After spending ten days in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe it was time to head south. I rented a vehicle and started driving with my father who flew out and met me. We made many stops along the way before flying out of LAX. Here are the stops and some pictures from along the way.
Day 1
Big Basin Redwoods State Park
Monterey – Visited 7 Gables Inn which my mother and father stayed in many years ago.
Carmel – Apps at Hogs Breath Inn and Dinner at Brophy’s. Stayed at Svenguard Inn.
Day 2
Big Sur – Hiked Julia Pfeiffer State Park before going to Ventana, Nepenthe and having lunch at Post Ranch Inn. We then continued south over the famous Bixby Bridge built in 1932.
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San Simeon – Ragged Point, Elephant Seal Rookery, Hearst Castle Zebra’s
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Paso Robles Inn – spent the night in wine country but didn’t get to go wine tasting because we got to town late.
Day 3
Morro Bay – Walked their waterfront shops
Santa Barbara – Walked to Santa Barbara Pier and had lunch at The Natural Cafe
Malibu – Visited Jerry and Marty Cable’s estate ‘The Dolphin Ranch”
Santa Monica – Dinner at The Lobster with Jerry and Marty Cable then stayed at Hotel California
Silver Lake – Saw Red Cortez at The Satellite with Espree Devora
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Day 4
Venice Beach – Lunch at Chaya Venice with Chuck McFall
Los Angeles – Getty Museum, Beverly Hills, went out with Jason Primrose to STK and Trousdale and met a bunch of his LA friends.
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Day 5
Los Angeles – First Table Read of The Cleveland Show. Met Mike Henry, toured their office and talked about how the show works in detail. Also met Will Forte of Saturday Night Live. He was a cameo role on the episode.
Laguna Beach – Drove through Long Beach, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach before stopping for lunch at Sun Dried Tomato Cafe in Laguna Beach. We did a little shopping and I took my dad to Las Brisas for happy hour. Then we headed to Dick and Kim’s house in Newport Beach for apps and wine. We had an amazing dinner was at Gulfstream and then I met my high school friend Tim Hogan for a few drinks since he could literally walk to the restaurant from his house.
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Day 6
We left Newport Beach and drove out to “The Wedge” on Balboa Peninsula. This is their local surf break that can get up to twenty feet during a storm. From there we headed back north through Huntington Beach, Sunset Beach, Long Beach and San Pedro before stopping for lunch at Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes. After lunch we headed through Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach before stopping in Manhattan Beach to visit with Ted Wallof for a few hours. We walked the town with him and he recommended we eat at The Izaka-ya by Katsuya and stay at Shade, Manhattan Beach’s only boutique hotel. Dinner and The Bridal Suite were both a perfect ending to the trip.
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Day 7
We woke up from a nice evening at Shade, had breakfast and headed to LAX.
I decided to take this vacation with very short notice and it was really amazing. Buying a one way ticket and just doing anything you wanted was so much more fun and was very relaxing. There was no rush to do things and nobody to tell you what to do. I can’t wait to take my next trip and do it just like this one.
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