Los Angeles Sightseeing

Well the jokes about Los Angeles traffic are indeed warranted. Our 2.5 hour journey soon stretched into 4 hours with lines of never ending traffic winding their way around one of the most famous skylines from movies and tv.

Our hotel, the Sportsmen’s Lodge is located in Studio City, an area that is close to Hollywood and use to play host many of the famous movie studios. The hotel itself had the feel of a Hollywood movie with an Olympic-sized pool area in the centre and plenty of places to sit and relax, or socialize with other guests.

Our first full day was spent as many tourists do: seeing the the famous Hollywood sign, visiting Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and exploring the Walk of Fame. We decided to take the guided tour of the Kodak Theatre and learn about the Academy Awards show that is hosted there each year.

We drove the Sunset Strip to see the Paramount Pictures complex (well the gates at least!) and then travelled Santa Monica Boulevard all the way to the coast and the famous Santa Monica Pier.

We finished our day with a movie at Universal City, a prelude to our visit to the Theme Park the following day.

Old Town San Diego

We finished our stay in San Diego with one final trip to Old Town. Our hotel is right at the start of this historic area, so it was a great way to spend our final hours in this town. 

We enjoyed a great visit to the Sheriff Museum (free admission) where we saw old police cars, explored how policing has changed throughout history, and even saw some homemade prisoner weapons!

Then, it was down to the markets for some last souvenirs a final chance to take a look at the the restored historic buildings that make up Old Town. From the Johnston House to the Old Cosmpolita Hotel, to the mercantile store and the county jail,  you really get a feel for what the original settlers developed for what has now become a California metropolitan city.

Unfortunately, it was soon time to say goodbye to San Diego and continue our journey to Los Angeles. (with a stop at the Premium outlets first of course!)

San Diego Zoo & Gaslamp District

Lions and tigers and bears - oh my!  What a day we had exploring America’s largest zoo. First the Outback to see the koalas and kangaroos and then to Africa for the new elephant exhibit.

Our day pass also included an express bus to various points throughout the property, a guided tour bus ride through 70% of the zoo and unlimited use of the aerial tram over the whole park.

After the elephants we took the tram back to the main gate for some lunch, and then into the Lost Forest to see monkeys, zebras, tigers and the hippopotamus. We also took a trip to the polar rim and the Asian village - all in the same day!

The San Diego Zoo is not only known for its entertainment value but is most importantly renowned for its conservation, protection and rescue of the world’s animals. However we did get some great pictures of so many animals especially the 3 year old resident panda.

After a fun-filled day at the zoo it was onward to downtown San Diego to the famous Horton Plaza, a 5-storey shopping centre built right across from the historic Grant Hotel and around the corner from the Spreckles Theatre.

The evening comes alive in this area of San Diego since it part of the Gaslamp District. The Gaslamp is an area that began with Wyatt Earp building his famous casino here after his time in Tombstone. 

Today, it is blocks of restaurants, cafes and bars with a few brand name shopping outlets thrown in for good measure. As we walked this famous neighbourhood, we simply  soaked in the atmosphere of this vibrant area.

Finally, we got a hot chocolate to take off the evening chill (from the Ghiradelli Chocolate shop of course!) we returned to our car and made our way home.

San Diego

We arrived in San Diego and are staying in historic Old Town at the Holiday Inn Express. We are so close to the transit trolley and the spanish Old Town area where souvenir shops and restaurants are plentiful.

Our first night was spent at Petco Park watching the hometown Padres beat their rivals, the LA Dodgers. It was a fun night and the park had some great food!


Yesterday, we went on the Old Town Trolley and enjoyed an entertaining and educational tour around town. We stopped at the USS Midway for a tour of this real-life American Aircraft Carrier (felt like we were in the movie Top Gun!) and we also stopped at Coronado Island for a visit to its famous hotel, the Del Coronado. With over 400 rooms and a great history, we could only dream of staying in a place like that!

