Who knew a Taco Bell could have a walk-up window for surfers??
March Break 2016 finds us heading to California for 3 rinks in 7 days and a great drive down the coast.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
We flew Toronto to San Fransisco and picked up our sweet ride, a bright red Ford Mustang convertible.
The first game of the trip was San Jose hosting Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. San Jose plays out of the SAP Center. It’s a bit of an older rink (opened 1993) that seats just over 19,000 for hockey. The crowd was pretty pumped and the home team emerged victorious by a score of 5 – 2. My highlight was the opening introductions where a giant shark head is lowered to the ice and the players skate through it to get to the ice…not something you see very often!
Sunday, March 13, 2016
The day dawned overcast with intermittent showers but, we were in San Fransisco so rainy weather was not unexpected. After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we hit the road to do some sight-seeing before the evenings’ entertainment.
Our hotel was really close to the water so we wandered over to the Pier 39 entertainment complex. we took a tour through some of the shops and restaurants but the weather wasn’t conducive to a long stay.
Even the seals were hunkered down. 
A little rainy but you can still see Alcatraz in the background
The day cleared up a bit but we had heard there were some great waves on the ocean side so we hopped in the car and drove over to check them out.
Lots of hills in San Fran. 
Checking out the surf. 
Jumping on the foam.
Check out the shirts.
After a fun afternoon checking out the shore, we headed to the big event of the day, a Bruce Springsteen concert in Oakland. He was playing at the Oracle Arena which was just over a half-hour from downtown San Fransisco across the Bay bridge. The traffic made it a bit longer of a ride but it is an awesome bridge so very cool to see.
The concert was really good (it was Bruce after all) and it was fun to take Adam to his first Bruce concert.
View from our seats. 
Lots of pumped-up fans! 
Enjoying the show.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Monday morning was bright and sunny which was perfect for our planned tour of Alcatraz. It is a great piece of American history and is only 1.25 miles and a 15 min boat ride from Pier 33 in San Fran. It started as a military prison in 1828 and became a federal penitentiary in 1934 and closed down in 1963. It’s only 1675 ft x 590 ft and had a staff of approx. 155. Over 1500 prisoners spent some time at Alcatraz including some big names such as Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and Whitey Bulger.
Seals basking in the sun. 
Having a conversation. 
Great meal in a restaurant on the pier. Adam had shark. 
Alcatraz Cruises runs the tour boats to the island. 
Adam getting ready to take some pics. Alcatraz in the background. 
Shot of the prison. 
The guard tower. 
Close to where the boat docks is the bookstore. 
Home sweet home. 
Part of the tour has an audio option. Good idea to hear some cool facts. 
A small window looks out on the city of San Fransisco. 
An interesting display of what a real cell looks like. 
Foreshadowing? 
Panoramic that shows the city across the bay. 
Adam trying to figure out if he can swim it. 
Good to know. 
Getting ready to take the boat back to town.
What would a trip to San Fransisco be without a stop at the Golden Gate Bridge? We hopped in the car and headed over about an hour before sunset and tried to find some good spots for a few pictures. It is a pretty amazing sight, particularly as the sun is going down.
Parked the beast and went for a hike to get some pics. 
Very impressive sight! 
Sun starting to go down. 
Looks great at night too! 
Adam and the sunset.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
This was going to be a full driving day as we were heading from San Fransisco to Los Angeles along the Pacific Coast Highway. Also known as Highway #1, it is roughly a 450-mile drive but takes over 9 hours, not including the many stops you will make along the way. There is a wide variety of options for touristy things to see…anything from world-class golf courses to seal parties to spectacular forests. The scenery is varied and goes from beautiful to incredible.
Before we left San Fran we had to check out Lombard Street, claimed to be the “crookedest street in the world” as it has 8 hairpin turns. This street is one of the most popular tourist attractions in San Fran and gets over 2 million visitors a year.
Good signage! 
Starting down Lombard Street. 
View back up Lombard from the bottom.
From there we headed straight west on our quest to find the coolest Taco Bell on the planet. We had found a ranking of Taco Bell locations worldwide and the first place location was about as far west as you can go in the country in a town called Pacifica, California.
Outside view as you drive into the parking lot. 
Back patio deck. 
View from the deck. 
Walk up window for surfers…very cool! 
Adam on the beach with surfers in the background.
After a hearty breakfast/lunch of various Taco Bell offerings, we headed south on Highway #1 for our first stage of the drive. It took just over 2 hours to get to one of the most famous golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach. It widely regarded as one of the most beautiful courses anywhere and became the first public golf course to be selected as the No. 1 Golf Course in America by Golf Digest. Home to many PGA Tour events, it has an incredible history and is on most golfers’ “bucket list” to play at least once.
