La Quinta Inn Temecula

... thus far:<br><br>We'll be starting in Lake Elsinore where we'll be renting our car and starting travel no later than 10 am! Our first stop will be in northern Cali! A place called Sonoma Coast State Beach! It's right on the ocean and rumor has it that during the winter whales and elephant seals migrate and can be spotted here. There will probably be a stop in San Fran to see the sights as well but we'll play that by ear. (Keep in mind the places I'm saying are just to get us from ...

... 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>

... visited L.A. for the day with Natalie. This was my third time to Cali &amp; I'd never visited Hollywood Boulevard, so we did the touristy thing up there &amp; went to Mann's Chinese Theatre, the Kodak theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame. The traffic was really bad on the way up there, Friday at 3pm clearly wasn't a wise time to leave Temecula, but once we were up there we had a good time &amp; Des, Nat's cousin, came &amp; joined us up there too. We stopped at Hooters for a drink ...

... dry for us. We learn that the summer temps can get up to 110 here and this affects the wine's taste and means that the grapes used for the Pinot Noir (my husband's favorite wine) cannot be grown here. Our last two tastings are the champagne. I'm not a big fan of champagne and have reservations about how sweet and syrupy the Almond Champagne may taste. We start with the Grand Cuvee Champagne and WOW! Light, bubbly and just wonderful!!! I can't believe I am drinking and ...

... whence he could bring out weekenders and thus rebuilt this hotel as their destination. Once water began to be pumped down from the Sierras in the early 20th century the orange farms expanded and the town grew. It is nevertheless an incredibly artificial town, designed with a ruler and pencil on flat land. Two streets contain all the courthouses, county offices, police HQ, jail block ( a multi storey ultra modern structure) all the law offices and bail bond businesses. Then ...

... just my size. I'm not a pro or anything so I can't handle huge waves yet. I surfed at a beach break and later on watched the guys surf over by the pier. They had pretty cool tricks. <br>There's a reataurant at the end of the pier named Ruby's, I think many of the piers have one, in California anyway. Ruby's is beautiful restaurant, old fashioned coca-cola posters everywhere and a 1940's atmosphere. There is one of those olden days telephones where the ear and mouth parts are ...

... I saw the set that they film on for that ... and no I did not see any stars, though they were filming today. Another stop on the tour was Bates Motel used in Pyscho. And the best part of the tour ... I saw one of the sets from War of the Worlds. It was the set from where a plane had crashed out the front of the houses. It was amazing to see something like that outside of the movies. So much detail and such a large set ... AWESOME! I went into Shrek 4D ...

... en sitios pequeños, donde uno puede interactuar con las bandas, conocerlos, platique re agusto con el roadie de Art Brut, SENCILLAMENTE ESPECTACULARES, buena vibra y mucho poder en el escenario, es el primer tour en NorteAmerica y definitivamente tienen el punch suficiente para quedarse ademas que tocan una de las canciones que mas he escuchado durante los ultimos 4 meses, Rusted guns ...

... a simulator - my brain and stomach just couldn't cope). It became my main goal to survive the experience without any projectile incidents, which I am happy to say I did, although Andrea did comment on my extremely pale complexion (it was very realistic, I assure you!). The rest of the afternoon was a blur of events as we raced from one attraction to another across the large complex. We got thoroughly soaked on the 'Jurassic Park' ride, but missed out on ...

... it was a little disappointing. There was a lot of food, and a lot of wine, but for $95 per person, it really wasn't that special. You just walk around with little plates, trying to balance it and your wine glass and still be able to eat and drink at the same time. I guess for $95 a person, I'd like to sit down. Overall, though, we had a really great time.