it was for something important so we stopped too being the lemmings that we are, and followed people into this parking lot. It turned out to be a park called Runyon Canyon Park. It has winding trails that go up and down the hills. Lots and lots of runners here. We got some great pics of the Hollywood sign, and the sun setting. We also didn't experience the haze of Los Angeles that we were promised. Clear skies and fresh air each day we were there.

We drove back down and headed back into Hollywood to look for food. We found a place to park, and walked around the strip reading all the stars on the sidewalk as we searched for a restaurant. We settled on Te'kila, a Mexican restaurant with a large patio. It was alright. Nothing to write home about. Service was slow, and food was mediocre. We were starving by that point, so we didn't put as much effort into finding anything better. Our restaurant choices improved as the weeks went on, and we relied heavily on yelp.com. I highly recommend Yelp to find good eats in the neighbourhoods you stumble through. It didn't fail us. We poked around some of the shops, all very touristy here, but we were exhausted. We got back to the hotel around 11:45pm (2:45 am our time) and called it a night!

The West Coast Drive!

This year, we decided to make the West Coast drive. We did a lot of research, and in doing so, saw that most websites say a lot of the same things. After having done the trip, we thought it might be nice to post some different opinions. Our goal was to see as much of the coast and the mountains as we could on an affordable budget. We had an amazing time.

We decided to drive south to north, the opposite direction to most, which worked out in our favour in a number of ways. Yes, driving southbound means you will be on the side of the road that is directly on the coast, but really, it's a matter of feet, and there our so many pull- offs on either side of the highway that you can't miss anything driving north.

Secondly, we spent about $1000 on a car rental from Hertz through CAA. This was for 3 weeks unlimited km for a midsized vehicle picking up in Los Angeles and dropping off in Seattle. We were quoted a vehicle return fee, but Hertz in L.A gave us a Washington plated Nissan Sentra (not so mid-sized if you ask me), and since we were returning one of their cars, they didn't charge us the return fee, just taxes. Most people drive south, and it was $500-$900 more to do so.

Thirdly, there was way more traffic coming south, especially in the Big Sur area. It's not a relaxing drive when there is somebody constantly on your tail forcing you to turnout*. This was constant for the south drivers as there were so many. We didn't really have that problem. 

Finally, we found we were very busy in L.A and California, and really enjoyed starting out fast with amusement parks, shopping, and site seeing, and ending with some hiking, lakes, and mountains. We would have been exhausted had we ended in L.A.

*turnouts- turnouts are along the coastal drive, and most one lane highways we saw on our travels. Ingenious when used correctly. Why some people resist the turnout I don't know? There are signs every few kilometers reminding slower traffic to turnout, so that faster moving traffic can pass. This means WHENEVER there is a car behind you, you should turn out, unless it is keeping a distance. There were portions of our trip in Oregon or Washington where signs read: If there are are more than 4 vehicles behind you and you don't turnout, you will be fined. LOVE IT! Yet, so many RV's refuse to do this. Respect the turnout!!!