Pacific Coast Highway Day 4
Pacific Coast Highway
Day 4 - April 20, 2003 - Escondido, CA to Carpinteria, CA
We left the Quality Inn at Escondido at 7:55 and with the top down, we drove south on I-15 then onto I-805 through San Diego to the US-Mexico border. We almost had the road to ourselves as it was early on Easter morning.
As we got closer to the border we picked up more traffic. The security at the border is very tight now so we had to make a limited u-turn when a border guard lifted a security gate for us to turn around and go north.
We followed I-5 to I-8 and then turned off at West Mission Bay Drive and then went north following the coast. Soon we were on the Pacific Coast Highway, also known as Route 1 and 101. We followed Torrey Pines and S-21 north.
As we approached La Jolla we saw more Ferraris in a five mile stretch than I had seen in my life. We also saw more Porches today to make them common place. We saw Z3, Z4, Miata, and a few Lexus SC-430s. Once I mentioned we had not seen any S2000, we saw a total of five for the rest of the day.
This was an interesting drive with the luxury of the area, the small restaurants and cafes, the specialty shops and listening to COOL 95.7, an oldies station out of San Diego.
Once we reached Oceanside, we had to leave the PCH and go back on I-5 north to San Juan Capistrano where we got back on Route 1 and drove into Los Angeles seeing the beaches and homes on the cliff sides.
With the top down, we could smell the ocean, flowers, and blooming trees as well as the great restaurants along the way. We saw the Port of Los Angeles, oil refineries, and LAX. While driving by the airport, an Air Canada plane landed not twenty yards from my left shoulder, what a wake-up call!
We stopped for lunch at an In-N-Out Restaurant and sampled an old fashioned burger and fries. This institution of California has a certain mystique with many Californians. The food was very good and the fresh french fries were plentiful and tasty.
We got gas in south LA, a different area - lots of gates and bars on windows and doors. A beggar asked me for change - I had given it to the In-N-Out Foundation.
We continued up the coast seeing lots of parks and state beaches where families were celebration the Easter holiday weekend. We were glad we went through South and West LA today, as there was plenty of traffic and stop lights, but not as bad as it would have been on a work week day. The temperature through this area was in the upper 60's and low 70's so it was comfortable to have the top down.
At Malibu, we stopped to make a call ahead for our motel reservation. We found a Comfort Suite just south of Santa Barbara. We followed the coast northward but at Oxnard we had to take a detour inland and into the city due to construction. We saw fields of lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, and lots of flower gardens so it was a nice change from the stop and go traffic of the big city.
When we got on Route 101, we were back on the coast and the air temperature dropped significantly. We stopped to see people surfing and kite sailing on their surfboards. This was quite spectacular as each of these could control their position and fly over the water.
At Carpinteria we found our hotel, a brand new Comfort Suites. I worked on pictures, Gennie outlined the journal and then we got ready to go for dinner. We decided to wash the car and vacuum it. We stopped at Baja but they were busy.
As we left, a brand new 2003 Silver S2000 drove in. We spoke about the beauty of the S2000. We then went to Clementines for a fillet and halibut dinner. Pie dessert was included. Quite nice and pleasant meal. We came back to place the log on the net.
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