HG001London

Ok so we have finally booked up our honeymoon now for next august/september (very early planners) and i realised i probably should have got some advise on here beforehand but anyway if i have made any major big mistakes i guess i can try and re-organise.

We started with a South East USA road trip, then changed to South West Road trip from New Orleans to Charleston, then switched to New Orleans with California to now just going to California.

Bit about us

-foodies
-love wine
-love the ocean/hanging out by the sea
-enjoy really scenic drives
-not action packed activity lovers
-like to be able to lie in and enjoy a hearty breakfast
-normally European destination holidays or South East Asia so aside from NYC and Washington DC short trips this is out first big USA trip
-a lot of our trips focus on having really boutique nice accommodation that we can relax in
-chose USA partly as we hear very service oriented and that people want you to have a nice time staying in their places.
- when staying in cities we prefer to walk/public transport and leave the car at the B&B (so this has influenced our city stops somewhat)
- as much as possible we like to walk to dinner in evening rather than drive (although we realise in Napa/Paso this wont work but hoping to maybe taxi them and for other places it will be at least an option to walk to one spot or another)
- we like moving on to new places and getting a quick feel for them. This trip is about lots of little trips not one big trip to one location.
-we are not museum people
-we are not majorly sporty people

Also:

- we made a last minute change to exclude 4 nights of New Orleans and go to San Diego/Laguna Beach instead to save on money/additional flight costs. However this was a VERY tough call as we both really wanted New Orleans but realised sticking to California for the entire time was more practical as we will be flying from Croatia and round trip back to London including New Orleans and California would be too expensively and time consuming.

We have gone for mostly semi pricey Boutique style B&Bs that have wine and cheese/gourmet breakfasts. We are not really hotel people and really want part of this trip to be about meeting Americans and experiencing American hospitality an getting a good feel for the American Culture

San Diego (Coronado Beach) (2)- Lodge 1906
Laguna Beach (2) - Casa Laguna Inn and Spa
Santa Babara (3) - Simpson House Inn
Paso Robles (3) - Orchard Hill Farm
Carmel (via Big Sur) (3) - Lamplighter Inn
Caligosta (Napa) - (3) - Chateau de Vie
San Francisco (3) - The Parsonage

With stops for lunch in between the change of locations. Any advice for good towns/places to stop in between destinations?

Also in San Diego we don't plan (and know it would be impossible) to see the sights. We just want to enjoy a couple of nights of beach city vibe and maybe visit the Gaslamp district. We plan on arriving early , relaxing at inn for a few hours to recover from flights, go for dinner locally and then the next day, go to the beach in morning, pop over to gaslamp for a few hours and either eat downtown and taxi back or eat back on coronado and walk. We are not planning on properly "seeing san-diego" as we know we just do not have enough time

Also I realise many many will say we are fools not to go to Yosemite but we have given a LOT of thought to it and decided not for us on this trip. We have also chosen to just have 3 nights in San Francisco on purpose and plan on leaving Napa early so we have 3 full days there. Again we realise it could fill 3 times more days but we don't want to lose days from the other places for this type of trip. We see are selves having quite relaxing days (when we are not changing).

Anyway be good to see if people think it sounds ok?

montereybob

You have planned a fabulous trip. When in Carmel, I would highly recommend seeing Point Lobos, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and walking or biking the scenic coastal trail in Pacific Grove. Have fun.

HG001London

thanks Montereybob...good to know im not completely off!! will definitely try and fit Pacific Grove in to the trip and maybe the other too. Thank you

Tomsd

Fiddely foo - lost my post while trying to get this webpage.

First of all - your trip looks First Cabin. Assume you are driving up the Coast - and will see the incredibly beautiful area around Big Sur.

For here in SD - this is the Balboa Park page while I have it http://www.balboapark.org/ and I was suggesting that once you get to the Gaslamp - you might "hire" a taxi to take you there - going through Old Town on the way. Stroll around - see the Arboretum/Rose Garden, etc - and maybe also take in the adjacent Zoo if you feel up for it.

From Coronado - you could take the ferry over to the Embarcadero - which you can stroll along (maybe see a Clipper/Tea ship - the Star of India) and on into downtown/Gaslamp. http://www.sdmaritime.org/star-of-india/

HG001London

Tomsd...thanks for your message (have to admit while i thought i might know what "first cabin" meant i did go google it ;-)

Yeah that sounds like a good idea re SD. We might leave the beach stroll for the first evening and again on the morning we leave and do straight into town on our day there.

thanks for the tips!

