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Old 20 Dec 19, 04:33 PM  
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Fireworks
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Celebrating Retirement Tour October 2019 - Day 22 Thur 24 Oct - Last Day and Summing Up

Breakfast once again at Sambos, it was so good we couldn't walk past and go anywhere else.

Went back to the hotel to finish the last bit of packing then set off for the reasonably short trip to LAX. Drove along the coast through Malibu but didn't stop, it was extremely hot (30 degrees plus ) and very windy. We also weren't sure where would be a good place to stop anyway, it didn't seem a very appealing place to us if I'm honest.

Stopped to stretch our legs at the Getty Villa which was a good place for a wander round. Crazy that anyone could be so rich to afford all this.



Carried on to the airport and the car hire drop off point which was easy to find then hopped on the shuttle to the airport. Really don't like LAX, very small airport with very limited food and shopping options, very boring wait for boarding.

Long flight home, and I had recliner in front from the minute we were airborne so had a seat in my face from 10 minutes into the flight all the way home

Highs and Lows of the Trip

Highs
Amtrak Los Angeles to San Diego, great relaxing way to start the holiday
San Diego - our No 1 favourite place, ever
Palm Springs - loved Coyote Inn, will definitely be back
Death Valley - we weren't expecting such stunning scenery, it totally blew us away
Weather - warm/hot and blue skies every day for 3 weeks except one cloudy afternoon
Stunning scenery, particularly Cabrillo Monument San Diego, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Death Valley, Yosemite
Food - can honestly say we never had a bad meal
Film crews - we could end up being on a TV show and a California Tourism video!
People - everywhere we went people were keen to chat to us, and were really really friendly
No smoking - we really noticed the lack of smoking/vaping in outside areas, particularly Santa Barbara which is a no smoking city. It was lovely to walk down the street and sit outside bars and restaurants without having to endure clouds of smoke/vapour

Lows
Long time spent in car, but so worth it
Terrifying roads with crazy, crazy drivers, like wacky races at times
Extremely expensive, particularly the hotel accommodation and quality didn't always reflect the prices charged
Yosemite - spectacular but so very busy with cars and people, I think that coupled with poor quality expensive hotel accommodation would put us off going back again.

Hotels
Best Western Plus Bayside Inn, San Diego - great hotel, brilliant location, decent breakfast, would stay here again. 👍👍👍
Coyote Inn Palm Springs - loved this little place, no breakfast but would definitely stay here again. 👍👍👍
Comfort Inn Lone Pine - First impressions weren't great but it turned out to be OK in the end. Very basic motel type accommodation but very clean and decent breakfast. 👍
Yosemite View Lodge - not great, very basic motel, no breakfast, very limited food options, charged extra for WiFi, not much competition in area so maybe they think they don't have to try too hard. Plus points closeness to Yosemite, clean. 👎
Best Western Plus Stevenson Manor, Calistoga - lovely hotel, decent breakfast, clean and quiet. 👍👍
Seaway Inn Santa Cruz - really liked it here, great location, clean, quiet, decent continental breakfast. 👍👍
Dolphin Cove Motel, Pismo Beach - great location, clean, right on seafront BUT no breakfast, TINY rooms, extremely noisy. 👎
Hadsten House Hotel, Solvang - clean quiet great location, OK breakfast, loved the free wine tasting. 👍
Harbor House Hotel, Santa Barbara - Love it here, great location, quaint, clean, friendly, quiet. 👍👍👍

That's it then folks until our next trip, really missing California so we will definitely be back.

Link to previous days - https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...5#post14147445

Edited at 11:32 AM.
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Old 20 Dec 19, 11:01 PM  
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Stan1805
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Have loved your trip report. We are booked to go in May and our first stop is Best Western Plus Bayside inn San Diego.
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Old 21 Dec 19, 10:29 AM  
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megaflyer
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Great trip report - thank you so much for taking the time to post . Sounds like you had a fabulous vacation too
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Old 21 Dec 19, 12:32 PM  
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kateb78
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Really interesting read, thank you! We’re doing a road trip in March visiting some of the same places you did and it’ll be our first visit to Santa Barbara (we’ve booked Harbor House Inn too!) and San Diego. Thanks for some good tips!
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Old 7 Jan 20, 08:09 PM  
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TractorBoy
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Thank you for taking the time to put the report together. The photos were brilliant and brought back so many memories of our visits to the West Coast - we are back in June!

Like you we are both retired. Hope you both enjoy a long and healthy retirement!
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Old 11 Jan 20, 09:23 AM  
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smithlane
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Have loved reading this report, thank you for posting.
I’ve re lived some of our favourite stops from our trip last year and made a mental note of some new places to visit when we return!
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Old 18 Feb 20, 10:17 PM  
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HevaDuck
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I have just read your trip report from start to finish lovely read I really need to visit California
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Old 21 Feb 20, 10:50 AM  
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LLKJDisney
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Thanks for sharing your trip - i enjoyed reading along
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Old 2 Jan 21, 12:25 AM  
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jobelly
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Great trip report, we went to the many of the places you went to but about 20 years ago and it was great to see them all as we’re planning on returning next year with our kids this time. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
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