California Road Trip - Suggestions wanted

[TN1776]

stop and have a steak at Jockos. There is not a better steak on the central coast (well maybe the Hitching Post in Casmalia but thats off Hwy 1). You will not be dissapointed.

JOCKOS!!! I can't believe that I forgot about that place. The nondescript building's exterior hides the best steak that I have ever had. Man now I am getting hungry.

 

[mattyq17]

JOCKOS!!! I can't believe that I forgot about that place. The nondescript building's exterior hides the best steak that I have ever had. Man now I am getting hungry.

Ya if you are looking for a nice fancy atmosphere Jocko's is not the place for you!!! But the steak cant be beat. Get the porter house and if your really hungry go for the extra cut!

 

[brianlowry]

Thanks again for all the information. After reading this over a few times with my wife, we've at least decided for now to dump our night in LA and maybe stop in Venice beach on the way through but stay in Santa Barbara or just north of that closer Monterrey. We don't want to just drive straight through Big Sur and all of those areas, we'd like to be able to stop and enjoy it.
We're out there Sept 9-15th.

Again, you guys rock and have provided a ton of useful information! Thanks!

 

[mattyq17]

Brian,

Solvang is a cool little town 30-45 minutes north of SB if you are looking for a place to stay. There is the Chumash Casino close by if you are into that, and there is a good steak house close by, The Hitching Post (not the one in Casmalia if you google it).

 

[jagdprcp]

San Diego
Midway museum and the Hotel del on Cornado

Midway Museum is pretty cool. Right next to it is the Star of India which is one of the last tall ships... If you get hungry while there and want some awesome seafood, go to the Fish Market at the Embaradero.

Just a bit up the road from there is Seaport Village. There are a bunch of little shops there if you want to do some shopping.

Old Town San Diego is another neat place to visit. They have a bunch of great Mexican Cafes there. You can't go wrong with any of them.

2 places I try and hit any time I'm down towards San Diego are hodads in ocean beach for a bacon cheeseburger .

Hodads now has a new place downtown but it doesn't have the funky appeal of the original and the lines are usually shorter.

The owner of Hodads passed away a few months ago but they are still open and going strong.

Skeeeter

 

[MartyG]

That will be a GREAT drive.
I live in Ventura...3/4 the way from LA to Santa Barbara. We have a little bake shop called "Sticky Fingers" http://www.stickyfingersbakingcompany.com/ on Main street if you find you want a killer muffin and coffee in the morn.
Done that trip lots of times...def. recommend staying a night in Shell Beach, basically Pismo. Place called "The Inn at the Cove" affordable and GREAT views.
Also...check out this town just past Monterey called "Capitola Beach" Gorgeous little town http://www.capitolavillage.com/ Msg me if you find yourself in Ventura, love to say hi!

 

[brianlowry]

The Inn at the Cove looks amazing...
Is it a bad idea to try and drive straight from San Diego to Pismo Beach? Maps is showing about 5 hours..
From everything you all have told me, it seems like a better use of my time will be from LA up to San Fran rather than the leg from San Diego to LA.

 

[67RT]

The Inn at the Cove looks amazing...
Is it a bad idea to try and drive straight from San Diego to Pismo Beach? Maps is showing about 5 hours..
From everything you all have told me, it seems like a better use of my time will be from LA up to San Fran rather than the leg from San Diego to LA.

http://www.visitcalifornia.com/feature/11-places-see-big-trees

Pfeiffer near Big Sur or Muir Woods are a must. You will never feel so small. Or this..http://www.roaringcamp.com/directions

 

[SteveL]

If you're into music you could roll down the hill to the rainbow bar and grill while in hollywood . Not worth going out of the way or making a special trip for. Just thinking if your staying on the hill there and need to escape for a beer it's a cool place. Lots of pics on the walls and never know what rock stars are gonna walk in at any time. Lemme from motorhead is a fixture there if not on the road. The pizza ain't bad either.

