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#21
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San Diego to San Francisco
Bryan wrote: "flygis" wrote in message oups.com... Hi, I need advice. We are going to travel to US in december. First stop will be in Phoenix to visit an old friend from Sweden (where we're travelling from), then by car to San Diego. This part is planned. From San Diego to San Francisco we plan to travel by car. Three days travelling and two overnight stay in motels will be a good pace I think, regarding that my wife and I are travelling with our two daughters, 23 months old. We would like to see (part of) highway 1 and nature surrounding. Now: What to see? Where to stay? We both prefer nature/wildlife/culture. My wife mentioned Disneyland in Anaheim, but I'm not sure. I would like to see some wildlife in Monterey. Any suggestions? How to split the trip, bearing in mind that we need (preferably) to have checked in at the motels in the afternoon or early evening so our daughters can have their sleep in beds? I'm not sure about Disneyland for 23 month olds, I doubt that they will remember it the way an older child would. Still you might enjoy the memories of taking the girls to Disneyland. Now that I think on it Disney is pretty much not a possibility given your short time and the park price. Even though the 2 year olds are free you and your wife would pay US$112 for your 2 tickets. Plus parking. It's not a drop in for a minute kind of place. |
#22
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San Diego to San Francisco
Keith W wrote: "flygis" wrote in message oups.com... Thanks all for the help and answers! Another question, related to cars and kids: The cost for car seat rental for my girls is $8 per seat per day, which sums up to $160 for the rental period. That is rather expensive we think, and since we need to get two extra seats for use at home, we thought we could buy them in Phoenix and bring them home to Sweden from SF. But, since all kids car seats used in Europe must have an E-marking to be legal for use, it can be difficult to get these seats in USA. Do any of you know if it is possible to get E-marked seats in the US? I have searched the web for a baby/kid store that I can ask this, but failed miserably. Any of you that know a store in Phoenix that could help me with this question? It seems HIGHLY unlikely that any seat sold in the USA will have been verified as meeting European standards. Worse the shape of car seats, the length of seat belts and the position of seat belt anchor points differ between cars so, not all child seats fit all cars which means any seats you buy in the US may not fit your car at home and you'll have to spend some time ensuring the seats you buy in the US fit the rental car Frankly I'd advise spending the $160, at least you'll get seats that fit the rental car. Keith Actually you might simply buy 2 seats and dump them at the end. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=4083774 shows seats for $40 each that should do. To feel better there might be a way to drop the seats at a charity when you are leaving. Perhaps the airport fire department might take them to pass on. |
#23
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San Diego to San Francisco
Do any of you know if it is possible to get
E-marked seats in the US? Don't forget that you must obtain the seats BEFORE your children's first ride in the car. If you are renting it at the airport when you arrive, this wouldn't work. Another consideration is that U.S. child seats often don't fit properly in European cars because the fastening system can be different. Maybe the E-rating takes that into consideration; I don't know. Any of you that know a store in Phoenix that could help me with this question? Personally I wouldn't rely on advice from a store clerk as they might have little experience with this; I'd suggest talking to someone more authoritative. Maybe contact some car seat manufacturers for advice, or maybe the reference department of your local public library can look up an authoritative answer for you concerning compatibility and availability. Jim |
#24
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San Diego to San Francisco
In article .com,
"flygis" wrote: From San Diego to San Francisco we plan to travel by car. Three days travelling and two overnight stay in motels will be a good pace I think, regarding that my wife and I are travelling with our two daughters, 23 months old. We would like to see (part of) highway 1 and nature surrounding. Highway 1 through Big Sur (the most scenic part) is prone to mudslides or rockslides that can close the road for a few hours or a few weeks. If there is a closure you can usually get as far north as Cambria, then over to US 101 and north to Monterey. Make sure you fill your car with gas no later than Cambria. There is no regular priced gas for about 100 miles on HWY 1 between Cambria and Monterey. -- I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet Bob in Carmel, CA |
#25
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San Diego to San Francisco
In article ,
Bob Allison wrote: Highway 1 through Big Sur (the most scenic part) is prone to mudslides or rockslides that can close the road for a few hours or a few weeks. And this is the place to check its status: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/Hourly You can see already that it is never boring. |
#26
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San Diego to San Francisco
hmm...I'm getting into this one a bit on the late side. Here's my
