Lonely Planet Coastal California (Regional Guide)
by John A Vlahides
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Book Summary Information
Author: John A VlahidesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04-01
ISBN: 1741044715
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Book Reviews of Lonely Planet Coastal California (Regional Guide)
Book Review: Helped facilitate our vacation from Laguna to Monterey.
Summary: 4 Stars
We used this guide on a recent trip to California. It is a good solid guide that helped us with hotel selection as well as helping us navigate. All the major sites and landmarks are noted. Maps of highways and downtown area were helpful. Recommendations for hotels and restuarants were good.
We explored Laguna Beach and walked the paths along the cliffs and shoreline. The parks are well kept and are immediately across from the Laguna business disricts.
When in Los Angeles we visited the Petersen Car Collection in downtown Los Angeles. This collection includes historic cars but also a vast collection of modified cars for drag racing. We also visited a second car museum, the Nethercutt Collection, which was established by the owner of the Mary Kay Cosmetics fortune. These two car museums were not included in the Lonely Planet book but they are exceptional collections for car enthusiasts.
We spent the night on the ocean in Santa Monica and took a long evening walk down Venice Beach, certainly an interesting stroll. The next day we went into the Santa Monica Mountains. There are literally dozens of National Park Service areas spread across the Santa Monica Mountains. I strongly suggest going to the State Park District Headquarters and obtaining maps and advice on the numerous hiking opportunties in the mountains above Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. We selected the Rancho Sierra Vista and Satwiwa Trail, both of which were excellent hikes.
We stayed at the El Prado Hotel in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is upscale with expensive shops and restaurants throughout the downtown area. Lonely Planet recommended we get a hiking map, which we did, and they also recommended the Hot Springs Loop. A fellow at the hiking store told us to ignore this and take the Cold Springs Trails instead. We enjoyed this hike with its canyons, overviews, and waterfalls. Throughout the mountains above Santa Barbara are mixtures of mansions and farm houses. Several blocks from downtown Santa Barbara is the El Presidio de Santa Barbara, which is undergoing reconstruction and shows the life of a Spanish fortress in colonial California. Outside of town is the impressive and beautiful Santa Barbara Mission and gardens.
San Luis Obispo turned out to be delightful with a massive impressive downtown mission and more moderate hotels and restaurants and shops than Santa Barbara. At the advice of Lonely Planet we spent the night at Petit Soleil, a wonderful bed and breakfast where each room is decorated in some theme from the South of France, the food is fantastic and the staff were exceptional, even helping us plan our hikes around the area. We selected the hike to Bishop's Peak. This is highly recommended. The hike circles a volcanic mountain, one of 9 in the area, and offers exceptional views in all directions.
We then went to Hearst Castle. Lonely Planet is very diplomatic in their description of this site. The home and the guest houses are exceptional but seem to be monuments to an enormous ego. The guides and the orientation film are too glowing in their praise of William Randolph Hearst and they make his efforts to build a vanity castle seem like an accomplishment like the Panama Canal or the Statue of Liberty.
Point Piedras Blancas just north of Hearst Castle is a treat. We saw hundreds of elephant seals sleeping in the sun on the beach and rocks. as you drive north from this point, the road climbs and climbs high above the Pacific as you near Big Sur. This is an amazing part of the USA with many spectacular views of ocean cliffs. Be ready for twists and turns and narrow roads. Redwood and Lupine forrests line the east while the Pacific stretches out to the west. We spent the night in a cabin near Pfeiffer Beach, which we found after some searching. Lonely Planet helped but some local folks showed us the almost hidden entrace to the beach. We also hiked in the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park with its enormous Redwood trees and Lupine stands. The hike to Pfeiffer falls is cool and moist and short.
Carmel by the Sea is another up-scale village with expensive stores and restaurants. On the edge of town, Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo had stone walls, towers, and an attractive garden courtyard. We were not impressed by the 17 Mile Drive because it is small in comparison to the spectacular views on Highway 1 going through Big Sur. We did see Pebble Beach Country Club along the 17 Mile Drive. This is where the famous antigue auto restoration competition takes place. Downtown Monterey was very nice and we took the walking tour of Portola Plaza, Monterey State Historic Park, and Custom House Plaza where we saw many colonial homes and buildings still in use.
This book was more than adequate for helping us navigate along coastal California.
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