 

[mnido]

Completely un-bronco related, but figured there's enough west coast folks that could help out.
My wife and I are flying into San Diego in a few weeks, renting a car and driving up to San Francisco over 6 days.
We've narrowed our trip down to the places below, but wanted suggestions on what to see, what to avoid, etc. I have hotels booked, but not all paid for. Just the first night (San Diego) and last night (San Francisco).
We're both 33 and this is our first long trip without kids in 6 years. Also we've never been to California and while we realize we won't see everything, we don't want to get back and realize we missed out on something... Planning on taking the PCH as much as possible.

Night 1 - San Diego
Night 2 - Los Angeles (free place to stay at family member's place above the Hollywood hills, only reason we're stopping)
Night 3 - Monterrey via Big Sur
Night 4 - San Francisco
Night 5 - San Francisco
Day 6 - leave on the 10:00pm red-eye back east.

Thanks!!

Brian

This time of the year, the PCH has a lot of traffic, very slow going, really not worth the aggravation.

 

[SteveL]

Also if you like music stuff the original barneys Beanery in west Hollywood is the same type of place but not as likely to see rockstars. It was the watering hole for the early rockers like Janis joplin, jim Morrison ,the,eagles and actors of the same era. Janis ate her last meal there. I think they have her table with her name carved in it on the wall

 

[Bferrari]

The Inn at the Cove looks amazing...
Is it a bad idea to try and drive straight from San Diego to Pismo Beach? Maps is showing about 5 hours..
From everything you all have told me, it seems like a better use of my time will be from LA up to San Fran rather than the leg from San Diego to LA.

I live in Nipomo (where Jocko's is) which is about 15 minutes from Pismo/Shell beach. They key to the San Diego drive is timing. I have found the best time to travel is after 6:30/7:00 pm. At this time with light traffic we have made in 4 1/2 hours. The other window which will probably take you 5 to 5 1/2 hours would be leaving around 9:30/10:00am. Just in time to miss the morning traffic. I concur with the rest, the central coast (Pismo) is a great area to explore and is a lot less congested than the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. You have Jocko's in Nipomo, plenty of things in Pismo (including my favorite Italian place Guiseppes), Shell Beach and San Luis Obispo. It also makes the drive much more manageable taking hwy 1 to Monterey through Big Sur. That drive is beautiful but it is also very touristy so don't expect to haul ass because you get all the site seers going 20 mph. All that said, it will still take you probably 4 hours doing the drive from Pismo to Monterey. On that leg you can stop and tour Hearst Castle, stop at the lookout points and see all the elephant seals and sometimes whales. A good place to stop for lunch is at ragged point. Good food and clean establishment. If any of that doesn't sound appealing, I've got a Plan B for you ...... your more than welcome to head strait to Nipomo and you can help me work on my Bronco for the duration of your vacation ;D LOL!

 

[SteveL]

Oh yeah. Like he said. I would avoid the 5 or 405 thru the OC or LA areas from 6-9am or 4-7pm

 

[mattyq17]

Here is pic of the large spencer at Jockos. If you like steak you must stop you won't be disappointed. Mmmmm mmmmm good

 

[brianlowry]

Hey everyone. We returned from our trip earlier in the week and it was amazing. We only logged about 700 miles on the rental car, but we saw an unbelievable amount of things along the way. California is a beautiful state and we got to see a little bit of everything.
We wished we had a few more days to explore some of the places a bit more, but it was still great. Not to mention the heat wave that hit San Diego and Santa Barbara during our stay. Our hotel in Santa Barbara had no AC and we were told it was the hottest that most could remember in 15+ years!

Thanks so much for all the tips and tricks along the way. We referenced this thread multiple times while we were on the road so we didn't miss out on anything.

Can't wait for our next trip back!

 

[DirtDonk]

Great to hear Brian! Can't wait for some more juicy details.
And I hope you took lots of pictures to share!

Paul

 

[markw]

Hey Brian glad you had a good trip. I've lived here my whole life and haven't seen all that was suggested in the thread. So come on back! Mark