At first I thought this sounded cool, camping without having to load up
the car and plan out every meal in advance. Then I read this article.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-glamping19aug19,0,1779817.story?coll=la-home-center
Makes me a little sick to my stomach.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Vacation Day 7
Back on the road, but this time we are taking the 101 instead of the 1. The temperature is 80-100F depending on how far inland we were.
We decide to head back closer to Los Angeles for our final day on the road trip.
Getting closer...
Screw it, detour to Solvang...we are going to tear up this town!
And wow, did I think the Marriott in Monterey was grandma...check out the Royal Scandinavian Inn!
Ok, fast forward to lunch the next day at the Inn of the Seventh Ray which I had found on Citysearch a couple years ago, but never got a chance to try. Since its on Topanga Canyon which is right off the PCH, what the hell.
This place is so hippie, but the parking lot is full of Porsches, Range Rovers and BMWs so I guess its atonement for all your capitalistic ways.
From the About page on the site(and on the back of the physical menu):
"We, at the Inn, believe in giving you the purest of Natureís foods, energized as a gift from the sun with a dash of esoteric food knowledge and ancient mystery school wisdom tossed in for your seasoning and pleasure. It may just raise your bodyís light vibration and the extra work may cost you a few pennies more, but we believe in the long run, this way of living and eating may prove less expensive. Your body elemental, that selfless, shy, invisible little fellow who works so hard to keep the oft mistreated human machine going, will jump with joy for your choice of this eating establishment. He prays and hopes you will return soon to make this a pleasant ritual with each return being a new celebration in honor of taking a small step on the path of good dinning and good doing."
"The food is prepared with love and is charged by our dedicated staff with the vibration of the violet flame for your personal gain, and perhaps transportation to a higher plane."
Wow man, wow!
This is the end of our road trip and when we get home we are greeted with a freaking mess. The cat decided to take revenge on the apartment by not using her litter box for what looks like the last three days. Thankfully we have concrete floors and the one room that does have carpet, we had shut the door. Other than the time to clean up the big mess, we only lost the rugs in the bathrooms, 3 pairs of shoes and 3 pairs of Colleen's flip-flops. Total damage, about $500. I am pretty sure it was due to the earthquake, since we went to Utah and left her for 7 days and she was fine. Either way, she will be at a cat hotel next time...and if she does it again, there will be one old cat up for adoption immediately.
Several hours later and on the roof for a cigar and Scotch...did I mention I love Scotch?
We decide to head back closer to Los Angeles for our final day on the road trip.
Getting closer...
Screw it, detour to Solvang...we are going to tear up this town!
And wow, did I think the Marriott in Monterey was grandma...check out the Royal Scandinavian Inn!
Ok, fast forward to lunch the next day at the Inn of the Seventh Ray which I had found on Citysearch a couple years ago, but never got a chance to try. Since its on Topanga Canyon which is right off the PCH, what the hell.
This place is so hippie, but the parking lot is full of Porsches, Range Rovers and BMWs so I guess its atonement for all your capitalistic ways.
From the About page on the site(and on the back of the physical menu):
"We, at the Inn, believe in giving you the purest of Natureís foods, energized as a gift from the sun with a dash of esoteric food knowledge and ancient mystery school wisdom tossed in for your seasoning and pleasure. It may just raise your bodyís light vibration and the extra work may cost you a few pennies more, but we believe in the long run, this way of living and eating may prove less expensive. Your body elemental, that selfless, shy, invisible little fellow who works so hard to keep the oft mistreated human machine going, will jump with joy for your choice of this eating establishment. He prays and hopes you will return soon to make this a pleasant ritual with each return being a new celebration in honor of taking a small step on the path of good dinning and good doing."
"The food is prepared with love and is charged by our dedicated staff with the vibration of the violet flame for your personal gain, and perhaps transportation to a higher plane."
Wow man, wow!
This is the end of our road trip and when we get home we are greeted with a freaking mess. The cat decided to take revenge on the apartment by not using her litter box for what looks like the last three days. Thankfully we have concrete floors and the one room that does have carpet, we had shut the door. Other than the time to clean up the big mess, we only lost the rugs in the bathrooms, 3 pairs of shoes and 3 pairs of Colleen's flip-flops. Total damage, about $500. I am pretty sure it was due to the earthquake, since we went to Utah and left her for 7 days and she was fine. Either way, she will be at a cat hotel next time...and if she does it again, there will be one old cat up for adoption immediately.
Several hours later and on the roof for a cigar and Scotch...did I mention I love Scotch?
Vacation Day 6
Checkout at 11AM, so far this was the worst place we have stayed on the trip. The place was stained and with the CFL lighting, it glowed this horrible unnatural yellow. Overall, I think if we hadn't just come from Monterey I may have enjoyed Santa Cruz more, but I didn't. I didn't have a bad time, I just didn't get the feeling I would want to come back again. So we took off and hit the 1 again heading north.
We briefly stopped at Half Moon Bay, but just long enough to take a couple of pics.
