Roadtrip - The Second Leg

Our second leg of the roadtrip started from Long Beach to San Francisco. We were planning to have several stops along the way to get some pictures & to get some rest. Our first stop was at Solvang, a very nice Danish-style city. The city is home to many bakeries, restaurants and merchants offering a taste of Denmark in California. We stopped by at the park near the Old Sta. Ines Mission church and had some light lunch.
After Solvang, we proceeded to San Luis Obispo to visit the Old Mission church there. San Luis Obispo is located between Los Angeles and San Jose in the Central Coast and is one of California's oldest communities.
From San Luis Obispo, we headed further north towards Carmel-By-The-Sea but this time we were driving along California Highway 1. It is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. It is famous for running along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, leading to its designation as an All-American Road. It was almost dark when we reached Carmel-By-The Sea. Carmel is situated on the Monterey Peninsula, the town is known for its natural scenery and rich artistic history. Actor Clint Eastwood was the Mayor for one term from 1986 to 1988. We were able to get some pictures on their gorgeous white sand beach. This was also the point that my GPS bugged down on me. Fortunately my mobile phone's GPS worked fine and guided us to our final destination in San Francisco.
Since it was dark already, and my GPS was not working, we decided to proceed to San Francisco and skip a visit to Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. Guided with a map and my mobile phone's GPS, we reach our hotel near the San Francisco International Airport at around 11pm. We were on the road for a total of 12hrs, including the several stops along the way. My highlight of the whole leg of this trip was driving along the Pacific Coastline along Hwy 1. The sights were beautiful coupled with the danger in driving along a two-way lane of foggy and winding road.

Getting Ready

It's been since my last blog update here, since July 4th to be exact. There's not much to talk about my life for now except that I am spending more time on Twitter and Facebook than writing on my blog. I hope my blog provider will not delete me from their membership.

What makes me more excited nowadays is the upcoming trip of my brother back here in the USA. This coming July 31, he will be coming over from the Philippines for a visit. It was a good timing for him since we were planning for a summer roadtrip for about 10 full days. Our route will include Palm Beach, San Fransisco, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and Reno. This is a good time for my brother to see America on the road. On our way to San Fransisco, I am planning to drive along Highway One which has the most interesting and beautiful view of the Pacific coastline but this is also the longest route from Los Angeles to San Fransisco.

I have not completed all the preparations yet although our hotels were all booked already except the hotel in Reno. The Reno itenerary was added on the last minute since my mom wanted to see Lake Tahoe and since we still have a few days to spare, I agreed to include Reno as our last point of destination before coming back to Las Vegas. I have my appointment with my car dealer tomorrow to make Mr. Connor MacLeod (that's what I call my Toyota Highlander based on the movie and TV series Highlander)fit for his longest roadtrip so far. Next is to finalize the details on what to do in each destination we go. My camera though is always ready for action. Hmmmm...have to focus on what to wear....wait how about the weather???

Will post more details on the roadtrip as well as pictures...soon.

My Bro Is Coming

What makes me so excited these days? We got confirmation that my brother in the Philippines will visit us here again in Las Vegas. This will be his second time to travel to America. The first time he was here was in 2009 with his own family. They ran out of luck during their visit because he had some medical emergency and ended up in the hospital. Eventually they cut short their visit and went back to the Philippines after just a month of stay with us. As you all know and as in my previous postings, my brother just had his kidney transplant in 2010. He can now travel after a year of the transplant. He will be travelling alone this coming August to attend our mom's 80Th birthday. His son and wife will not be coming with him because of the kid's school. We promised my nephew that we will let him come over and spend his summer vacation in Las Vegas after his elementary graduation, which is two years from now.

I am planning a road trip to San Francisco this coming August and maybe celebrate my mom's birthday in there. San Francisco was one of our destinations to visit the last time my brother was here but since his stay was cut short, we did not have the chance to travel to that city. This time around I want to make it memorable for him. I started searching online what to do while in San Francisco. I came across 49 points of interests within the city and the Bay area alone. This must be interesting. I am planning to have at least 10 days off from work so that we could visit other interesting places along the way to San Francisco.

Any suggestions as to things & places to see in this famous city are welcome. Just drop a note or two in the comments section. Thanks in advance.