Boxer

Returned on June 21 from a 2 week road trip through Oregon, Nevada and California. Had an excellent time. Mode of transport was husband's new Corvette (non-convertible ... however Z06 model so goes like stink). One night in Reno (stayed at Seina Hotel and Spa, very nice room) ... don't need to go there again however.

Lake Tahoe ... Wow!! The weather was fabulous and that lake is soooo blue it is unbelievable. I picked up some Jurassic Park sized pine cones on the side of the road and brought them home with me (Vancouver, BC) ... I've never seen such huge pine cones!! Had a pleasant lunch at a restaurant with decking right on the lake ... food wasn't great but the scenery was. Stayed at The Horizon hotel and casino in Tahoe. Tried Caesar's first but they wanted something stupid like $179 a night (we are Canadian so that was way out there for us). The room at The Horizon was $79 and perfect. I had fun in the casino for about 3 hours (I like to play the slots by myself without someone hanging over my shoulder "tsking" as I fork over my hard earned money). I did fill up a couple of buckets and went looking to cash in but trickily the casino didn't have any change booths only the big Cashier with a huge line up so ... of course I gave up and gave my winnings all back to them.

Left Tahoe and drove through Murphys, Calif (cute) ... love the rolling hills of burnt yellow grass (took some "arty" photos of the Corvette against said background ...).

On the same day we continued through to Yosemite. Another total WOW! There were some climbers on El Capitan but you couldn't see them with the naked eye (I could scarcely make them out with binoculars). It was awesome on the valley floor looking up. Also the waterfalls were really spectacular because it was early June and there was lots of water spilling. Wish we had known how really beautiful it was and we would have booked into the lodge. As it turned out we left and drove to Bishop, CA and slept there in a Holiday Inn Express. Very nice.

Next morning up early and drove to L.A. Had 4 nights at the Renaissance Beverly Hills (Beverwil and Pico) for $119 a night. Would totally recommend this hotel. Our room was really nice (north facing, 7th floor). Could "just" make out the Hollywood sign through the haze. First time I actually used a hotel balcony (painted toenails whilst drinking glass of wine from nearby "Ralphs" grocery store). Also took clothes to a drycleaner just down Pico for same day service (too cheap to use hotel's service).

Had dinner at Spago our first night and had a really great experience. Have had meals at Wolfgang Puck restaurants in Las Vegas and enjoyed them but this time Wolfgang Puck was at the restaurant and, as advertised in restaurant reviews I had read, he came around and shook everyone's hand ... pretty cool gesture.

Ate two meals at The Farm ... breakfast in the Rodeo Drive location and dinner at The Grove location. Speaking of The Grove ... a must see. Its an outdoor shopping mall made out like a small village complete with a musical fountain built by the Bellagio fountain people. Totally fun ... everyone standing around was smiling. Took in a movie (The Italian Job) at the theatre there. Cute movie, comfortable theatre seats. Also the Farmer's Market is right next door. This place was actually the highlight of our time in L.A.

Forced partner to drive us to the Third Street Promenade. Ugh. Didn't like it at all. Reminded me of our Granville Mall here in Vancouver. Just not a nice feel to it (or maybe it was just the particular day, I don't know).

Celebrity spotting was pretty good too. Let's see: Chazz Palmenteri heading into "Tods" in Rodeo. Luke Wilson sunning self on patio of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Beverly Dr. Standing with Larry King on street corner in Rodeo (he had just left Nate and Al's with 3 of his buddies). James Edward Olmos on restaurant patio at The Grove. Jason Alexander leaving restaurant at The Grove. AND, my personal favourite ... had my picture taken with Jay Leno at the Concours on Rodeo car show on Father's Day. He is a very approachable nice man. I have a very cute picture of me getting a "squeeze" from him.

Took in a Dean Martin special at the Museum of Television and Radio in Rodeo Drive area. Laughed ourselves silly at the Dean Martin roasts.

Left Beverly Hills via Mulholland Drive/Hwy. Husband nearly made me car sick what with the twisty turny road through the canyons. Drove by "The Rock" must have been about 500 motorcycles parked there. A real "spot" for the riders.

