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Off Topic: They've Got Photos

SK Bubba is traveling and just got to Monterey. He has some gorgeous photos of views from the Pacific Coast Highway, the seals - and San Luis Obispo. Scroll through. Or click here and here for examples. Or here and here. I wish I could take pictures like that.

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    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#1)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    SK, When you get to San Francisco, drive over to Sausalito and have lunch at the Alta Mira Hotel. Best view of the city I've ever seen.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    Then go to Cha!Cha!Cha! on Haight Street for some fine Caribbean food.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    Pacific Coast Highway on that stretch, aka Highway 1, is gorgeous. But woe is the driver stuck behind a big rig on that twisting road. Or the driver heading north from SLO who forgot to fill the tank and has to pay seven bucks a gallon in Gorda. Go in the spring or the winter. When all is green and the tourists are few.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#4)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    Also, Cambria is the last real town before the long stretch north on 1 past San Simeon and Hearst Castle (a bizarre place if ever their was on -- Orson Welles had it right), north to that seven dollar a gallon gas in Gorda, and on to Big Sur and then to Carmel, Monterey, San Francisco. But back to Cambria. Great little town to stay in. Gorgeous scenery, great restaurants, and not at all pricey, especially in the off-season.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#5)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    Desertswine, There was a Cha Cha Cha in LA years ago. Same owners you think? Great food. And the 101 is almost as pretty as the coast, and you can drive FAST. Pismo Beach is also a great getaway.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#6)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    last also, but if you notice on the next to last photo in the "gorgeous photos" link, there is the faint outline of a path that you can descend to the beach there. i forget what the hotel there is called, but that path down to the water is something if you've got the wind. and there's a gas station there, too, i forgot, with prices per gallon reaching the gold standard.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#7)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    Dadler, Ya think there wasn't a bit of debauchery at that castle years back? It is an interior designers nightmare. I actually work with a gal whose parents named her Kambria.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#8)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:33 PM EST
    Che, Hearst Castle had to be the pinnacle of decadence. More VD probaly went around the top of that mountain than in all of WWII. I exagerrate. Sort of.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#9)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:34 PM EST
    LOL

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#10)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:34 PM EST
    My favorite place in that area is Point Lobos State Reserve. Someone called it "the greatest meeting place between land and water in the world", which is a pretty good description. I was stationed at Fort Ord from 1985 to 1988 and had some interesting experiences along old Highway 1. I once had to stare down a mountain lion on top of Bottcher's Gap. I also saw my first dead body a few miles south of Carmel around one in the morning on the 4th of July 1987, courtesy of a head on collision between a full sized station wagon and a little Toyota pick up truck. The station wagon won, but all 10 occupants required hospitalization. The driver of the pick up was dead and the engine block had been pretty much pushed into him. The horn was still going off. I'll never forget the surreal scene: carnage mixed with the tranquil combination of the moon setting over the Pacific. The sound of the waves lapping at the shore a hundred feet below combined with the crunching of broken glass under my feet. I used to like driving along the dirt road that follows the crest of the costal mountain range through Los Padres National Forest. This road is just up the hill from Highway One and is even more spectacular as you can see not only the rugged Pacific coast but also the Salinas Vally and the Sierra Nevada range at the far eastern horizon. I used to drive up there during summer nights when the fog off the ocean would drift through gaps in the ridge and into the interior valley. The fog would turn the ridge into an "island" and the Milky Way above was spectacular. One of the weirdest things I experienced was driving along these desolate dirt roads late one night and suddenly seeing a cluster of very expensive cars - Mercedes, Rolls, even a Jaguar...parked along the road out in the middle of nowhere. I later learned that this was a "harmonic convergence" in which some apparently very affluent New Age type people find the nearest remote hilltop to observe or partake in whatever festivities accompany a harmonic convergence. Ahhh California...

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#11)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:35 PM EST
    My wife and I are making a similar trip at the end of the month; along the coast from the California/Oregon border up to BC, camping and backpacking.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:35 PM EST
    TAKE ME TOO PIGWIGGLE!!! TAKE ME TOO!! (we'll work out the libertarian/progressive thang and come back to TL with the middle east issues all but resolved : ) )

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:35 PM EST
    Seriously, this is a dream vacation I have been waiting to take for a long time. As soon as my son is old enough we'd like to go from BC to Frisco, whether in one trip or two I don't know. However all of your comments above are appreciated. I have made notes and will be thinking of you folks while there. : )

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#14)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:35 PM EST
    I was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey in '83, and and again in '86, these photos make me homesick! Very touristy, but make sure that you have lunch on the Monterey wharf, and dont miss the aquarium.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:35 PM EST
    et al.... Thanks for the good info. Although I have made the highway 1 trip a couple of times, my girlfriend hasn't and we are planning to in early Oct, (certainly one of the top 100 things to do before you die!) Mfox/Pigwiggle ...If you get up to BC....plan on staying a day or two in Vancouver.. perhaps one of the most beautiful cities in the world!

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#16)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:35 PM EST
    Look up John Mann. He runs a lighthouse in BC I think.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:37 PM EST
    Thanks. Years ago I had a co-worker from Vancouver and he showed me tons of pics and Kodiak Island, etc. I fell in love instantly. I also have a pic of Big Sur with the mountain plunging into the see in an absolute yet foggy way. I can't wait and a lighthouse sounds great. : )

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#18)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:37 PM EST
    As for British Columbia, Victoria is also a beautiful, if less metropolitan, city. And the capitol of BC. Take the ferry between the two cities. And, if you have the patience, stay on the coast into Washington, and drive the long route around the Olympic Penninsula. Serious logging country, but beautiful beyond measure. Never forget the name of one middle-of-nowhere street we passed on the penninsula: Kitchen Dick Road. I still laugh every time I think of the name.

    Re: Off Topic: They've Got Photos (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:38 PM EST
    LOL - we'll keep an eye out for Kitchen Dick.