First vacation without parents!

  So we have been here for two days, it doesn't feel like that long, but then maybe if we out of bed earlier it would feel more like two days and less like one!

  So our drive down was fantastic! I've driven from San Francisco to LA many times before and knew many of the ways to go. We went down highway 1 to Carmel Valley then took Carmel Valley Road to 101. We have some beautiful pictures from that! Then we drove down 101 to Santa Barbara where we stoped to eat in downtown. We were looking for a mexican resterante that our navigater had brought up, but couldn't seem to find it. So we picked the first resterante we came to, and what a pick it was! The resterante Alba was great, we ate outside on a patio, styled like an old italion building. The service was impecible and the food was to die for! Really! Well at least that is what I told the waiter, but my boyfriend kindly asked me not to. I had the pesto cilantro pasta with chicken, I really recomend it! So then we continued our way down 101 into LA, through LA, and down the coast between LA and San Diego. We were suprised to see so many military aircraft at first until we looked at our map and saw that there was a large naval presents in San Diego. After checking into our hotel we walked down the street (rosecrans we were happy to find out was a large street with lots of shopping and resterants on it) to eat then meandered out to the harber, which we were happy to find was only a block away from our hotel.

 The next day we had not really planned on anything but just sort of go with whatever stuck our fancy. Which was good because I was stuck in bed with horrible cramps until about eleven in the morning. Once I was proberly druged we went for a walk down to the harbor wanting to see more of it. We went armed to the teeth with cameras, both my boyfriend and I are amature photographers. We each had a digital and a 35mm with us, plus I had my extra lenses in my bag. We walked down onto Shelter island, and sat and watched the military boats voom past. Then a large naval ship came in, we think it was a destroyer, it had big guns on the front. We spent quite a bit of time there taking pictures of boats and the San Diego skyline.  We then headed up the point Lomas to see the Carillo national monument, mostly to take pictures of San Deigo, although the new lighthouse is very pretty! We picked up some pizza and wine on our way back to the hotel for a dinner in.

 Its luckey that we stay up late, because rather then our hotel being a hotel with a bar and lounge attached, its more like a bar and lounge with a hotel attached. Just the fact that if you go up to the front desk after midnight you can get a room for $79 says that they cater to their bar crowd.  Suprisingly, since the hotel only opened last summer, the bar is very popular, so getting in through the front door is practically impossible after dark. Luckly the staff seems to realise this and leaves the back doors proped open.

The next day we had decided to take a trip up to Los Angeles. We planned on going to Beverly Hills and sight seeing mansions, eating and maybe going to Fredricks of Hollywood. On our way though the traffic turned ugly, bumper to bumper traffic. Perplexed we found a a good talk station to hear the traffic on. We listoned through the stages of a bomb scare at the 5 and 605 interchange. We were on about a mile of highway for about an hour while the police closed the highway down intirely and they filtered all the traffic off the highway on to surface streets. We were taken two hours out of our way in horrible heat and all the while starving. We did finally make it to Beverly Hills, where we ate then strolled down Rodeo Dr. Which was good for both me and my boyfriend. I got to be looked at (in a rather short dress that showed that I practically am all legs) and he got to oogle all the really hot cars!

 The next day we headed up to Balboa Park. Having been there once before I knew my way around for the most part. We took a couple of nice shots of each other, and a few of the park, but we got tired pretty quick since it was quite hot out and we San Franciscans don't do well in heat! Or uncomforitable heels as it turns out. Most of my high heels are very comforitable and can endure all day shopping sprees, the ones I had on that day though quit about 45 minutes in.  Unfortunitly I ended up sick that night, which made yet another night that we would not go out to dinner so I could were one of my really pretty dresses.