Hotels California

"Welcome to the Hotel California, such a lovely place." -- Eagles

During my trip through California, I stayed in eight different hotels. I found all of them online in searches for certain towns. I selected them based on several criteria: safe area (in respect to San Francisco), proximity to beaches, cost, and reviews by others. I kept thorough notes on all of the hotels with the intent of sharing with you. In case any of you decide to drive the PCH (I highly recommend it!) or are just planning on staying in one of these cities or towns, this information might be helpful. Most of the pictures are from online and are just to give you an idea of the size/type of each hotel. I didn't take pictures of any of the places I stayed except for Madonna Inn. 

I am listing the hotels in the order of my visits, which means that they will start at San Francisco and head south, ending at Oceanside. Due to an error in my original planning, two of the hotels are very close together (10 minutes). This ended up being not so bad because they were both on very different beaches, and I went back and forth between the beaches depending on the time of day. 

I would probably stay at any of these hotels again, except for the ones in Santa Cruz and Oceanside; I wasn't crazy about either of those. I might not stay in Pacific Grove again, but not because of the hotel; I would just rather stay in Carmel, which is very nearby. 

Ok, enough intro... I'll get the list going!

San Francisco -- Wyndam Canterbury ($225/night)

• Very large room, actually a bedroom, living room, kitchen/dinette, bathroom
• This room only sleeps two, but would be good for hosting guests
• Very friendly staff
• Gave me a large bag of flavored popcorn when I checked in
• Always fresh water with lemon in lobby
• No breakfast
• Very quiet room
• In a safe downtown area
• Good restaurant nearby
• Short walk from cablecar stop

Santa Cruz -- Riverside Inn and Suites ($125/night)

                       

• Name is very misleading, obviously
• Great location, short walk to shopping main street shopping area and short walk in opposite direction to beach and amusement park
• Comfortable bed
• VERY small room
• Loud street noise from outside (no air, so window was open)
• No breakfast

Pacific Grove -- Sea Breeze Inn ($170/night)

• Good sized room
• Good location -- a short walk to beach in two different directions
• Friendly staff
• Quiet
• No air, opened windows
• Someone's back yard right behind my room
• Breakfast included

San Simeon -- Sands by the Sea ($189/night)

• Perfect location right on the beach
• Outdoor area very nice with beach chairs, lawn games
• Breakfast voucher to be used at nearby restaurant
• King bed
• Large room
• No air, opened window
• Friendly staff

Cambria -- Castle Inn ($212/night)

• Good location right across street from beach
• Pool with large beach towels for use
• Friendly staff
• Breakfast included
• Yummy cookies in room
• Average sized room
• No air, opened window
• Overpriced when compared with San Simeon room above 

San Luis Obispo -- Madonna Inn ($253/night)

• Amazing hotel!
• Lots of amenities
• Restaurant/cafe
• Pool/hot-tub
• Gardens
• Free postcard picturing each room
• Each room is unique
• Friendly staff
• Large room

Solvang -- King Frederik Inn ($129/night)

• Very friendly staff, desk clerk remembered my name the day after I checked in
• Good location right in center of town
• Great price
• Delicious breakfast included (brought in from local bakery)
• Pool/hot tub
• Loud people in room next door

Oceanside -- Rodeway Inn ($120/night)

• Not such a friendly staff
• Breakfast included, but I didn't have it
• Not that safe of an area, homeless man in a secluded area near hotel
• Location just okay, long walk from beach, one restaurant nearby
• Large room

This is the end of my hotel saga. I hope that this will assist some of you as you plan your trips to California. The one I most recommend is Madonna Inn, of course. Because I loved Solvang so much, King Frederik Inn is probably my second place recommendation. 

PCH Day 5 -- Cambria

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey." -- Pat Conroy (author of The Water is Wide)

I know exactly how Pat Conroy feels. I am glad that I have all these pictures from my trip, but I know that I will also be carrying with me the memories forever. My mind is full of the excitement of watching the tide crash in over the rocks that I was sitting on minutes before, the anticipation of hunting for the best rocks on Moonstone Beach, the joy of locating the most beautiful tide pools ever, and the fascination of observing baby sand squirrels for over half an hour! I will try my best to share with each of you as much of these experiences as I can.

I spent today walking on beaches searching for stones and tide pools. I found the best larger stones on the beach near the San Simeon hotel stretch, the best smaller stones on the beach near the Cambria hotel stretch, and the most amazing tide pools at San Simeon State Beach which is on the northern end of Moonstone Beach Drive. I also walked around in Cambria, had lunch, and found Nit Wit Ridge. This is a 3-level fantasy environment created and built by Art Beal. He created it from collected materials, some of which he "collected" at Hearst mansion from their construction material. He hollowed out a 2.5 acre hillside in Cambria, used his "trash" as landfill, then created gardens, buildings, arches, fountains, and walkways.

Today was peaceful and relaxing. I move on again tomorrow and am joyfully anticipating new adventures further south. I am so glad to be able to take all my readers along with me. Enjoy all the pictures below!

Oh, I almost forgot my surprise for the day! As I was driving towards Cambria early this morning, I looked to my left and saw... wait for it... zebras! They were grazing in a pasture beside other regular cattle. I read that William Randolph Hearst used to have the world's largest private zoo. After his death, most of the animals were sent to other zoos, but the zebras and some others were allowed to roam free. The zebras I saw are some of their offspring.

Cool surface of large boulders at Moonstone Beach. You can see where smaller stones were embedded in the boulder.

Below are pictures of the awesome tide pools I found.