List of winners. From Tiger to Phil. 
Adam in front of one of the putting greens. 
Adam standing beside the world-famous 18th green.
We once again headed south for our next stop, a beautiful town called Carmel by the Sea. It is located right on the ocean and although pretty small (pop under 4000) it is very well known. Home to a lot of actors and artists, arguably the most famous citizen turned mayor was actor Clint Eastwood.
Hanging out in Carmel. 
Might as well skip a couple of stones. 
Seems like a good spot to be using your phone…
Back in the car for what would end up being one of the most incredibly scenic drives of all of the rink trips. The drive down the west coast was spectacular. We got lucky and the weather was sunny and clear so the views were even more amazing. We stopped quite a few times just to get out and look, take a few pics and marvel at what Mother Nature had created. Shortly after our trip parts of the highway were closed due to massive mudslides. It took months to get it rebuilt and reopened. The trip took us from San Fran to L.A. and ended up being well over 12 hours with all the stops. Long day but well worth it!
One of the many great photo op spots on the route. 
Catching some rays. 
Awesome day for a photoshoot. 
Taking some scenery pics. 
Lizard buddy. 
Chillaxing. 
How do they turn their heads like that? 
Seal beach party. 
Bird almost on a wire. 
Sun going down on a great driving day.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
We woke up in our “close to the airport and okay” hotel refreshed and ready to see some more sites. It was a game day so we had to get as much in as we could before getting ready to hit the rink.
Our first stop was the world-famous Santa Monica Pier. It’s well over a hundred years old and is home to many shops, restaurants and amusement park rides. As well, it has a muscle beach situated just south of the actual pier. It’s been featured in hundreds of movies, music videos and video games. One of the cool things about the Santa Monica Pier is it is considered the end of the legendary Route 66.
Hanging on the pier. 
The end of Route 66. 
Taking some pics on the pier. 
Pic from the pier. 
Catching some more rays. 
Very friendly seal getting lots of fish from the tourists. 
Hanging out at muscle beach. 
Adam trying out the rings. 
Taking in the view with the pier in the background. 
Great panorama of the whole pier that Adam took.
What would a trip to L.A. be without a swing through Hollywood?
A Hollywood sign…not “the” Hollywood sign. 
Fancy stores everywhere. 
One for the ladies. 
Upsidedown Adam. 
Rick Springfield gets a star. 
So do the Backstreet Boys. 
Named after Adam’s friend Hayden?
After a solid day of sightseeing, we drove south to Anaheim. Home to Disneyland and the Anaheim Ducks. They play out of the Honda Center which is located pretty close to Disneyland. The arena itself is another older one, having been built in 1993. It seats just over 17,000 for hockey. We saw the Ducks host the New York Rangers. It was a good tilt with the Rangers coming out ahead by a score of 2 – 1. My highlight for this rink was a pretzel. Probably my favourite food in all the rink trips as someone figured out how to shape it to look like the Ducks logo…awesome!
See…it looks like the Ducks logo. 
Adam enjoying the game.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
We had another rink day happening so we again filled the morning with some sight-seeing.
A movie came out towards the end of 2015 that chronicled a groundbreaking new group that revolutionized hip-hop forever. The group was called NWA and the movie was named after it’s first album release “Straight Outta Compton”. My son, deciding to get some street cred determined that we should go check out Compton. Compton is not exactly what you would call “Tourist-Friendly” but at least we were going early in the morning. After a failed attempt, we managed to get a picture of Adam so he could show his posse back home that he was there.
After our adventure in Compton, we headed south to the shore near Long Beach. That is the final resting place of the RMS Queen Mary. It was originally built as a luxury passenger ship designed to make a transatlantic run from England to New York. It was launched in 1936 and could carry over 2000 passengers. It was decommissioned in 1967 and now sits as a tourist attraction in Long Beach.
We headed over to the marina for a great lunch at a restaurant overlooking the water. Always makes the seafood taste better!
Hanging in the marina. 
Fresh bread is awesome!
After wandering around the marina for a little while we headed to the third and final game of our week in California. The LA Kings were hosting the very same New York Rangers that we had seen play in Anaheim the night before. The Kings play out of the Staple Center which opened in 1999 and holds just over 18,000 for hockey. The arena is very vibrant and there is a lot of activity both in and outside the rink, The game was a close one with the home team winning in overtime by a score of 4 – 3. We had access to a lounge and had a great pre-game meal and then headed in to watch the game.
Outside the arena. 
Checking out the buffet. 
Hanging out in the lounge before the game. 
Pregame show.
Friday, March 18, 2016
After an amazing week of site seeing, hockey, Springsteen and a sweet Taco Bell we headed to LAX and flew home to Toronto. Tired but happy after a great week.
