March Break in California
Eight days in Southern California with Jakob for March Break!
We started with three nights in Los Angeles at the Magic Castle, a boutique hotel in downtown Hollywood. The first night, Jakob went on his own to The Troubador Club to see one of his faves "Chris Webby", while Jennifer and I explored Griffith Park Observatory (top picture, above. Link to more photos below).
While we stayed in the heart of the land of the kitsch, we made day trips along Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills, visited the fantastic Getty Centre (built from the same stone as the Roman Coliseum), explored downtown LA, and took a true back lot studio tour at Warner Brothers.
From there, we made our way eastward into the desert and Palm Springs. Once again, we had a fabulous boutique hotel in the heart of the Palm Springs nightlife. We toured Indian Canyon on the first day, and gorged on Mexican food in the most rambling restaurant I have ever seen (large parts of it without a roof).
From Palm Springs we made a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park, with several interesting stops along the way. Some of it quite bizarre. Before leaving on the final day, we took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up Mount San Jacinto. After driving a long way up the bottom of the mountain, the tram takes you from 806 m (2,643 feet) up the sheerest mountain face in North America -- yes it was a little scary -- to an elevation of 2,596 m (8,816 feet).
Our final destination was San Diego, with a small detour to Temecula Valley for lunch. We stayed in the Hillcrest Village district, just a few kilometres from downtown. On our first night, we had dinner in the historic Gas Lamp District, but on the second two nights we walked to amazing restaurants in our own neighbourhood.
In San Diego we spent time on the waterfront, in the huge and architecturally amazing Balboa Park, on Pacific (and Mission) Beach -- where we rode Segways around for 90 minutes -- and also a short jaunt to La Jolla, the home of Dr. Suess.
