The Big Sur

Our travels now took us to meet up with an old work buddy, Robbie Burns, his wife Carol and their new addition, Andrew. Robbie moved to Ventura about 2 years ago, which is where Carol lives. Ventura is about 1 hour north of LA, right on the coast. It's a lovely place with great beaches, buzzing downtown and historic landmarks. The only problem with Ventura perhaps is that it's over looked by mountains that are covered in trees thast in the summer and autumn can catch fire very easily and threaten the town. The mountain views, however, make it a very beautiful place to live.

Robbie and Carol were very kind and offered us their spare bed for the night with the added treat of the Deva shower he has installed. We jumped at the chance! After a few beers we headed out into Ventura for a lovely meal and a great catch up,before a couple more beers in the local Irish bar. Carol, who wasn't drinking, drove us around Ventura and up into the mountains so we could see the night time view of the city. Cazzie and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay with the Burns' and want to say another big thank you to them both!

The next day we headed north to Santa Barbara, a quaint little town on the coast. We jumped on board another trolley tour that took us around the city to places such as the downtown, the mission (old Spanish Franciscans religious site) and the houses of the rich and famous including Oprah Winfrey. This took about 2 hours so we got out our bikes and rode round some of the cycle routes before calling it quits and heading further north to our RV park in Morro Bay for the night.

We were up bright and early the next day to start our trip up the Highway 1 taking in some sights along the way, which began in Morro Bay with a classic car show and a volcanic rock sticking out the ocean.

After a few stops in a couple of little towns, where we saw a house made totally out of recycled rubbish called Nit Wit, we arrived at Hearst Castle. This place is the home of a former publicist that inherited it from his parents when he was 57 and decided to expand the family home into what I can only describe as an olden day Playboy Mansion. This place has everything including 2 huge swimming pools, vineyards, orchards, a wildlife sanctuary with bears, giraffes and zebras, 56 bedrooms, 61 restrooms, 41 fireplaces, 19 living rooms and a dining room. The castle was damn impressive! The location of this mansion was in the hills and based around the natural springs that are here, which still supply the water to the pools today.


This place is so exclusive that the week previous Brooke Shields held a small party on a veranda there for 4 hours at a cost of $20,000. We spent about 2 hours on the guided tour before jumping back in the van and heading towards the Big Sur campsite for the night.

I had never heard of the Big Sur, but is an area on the coast of California that you drive through taking Highway 1, which runs parallel to its more famous brother, the 101. It's a long and winding road that hugs the Pacific Ocean. Most of you will have seen this road as it's where a lot of car adverts are filmed. This was a great time of year to to this drive as in the Spring and Summer it gets clouded with fog. The views were terrific.

We continued our drive up the Big Sur until we reached the 17 mile drive. This is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach along the Pacific Coastline. Is made up of huge houses and mansions and a number of top end golf courses, including Pebble Beach Golf course. This was the last point on the drive and I can only imagine how good it must be to play here - and expensive.

We did feel very out of place in our hiking boots and scruffy t-shirts, but we didn't care. The drive was a real highlight for us as it takes in 20 or so different points of interest with some spectacular views.

This drive took us 2 days but we could have taken 3 or 4 it was that good.

All the highlight are here!

Stuoobs

xxx

Los Angeles - a place worth visiting?

My Mum and Dad, Andy and Karen and Cazzie have all told me that they would not go back to LA and that it's not such a great place to visit. I'll be honest with you, I thought they were crazy. 4 million people live in the city itself and nearly 13 million in the surrounding areas, and they all must love it there. And you know that the rich list all have their mansions here including Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Hopkins, John Travolta - the list is endless. And it's the capital of the entertainment business. So it's got to be an amazing place.

With this in mind I was sure that I was going to succeed where my parents, bro and girlfriend had failed.

We were staying in Long Beach, which was the nearest RV park to the city itself and I thought it would be pretty close. Our survey says - neeh neeeer! It took 15 mins to walk to the nearest metro station and 45 mins to get to the centre. It only costs $5 for a whole day's travel though. The first day we headed to Hollywood to see the famous Hollywood Boulevard. The metro took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there, and we began our walk to see the stars on the sidewalk. I thought that every star that had their name there had their handprints there too. Our survey says - neeh neeeer! It's just the names of everyone you have ever heard of and some you haven't. We actually walked right past the place where the handprints are and into a coffee shop, where we saw a Micheal Jackson impersonator having a coffee! Very odd indeed. Anyway, after our latte, we stumbled across the place with the handprints, just outside Mann's Chinese Theater.



Hanging around these handprints were loads of people dressed up as famous icons, including the coffee drinking MJ. These are all failed wannabe actors who now earn their money by pouncing upon poor tourists for photos and then demanding money. I got caught by someone who I didn't have a clue who they were trying to be. Any suggestions?

Competition is so fierce that we heard that Spiderman got a bit too aggressive with a non paying tourist. Trouble is, there were 3 working that day and they didn't know which one was the offender, so all had to go!

In the afternoon we visited Beverly Hills mainly to walk up Rodeo Drive to see where all the beautiful people spend their money and to see the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (the one from Pretty Woman). Of course we all know this is where the uber rich and famous live and hang out but it's also the location of the worst toilet Cazzie has every been it and refused to perform. Day was coming to an end so we called it quits.

