DRIVING IN CALIFORNIA

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 / Sunny, 70s

This morning Marco, the Bellman, loaded up our suitcases for me while TK was renting a car at a nearby Enterprise. Marco, originally from Chicago, told me that he pays $200/month for water. He also said he does his grocery shopping in Tijuana because it is much cheaper there. He only goes there during the day. Soon TK drove up the hotel with a black Dodge Caliber. All of our luggage fit in it and off we went to dash around California traffic.

We drove on Interstate 5 (with 10 to 12 lanes of traffic) for about an hour. Near San Juan Capistrano we switched to the Pacific Coast Highway. We passed Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, and stopped briefly in Huntington Beach and Long Beach. We saw surfers, oil rigs, and lots of sandy beaches. I did not expect the amount of oil rigs in the ocean very near the coast. We also passed plenty of oil rigs drilling on land, too. The landscape was hilly and sandy with palm trees, cacti, and bright flowers along the way. The homes ranged from condos with adobe tile roofs to prairie style. We stopped for a photo of the Queen Mary docked near Long Beach. TK said it is now a hotel.

We arrived in San Pedro, Los Angeles’ port about 2 p.m. and went to our hotel, Crowne Plaza-Los Angeles Harbor Hotel/San Pedro. TK did a wonderful job of driving and I acted as the GPS. TK said that I was obsolete and he prefers the GPS. Personally I think that I did a great job of getting us to San Pedro even if once I did calmly say, “That light is red,” when he appeared to be going through it. A GPS would not have said that.

After checking in, organizing our bags, and returning the car at the hotel, we walked about 8 blocks to the harbor area. There are at least 5 fish markets selling fresh lobster, Dungeness crab, snow crab, King crab legs, shrimp, clams, scallops, and all sorts of fish. People can buy the seafood to take home or they can have it cooked right there any way they like it. There must be at least ten places fixing the fish to order. I truly think there was seating for 1000 people in different pavilions right at the harbor.

We elected to eat at a lovely Mexican restaurant, Acapulco, in the same area. Our booth overlooked the harbor and fishing boats.

TK’s Takes: He wants me to report that he is doing the laundry for the second time this trip.