Driving up the California coast - what to see? (Los Angeles: how much, hotel)

[Sambazon]

Alright so I'm composing a list of "missions," so to speak.

I'll try my best not to stay awake both ways; and if a certain task doesn't get done on the way up, I'll try to accomplish it on the way back.

This is gonna be lots of fun. Tons of pictures and quite possibly a video montage when I get back. We're leaving next Friday and coming back that Sunday, so this is just gonna be a fun lil weekend trip.

[pizzicato66]

My sister and I made the trip from LA to Monterey a few years ago and I LOVED it (enough to be job hunting in CA now). My favorites:
- the Monterey Aquarium (we wound up staying from open to close that day)
- Nepenthe in Big Sur. The restaurant is gorgeous at night and the coffee house is lovely in the morning!
- renting a cabin in Big Sur
- Ragged Point Resort (we just had lunch at the restaurant)
- sea elephant-watching near San Simeon
- the missions! My favorites are San Miguel (which may not be open since the quake a few years ago), and the one that's now a state park (the name eludes me right now). I thought Santa Barbara was a little too gentrified and overdone (they've done some tacky renovations and lost a lot of the "soul" of it).

I've also seen a few missions near LA and south. Capistrano is wonderful to see, as is San Gabriel. If they stop off in LA, check out the church near Olvera Street too.

Have fun!

[greatmuta]

Here's some info about Ventura Highway. Technically called Ventura Freeway but yeah same thing Ventura Freeway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[dubstyle247]

if you make it far enuff north just get to those redwoods. they are amazing and will leave you awestruck and they will be etched into your memory forever. the beautiful northern coast goes without saying. i've done this trip. its awesome!!!

[northbayeric]

Originally Posted by Kingsnkali

Don't forget to stop at the Tides restaurant in Bodega Bay. Don't feed The Birds!

Wonderful posts all! Just want to clarify one little thing here: Bodega and Bodega Bay are two separate locations about 6 miles apart from one another. The Tides Restaurant is in Bodega Bay on Hwy. 1, and Bodega is just about half a mile off Highway 1, on Bodega Highway going east in the direction of Sebastopol. That's the main location where "The Birds" was filmed. You'll recognize St. Teresa's Catholic Church in Bodega--looks pretty identical to how it did 45 years ago!

[Sambazon]

Thanks everyone!

Leaving early this Friday morning, coming back on Sunday. Do you think a 1GB memory card for a 6.1mp digital camera would suffice, seeing as how I plan on making a cool video and picture montage of this trip?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Sambazon

Thanks everyone!

Leaving early this Friday morning, coming back on Sunday. Do you think a 1GB memory card for a 6.1mp digital camera would suffice, seeing as how I plan on making a cool video and picture montage of this trip?

You might want to pick up a 2GB or larger card if you plan on shooting some video clips as those can really eat the storage quickly. The good news is memory cards are super cheap.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Sambazon

Thanks everyone!

Leaving early this Friday morning, coming back on Sunday. Do you think a 1GB memory card for a 6.1mp digital camera would suffice, seeing as how I plan on making a cool video and picture montage of this trip?

I'd bring a dedicated digital videocam for video, a digital still for snapshots and a laptop for storage. The one gig card sounds really small unless the video is low sample rate and small dimension in which case it won't look very good.

[Sambazon]

^^^ I was thinking about doing that (using my digital camera mainly for video and my parents' for still pictures), but turns out my dad has a spare 1GB memory card that he never used. However, my camera doesn't have the capability to zoom in and out while recording video. That's the ONLY thing that bums me out and I'd rather use my parents' camera.

Ah well. At least I don't have to go out and buy a spare memory card.

[NewToCA]

I've driven the coast a couple of times the past few years, from Los Angeles to as far north as Eureka. It is well worthwhile, and the suggestions provided in this thread are very good. Big Sur was beautiful, as is the area around Carmel.

One area frequently overlooked, because it takes you away from the water, is the drive about 30 miles north of Mendocino, where Rt 1 turns towards Hwy 101. You drive on the side of a fairly steep mountain range for about 20 miles with some of the best wooded scenery I have ever seen. The road has a lot of switchback driving, and no fuel stations, so make sure you have a full tank when leaving either Mendocino or Ft Bragg.