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Driving from SF bay area to Carlsbad CA. Where to stop?

Santa

Santa

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 19, 2020
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After our summer trip two years ago, we vowed to keep our hours in the car to ~4 hours. We figured we drove past so much cool stuff doing 8+ hours in a car and realized we got pissy with each other after about 6.

So we are trying to figure out where to stop on the way to Carlsbad. Spend the night, probably a small hike or sight seeing in the AM and drive the rest of the way to Carlsbad after that.

Not set on 1 or 101, trying to avoid the valley, cause well it's the valley. We have also been to Yosemite, Kings/Sequoia more than I can count. We have also already been to San Simeon.

Where do we stop that will split the trip to less than 4 hours over two days. Multiple suggestions welcome as we will be coming back and can do a stop each way,

GO!
 
Yup, Pismo/San Luis area.
Make it a priority to stop and enjoy Solvang.
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What everyone above said. Pismo is right smack dab in the middle of your 8 hour drive, so you'd get two 4 hour segments. If you're up for a little more of a lopsided trip, drive down hwy 1 to Monterey and go hike Soberanes Canyon just south.

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I wouldn't continue down 1 from there. Instead backtrack to Monterey and cut over to 101 for the rest of the drive.

Are you doing the trip over the summer?
 
Paso Robles has some bad ass wineries and the 805 brewery.

Hit up my oldest boy if you go thru SLO. He is studying welding down there and working at Poly Performance. Stopping there and checking it out is worth a stop. Awesome gun range by his school...

Despite Venice beach being beyond ghetto with homeless people all over the place and the risk of getting mugged.. its cool to check out for the history...

Just a little farther south of Carlsbad is Encinitas. I LOVE that town. Sweet beaches....yeah, it kinda sucks that the once small-town, cheapy beach towns are all now highemd amd expensive...but Encinitas still has that old-school CA surfer vibe that is quickly disappearing
 
Encinitas hasn't improved, if anything it's gotten worse as the old surfer vibe reverted to Carlsbad. A bunch of Leucadite snobs and hoity toity dinks in Encinitas as it were.

I'll second Paso Robles and the wine scene though. :smokin:
 
Stop anywhere north of Ventura for your first night. Set yourself up to blitz straight through to Carlsbad the next day. Nothing worth stopping for south of Ventura. You'll be stopping a lot between Ventura and Carlsbad, but not by choice.
 
My wife just had me look up the Madonnna Inn. I remeber stopping there on the way to Disneyland with the kiddo about 15 years ago. I think we just ste there. Looked up the rooms and rates:lmao: almost $400 for some out of date kitchy crap.
 
Kurtuleas said:
Paso Robles has some bad ass wineries and the 805 brewery.

Hit up my oldest boy if you go thru SLO. He is studying welding down there and working at Poly Performance. Stopping there and checking it out is worth a stop. Awesome gun range by his school...

Despite Venice beach being beyond ghetto with homeless people all over the place and the risk of getting mugged.. its cool to check out for the history...

Just a little farther south of Carlsbad is Encinitas. I LOVE that town. Sweet beaches....yeah, it kinda sucks that the once small-town, cheapy beach towns are all now highemd amd expensive...but Encinitas still has that old-school CA surfer vibe that is quickly disappearing
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A vote for Paso Robles. Nice place with good wineries and nice restaurants.
 
Arickvan said:
phils fish market in moss landing!

even tho its only 2 hrs from you :laughing:
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Man... thanks for reminding me about Phils... I almost want to drive out from the hills *drool*:flipoff2:

I would toss out Morro Bay. One of my favorite places. I love the giant chess set along the ocean front.
 
If Phil's is open for regular service I'll buy you guys lunch or whatever on your way. I might actually be able to see it from the top of my property
 
Lil'John said:
Man... thanks for reminding me about Phils... I almost want to drive out from the hills *drool*:flipoff2:

I would toss out Morro Bay. One of my favorite places. I love the giant chess set along the ocean front.
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the only bad part about phils is any other seafood is just terrible afterwards :laughing:
 
Arickvan said:
the only bad part about phils is any other seafood is just terrible afterwards :laughing:
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I catch fresh Mahi, Ono, salmon yearly. And we have a neighbor who's son is a commercial fisherman with a retail license who sells us fish caught that day. Ling cod, halibut, tuna. Even live crab when the season opened caught that day. It takes alot to impress me with fresh fish.
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2big bronco said:
If Phil's is open for regular service I'll buy you guys lunch or whatever on your way. I might actually be able to see it from the top of my property
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Might take you up on that, no need to buy tho. Looking at the 12th on the way down or possibly the 15th on the way back up. Trying to still leave some days that week to head north for steelhead.
 
Santa said:
I catch fresh Mahi, Ono, salmon yearly. And we have a neighbor who's son is a commercial fisherman with a retail license who sells us fish caught that day. Ling cod, halibut, tuna. Even live crab when the season opened caught that day. It takes alot to impress me with fresh fish.
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well shit go and tell me if theres some other spot i should go instead!:laughing:

hopefully theres an even better place closer to home
 
Arickvan said:
well shit go and tell me if theres some other spot i should go instead!:laughing:

hopefully theres an even better place closer to home
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You come to my house. I Iearned to cook from my dad who put his way through school cooking in several high end places in the city and my mom who was born in Italy and well, is your typical Italian grandma who cooks all day for one meal:grinpimp:
 
Normally I would say drive the entire length off the coast, but I saw on the news this morning that 1 had washed out near Big Sur.
 
300sniper said:
Normally I would say drive the entire length off the coast, but I saw on the news this morning that 1 had washed out near Big Sur.
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Fuck! they said they got 14" of rain in 48hrs, that's a lot of fuckin water!!
 
Splib said:
Let me check with environmental and Legal and get right back to you. Union Covid shit also. Retirement is awesome. :laughing:
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Dont/didnt you also have to report to CCC?

we are trying to put a pedestrian bridge across a small creek and I cant believe how much bureaucratic BS and redundancy there is. Not to mention the ancestral lands BS we are now dealing with.:shaking:
 
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