contribution: While a two year old can enjoy Disneyland (my two year old grandson thought Tiger was real and thoroughly enjoyed bouncing along with him), I agree that a stop there is an all day endeavor...and a pricey one at that. Tough to spend just a couple of hours there. Actually, three days and two nights between San Diego and San Francisco does not leave you much room to explore. My recommendation is to target what you want to see and plan around that. Three broad strategies present themselves: 1) Spend most the first day driving as far north as you reasonably can, then saunder the next two days into SF. 2) Loiter around the LA area for two days (making Disneyland feasible) and spend the third day driving up to SF. 3) Meander northward over those three days. Sounds like you'll be taking highway 1 from San Luis Obispo to Monterey. My suggestion is to stay at one of the motels on Moonstone Beach on the north side of Cambria. The motels are just across the road from the ocean. Very nice location. Do a websearch on Moonstone Beach Cambria. No one seems to have suggested Hearst Castle...that is one of the more popular state parks in California and worth a visit just to see how a rich capitalist lived in the first part of the twentieth century. The recommendation would be to take tour number one, which will very nicely kill one morning (or afternoon) of your trip. And as you drive north of Hearst Castle, keep an eye out on the left for cars parked in a parking lot between the road and the sea. If you're lucky, there will be elephant seals on the beach below. Once the road starts climbing you will have passed those beaches. If you like nature, my recommendation is Point Lobos State Park just south of Carmel. If you are a photography enthusiast, be advised that Edward Weston did some of his work there. But photography aside, the view at Sea Lion Cove from the top is superb, as are the views along the Cypress Grove trail. Be careful - you can kill an entire day here. No food, but water and restrooms. And there are some very nice waterfalls in the Big Sur area: Salmon Creek Falls, Limekiln Falls, and McWay Falls. The last is supposedly the second most photographed waterfall in California...Yosemite Falls has the distinction of being the first. Limekiln Falls is in Limekiln State Park and McWay Falls is in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Limekiln will probably take an hour or so to visit, the others will probably take half an hour...if that much. Once you reach Monterey, stay on hwy 1 until you hit 156. The quickest way to SF at this point is to take 156 east to 101 north to 85 north to 280 north. Figure about 2 1/2 hours driving time to SF city limits from Monterey on this routing. Once you hit the SF Bay Area, take advantage - if you are travelling during peak commute hours - of the car pool lanes on the far left. As you leave San Luis Obispo on hwy 1 north, you'll come across Morro Bay. Take the main entry to the town. You'll find an Arco gas station just as you enter the town. I recommend filling up there. Gas - regular and otherwise - is available in the Big Sur area (Ragged Point, Gordia, etc), but you'll pay a hefty price for it. One last point - the stop at Nepenthe is worthwhile for the view from the upper deck, but be aware that the meals are on the very pricey side. A friend stopped there a while ago despite being warned and complained afterwards about dropping over $100 for a hamburger lunch for his family of five - four adults and one child. Hopefully the weather will be brisk but rain free. However late November/early December begins the rainy season for us so be prepared for rain. The nice thing is that fast moving storms move basically from north to south for the most part such that you shouldn't have more than a day of heavy rain, driving south to north as you are. Then, too, fog along the coast will not be the risk it will be along I5 in the central valley that time of the year. |
#27
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San Diego to San Francisco
Lawrence, you're not late, we're not leaving Sweden until 2 of
December. Until then - please give me your thoughts. Again, thanks for all the help, tips and links. Many things have been clearer in my mind now. As for now, we're into the alternative to skip LA/Disneyland (looking at Google Earth, it seems like we can get a gleam of Disneyland when passing on I-5...) and to drive that day to some nice place to stay overnight. Then the second day see what HWY1 can offer and reach Carmel or Monterey at late afternoon/early evening. Hearst Castle have been mentioned by my friends a couple of times. As I understand it isn't far off the HWY1, so we can have a look at it, even if our girls aren't up to touring the castle at that time. The third day we hopefully can take some time in Monterey to visit the aquarium or some other features and then drive straight to SF. I'm appreciating the driving and road tips a lot. What does "car pool lanes" mean? |
#28
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San Diego to San Francisco
flygis wrote:
... I'm appreciating the driving and road tips a lot. What does "car pool lanes" mean? You won't have a problem with that. It means "One person in One car" is not allowed to drive in that lane - it is to encourage "car pooling" meaning; a group of people share driving a car to work usually during peak traffic hours. The intent is to lessen traffic congestion, decrease pollution, and save dependence on foreign oil. -- Seinfeld Lists http://wave.prohosting.com/tnguym LOST - ScreenSnaps & Sawyer's Nicknames http://tinyurl.com/a2r2r |
#29
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San Diego to San Francisco
we can have a look at it, even if our girls
aren't up to touring the castle I believe you have to park your car several miles from Hearst Castle, buy a ticket, and then a tour bus drives you on a private road to the castle. So it may not be worth going there unless you plan to take a tour. |
#30
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San Diego to San Francisco
wrote in message oups.com... we can have a look at it, even if our girls aren't up to touring the castle I believe you have to park your car several miles from Hearst Castle, buy a ticket, and then a tour bus drives you on a private road to the castle. So it may not be worth going there unless you plan to take a tour. And, unless they've changed the tours since I went, these are "Look don't touch" and "Keep up with the guide" tours. (Much like castle tours I've been on in Europe...) I don't know your toddlers, but my girls would have been bored, and then disruptive on that type of tour. |
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