August 1, 2011

As Mike explained in an earlier post, I (Nancy) had my first mini-tour experience in Ojai.  Well, I didn’t get enough,  so we decided to take a trip to San Diego from our home in Newport Beachto celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary.   It is about 85 miles total.  We decided to ride about 30 miles each day,  so I set about looking for hotels that would work for us. I am a compulsive planner and want to make sure the hotels are really good (not just decent).

I drove our car to the Lodge at Torrey Pines where we were going to stay for our 24th anniversary night.   Then took the train home to Irvine.  That way, our car would be waiting for us once we got there, and we wouldn’t need to ride home again.

While I had to pack lightly, I found I could get everything into a pannier.   Mike has some really big panniers that he can carry on his bike, and for this trip, we each got one pannier for our stuff.  Mike carried both bags on his trike, so I just carried myself.

We took off the first morning for a 38 mile ride (1350 feet of climbing) to our first stop in San Clemente. It was uphill most of the way,  including one of my demon hills on Niguel Road. The views are pretty spectacular when we saw the Pacific coast.   It was time for lunch in Dana Point Harbor.  Dana Point Harbor is a big harbor with lots of sail boats, fishing boats, and tour boats.   Also, there are surf board, kayak, and stand up paddle board rentals.   Anyone who enjoys the water will find fun things to do in Dana Point!     There are akso a ton of good places to eat.   From Dana Point, we rode along the beach toward San Clemente.

The second day, we rode along San Onofre beach, a scenic 3000 acre coastal canyon park complex along old route 101 which is now 11 miles of bicycle only highway (not a great highway since the weeds are growing in the cracks) but a bike highway none-the-less. Riding along the water was just mesmerizing.

One of the highlights (and there are many) along the route is riding through The U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton.   It is amazing that they let you go through just showing your driver’s license.     There was a time (just after the September 11 terrorist attacks) when they stopped letting people ride through on bikes, but they have since reopened it.  It’s a good thing, since the alternative is an 8.5 mile ride on Interstate Highway 5, which isn’t that much fun.   Of course, where can you go except along the roads since there are tanks and landing craft everywhere?

I was really hurting because I needed to find a bathroom. Well, we didn’t find one until we got to the PX which was almost at the end of the road. Even in the PX, I had to wait for a few old people in front of me.

We crossed into Oceanside (the first town after Pendleton on time for lunch.   Lunch was at 333 Pacific near the Pier in Oceanside. The food was just delicious. We ate an ahi stack that I still think of fondly and longingly.

We stayed at a hotel in Carlsbad that was close to the center of town mainly because we were on bikes and needed to walk to restaurants. It wasn’t a great hotel but we could bring the trikes into the room with us,  so Mike was happy. We ate at a wonderful restaurant called Paon Restaurant and Wine Bar. We enjoyed the wine bar – it is a great people watching place.  We had a wonderful meal in the garden patio. I remember everything being delicious and the service was excellent. We would surely go back again if the opportunity arises.

We had a fun breakfast at the Naked Café in Carlsbad. They have really great coffee and great breakfasts. Everything is local and healthy but you have to get there early or there is a wait. We looked forward to going again on another trip to San Diego.

Our last day’s ride took us through the various beach communities near San Diego and, at last, along the beach with a final climb up the real demon hill at Torrey Pines. It is about 400 feet from the beach to the top of the hill along a separated pedestrian and bike road.  It is pretty steep.   To make it easier for me,  Mike gave me a pair of headphones to put on,  and I listened to Michael Jackson as I climbed.   Amazing views waited for us once we got to the top.   Even better,  The Lodge at Torrey Pines was right there ready to welcome us.   Our car was still there too!   We loaded the trikes on the car, then checked in.

The Lodge at Torrey Pines is a great hotel. The grounds are beautiful and so is the golf course and the spa.  We had a spa reservation for massages.  Boy, did we really enjoyed them!   We felt so relaxed after our ride.  Our room had a lovely view.  We had dinner in their main restaurant. They gave us an outside table so we could see the sunset. The service and food were wonderful.   It was a very memorable bike tour and ended with an amazing anniversary dinner.

Now, I was really hooked on bike touring.