When we arrived back in Old Town, we explored the market and had a great supper at Pizza Bella - home of their award winning pizza! Armed with leftovers, our day's souvenirs and an aching back, we got back to the hotel for an early night.

Palm Springs - Oasis in the Desert

We arrived in Palm Springs on Monday afternoon after the drive from Las Vegas.

First of all, the drive was awesome! Although the mountains were nothing like the mountains we know of in Canada, they were still beautiful. I never realized that an arid landscape could still be so beautiful!

We stayed at the Palm Mountain Resort & Spa - and as promised it was in downtown Palm Springs and just one block behind the great boutiques and restaurants of the Village. The first night we found a great Mexican restaurant - Maracas - and we loved it so much we went back again the second night!

I had hoped to get a pedicure at the hotel spa but unfortunately, the did everything except pedicures. So I went online and found the "Delight" Nail centre - and it ended up being the best pedicure I've had in a long time!

The first day we explored the area, driving from Palm Springs, through Cathedral City, Indian Wells (the richest town in the nation) and down to La Quinta. The afternoon was spent travelling up to an elevation of 8516 feet on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and in the evening, we took in an IMAX movie and called it an early night.

Today we took the "Old Hollywood Grand Tour" from Celebrity Tours. Our driver Tim was not only knowledgeable, funny and courteous, but he knew where to get the BEST DATE SHAKES EVER!!
We explored what was called the Old Movie Colony and also the areas where today's stars like Barbara Streisand and Barry Manilow have houses.

Add to that the amazing desert weather (over 100 degrees every day!) and you have a great stay in Palm Springs!

We've just arrived in San Diego, so stay tuned.....

California - Here I Come!

The spring disappeared and I'm getting ready to set off on my summer vacation!  I'm spending 2 weeks touring California, so stay tuned for all the details!

Update: Flying into the U.S

Once again, Ray DeNure, President of DeNure Tours, has emailed me with his experiences in flying to the US. As you’ll see, he found a number of differences in security measures ironically since they lifted the ban on carry on items that was instituted after the Christmas attempt at terrorism.

Here are his thoughts and experiences upon arrival at the airport, and later he wrote about getting on the plane:

“If you think of America as a country at war, the process to check into a flight makes sense.   At Terminal 1 in Toronto at 7:30 am there are lines everywhere for US departures.   Access to the US  Customs & Immigration is available by flight number only so there are disorganized packs of people waiting everywhere.  Flights departing up to 8:45 are currently being "welcomed".  Fortunately for me, my departure is 10:15.”    

“My flight to Orlando that was scheduled to depart at 10:15 am departed at 11 am.  I boarded at 10:55 and I was not the last.  I was at the airport in plenty of time:  I printed my boarding pass at 7:20 am, got my luggage tagged at 8:15 and still nearly missed a delayed flight!   

Amazing?  And quite different from the mid-day Friday departure I had experienced in the same terminal to Washington three weeks ago.  

The hang up is security, and one of the differences is the return to complex carry-on luggage.  When there were restrictions on the quantity and kind of carry-on luggage you could have, security was faster even with the increased scrutiny.  Now that everybody (me included) has additional carry-on items, the entire process is slowed.  

At security, each passenger is assigned an official and in addition to the usual metal detector, there is a body search.  For the body search, passengers have a choice of being scanned by a machine, or a physical search which is looking for bomb residue.  I chose the scanner having previously enjoyed the physical kind.  

During these searches, your personal stuff is guarded by your security assignee who awaits your return to begin a very thorough examination of the most secret places in your carry-on stuff.  I was even asked about the year of my Toyota after they found my keys.  My  personal security assistant spent at least 10 minutes with my stuff, including around 6 of those unzipping all the compartments of my carry-on.

Although I was not chastised, I shouldn’t have brought so my stuff.  My plan of course, was to use the extra time at the airport to get organized. However, with the extra measures, this did not happen. 

America the free.”