HG001London

oh and yep, will definitely take the slightly longer coastal route, is Santa Cruz worth a stop for lunch or is is very tacky?

montereybob

Two charming communities in the Santa Cruz area that would be good lunch stops are Capitola and Aptos. They are small and close to each other so you could check out both. Santa Cruz overall ranges from a fun seaside town to upscale neighborhoods. Only a few tacky strip malls but you can avoid those. It's fun to watch the surfers from the cliffs just north of the Beach Boardwalk amusement park.

ggreen

Hi HG! Welcome to the US board.

Your trip sounds great, and congratulations in advance! I have to say, I'm relieved that you're not including New Orleans, much as it's a great city and I hear your reluctance in not being able to include it. This way, you can focus on that California vibe! Plus, N.O. is not only hot but *really* humid in the summer. Much nicer for March, or even January.

I'm not a Californian, so I can only include things I've liked on past trips. On your way to Santa Barbara, if you're driving the PCH from Santa Monica, stop for lunch at the super-casual Malibu Seafood for the best tuna burger I've ever had. (Note that the shop is divided into a side selling fresh seafood and one for the prepared foods.)
www.malibuseafood.com

Carmel and Point Lobos are gorgeous.

tracys2cents

You're not really foodies if you're not stopping in Los Angeles!

HG001London

Tracy we were planning to stop on the way to Santa Babara but just not to stay over (the places i listed are just the stay over points) at a place my sister strongly recommended in the venice beach area i think (on or near abbot kinney bvd) although i cant remember what the place is called but now Ggreen has got me very temped by malibu tuna!!


Bobthanks for the heads up on Santa Cruz..really helpful

thanks all

HG001London

loving the look of Capitola.....thanks bob!

NoCaliGal

I would suggestthat since you will have a car, you get one with GPS to help you, especially in those So Cal freeways, and driving into San Francisco.
Your trip is relaxing, so different from the usual rush people try to see too many sights in California. it IS quite a large state, after all.
in Calistoga you may try the mud baths, some of which have wine leftovers in them.
you're coming at a time for very good weather, but have a good jacket for the Northern California part of your tour. Weather is quite variable in San Francisco.

HG001London

thanks NoCaliGal, yeah it was the weather that attracted us to California (plus the food!!) but will brill a jacket too.

Yeah we were tempted to fit more in but seen as it was Honeymoon we wanted it to be fairly relaxed and not too rushed. Will just have to come back for Tahoe and Yosemite etc etc another time

Tomsd

The drive north of Carmel/Monterrey along the Coast to SF - is also very scenic - and if you get an early start - you might consider stopping for lunch in cute Half Moon Bay - which has a number of choices in the small downtown area - or if you want to include a mega view - check out the Ritz:

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Proper...ay/Default.htm

Tomsd

BTW - if you don't sample the LA dining scene this trip - it will still be there. Plenty of other good choices besides LA, which admitedly - does have some good choices, but overall - I overall - I think SF has more and San Diego has really been coming on strong lately.

Tomsd

And if you want some sun while in SF - drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County (Sausalito/Tiburon/Mill Valley, etc) - which also has some good dining options (see French Laundry) - as does a bit futher up the freeway/101 - in Napa/Sonoma - aka - Wine Country.

HG001London

that is a mega view, i guess if we were ever going to treat ourselves to a ritz kunch, our honeymoon should be it!

hmm is this much of a detour from the direct route from carmel to napa....off to map it!

Tomsd

Here is the web page for French Laundry - Keller's first bit hit - way before Per Se in NYC. Personally - I like French Laundry (or did - haven't been there for years) - better than the pretensious Per Se. http://www.frenchlaundry.com/

Tomsd

From Carmel to Half Moon Bay - is along the Coast/Hiway 1 - and from there - you can take the 82 (if I recall the # correctly) - over the hill/toward Palo Alto (a half hour jaunt) - and head north along the 101 to Napa from there.

HG001London

yeah the French Laundry is the big "should we/shouldn't we" decision... it so pricey i dont know if i want to risk being disappointed. We kind off want to get a vibe for the cheap places too.

It sounds weird i know but Man V Food got us super intrigued about American food and we kind-off want to check out at least some places like those. After all there are plenty of fancy places we can go in London.

Good to know San Diego is coming on strong as i was sad to read it wasn't all that good food wise