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California
Coasting 2006
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site.
This is Part One of a Two-part series. Coming soon is
Part Two, including San Diego, CBS Television City,
and secrets for getting into The Price is Right.
(Scroll, Click Picture for Galleries)
California Coasting
Part I
Flying directly from Detroit to San Diego on
Northwest
Airlines ($300) takes about five hours,
with a three-hour lag time.
At
Enterprise Rent-A-Car we produce an
Entertainment Book
coupon, asking for an upgrade. We get a Hyundai Elantra ($98)
for eight days and eight-hundred miles. We cruise our way
northward along the Pacific Coast Highway
US-101, through
La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas and Carlsbad before coming to rest
at the
Northcoast Village ($400 wk.), a condominium complex
on the beach in
Oceanside.
The first leg of this adventure is
spent exploring the Oceanside Pier,
Laguna Beach, (parking
a quarter for 15 minutes, if you can find it)
Newport Beach,
wining and dining around Temecula (tasting with goblet, $10)
and surfing the entertainment establishments of
Downtown
Disney (free).
Hollywood is eighty miles north
and can
be driven in an hour and fifteen minutes-- if you start at
two in the morning. Any other time it can take you from
three to five hours, depending on traffic. In Hollywood we come
and go dozens of times at
CBS
Television City as we become
audience members (free) for tapings of
The Price Is Right
with Bob Barker, the
Late Late Show with
Craig Ferguson,
and a live production of
Real Time with Bill Maher for
HBO.
While strolling along the
Walk of Fame
we stop off for a
moment for pictures at the
Kodak Theatre, at Grauman's
Chinese
Theater and at the
Hollywood & Highland
Center. We buy
souvenirs at the
Hollywood Mega Store
and stop for some food and fun at
Hooters. Driving up into
the
Hollywood Hills for a look at the
Hollywood Sign
and gliding down over
Mulholland Drive
for a peek at L.A.'s
night lights leaves us breathless. Our eighth day is spent on the
beach (free parking on US-101) at
Torrey Pines State Park.
We walk for hours along the sandstone cliffs, watching the
people and the sea birds hang-gliding together. The rising
tide and the setting sun hurry our steps toward the gas
lamps of old San Diego and the second part of our
adventure. This time, however, discarding the car.
(Click Picture for Galleries)
California
Coasting Galleries
Torrey Pines & La Jolla
Hollywood Laguna/Newport Beach
Ruby's
Oceanside Pier
Northcoast
Temecula Disney
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