OK, tovarich and garyt22 are the winners! We're flying into SFO, driving down to Monterey/Carmel, spending a few nights there, then driving down route 1 to Santa Barbara for a few more nights, and flying back from LA. Thanks for all of your suggestions.

tovarich and garyt22: As the winners of our little contest, you win a postcard. Sounds pretty good, huh? If you want to take me up on this, please e-mail a mailing address to me at grendelsdad [at] moc.liamg -- the last part of the e-mail address is spelled backwards to fool spam-trollers.

As far as Puerto Rico goes, you can find a beautiful area called Guanica.
This is down towards Ponce. A friend of ours told us about it,and it was wonderful. There's a little, very funky but very nice place we stay at called "Mary Lee's by the Sea". She recieves high marks in most travel guides and boasts a huge return rate.
It was one of the most relaxing trips I've ever taken. www.maryleesbythesea.com

Wow!!!! I never win anything... thanks for the postcard offer but I want you to take that buck and put it towards some fresh carmel popcorn down on the Monterrey pier!!! enjoy your trip and also consider the Marina Dunes resort...we stayed there for 2 nights and it sounds exactly like the place you might enjoy...

Were you able to get FF award tix, or what?

gary: OK, then, we'll have some popcorn in your honor. We considered Marina Dunes but in the end decided to stay in Carmel instead of Monterey.

Mr. W.: Yes, we managed to do the trip on FF miles -- in fact, we splurged and are going first class (on FF). The itineraries we were able to get were quite limited, but in the end we worked out an itinerary we're happy with.

Don't forget to make reservations in advance to see The Hearst Castle. We enjoyed Tour #2.