Extended Stay America Temecula - Wine Country

... after Louisiana but haven't gotten too much further than that. I do know that we'll probably be making 2 stops in Texas (Dallas and then Midland where we'll be able to stay with Chrystal) and then back to Lake Elsinore. I know we'll be needing to make a stop or 2 in between Texas and Cali I'm just not sure where yet.<br><br>So that's it so far. I hope you continue to check up on our blog once our road trip starts! We should be posting often. Thanks for all your support! =D<br><br>-Sunny <br>

... shirt and sun-screen! Anyway, I did make it back alive and well, if you were wondering. It was a great time! The highlight was visiting Key West FL. Aside from the destination, I got to visit with friends I hadnt seen in 10 years...super cool!<br><br>Thanks for reading all my mindless blogging. I do have a few pics to post but not much....mostly cycle related. Its kind of difficult to snap photos when your riding a bike.<br>

... round the pump, only to discover it was card only, so moved on to another one. They managed to work it all out successfully and came away with a full tank..... and a clean windscreen, thanks to the helpful attendant.<br><br>We had quite a drive to do to get to Temecula and with our later than planned start we were running late. The boys phoned around noon to say that they had arrived at Temecula and were getting a burger at Mad Madeline's. They hadn ...

... operation and you get to keep anything you find! Check out their web site if you are interested in checking it out for yourself: http://www.digforgems.com/ Pala is in rural hill country between San Diego and the L.A. Metro area near the town of Temecula. Pala is also an Indian reservation and of course, it has an historic Franciscan mission church (I promise, this is the LAST one). : ) I first came out to ...

... nearby grills where a chef is busy grilling some wonderfully fragrant shish-ka-bobs. We are starving and the thrill of wine tasting is long gone. However, we are planning to eat dinner at another winery whose web site enticed us with live 'Saturday Night Blues Jam' featuring incredible food and great wine. This event begins at 5:30... it is 5:15, so we forfeit the food and the tastings and depart for our final winery. This ends up being a mistake (food wise). Stop #5 is ...

... surfers. The surf art was awsome and I learned alot more about the history of the sport. <br>On the beach one day I had a nice conversation with a man who appeared to be a surf hippy in his 40's, he lived nearby and warned us about the week of rain that was fast approaching. Sure enough the weather got colder and the rain started to pour so we started on our journey back up the coast. <br><br>I can't wait to go back to southern California! <br> Love it! I want to live there! <br>

... just to explore and check stuff out. We went around the beach neighborhoods of L.A. and also up into the Hollywood Hills, which was fun. We checked into our new hyatt at century city (where they gushed over their VIP David Abbott) and then had dinner in Santa Monica at Big Dean's, recommended by the "blackbook" to L.A. we picked up on 3rd Street for Dusty. It's just a divey semi-touristy but kinda biker bar on the pier, where they supposedly have really ...

... at a place called "Rainforest Cafe". It was such a nice place to eat and reasonable prices too. Thanks for the tip Danni!!! After dinner I headed to the show .... AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The bloke is an absolutely fantastic entertainer. His show was so much more than magic and is something I will never forget. He made cars appear on stage, moved through a steel wall, made people in the audience disappear, picked "Lotto" numbers that random people selected ...

... for dinner. Highly recommended and well worth standing in line for. Walked down Rodeo Drive as that´s all we could afford to do there. Also visited Disneyland and Universal Studios. We reckon Universal is better. Did not like the pollution and LA smog which does not clear until late afternoon.

THURSDAY 23 MARCH - LOS ANGELES. DAY 3 Woke up really early again (c.5.30am) and couldn't get back to sleep. At about 7am a Kiwi guy named Paul walked in. We had a yarn and compared notes on travel/England etc. My plan for today was Santa Monica and Venice Beach. I had originally intended to go to Disneyland but the shuttle there and entry comes to $66 and I wouldn't get there till after 9am anyway. So I jumped on the bus to Venice Beach. I had to get off and transfer ...