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. 

Solvang Day 2

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Today was a relaxing day. I am building up my energy for my drive through Los Angeles tomorrow. It's going to take all I've got. I love adventure and most new experiences but not crazy traffic, so today I took it easy. I did have one awesome new experience though. I met my favorite bird up close and personal! If you were ever in my college dorm room from sophomore year on or if you were ever in one of my classrooms, you probably saw a National Geographic poster of a mother ostrich guarding her babies. I love that poster, and it has been moving from room to room with me since 1984. Today I went to Ostrichland and had the pleasure of feeding ostriches. It was so much fun. There was a $5 entrance fee and then a fee of $1 per bowl of food. I admit that it was kind of a tourist trap, but there were ostriches (and emus)! Alert again -- picture overload!

The rest of the day I spent picking up some gifts, lying by the pool, resting, and going to the bakery. The first picture below is what I ate for breakfast, and the second shows a sampling that I bought to snack on the next couple of days. Mmmmmm!

Tomorrow will be my longest and most difficult day of driving. I would appreciate any prayers you would like to pray for me. I know that He has been with me throughout this entire adventure and that tomorrow will be no different. Sometimes I just seem to let myself forget. Oceanside, here I come!

PCH Day 7 (Detour to Solvang)

"To travel is to live." -- Hans Christian Andersen

Don't be confused! I'm still in California. I am in Solvang, the Danish capital of America. In 1911, a group of Danish midwesterners moved to California and founded the town of Solvang. They recreated towns that they had originated from in the Old Country. Solvang is full of restaurants serving Danish/German food. More importantly, it is full of bakeries!! Solvang also has a museum dedicated especially to Hans Christian Andersen and all of his books. That is one reason I chose one of his quotes for my opener today. It is a quaint small museum. My favorite part was seeing so many different copies of his stories in print.

I first learned of Solvang about four years ago when I read Fannie Flagg's The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion (pictured below), One of the characters in the book visits Solvang, and since I had never heard of it before, I looked it up. The pictures online alone were enough to pull me here. I waited patiently through the four years. I have also looked up the town on city-data.com, and they have almost zero violent crime here. It is a safe, lovely, friendly town. I hope my pictures make you want to visit. Remember Madonna Inn from yesterday? It's only about one hour away, so you can stay there on your girls' trip and just drive down here for the day!

On the way to Solvang this morning, I stopped at Pismo Beach. I found the neatest park called Dinosaur Cave Park. The pictures below will show you how the park got its name. (And I included the dinosaur!) I also walked on the actual beach a little bit too. You'll see that as I move south, the beaches continue to change. That amazes me so much. The beaches in California are vastly different from each other depending on how far north or south you are. This has been a real learning experience for me.

As I move south, I am also reminded of another of my favorite books, Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson. The author wrote the book to describe, not in a complimentary way, the problems between the Indians, Mexicans, and Americans in the days of California's early statehood. She also weaved in a love story. As I move south, I am nearing the area where Ramona and her true love Alessandro traveled as she escaped Senora Moreno and the only home she had ever known. I hope I have placed a desire in you to read this book too. (It is also pictured below.)

Tomorrow I have another day in Solvang, and the hotel clerk has already told me that they bring in pastries from one of the local bakeries for breakfast each morning. Yes, I'll take some pictures before I dig in. Also, tomorrow I get to meet one of my favorite animals too. I'm not telling yet; you'll have to check back later!