Our goal was Solana Beach.  The purpose of the trip, beside having some together-time and seeing the West Coast, was to get to Solana Beach, CA for Poppy’s surprise 80th birthday party and Andrew’s 25th (not surprise) birthday party.  We made it through LA quicker than we thought, mainly because the carpool lane moved pretty well.  We stopped to see friends in Lake Forest and got into Solana Beach around 10pm. 

Driving from Seattle to (near) San Diego was a lot easier than we thought.  The total distance was 1,482 miles including our various meanderings for lunch, dinner and gasoline.  If you stayed on I-5 the whole way, it would be 1,250 miles.  So going to Sausalito, Los Gatos and San Luis Obispo added about 200 miles.

The car is great, although very noisy.  While small, it holds all of our stuff and the whole interior is devoted to just two people, so you don’t feel cramped.  The iPod interface is pretty infuriating, but once you get music going, it’s nice to have.

Changing hotels every night has not been a hassle.  We quickly got into a rhythm that worked for us.  Now it’s five days in one place; will be interesting.  We’ll be with family the whole time, which will be fun.

A panorama of the Madonna Inn with our car out front.  The car is parked in front of our room, on the right.