LA

Trip Start Jan 04, 2008
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Trip End Dec 17, 2008


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Flag of United States  , California,
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

We landed in the evening at LA and had our first motel experience - a room at the Travelodge and dinner at Denny's.  Already aware of the size of the portions the waiter had to ask "Are you sure that's all??" when we ordered on appetizer and one main to share which was more than enough food for two of us.
 
The next morning we picked up our wheels but after driving our little Chrysler PT Cruiser around the block and finding something really odd going on with the wheels Maud headed back to the desk at Dollar and after a few apologies was told to go and choose any car in the Group 9 parking area (our PT Cruiser was Group 1). So we had the choice of about 10 gas guzzlers from Jeep Grand Cherokees, Nissan Pathfinders and settled for a Dodge Avenger (a saloon again about the size of a 7 series BMW - but with less class and acceleration).  Thankfully gas prices have dropped so it's about $2.10 a gallon so still quite cheap to drive a tank - not as cheap as in Abu Dhabi mind you...
 
Having seen from the air that LA is a sprawling mass we decided to do our own tour for the day and then head to the coast.  We drove through Beverly Hills, along Hollywood Boulevard past all the stars in the pavement and past the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars ceremonies are held and then on up to the viewpoint to see the Hollywood sign.  At the park that overlooks the sign I was pleased to find that a few of the cheerleaders for the LA Clippers were on some sort of photo shoot up there so I got a few snaps of them ..... bonus !!
 
Having had our fill of cheesy tourist sights we headed out on an 8 lane freeway towards the coast.  Our first overnight was about 200 miles North of LA in a strange town called Morro Bay - which would be a lovely fishing town apart from the 3 big chimneys at one end of the bay and the nuclear power plant that apparently was at the other end.  Arriving in the dark we saw nothing of these delights so had some dinner and came up with a plan for the next few days.
 
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