California Coast

I think the drive between San Francisco and Los Angeles is one of best vacations on earth. The roads are smooth and usually clear of traffic.

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Guidebooks

Points of Interest Map provided by California Division of Tourism shows major highways, communities, and points of interest.
• CitySearch.com
• Expedia
• Google: Recreation > Food > ... > United States > California > Central Coast,
  Regional > North America > United States > California > Central Coast are also good sources of information.

• Search Zagat's database restaurants by restaurant name, city, cuisine, cost, or food rating.
  Frommers?
• Restaurants associated with the United Airlines Mileage Plus Program (20% off) and

Down 101 From The City

• Half Moon Bay
• Santa Cruz
• Aptos

Best Places Destinations, Central California Coast: Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara (Best Places) by Editor Judith Babcock Wylie

Monterey County

• Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Carmel-By-The-Sea
• Monarch butterflies arrive among eucalyptus trees in the Natural Bridges State Beach in October and are gone by the first week of March. Pacific Grove's George Washington park Monarch Grove Sanctuary is on Ridge Road intersecting Lighthouse Avenue.
• Carmel's free roomfinder service

  If you want to avoid car sickness from driving through switchbacks, from Monterey take the 101 East through Salinas then South.

  But if you want those switchbacks, it's better to drive down Highway 1 (Southbound through the Los Padres National Forest) so you could look down the precipace.

• Bixby Bridge
• Point Sur Lighthouse
• Nepenthe, once a little shop clinging to the cliff, is now a tour bus mecca.
• Big Creek Bridge
• Lucia
• Limekiln
• Gorda Springs
• Ragged Point
• Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal rookery

San Luis Obispo County

SLO-Online
Beach California.com

• San Simeon is 2 miles South of Hearst Castle state park reserved through park-net.com or call 800.444-4445
  The Best Western Cavalier on the beach has a firepit.
• Cambria have English tea at the Tea Cozy
• From Harmony take the 46 to Paso Robles on the 101
• Cayucos is not much than little motels
• Morro Bay has shops near the big Morro Rock and commercial fishing boats. Their Farmers' Market are Thursdays 3-5 p.m.
• At Los Osos Baywood 101 curves inland through San Luis Obispo
• In SLO, home to a Polytechnic university, leave your mark on the wall in Bubblegum Alley (700 block of Higuera Street) and stay at the Apple Farm Inn victorian.

• Avila Beach, as a protected cove, has some of the warmest beach weather on the Central Coast.
• Shell Beach gazebo in the small Margo Dodd park is a great place for a picnic basket and a view of the ocean.
• Pismo Beach allow vehicles on 1,500 acres of sand dunes along 3 miles of beach. The Pismo Outlet
• Arroyo Grande
• Grover Beach
• The American Melodrama in Oceano by the beach is a small stage with cheap eats.

  101 turns inland around Vandenberg AFB and Lompoc (pronounced lom-poke, called “Valley of the Flowers” planted from seed). through Nipomo, the Santa Maria valley,

• The hills above Los Alamos was a hideout for Solomon Pico, whose escapades became popularized by the character "Zorro".
• Dutch windmill in Buellton (Pea Soup Andersen's) and Solvang.
• Gaviota State Park

Santa Barbara County

• Santa Barbara Biltmore

Ventura County

• www.oxnardtourism.com

Seasonal Events in Southern California

Spring time (March/April/May)

• April 18-20, 2003 Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History (10-5pm, 831.648-5716) hosts the first wildflower show in the state with more than 600 species, varieties, lesser taxae of local flora.

Summer time (June/July/Aug)

• Autumn time (Sep/Oct/Nov)

Attend an Open-Air Concert

Winter time (Dec/Jan/Feb)

• WALKING TOURS Ongoing, 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon: Walking tours of the Las Angelitas Del Pueblo on the History of Old Los Angeles, Tuesdays through Saturdays. Tours begin on Olvera Street at the docent office next to the old fire house at 130 Paseo de la Plaza. Group reservations required. Tours are free. Also, bus tours of Historic Los Angeles are available. Reservations required. For more information on both tours call (213) 628-1274. Las Angelitas Del Pueblo seeks volunteers to become docents at El Pueblo Park. For more information call Frank Osmon at (800) 208-0012. To become a walking tour docent for the Los Angeles Conservancy, call Connie Humberger at (213) 623-2833.
• Do MOMA in the afternoon.
• Olvera Street Las Posadas Christmas Procession 6:30pm, Downtown, (213) 625-5045 December 16-24 Break out of the holiday routine for a little pinata-breaking, champurrado (a thick chocolate drink), hot punch and pan dulce (sweet bread).
• Holidy light shows:
  Torrance North of PCH.
  • Griffith Park lights Dec 5-Dec 27,1998 Daily 5:30pm-10:30pm 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles 90027 (213) 485-8743.
    Known for having one of the largest holiday light displays in Southern California, Griffith Park hosts its annual tree-lighting ceremony.
  • Beverly Hills / Brentwood
• 3-9pm Christmas Eve at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion broadcast live on KCET.
• Universal City Walk has ice skating and a Santa's Procession.
• Crystal Cathedral Glory of Christmas
• Tournament of Roses on January first every year features floral floats and collegiate football game.