The Pacific Coast Highway 1 route

Trip Start Aug 10, 2007
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72
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Trip End Dec 27, 2007


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Where I stayed
Cedar Pine Lodge
(Mariposa hotels)

Flag of United States  , California,
Saturday, November 3, 2007

The drive back towards LA was pretty pleasant and we made a few brief stops en route in a lovely seaside town called Huntingdon (for a Starbucks of course) and then again in Redondo Beach - just outside LA. We were pleased to find a very familiar looking pier and life-saver shacks along the beach and walked around the pier enjoying seeing sights from 'The OC'. We were amazed at the all the live seafood for sale on the pier - the biggest crabs I've ever seen and the greatest quantity of crab in one tank that was mathematically possible....see the pictures if you don't believe me! We took some photos and walked down onto the beach to get the famous life saver shack shot which is so common from the show. I had to go and pose for this one (against my will of course) - and went to ask the life saver inside if he minded if I sat up on the steps. He was most obliging and even asked if I would like to use the red life saving board as a prop!! Now - that was pushing it I thought and declined politely! Again, I was tempted to take a plunge into the Pacific - but it just wasn't warm enough! I know I'm going to regret this...

....after getting our fill of life in Redondo we took the most direct route out of LA and headed up Route 5 toward Sacramento. This was a going to be about a 5 hour journey and we were hoping to reach a really nice hostel we had heard about in Yosemite called 'Bug' where we would stay the night. The journey was pretty uneventful and we stopped over for a healthy dinner of Burger King served with the usual help-yourself soda fountain! We were back on the road again and reached the small town of Mariposa along Route 99 at about 21h30. We filled up with petrol as suggested as there is only one petrol station in Yosemite itself and completed the last 10 miles before reaching 'Yosemite Bug'. We were really disappointed to find that it was fully booked and there was not even a bunk bed we could take. Fortunately the guy at reception was really helpful and called another hotel 20 miles further into the park to check if they had room for us at the 'Cedar Pine Lodge'. They did and we made a booking over the phone....of course it was at the usual price of $90! We arrived about 20 minutes later and checked in. The room was nice despite the fact that the lodge was a little disappointing. We were expecting more of a real mountain-type lodge with log fires burning etc. but found it to be more of a motel style hotel with all the rooms outside of the main building. Well - we were only there for the night and were planning on heading off early the next morning so as to make the most of our day in Yosemite
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