I have been a fan of Marriott's for about 10 years, ever since a stay at a SpringHill Suites property. Many of you may remember the hotels we stayed at in Mountain View, Washington DC, Boulder... these were 3 different brands of Marriott properties. They also have a 'Rewards' program. I have been at Silver Elite for a few years, but never stay enough nights to qualify for Gold. They recently sent me a temporary Gold card and if I stayed only 6 nights before the end of June, I could have permanent Gold for the next 2 years. What follows is the trip to achieve that goal. Click on photos for larger view.
Apr 19th: Play and Stay...
We headed out to Valleo, CA to stay at a Marriott Courtyard and see a play in Walnut Creek. Both were great.
We didn't have time to visit the park across the street.
But in both towns were able to 'capture' many unclaimed works of art.
Apr 20th: Carmel-By-The-Sea...
The next stop was the famous seaside town of Carmel. We walked, window shopped, walked some more, ate scrumptious meals, we were overwhelmed with opportunities to resist the enlightened. Lodging was provided by Carmel Inn and Suites. (Marriott was not supported in Carmel).
View from our sitting room.
View of our sitting room.
View of our sleeping room.
Apr 21st: San Simeon and Hearst Castle...
Today we stay at a Best Western Motel, again because no Marriott in the area. A bit up the coast, we encountered some Elephant Seals, basking on the beach.
The next stop Hearst Castle and the evening tour.
More Art to enjoy
Apr 22nd: Ventura - Apr 23rd Arcadia...
Our second Marriott stop on the trip was at the Ventura Beach Marriott.
We decided to take a spin on a rental surrey.
NOT as easy as it looks!
On Monday we headed out to Tujunga and a visit with Hill and Sandy. We were thinking of visiting a local Garden, but the weather was drizzling and we stayed warm inside their home watching the birds and squirrels in the back yard. We decided to have Mexican for dinner and Hill would drive. The 2nd weirdness was the car refused to shift out of park. I drove to the 3rd strange event, the Mexican restaurant was closed for a day. Off to alternate Chinese. As we left Hill's house, the weather cleared, his car mysteriously shifted out of park, and the Mexican restaurant opened for business. He blamed all of this on us!
Our 3rd Marriott was a Springhill Suites in Pasadena. Nothing interesting to report, just a last bit of uncollected Art collecting.
Apr 24th: Escondido and Safari Park...
Today we attack Los Angeles traffic... luckily we are going in the opposite direction to the commuters. Los Angeles traffic is bumper to bumper moving at 70+ miles per hour. And you need to accelerate to use the exits. We do arrive safely at the destination, San Diego Safari Park.
Robin ready for the main reason we are here.
We stay the night in the 4th Marriott property the TownePlace Suites. Good nights sleep.
Apr 25th: Hesperia and the High Desert...
On the way to Hesperia we stop at March Field Museum. While there we snap a few pictures.
Some of you may be familiar with why I am fixated with wooden propellers.
We stay the night in our 5th Marriott hotel. The Hesperia Springhill Suites. The dinner was the best at a place we hadn't eaten before. Golden Corral Buffet. Yum!
The morning view from our window included a local desert dweller!
Apr 26th: Randsburg - Maddy's - Joe...
Next morning we are off to have brunch with Joe. He suggested meeting in Ridgecrest at 11am, but the S550 was slicing through the high desert at an incredible pace... so it looked like we would arrive much earlier. We talked to Joe who said he would meet us there in an hour... we were only 15 minutes away, so we took a side trip to:
Next stop Maddy's for a GREAT 2nd breakfast. I recommend: Biscuit Scramble... sausage and scrambled eggs,
on top of biscuit with sausage gravy.
Served with hash browns.
Joe snapped a photo of the retired travelers.
After breakfast we headed across the southern end of the Sierra Nevada mountains, past Lake Isabella, following hwy 178 (and the path the water will take when the dam bursts) to Bakersfield. There we stay at the 6th and final Marriott.
Apr 27th: Hwy 99 - Raisins - Underground Gardens...
Last day on the road. We headed out of Bakersfield and joined "The Main Street of California" at mile marker 25. We leave it at exit 166. Between those two points we have 2 interesting side trips.
First and tasty for raisin lovers is the Sun Maid plant in Kingsburg.
And the second was a place you need to visit to appreciate.
From there we headed to Los Banos, then across the Pacheco Pass, and up hwy 101 back to Mountain View and home. Thus ending the 8 day adventure with no mis-adventures.
(Really Hill, we had a great time.)
All these photos and about 200 more and a few movies can be found here.
(Including my 2 helmet cam videos on the zip lines)
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