Continuing on the Pacific Coast Highway to LA and San Diego

On leaving Santa Barbara we continued our drive down Highway 1 which took us through Ventura and Malibu. The views of the beaches in Malibu are gorgeous and stretch for 27 miles. We took a drive up in the mountains with more views of the Pacific and some amazing houses balancing on mountain tops. I wouldn't to reach out and stoke the furry green mountains they seemed that sureal!

When we arrived in Santa Monica we did our usual drive around to find somewhere to stay and then headed out to explore the city. Our motel was next to Chez Jay which is meant to be a celebrity hangout where photographing is strictly banned. However I think our days of seeing celebrities are over! Santa Monica however is a welcoming town with a very English pier to enjoy. We both liked the city, we could see the potential for great shopping and dining. We did have a very reasonably priced Wolfgang Puck on a roof terrace overlooking the 3rd Street Promenade with some street entertainment to enjoy!

Our motel happened to be opposite the famous Muscle Beach! We decided to take a run along the beach the next morning and were met by tons of other people looking very buff with all sorts of devices hanging off them. We were pleased to see that some very nice people set up tables of water and gatorade to hand out to everyone working up a sweat.

That same day we decided to check out how the other half live with a drive around Beverley Hills, and now we begin to see why LA has the reputation it does! We managed to see a lot in one day and were both grateful to have the car now as by foot or bus we wouldn't have stood a chance. (and of course we had the roof down!!) One goal was to get a good picture of the famous HOLLYWOOD sign which can be seen most of LA. We wanted to try and get as near as possible and nearly ended up on a 1 hour hike to get really close but decided against it and settled for one a few miles away.

We did of course drive down the infamous Sunset Blvd to check out Sunset Strip. Not much to see in the daytime, imagining that it comes alive at night. Just a load of bill boards touting new movies really! Hollywood Blvd with all the hype surrounding it, you would imagine to be more exciting than it was but we took a stroll along the Hollywood Walk of Fame with over 2000 stars embedded in the side walk. Interesting to see but definately not holding the glamour and glitz you would imagine.

We were lucky with the weather in Hollywood but rain was forecast for the next day so decided to cut this visit to LA short as we would be returning later in the trip, and instead we head to San Diego.

So it is chucking it down with rain when we hit the road through Orange County, as the rain hit the windscreen we couldn't help but thinking we had bought the english weather with us! We found shelter in Laguna Beach and the comment of the day was "wouldn't this be nice in the summer" We still enjoyed the place and enjoyed a posh drink at the Surf & Sand Hotel Bar with a glass wall that looks out onto the Pacific. Apparently the waves do sometimes come into the bar!

Next day we reached San Diego and the rain was easing up slightly. We had a great time in the city during the day, walking around Seaport Village and it's quaint little shops. We stayed out in the evening and the only really happening place that we could find on this Monday night in the Gas Lamp District was the Irish Bar, with live music, Cider and Guiness we weren't complaining.

We would have loved to spend more time in San Diego but we were also very excited about our iminent trip to Las Vegas. It had been decided that we would head off to Vegas the next day and try and stay in some small towns on the way and around Vegas if we got to the area too soon. (5 nights had been booked on the strip for the similar prices as some of our motels!)

Before we left there was one thing we had to do, and that was check out the Hotel Del Coronado where my brother and Julia had their initial honeymoon. We took a drive over the bridge to the Island and the views of San Diego were cool. Well as you can imagine the hotel looked amazing. The sun came out for us and we wished we could afford a stay at the hotel! But no we hit the road to Vegas instead! Wahooooooooooooo!

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