[StanIROCZ]

I know there are quite a few CA folks on the board here. The wife and I have 2 passes for free round trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental US and we thought CA might be a fun place to go since neither of us have been there before.

Where should we go and what are the best attractions? Suggestions?

We're thinking early July for about a week.

[StanIROCZ]

I figure I own everyone a little trip summary for all the good advice given. So here it is..

Sunday: travel day. Moved into our hotel in downtown San Diego. Walked around the city a little that night and had dinner. Not much else.

Monday: San Diego Zoo during the day. Dinner in downtown San Diego walked around the city.
(IMG:http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/StanIROCZ/CA/DSC03128.jpg)

Tuesday: Picked up rental car (parking in downtown SD is $20+/night = screw that), visited Coronado Island, got some sun on the beach, then drove to our resort in Oceanside.
(IMG:http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/StanIROCZ/CA/DSC03178.jpg)
Pic is of the infamous Hotel Del Coronado, one of the oldest and largest all-wooden buildings in California and a place where many many famous people have stayed through the years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_del_Coronado
http://www.hoteldel.com/History.aspx



Wednesday: Hollywood, Beverly Hills, walked the Hollywood Boulevard walk of fame, took a van tour of celebrity homes, had Coney Dogs at Pinks http://www.pinkshollywood.com/pgz/history.htm. We only had time for the part of Mulholland dr that goes up to the famous “Hollywood” sign. Not seeing the rest of Mulholland dr is my biggest regret next to getting sunburnt on Thursday.
(IMG:http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/StanIROCZ/CA/DSC03244.jpg)


Thursday: Hung out around the resort/beach in Oceanside and got sunburnt, bad. Walked the Oceanside Pier. Fought off sun poisoning that night.

Friday: The highlight of my trip was driving hwy 154 from Santa Barbara up to the Santa Ynez Mountain range. Awesome curvy road and beautiful scenery. Met some nice people at a Vista Point (sight seeing stop) who told us some history behind Lake Cachuma (Spectacular clean looking lake, damned to create water supply for the region).
(IMG:http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/StanIROCZ/CA/DSC03330.jpg)
Had dinner at Cold Spring Tavern http://www.coldspringtavern.com/ (recommended by the nice people that we met) which is without question the most rustic place that I have ever eaten at.
(IMG:http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/StanIROCZ/CA/DSC03339.jpg)

Saturday: Checked out of Oceanside, drove back to the San Diego area. Stopped at La Jolla beach and saw some sea life.
(IMG:http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/StanIROCZ/CA/DSC03350.jpg)
The closest I’ve ever been to live seals. Stunk like a hog farm.

Then visited Cabrillo National Park / Point Loma http://www.nps.gov/archive/cabr/lighthouse.html.

Checked into our 3rd hotel in San Diego Bay (very close to airport). Didn’t have time for a tour of the USS Midway, but walked around it and took it in. Checked out some other boats in the harbor. Returned rental car to avoid $20/night parking.

Sunday: flew home.

Overall an awesome trip, but I recommend (like people already mention) doing it different than how we did since our timeshare accommodations limited us to Socal. I would have liked to have started in San Fran and progressively travel down to San Diego like others have suggested. We spent a lot of time on the road traveling North to LA and back one day then Santa Ynez, and back a couple days later. I wouldn’t expect the time spent in the car too much different if we started in San Fran and traveled south.

Like Arnold says “I’ll be back”