The Pacific Coast Highway, a journey down Highway 1

[Jipster]

OK a day late but have been busy lately... duh!Presently in day 2 of road trip (its 11.51pm 9 May Sunday here in Monterey, California). Will be making dash to LA tomorrow morning (10 May Monday) for flight back.First post...... the day comes and after a 5am start from Chicago (to allow for security etc) we arrive in LA around 11am via Gate 81 (United Airlines Terminal 7)

Immediately headed out for the centre median with the purple car rental company shuttle pickup sign. We waited for the Enterprise Car Rental shuttle.

Hertz has nice big yellow buses....

My travel gear.... no checked in luggage, i travel light whenever possible

we waited patiently for all of 10 mins before the enterprise bus arrived.... yay!!

There were loads of people at enterprise.... business is good here at LAX..... What did we get?? Check it out....

Its a Dodge Charger!! (yeah I admit not knowing what it was too )......3.5 litre slushbox (yay!!) special. 18inchers seem small on this car ..

The captains chair....http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/therealjipster/CSC_upload11.jpgThe navigator.... ms garmin......I want to kiss the girl that's being giving us directions.... without her we'd be in Mexico by now. She's a lifesaver!!!http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/therealjipster/CSC_upload14.jpgTools for the day..... coke and gum (trident ....yummy)http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/therealjipster/CSC_upload13.jpgOK this will have to do for now..... clocked 408 pictures to date (and there's still tomorrow) ...... will update when i sort through the pics...

 

[affan66]

i miss this place....
say hi to I-10... favourite racing stretch during study days....

 

[BlackCat]

Awaiting your posts... & pics. Have a safe and fun journey

 

[Jipster]

On the road.... Day 1, Saturday 8 May

Before we got going we decided to fill up..... biryani chicken anyone? found this place near LAX.... halal too (go figure.....) no arguments though, we just dug in....

As soon as we hit the freeway, we were met by this..... jam..... KL styleee!

Soon the road cleared as we head north....

The Dodge handles pretty well for an american ..... comfortable, nice pwer.... excellent for sweepers like these

Going north and using an inland route there was not much to see.....

I started to get visions of my old A-Level geography class..... what do you call these things anyway?

Then it got worse..... even more nothingness..... this is we moved westwards towards the coast...

Made me think of mad max....

 

[Jipster]

On the road.... Day 1, Saturday 8 May Part 2

More nothingness.....

Only the novelty of a fresh, tight new (less than 3500 miles on the clock) american muscle car kept us awake for the 5-6 hour drive (2 stops in the middle of nowhere).... oh that plus amusing ourselves this way...

Moi driving the dodge....

We arrived towards 7pm.... visitor centre already closed...

But we quickly found our way around...

 

[Jipster]

n the road.... Day 1, Saturday 8 May Part 3

Another look at the Dodge in the visitor centre car park...

 

[affan66]

bro.. if you are dropping by any of the factory outlets, email me

 

[Jipster]

bro.. if you are dropping by any of the factory outlets, email me

alamak.... dah pergi lah... masa kat chicago lagi. Monday I'm rushing to airport already mate. Maybe next time

 

[affan66]

roger.. there are nice outlets around the West Coast, near Menlo Park. Make sure you drop by Hooters in SF

 

[Jipster]

On the road.... Day 1, Saturday 8 May Part 4

Tired, cold and hungry we set off on our mission .... to get as many shots in before we lost daylight....first up Monterey Municipal Beach...

Then, we really started to lose daylight.....

 

[Jipster]

Signing off for the night.... early day tomorrow....the return journey back to LA and then flight out to KL I do miss home...

Anyway, will be posting more Monterey pics (some in daylight!), carmel-by-the-sea, the 17 mile drive around pebble beach and the del monte forest area, pebble beach itself (yes, of the golf variety.... uh huh..... pics of the first hole, the lodge, bag drop area etc), some smaller courses near pebble beach, 2 very cool bridges (including the iconic bixby bridge), big sur area etc..... mostly done in one day (Sunday 9 May).... tired.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

oh yah, am using this trip to get to grips with my D40.... going beyond programme, aperture and some preset modes to full manual (eeek).... so bear with me. Used only one lens... 35mm 1.8.... not very convenient but acquitted itself well.... I'm thinking now that it works as a walkaround lens... only just....

 

[535i]

mana gambar awek nih ?

asyik gambar 'gersang' aje ..