Day 2 we were heading to Universal Studios. This was a great day as there was hardly anyone in the park and there were no queues for the rides. In fact we were the only ones on the Mummy Ride! The park was good, but not quite upto the standards of the one in Orlando but it did have a lot of similar rides - I even managed to get on the Simpson's ride without feeling sick! We did however, get to do a movie studio tour to see where films past and present have been filmed, which was a lot of fun,and we met Shreck as well!


Day 3 we were going to Downtown LA to see what we could find. This I think was the most disappointing day out of the 3, as there in nothing to do here. Not a lot of bars, restaurants or shops were jumping out at us. It seemed to be a lot of businesses and a couple of music halls. That's it.

We jumped the metro back to Long Beach and spent the afternoon in the pool / jacuzzi before heading out to have a meal and a few drinks in Long Beach.

The drive out of LA included a stop at Venice Beach. This is a very hippy place with lots of stalls for artists, weed sellers, rug makers and clothing along with a skate park. Along the beach front there is no commercial shops allowed ie McDonalds. It gives it quite a nice feel. There is Muscle Beach here to, with an outside gym right on the main sidewalk where all the dudes workout in just their speedos.


Cazzie and I walked up and down the main sidewalk, sniggering to ourselves at the people there before calling it a day.

So I did LA and left with the same opinion as everyone else has. I'm glad I've been, you can do it all in 2 days but it's not worth making a special trip by any means.

Or, I missed what LA's all about too.

Pictures are here.

Stuoobs

xxx

Running for sunsets in San Diego

San Diego was the most Southerly point of our trip and one place both of us were excited to visit.  We had heard so many good things and were keen to sample them for ourselves.

We arrived late in the evening from Palm Springs, but managed to catch the Visitors Centre before it shut to grab the customary 1000’s of leaflets and brochures to help us plan what to do while here.  The planning took up most of the evening but we had a very full schedule ahead of us.

The first day we headed to the world famous San Diego Zoo.  This place has 1000’s of animals ranging from monkeys and elephants to jaguars and pandas.  We took the shuttle bus round the zoo which took about 30 mins before making our own way on foot to get a closer look.  Now having seen quite a lot of wildlife in the various National Parks we have been to, it has sort of taken the edge off seeing these various creatures locked up in cages without the freedom to roam.  Don’t get me wrong, the zoo caters for them to a very high standard, but it’s just not the same.  I didn’t really get the “WOW” factor feeling seeing a Tiger or a Polar Bear here as I did seeing the whales or the bison in the parks.  But, having said that, we did really enjoy the day we spent here and it’s certainly a place to go if you are in SD.  Here’s my favourite picture from the zoo – the Meerkats.

One thing you must to in SD is see the sunset over the Pacific – it is supposed to be amazing.  We got back to the RV park, showered and headed out towards Mission Beach, which was a 10 min bus ride away.  We knew that we had to be at the beach at 4.47pm as that’s what time the sunset, but were we up against it as the bus was running 5 mins late.  As we reached our stop, we ran off the bus and towards the beach.  People were pointing and laughing as I was running with my camera in my hand ready to capture to moment. As we got there the sun had set behind a band of clouds on the horizon, so the sunset wasn’t that great! 

That night we spent down in Mission Blv, right by the beach, where there are lots of bars and places to eat.  It is the more relaxed part of SD as it’s the drinking choice for the surfers and beach bums.  I can highly  recommend it.  Cazzie and I got thoroughly “on it” and this was easily the most drunk night of the trip so far.

You will not be surprised to hear that the next morning was the worst hangover of the trip so far and we didn’t make it out of the van until  1 o’clock, when we headed to the Old Town to start a trolley tour.  We have done several of these in various cities and it’s the best way to see a city as they let you hop on and hop off so you can explore the places you want to. As we were so hungover though, we just sat on the trolley bus for 2 hours and listened to what our driver / tour guide had to say, before getting off in Little Italy for a much needed slice of pizza.   The best part of this tour was at the start – Old Town.   Now, who knew that California used to be part of Mexico before the US government bought it off the Mexicans?  Old town is where the first Mexican people settled and most if it remains there today.  It’s a buzzing little place full of little old Mexican ladies making fresh tacos and burritos in a plaza full of old style restaurants with live music and dancing in the middle.  Further into the town there were bands, shops and an old market.  I only wish we were in a better state to fully appreciate it!

After our slice of pizza, we started to feel much better and headed to the Gaslamp Quarter, where all the trendy bars and restaurants are.  We were recommended to eat at Fred’s, a very good Mexican place.  So after a couple of Margaritas (which is rapidly becoming one of my fav drinks) we ate at Fred’s where we had tacos and pulled pork burritos!  Wonderful.  After a few more beers in a few more bars, we were done and ready for bed.  Like many other US cities, there was a late night ice cream place open, so we decided to pop in there and get a quick treat.  This quick treat took over 30 mins to get 2 scoops and I still have no idea why.  It was organised chaos. 

Our 3rd day we had planned to stop off in La Jolla, which is a district just north of SD.  This is a great place right by the sea, with loads of boutiques, cafes and bars.  It’s also a great surfing spot.  We wandered up and down the beach area and around the town before choosing our spot on the rocks to see the sunset.

I feel as we missed out on seeing all of SD due to our hangover, but from what we saw of it, it’s a terrific place and I’m glad we’ve crossed it off the list.

The Zoo highlights are here and SD highlights are here.

Stuoobs

xxx