title Cruisin' Route 101, San Diego to Capistrano, California - 4th March 2006 intro It's the first weekend of three that Nosher spends in California during the month of March. For an intro, there's a drive up the famous Route 101 along the California coast from San Diego towards Los Angeles. There are several stops along the way, first at Del Mar to get some cash, followed by the quaintly-named Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, past the wilderness of Camp Pendleton and finally to Capistrano Beach - the return leg blasting straight down Interstate 5 with the Miata's roof down all the way, and a bit of sunburn to show for it. In the evening, Qualcomm training dude Dennis Hernandez is playing bass guitar in the drunk-rock band Little Big Porn, at Easy Street in San Diego. In the days before SatNav the venue is tricky to find, but it's worth it in the end as the band is impressive, and Nosher is particularly mesmerised by the use of a Theremin. imgp7587 Coastguard lookout hut at Cardiff-by-the-Sea imgp7589 The seafront at the very non-Welsh Cardiff imgp7590 Surf's up imgp7592 A surfer returns to the beach imgp7596 More surfing action imgp7597 Surfing USA imgp7608 A flock of seagulls imgp7624 Pebbles on the beach imgp7629 The main drag through Carlsbad (probably) imgp7630 A row of random shops on Route 101 imgp7632 50s sign outside the Surf Bowl in Carlsbad imgp7634 Close up of the 50s bowling sign imgp7640 XXtreme glow-in-the-dark bowling, aparently imgp7644 Strolling along a Pacific beach imgp7648 A hot-rod Beetle drives by in Oceanside imgp7651 Three coastguard huts all in a row, at Oceanside imgp7653 The Oceanside pier imgp7657 Some sort of modelling photo shoot is occuring imgp7660 Wet sand and the pier imgp7661 Lots of pier legs reflected in the wet sand imgp7667 Nicely-aged boardwallk timbers imgp7670 Pay-per-view binoculars imgp7672 The bottom of the pier imgp7674 Seagull on a hut imgp7676 Some bloke takes a nap in the sun imgp7679 There's a large concreting operation going on imgp7681 A construction worker poses for a shot imgp7684 Nice house on Oceanside Boulevard imgp7685 To's stripey Mexican food place imgp7687 The 50s-retro "Route 101 Café" imgp7720 Little Big Porn set up on stage imgp7725 Branded neon sign imgp7730 The drummer sound-checks imgp7758 Empty pool tables in Easy Street imgp7766 Guitar action imgp7834 Dennis does some singing imgp7836 A view of the band imgp7843 In the zone imgp7861 Impressive Theremin action imgp7865 The modest crowd in Easy Street imgp7867 Life in a San Diego bar imgp7872 The pool tables are busy now