Drove through to Cambria (was kind of chilly). Stayed one night. Next day went to Hearst Castle. Have been by San Simeon 3 times before but finally went on a tour. That outside pool!! The National Geographic film at the end was good also. Quite worth it I thought.

Then quickly home down the rest of the coast. Carmel (two nights), Gualala (one night), Cannon Beach (one night) then home.

I am just now being able to stand up straight. Kidding.

rjw_lgb_ca

Cool report! Glad you enjoyed the Corvette (although I'm now a convertible cruiser kind of guy, I had a hot rod in my dissolute youth...).

I thought I could skip the Grove all this time...! It sounds kinda cool now. I'll have to check it out.

I basically agree with you about the Third Street Promenade. If you don't have a no-traffic street with that concentration of "brand-name" shops, it's cool. As I work a block away, I'm SO over the Promenade....

Also glad to hear Spago is maintaining a pretty high quality level. I've been wondering if Wolfie has been overextending himself with all the cafés, expresses and other genres (i.e., Chinois on Main, Granita, etc.)-- but sounds like the centerpiece is still good, so....

Last week's weather was kinda grody (as we used to say here in southern CA)-- but the sun's out right now! And yesterday I had the top down on Red Angel, so the drive home was great. Maybe the worst of June Gloom is behind us....!

J_Correa

Sounds like a great trip.

e went to the Concours de Elegance car show in Palo Alto on Sunday - Corvettes were the featured car since on June 30th it will be 50 years since the 1st corvette rolled of the assembly line. They had at least 1 corvette from every year (except 1983, of course). It was great.

Our goal is to own a corvette in the future and take a similar trip to the one you described.

ellen_griswold

Great report, boxer! LOVE SoCal and can't wait to get back next month. Can you give me more info on the Museum of Television & Radio? Is it something teens would appreciate, or just those who have a (vague) recollection of the '60s?

I'm waaay envious of your celeb spottings as i'm such a groupie and BIG fan of jay leno. For the many times we've been out there, (including touring the tonight show studio at nbc) we've only seen kevin kline. Oh yes, and a multitude of pro-baseball players, big whoop.

However, there was that time on our 'vegas vacation' with wayne newton....

Boxer

Hi Ellen. The Museum of Television and Radio was something I think teenaged people would enjoy. The building itself was architecturally very modern and cool looking. The people working there were very helpful and would definitely take the time to talk with your kids and direct them to something they would enjoy. They "feature" different things continually. It would be a good place to spend a couple of hours when it gets really hot in L.A. (it wasn't when we were there).

Re my celebrity sightings ... I'm telling you no one was more excited than me. Holy Cr** Man!! I was twisting and turning my neck every time we were out walking. Beverly Hills is "the place" for spotting based on my experience.

What surprised me about Jay Leno was that he's not a "big" man. I'm 5'9" and in "our" picture we look the same size. He really is very cute ... his hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed and drove his big contraption of a car down to the car show. He was wearing jeans and a jean shirt. Quite a regular guy and seemingly a real favourite with everyone.

Boxer

J. Correa

You'll enjoy my Corvette story. Yep, its a cool car (black), goes fast, makes cool engine rumbling, etc. etc. Husband LOVES it. It is a 2002 Z06.

As he LOVES it SO much ... didn't we spend an inordinate amount of time looking for "non-brush" car washes. Can't be driving around in a black car with dead bugs all over it.

In Carmel there were no "wand type" car washes (water shortage??). So, doesn't husband HAVE to wash car anyway and uses about 6 buckets of water from our "Normandy Inn" room to dump over the car and hand wash it. Next morning in the car ready to have a day in the Carmel area and ... turn on car and on come windshield wipers. Uh oh ... won't turn off. Double uh oh ... NOT RAINING. Long story short, had to pull the fuse that operates the wipers and wait till we got home to get it seen to. All was fine until Seattle when we hit big, black clouds and a huge downpour. Had to pull over and quickly insert fuse and then, doesn't it stop in 5 min. I could go on but I won't.

Husband is totally into taking the car to "track days" and going round and round (he can't get enough). Had to stop in Redmond, WA to buy a "harness bar" ... oh my gawd.