Next stop San Francisco
We beelined to Pier 39 to eat at Eagle Cafe, which had the best Bloody Marys we have ever had. We didn't end up going in since it was remodeled and looked like it had lost the charm we so fondly remembered. Next time we are in SF we will stop in and check it out.
So we walked back closer to where we parked the car and had lunch at Boudin's, which had, according to Colleen "the best mac-n-cheese that I ever had out." She had the side dish, and I had the dungeness crab version. Alcatraz view obscured by the tour boats, but still a nice view.
North across the Golden Gate
Stinson Beach was as far north as we go and since its getting late we turn around and head back to SF.
Hilton at Fisherman's Wharf was full, so we got a room at the Hilton in the Financial District which had a nice view of the bay.
There was a cigar bar 2 blocks from the hotel, which kinda sucked. We were out of there by 10PM, and in search of some munchies. After a stop back to the hotel and reaffirming Citysearch has yet to solve their problems('near this location' module, resets location to generic SF point which makes it render the 'near this location' useless), we found some place to grab something to eat. Luckily it was about 2 blocks from the cigar bar, so a short walk from the hotel.
We briefly stopped at Half Moon Bay, but just long enough to take a couple of pics.
Next stop San Francisco
We beelined to Pier 39 to eat at Eagle Cafe, which had the best Bloody Marys we have ever had. We didn't end up going in since it was remodeled and looked like it had lost the charm we so fondly remembered. Next time we are in SF we will stop in and check it out.
So we walked back closer to where we parked the car and had lunch at Boudin's, which had, according to Colleen "the best mac-n-cheese that I ever had out." She had the side dish, and I had the dungeness crab version. Alcatraz view obscured by the tour boats, but still a nice view.
North across the Golden Gate
Stinson Beach was as far north as we go and since its getting late we turn around and head back to SF.
Hilton at Fisherman's Wharf was full, so we got a room at the Hilton in the Financial District which had a nice view of the bay.
There was a cigar bar 2 blocks from the hotel, which kinda sucked. We were out of there by 10PM, and in search of some munchies. After a stop back to the hotel and reaffirming Citysearch has yet to solve their problems('near this location' module, resets location to generic SF point which makes it render the 'near this location' useless), we found some place to grab something to eat. Luckily it was about 2 blocks from the cigar bar, so a short walk from the hotel.
Vacation Day 5
Woke up and got out of bed at 10ish. Threw some clothes in the laundry at the hotel, Colleen decided to hang and finish while I got a massage, which was conveniently located across the street from the hotel.
One last look at the view of Monterey
Then we headed out north to Morrow Bay which was kinda boring, so we kept on truckin to Santa Cruz. Once we arrived, we started looking for a place to stay the night. For some reason this picture did not capture how high everyone staying here had to be ;-)
We opted for a Best Western, which was probably not any different then the rest of the lodging choices we found. There were three rules you had to abide by and sign on two different sign in forms:
1. No smoking
2. No pets
3. No parties
Once we checked in, off to the boardwalk to check out the rides.
I totally wussed out due to the lack of shade, screaming sticky kids and general lack of interest in waiting in line to do anything. Where is my cane? We actually planned to come back later once the sun set since the rides were open until 11PM.
So we kept wandering toward the pier, and made a pitstop at what turned out to be a bowling alley. The outdoor garden area made it look like an Islands, but once you went inside it was clearly bowling. So we had a couple of Stellas and used the bathroom.
We left and hit the pier, the sea lions were really barking.
We stopped at Carniglia's for dinner, which was a bit pricey for what you get. I ordered the Ahi rare and it came out well done. I normally would have sent it back, but for some reason I didn't care and just ate it.
The best part of this place was meeting and having a long conversation with Sam from Berkeley. Very interesting guy, made his fortune in the 60s and just kinda dropped out since 1968.
One last look at the view of Monterey
Then we headed out north to Morrow Bay which was kinda boring, so we kept on truckin to Santa Cruz. Once we arrived, we started looking for a place to stay the night. For some reason this picture did not capture how high everyone staying here had to be ;-)
We opted for a Best Western, which was probably not any different then the rest of the lodging choices we found. There were three rules you had to abide by and sign on two different sign in forms:
1. No smoking
2. No pets
3. No parties
Once we checked in, off to the boardwalk to check out the rides.
I totally wussed out due to the lack of shade, screaming sticky kids and general lack of interest in waiting in line to do anything. Where is my cane? We actually planned to come back later once the sun set since the rides were open until 11PM.
So we kept wandering toward the pier, and made a pitstop at what turned out to be a bowling alley. The outdoor garden area made it look like an Islands, but once you went inside it was clearly bowling. So we had a couple of Stellas and used the bathroom.
We left and hit the pier, the sea lions were really barking.
We stopped at Carniglia's for dinner, which was a bit pricey for what you get. I ordered the Ahi rare and it came out well done. I normally would have sent it back, but for some reason I didn't care and just ate it.
The best part of this place was meeting and having a long conversation with Sam from Berkeley. Very interesting guy, made his fortune in the 60s and just kinda dropped out since 1968.
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