StuartGeorge

Woke up to sunny weather although many thunderstorms were forecast, we saw none!! Had a late breakfast 9am!! and after waiting what seemed like an eternity for our laundry to finish we finally left the hotel at 12pm still in sunshine. We headed over to S.F. and Pier 39 taking a trip on the Cable Cars from Fishermans Wharf to Downtown. The kids held on the rails preferring this method rather than the seats as it was more scarey, especially when cars and other cable cars went past! Kids grabbed a bite to eat while we enjoyed Starbucks and a muffin. Bought Luke a baseball mit and ball for birthday so after we arrived back at the hotel we headed for a 10 minute walk to a park to play ball. Ellie had a little go ... read more

Woke up to rain this morning but that soon cleared to leave another beautiful sunny day, although a few degrees cooler than we have been used to, so long trousers were on the cards today! (Dawn wrote this). We headed down to Santa Barbara pier looking at the pelicans diving for fish in the sunshine before heading up the Freeway 101, a mere 249 miles to Monterey. On the way Dawn saw clouds in the form of a funnel and a wee while later the government warning cut in to the radio broadcast warning of a possible tornado 100 miles away. The warning said if you were in your car find the nearest ditch and lie down, only problem was we were in the middle of nothing but flat, flat, flat land with not a ditch ... read more

We headed to the Sunset Ranch near the Hollywood sign to go on an hour's horse ride through Griffith Park. The horses tend to walk near the edge of the path by the drop down the mountain which made it interesting!. This was a first for Dawn, Ellie and I and it was a thrill, not for the faint-hearted but not to be missed. Adding to the excitement a number of fire dept and news helicopters hovered over the park but didn't scare the horses. I ended up as the lead rider as the horse knew where to go! We are too scared to take pictures of the views ..... so take our word for it that is was awesome!! After the ride we all had rather sore bottoms and stiff legs for a while! The ... read more

We headed to Rodeo Drive, famous for its expensive fashion and jewellery shops. Pretentious? Give me the Holton Road in Barry with it's empty shops, roller shutter windows and beautiful rotund people any day! The kids were unimpressed. Then it was off to the end of Route 66 aka Santa Monica Pier. Then followed 8 miles of walking down the beach path and back to the weird and wacky Venice beach leavened with the beautiful canals - yes like the other Venice . Wack jobs are the Venice beach peddlars. Came back covered in tattoos...not! We trudged back to the car having watched the bikers, roller bladers, runners, joggers, skateboarders etc. Great afternoon free entertainment exercise and sun! Another drive thru the rush hour freeways to dine at Denny's before settling down to write the blog ... read more

Just a quick entry on our big car. It's a Dodge Grand Caravan which is very roomy and comfortable with marvellous Air/Con and seven seats and adequate boot space for 5 cases etc. However it handles like the Titanic as far as acceleration is concerned with it's automatic gearbox. It weighs 2 tons and only does 24 to the gallon on a long run! Gas is about half the price of the UK. It has a 3.6 litre engine and runs on Regular Unleaded fuel We got the car with 3 miles on the clock from Dollar Rental in San Francisco and it has been very comfortable... read more

Luke turned 12 today, so after picking up greetings from family via text and on our blog we set off on the freeways to Sherman Oaks Castle Park and the baseball batting cages. Wow doesn'e even a 40 mph baseball seem very fast and hard to hit. We all had a go with our supplied helmets and bats, then after a few root beers and pink lemonades we headed for the DASH boutique, of Kardashian family fame, in Calabasas which fortunately was closed Sunday but gave opportunities for photos outside. We then toured over the scenic Mulholland Drive which runs over the Hollywood hills and stretched our legs with the dog-walking, jogging population in Runyon Canyon Park. Then a big surprise, we took the kids to Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park North of LA in ... read more

We left Anaheim in lovely sunshine and drove the scenic route round Palos Verdes where pirates of the Carribean was shot offshore. We stopped at the Wayfarers Chapel where a wedding was in progress in possibly the most picturesque chapel in the world made from glass and timber in a Redwood grove. Continuing on we passed the beaches of South bay until we came to picturesque El Segundo beach with its power station behind and $ 8 charge for parking! We checked into our smart business hotel with heated pool then set off after a Carls Jr.burger tea for the best view of LA from Griffith Park Observatory. Sadly it was so popular we could not park within a mile of the place so abandoned the idea and drove along Hollywood boulevard instead. It's a bit ... read more