J_Correa

What a great story. My husband wont even take his 1990 Chevy truck through a car wash that uses brushes. I can't imagine what he'll be like with the corvette!

j2rmeg

Boxer,
Boy, was I glad to run across your post. Seems Loew's has bought the Beverly Hills Renaissance. The guy I talked to on the phone indicates this hotel is at the south end of Rodeo Drive on the "edge" of Los Angeles. Is it in a safe area? I was ready to book it until he told me this. Could we walk to the shops on Rodeo? How large are the rooms at this hotel? Thanks for your help!

Roccco

Thanks for the great report. Although I live in Los Angeles County, I hardly ever make it out to West L.A. and even before your report my wife and I had vowed to get out to the Westside more often. After reading your report, I definitely intend to do just that.

OliveOyl

Dear gawd, but Corvette owners are fanatics!! Our son has a C5...with red calipers. There was a time I wouldn't have know what a caliper was...or cared. Now if I see them...I nod knowingly. There's also something red in the engine compartment. That's as much as I know about it, but I did question why you'd put something like that under a hood where it was never again seen. None-the-less, his car won 2nd place in a Sprint car show in Dallas so he must have been doing sumpin' right! lol

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. My DH, had a 61 Corvette, red with white inserts, when we met in 68. I had a 68 MGB (British racing green of course). Our son was doomed genetically...we know it's out of his control.

Mommar

J2rmeg, i live a few blocks from the hotel and believe me it's a very nice neighborhood and convenient to many things. The Ralph's is right across the street, along with a Long's Drug Store, a new cafe called Cafe Blue and a beauty supply store. I've only been to the hotel restaurant on the top floor for an event, but WHAT AN INCREDIBLE VIEW! City lights, and to the south, the coast and the airport. I hope Boxer's room had such a nice nighttime view.

Boxer

Re: The Renaissance Beverly Hills.

I thought it was a really lovely hotel. Our room was on the 7th fl., north facing (I think I read on TripAdvisor in a review to ask for north facing above 6th fl. as these rooms face the hills and are more quiet than facing Pico). As it is a residential area facing north there really was no road noise at all that I could discern.

The room was a totally adequate size and very nicely appointed (kinda European feeling) and a VERY comfortable bed. As I said I actually used the balcony ... had my evening drinkie and just looked at the view.

The neighbourhood is great ... totally safe ... very residential as you walk up Beverwil/Beverly towards Rodeo. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the centre of Rodeo Dr. area and there are shops, restaurants and coffee places all the way along.

I'm surprised that it is not going to be a Marriott anymore. We were happy to find that the front desk manager was from British Columbia! She was brought in from the Stanford Court Marriott in San Francisco temporarily (don't know why).

I had only one bad incident and it wasn't the hotel's fault. On our 3rd night some guys moved into the room next door. They went out for their evening at 9:30 p.m. and then came back at 3:30 a.m. Loud yelling ... sitting on their balcony scraping the metal chairs on the cement ... thumping around (and really, they must have been thumping because before them I never heard A THING from outside our room). I got myself into such a state that at 7:00 a.m. in the morning (the guys finally passed out at approx. 4:30-5:00ish)I went down to the front desk and asked to be moved to another floor, (assuming it would just be more of the same carry on from these guys the next night). They did this no problem. However I really liked our original room better. Oh well.

Anyway, any questions, ask away.

Boxer

OliveOyl:

I have no idea what a "caliper" is and I'll not be asking my husband anytime soon ... he might tell me and that could lead to more ... blah, blah, blah.

I don't mind riding in the car ... but I don't want to talk about it non-stop. Thank god he has a fellow he works with who is equally "demented" about cars and they go out together to "track days" (the buddy has a 2003 Mustang Cobra) and buy all the accessories, etc.

Just so you know, the age bracket of these two is 57 and 60. "Boys" and their toys doesn't really fit them.

Speaking of accessories ... we have gone to Las Vegas in early November to the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association .. I know you didn't ask, but there you are anyway) convention/show. We have been 3 times and are going for the 4th time this year. I didn't use to have a gambling fixation .. but I do now!!

Sheila54

In Feb. we also stayed at the Beverly Hills Renaissance and really enjoyed staying there. When we arrived we were upgraded to a two room suite at no additional cost.