Vacation Yaaaaaay!

[Dinner]

Pekka: San Diego to San Francisco is a great road trip with beautiful scenery. I suggest spending a few days in San Diego going to the Zoo, Sea World, the beach, and taking a day trip down to TJ (Mexico) then either heading east to Las Vegas & the Grand Canjon or going north towards Disneyland, Hollywood, and L.A.. If you decide to drive up the coast then take I5 to Highway 101 then take the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco. The PCH is one of the slowest ways to travel but the scenery is unbeatable and you will get to truly see what California has to offer. As an added benifet you can stop off at wine growing regions in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obisbo, Monterrey, as well as Napa & Sonoma if you continue up to north bay.

Try to stay at yougth hostels as you will meet lots of people and you will save a fair amount of money. As an added bonus most hostels are near the main down town areas so you can go out drinking and not worry about having to drive back or pay the taxi drivers their outragous fees.

BTW when is your trip and when will you be in San Diego? If your vist happens before the Army sends me off to Iraq then I'll show you around town and take you to a couple of bars.

[Pekka]

OH YEAH THAT'S RIGHT! THE SEAWORLD IS IN San Diego! WOw that's COOL! Yeah, we're actually spending the last few days in SF, then just quickly drive to Portland, it's not really part of our roadtrip.

We can't go to Mexico, the car rental places are not very happy about that one..

The final date is not locked as of yet, but it's closer to beginning of summer 2004...... about six months. I'll be checking later if there are some folks down the road for few drinks or dinner or something.
I don't think Disneyland is in our schedule.. grand canyon maybe. How about mt rushmore, where is it? Is it near the route, or .. I have no idea where it is.

[Dinner]

By summer 2004 I'll have been in Iraq for around half a year and will still have a year left to go. Sorry, but I'm going to have to take a rain check on that beer.

[Japher]

hey, where's mount rushmore? Isn't that somewhere near westcoast?

That's not even close, it's in North Dakota I think...

PCH (1)is a nice highway, slow, but nice. You can take the I-5 all the way up to 256 or the 580 then over to the 101/1. If you do the 1 you should hit a lot of nice places to surf; Santa Cruz (where the Boardwalk is) and North to Pacifica have a lot of great spots. My wife has a friend who lives in SF who surfs, I'll ask where he goes.

Alcatraz still does tours.

If it's nice hanging out around Gloden Gate park is fun, lots to do, bars all around. There is plenty to do in SF as far as clubbing and bar hopping goes. I don't go to a lot of clubs, but in the mission there is a bar called 'Butter' that I like (it's next to '21 Tanks' which is a big microbrew). Butter is a white trash theme bar

In the Summer? Try and catch a Giants game, the stadium is awesome.

Across the bay there's a great strip club called McFarell Bros. (Spelling? I might even have the name wrong, just ask for the Irish strip club, something Bros. and everyone will know what your talking about).

Do the trolly from Fisherman's Warf (where you will get the boat to Alcatraz). While the cable car things is silly it is still fun and a good way to see some of the town. Go to China Town, Union Square, Theater District... There's a lot to do, you'll probably just sit at a bar the whole time and get drunk.

Heading north out of the city. If you take the 1 you will head into Napa, Sanoma, etc. and then eventually head up into the Giant Redwoods, which is nice, but it will take a long time to get to Portland that way. The best way would be to get back to the 5 (via 80), but that drive is boring.

If I'm still around when you come we'll have to hook up.

[Pekka]

Oerdin, Rain check it is then.. I'll be touring a lot anyway.. I'm coming at least once a year, at the least there anyway.

Japher, Santa Cruz is actually planned as the place we'll do surfing. Well at least my buddies will.. I'm not sure yet. I want to try, it's not exactly snowboarding but I think I'll get a hang of it, at least so that I can enjoy failing in it .

Sanoma means message in Finnish.. every paper that is like XXXXXX Daily, the daily is Sanomat.. is this a message to visit this place? maybe, I don't know!

Yeah, I 5 will lead us to the finish directly, if we are coming from the right direction to be able to take it.


White trash theme bar? That's a must
We won't be clubbing too much though, we have a budget to think about..

[Bereta_Eder]

So you got your visa?

[Japher]

There are some more famous beaches north of Santa Cruz too, I am not sure what they are called but the surfers at Santa Cruz should be able to tell (I think there's one between Half Moon Bay and Pacifica that is suppose to be the best)...

Sanoma is nice country, don't care what you Finns might think

[Pekka]

paiktis, I don't need visa for a short tourist trip.

[Bereta_Eder]

Ah OK.

[Monk]

Pekka,

As far as I know, you can't use the Visa Waiver Program with a criminal record, so if whatever you've got constitutes a criminal record, I think you'll have to apply for a visa.

[Pekka]

I don't have a criminal record. I am certified accepted traveller .

[Zkribbler]

Not even for felonious Apolyton posting??

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Pekka

... Santa Cruz is actually planned as the place we'll do surfing. Well at least my buddies will.. I'm not sure yet. I want to try, it's not exactly snowboarding but I think I'll get a hang of it, at least so that I can enjoy failing in it ...

Surfing is a way to get closer to nature...

[Dom Pedro II]

AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

[Unspeakable Horror]