The RING - here we come !!

 

[Jipster]

mana gambar awek nih ?

asyik gambar 'gersang' aje ..

The RING - here we come !!

Sabar abang 535..... about 2 more weeks ..... boleh start packing sekarang....

 

[Jipster]

On the road.... Day 1, Saturday 8 May Part 5

Am at LAX now waiting for my past midnight flight back to KL. Cant wait to get back home

The following post covers the last bit of 8 May Saturday in Monterey.....

The Monterey Peninsula Yacht club at the pier thingy...

The pier itself...

The marina (is that what you call these things?) is absolutely packed...

One of 2 restaurants on the pier itself...

This is the other one .... sandbar and grill.... sandbar..... geddit? Ended up eating dinner here...

Loved the place.... full of character, old, rickety but lively.... bar scene

Food was so so but cant beat it for ambiance

Once dinner was done wasnt much else we could do..... cold brrrrrrrr

we only 'discovered' this after the fact.....

We only checked into our motel after dinner.... selection was by 'drive by' technique ie we drove by a row of motels and picked one which we liked the look of..... Vagabond Inn was our choice and we were glad to call it a day...... has a gas fired fireplace too...

Next post will cover Sunday 9 May and its in the daytime (!!!)... stay tuned....

 

[lamoo]

More food at Old Fisherman's Wharf and shops as well. You could have gone for whale watching there also. Did you visit the Laguna Seca Racing Circuit at Rancho Canada near Carmel Valley where Clint Eastwood was the Mayor there once. Looking at your photos bring back beautiful memories during my stay at Seaside next to Monterey.

 

[initialM]

mana gambar awek nih ?

asyik gambar 'gersang' aje ..

Tul tuu, highway ler, car ler, food ler, yatch ler, beach ler,
Where r the hot chicks?? or this is Brokeback Mountain land?:smokin:

 

[affan66]

he went to the northern part of california la...what do you expect? There got plenty of members for BMWCM Johor Chapter.. heheheh *cabut*

 

[chili e30]

bro,your pic very sharp! i wonder wanna get a 35mm f1.8 for my D40....

 

[saat]

Waaah. I miss it. I wanna go again.

Route 1 PCH is one of my roads to drive before I die. Try going all the way to north Nappa and all the way south to San Diego or Baja.

Route 66 is another.

 

[Jipster]

More food at Old Fisherman's Wharf and shops as well. You could have gone for whale watching there also. Did you visit the Laguna Seca Racing Circuit at Rancho Canada near Carmel Valley where Clint Eastwood was the Mayor there once. Looking at your photos bring back beautiful memories during my stay at Seaside next to Monterey.

Lamoo dude - Laguna Seca? Nope…. Too little time too much to see. My colleague isn’t a car guy (although he insisted on the Dodge Charger) so that wasn’t on the menu. Yeah, there were more shops at fisherman’s wharf but we didn’t eat there but quaint shops though.

Tul tuu, highway ler, car ler, food ler, yatch ler, beach ler, Where r the hot chicks?? or this is Brokeback Mountain land?:smokin:

Initial dude – yup brokeback all the way….

bro,your pic very sharp! i wonder wanna get a 35mm f1.8 for my D40....

Chili dude – no lah….. I have the benefit of almost 400+ pics to choose from so these are the better ones. As I mentioned I used this trip to really get into this photog thing…. Tried manual settings etc and my colleague helped me out on what works etc. I used only one lens for the whole trip …. The 35mm 1.8… a pain in the ass sometimes to frame your shot…. No zoom, you use your legs LOL. I like its low light performance and the fact that its so compact. When used with D40 its very mobile. My colleague used a D80 + kit lens. It was much heavier.

Waaah. I miss it. I wanna go again. Route 1 PCH is one of my roads to drive before I die. Try going all the way to north Nappa and all the way south to San Diego or Baja. Route 66 is another.

Saat dude – exactly what I was thinking. The business trip to Chicago via LA got me thinking…. I’m part of the way there so all it took is a leave application and judicious use of my plastic friend. This is second road trip (not counting the Ring). The first was the great ocean drive in australia. No pics from that one though…… Route 66 was an option but I wanted the more dramatic scenery offered by PCH. Napa etc wasn’t on the cards as we only had one clear day so we went as far as Big Sur/Bixby bridge….. that same route (hwy 1) would take us back to LA but would take 8 hours…. We just didn’t have that kind of commitment…..