{"id":17715,"date":"2013-05-27T15:26:09","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/?p=17715"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:43:51","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:43:51","slug":"california-dreaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/california-dreaming\/","title":{"rendered":"California dreaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

California.\u00a0<\/em>Growing up in the suburbs of <\/span>New York City<\/a>, I was fascinated with the Golden State. The mere mention of our nation\u2019s most populous state conjured up dream-like images of pink skies, palm trees, and seemingly infinite coastline.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In quiet moments, I\u2019d steal away to my room and unfold paper maps to study the geography of the place. (No matter how many times I looked, the size of the state always boggled my mind.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Understandably, then, during my senior year of high school, I was pumped when Mom and Dad informed me we\u2019d be spending Christmas break out West. The plan was simple: We\u2019d fly into San Diego<\/a>, spend the holiday with relatives, then rent a car and drive up the coast to San Francisco<\/a>. All told, we\u2019d be gone 10 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Big Sur, from a distance. Photos courtesy of Visit California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

According to a handwritten journal I kept on the road trip<\/a>, our adventure started like most of our early West Coast benders did – Dad and me sleeping-off jet lag in front of the fireplace at my Aunt Vera\u2019s house outside of <\/span>San Diego<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>After two days of eating (and a copious amount of presents), we woke up well before rush hour and headed north on the 101, blowing through <\/span>Los Angeles<\/a> toward <\/span>Santa Barbara<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>As we approached, two main questions emerged:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>a) Who knew there were so many vineyards so close to LA?<\/span><\/p>\n

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b) What are those islands off shore in the distance?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Over the next eight hours, as my parents dragged me to winery after winery, I learned all about the Santa Ynez Wine Country. And at breakfast the next morning, a server informed me we were looking at Channel Islands National Park, home to some of the biggest bird and seal colonies in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Viewfinder Tip: Allow extra days for exploring along the side of the road (and along the beach).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Before we pulled out of town, I insisted on walking to the end of the pier. It was the right move – as the three of us stared out across the Pacific, we spotted a pod of dolphins splashing by.\u00a0<\/span>Later in the trip, the highpoint of a stop in <\/span>San Luis Obispo<\/a> was the discovery of a one-of-a-kind store that sold smoothies like none other I ever had tasted. I wrote down the name of the store because it my drink was so tasty. The name: Jamba Juice. Maybe you\u2019ve heard of them?<\/span><\/p>\n

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(As an aside, I also remember being equally intrigued and disgusted by <\/span>Bubblegum Alley<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hearst Castle. Photos courtesy of Visit California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sights only became more mind-boggling from there. At Hearst Castle, for instance, I marveled at the marble sculptures surrounding the Neptune Pool, and daydreamed about spending the day playing Marco Polo with a bunch of girls in bikinis. Along the switchbacks of Big Sur, I spent hours contemplating whether we\u2019d survive if our little rental car careened off the roadway and landed in the ocean below.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Near <\/span>Monterey<\/a>, as we tooled around 17-mile drive at Pebble Beach, I imagined besting golf legend Jack Nicklaus in a 1-hole playoff as the waves crashed on the rocks behind us.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>We reached <\/span>San Francisco<\/a> just before sunset one night, driving over the Golden Gate Bridge as the orange orb dipped below the horizon in an almost-imperceptible blaze. As we pulled up to our hotel in the Marina District, the clouds turned pink and palm trees swayed in an evening breeze.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>This was the California I anticipated all along; the California of my dreams. For a 17-year-old kid from New York, the introduction was well worth the wait. As it turns out, it also was a road trip I\u2019ll never forget.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remembering an epic road trip up the Left Coast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1789,1900,1808,1782,1777,1788,1792,1774,1779,1880,1818,1776],"tags":[33],"authors":[2227],"class_list":["post-17715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-animals","category-california","category-destinations","category-family","category-interests","category-nature","category-occasions-and-seasons","category-road-trip","category-san-diego","category-summer","category-type-of-vacation","tag-couples","authors-matt-villano","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia dreaming | Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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