Central California - Days 6, 7 & 8

Day 6 - April 13 turned out being as warm as Saturday and I was happy to break out the shorts again - James here folks. It was time to leave our plush surrounds of Hotel Kabuki and start our roadtrip down the coast. We grabbed a few photos of the gardens inside the Kabuki and took off in search of breakfast and found a Crepe Cafe right near the Avis dealer. Sunday must be a popular day for car rentals, as I had finished my massive coffee (that I had taken with me from breakfast) while we were waiting in line. But we were on our way soon enough - sitting on the wrong side of the car, driving on the wrong side of the road. Crazy! The road closure in front of the Kabuki due to the Cherry Blossam Festival and San Fran's many one-way streets presented some interesting challenges, but we soon found ourselves back there loading the car and heading off.


Our route for the day was California Hwy 1, which essientially follows the Californian coast all the way south to LA. It's ranked as one of the best drives in the world for it's sensational views of the coast and it lived up to expectations. Assisting us on our trip was "Jill" - our friendly GPS navigator who, over the course of the last few days, has already paid for her rental price. We found our way to Santa Cruz for lunch and did a lap around the famous Santa Cruz broadwalk - which was apparently quite popular with the locals and tourists on any warm Sunday afternoon - the beach was packed with swimmers, bakers and volleyballers. We got back on to Hwy 1, continued south and soon found our way into the Monterey / Carmel enclave - where I picked up a much needed coffee. The beach at Carmel was similarly packed - it looked very inviting, but I don't think it rates as highly as Byron Bay. Carmel was a beautiful looking town and Heidi and I both agreed my Mum would have needed a week to go through all the little boutiques and galleries - and a different Visa card every day!


We made several stops over the course of the day to take advantage of the many vistas and photo opportunities. I took alot of photos, most of which were of the many bridges that span the creeks and inlets along the route. There's some impressive concrete arches that were built in the 1930's that are still in use today that we just don't see back home. Heidi took alot of video too - less of it is focused on the bridges though ;-)

The coastline is naturally full of wildlife. We didn't see any seals along the way, but the number of eagles we saw just crusing on the uplifts was amazing. I'm sure Heidi saw some more "giant" seagulls too.


We pulled into San Simeon right on 6pm and managed to score a pretty flash suite right on the beach. It was a simple Best Western, but their set up was quite nice. It wasn't cold enough to use the in-room fireplace, but we took advantage of the outdoor "fire pits" that was closest to the room to warm ourselves after dinner. The in room soaking tub also provided some much needed releif after a day of driving. The adjacent restaurant also got a workout - Heidi got to sink her teeth into a steak and I dinned out on a fresh piece of snapper...and a Sierra Nevada beer.


Day 7 - April 14. San Simeon also gave us a chance to do some washing, which we took care of the following morning after breakfast. Soon we were back on the road again and after a few miles south, we turned inland and began our journey east towards Las Vegas. The central coast region was beautifully lush and green. The trip east took us over the coastal ranges and soon we were into the San Jaoquin Valley - which was far browner. The trip was pretty uneventful - the highlight for Heidi was probably seeing the million oil donkeys going at it in Oakdale before we got onto I-5. We soon found ourselves in Bakersfield. Jill managed to find us the nearest In-and-Out Burger, which we both agree lived up to Kerryn's recommendations.

From Bakersfield we followed the railway east to the little town of Tehachapi which is the location of a mountain pass on the way to Mojave to further points east. It's far tougher for the railways than the highway though, and a special loop was built by the railways to help them gain elevation quickly. We got off the highway and checked out the loop from some back roads. Heidi got behind the wheel and I kept a keen eye peeled for trains, but we didn't see any. We found another Best Western in Tehachapi for the night and set up camp. The day had been fairly warm, but the wind had picked up during the day and had even gotten quite cool that night. It didn't stop Heidi from insisting on a quick visit to the outdoor jacuzi at 8pm, even though her breath was blowing smoke as we walked there! It was worth it though, as the water was beautiful (hot!) and we were sheltered from the breeze. Naturally, as soon as the sun went down, the trains began rumbling past the hotel with incredible frequency...much to my disgust. Fortunately Heidi was tired enough that they didn't keep her awake that night.


Day 8 - April 15. Tehachapi is only about 4 hours from Vegas, which provided us a few hours this morning to chase some trains at the loop and around Tehachapi before we left town. The Best Western provided a free continental breakfast which we took advantage of (rice bubbles for us) on the basis of grabbing something filling (and coffee) for morning tea before we headed to Vegas. Heidi took the wheel again and we headed down towards Monolith when we came across a container train heading towards the loop, so we headed back there. We hung out on the loop for an hour or so and saw three trains, meaning I left Tehachapi happy. A hot apple scroll and a coffee in the Apple Shed meant I left Tehachapi full too ;-)


We left Tehachapi and followed the railway south to Mojave (still no trains along the way) and soon found ourselve heading across the desert to Barstow...which is an interesting little town. Heidi wanted to experience a Taco Bell meal...and maybe regrets that now. I remember visiting Barstow about 15 years ago and having lunch in a McDonalds made from converted passenger cars...it's still there, but about 15 times bigger and busier! We went looking for trains in nearby ghost towns (essientially) Daggett and Yermo, to no avail - the Union Pacific just hasn't been co-operating in SoCal. This involved me directing Heidi up a service road paralleling I-15 through Yermo and a point where I has worked out we could get back onto the highway....until we came across a Road Closed sign. Jill worked out the quickest way to get us back onto the highway, which I followed against my instincts (there was on on-ramp a few miles back along the service road), and we soon found ourselves travelling along several miles of dirt "road" that made me wish we had taken a SUV from Avis. Alls well that ends well and I had soon settled into for the remaining 2hr drive to Vegas.


At 70 miles/hr (ie, 110km/hr) it was a pretty cruisy drive and we were soon checking into Caesar's Palace in Vegas. Las Vegas isn't the first city in Nevada, and we didn't see a sign for the state line - but you could tell where it was from when the casinos began...the road got better too, so at least they're putting all that revenue to use. Anyway, we got to Las Vegas without any further problems, scored an upgrade when we checked in and settled in ok. Our upgrade consisted of a jacuzi (I'm getting used to these!) and a view of the pool - but the best fact is that we're across the road from the Bellagio fountain....which we still haven't seen yet! Not sure if it's the wind (it's quite gusty here) or a maintenance issue, but I'm not sure if they're working. But we're off to investigate that now, so an update of the rest of our adventures in Vegas will follow later. J out.

p.s - James wrote this a day or so back and I was supposed to add photos and post it... I haven't had a chance yet and it's starting to be a little old, so I'm just going to post it as is and add some photos a little later. We've got 3 days in Winslow coming up.... I will have heaps of time then! So stay tuned for pics of Vegas and the Canyon :) -Heidi