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Published: July 14th 2008
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driving in california
here we comeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee howdi
not too many pics this time, we are trying to save some for you all to see when we get back.
not long now till we are home!!!!! we are feeling o.k, both very excited to see jackie, john hels and ash, and winning big in Vegas. and also the thought of being home, is not all that bad, as we have travelled we have realised that we do love where we live and we live in a very nice part of the world, we just think England is too darn expensive. i mean we can get a bus ride over here for 2 dollars in any city to go anywhere, at home that would not even get you to asda!!!
anyhow, we are both good, and are loving having the rental car, so much freedom. we are so glad we did it instead of busing it everywhere as you just go from city to city on the bus and miss all the nice bits inbetween. the coastal hwy is great, it just grips at the cliffs all the way, with so many views and animals along the way. much like NZ so far, apart from all
sun set on monteray
at last it does not get dark until 8.30 ish the fats gits and fast food. USA!!!!
in the picture can you see how short my hair is. i had to get it cut the other day, but the lady went a bit mad with the cut, but i do not care it will grow, and if i am honest it needed it. the sun just ruins my hair. Well i can't even remember where we left the last blog, but i think it was in san diego. After that we just went north back up the coast to stay in laguna beach. some of you may know it from the reality show they had on MTV, called laguna beach. we spent three days just chilling out, hitting the beach and walking around the nice beach towns. it was july 4th when we were there, and the americans celebrate independance day big time. we went to go to the beach at 11a.m, and couldn't get a parking space. no space at the beach, in town, out of town, anywhere, it was insane. we ended up driving around for a space for 1 hour until returning back to the motel pool for the afternoon. it was soooo busy. we got
alvin the chipmunk
i do not know why but mart likes these little things, they chase you around car parks! to see some nice fireworks that evening though, so it was cool.
we then continued north, and stopped over night inland of the famous 90 mile road called "big sur". as we were inland its was unbelievably hot. sure we had aircon in the car and in the room, but it was smoking hot outside. as soon as you go 30mins inland from the coast its super hot. Vegas will be smoking, as will death valley when we visit that on the way to vegas. We then drove half of the "big sur" coastal road the next day, but we were turned around due to the bush fires. there are alot of fires here in california at the mo. but what we saw of big sur was great. amazing coastlines, with great views, vistas, and tons of wildlife!!!!!! check out the seals we saw on one beach. they were huge, and some of the males were getting a little agressive. great to see. After big sur we stopped at monterey for 4 nights. Again we just hit the beach, walked the lovely coastal towns, went on a superb coastal drive through the U.S golf open links coarses, and nature
elephant sea lions
loving the scenic sights on hwy 1 reserve, and went around the bay to Santa cruz, another very famous town. Santa cruz was really cool, the beach was awesome, it had a great old school theme park on the peer, with wooden rollercoasters etc, and great shopping!!!!!!! We got a great sunset every night, at the beach which was 2 seconds from our motel. its all so beautiful in california.
The next destination was San Fransisco. On route to san fran, we stummbles across a "redwood tree national park", so we drove in to check out the huge trees. we were so impressed with these things. they were similar to the Kouri trees in NZ, but so much bigger. we did a little walk through the forest and trees, and really enjoyed the short stop off. just check out the size of the tree that im stood inside!!!
We've been in san fran for 2 nights and have 2 nights left, and its been awesome. our favourite californian place so far. yesterday we explored the city, and drove over the golden gate bridge to the biggest "urban national park" in the world. the views from the northern side of the bridge were unreal. we drove
monteray coastline
otters swim around all along this coast the coastal road up and around the hills and just sat watching the city and the water and the traffic flow by. the sun was shinning, and we were both grinning ear to ear. Today we went to the most famous prison in the world, "alcatraz". although its not a prison anymore, its now part of the nature reserve and you can do a tour of the island and cell blocks!!!! IT WAS GREAT. the boat ride to the island had lovely views, and once on the island we had an imformative video of the history of the island, then an audio guided tour of the prison. the prison was home to some of the most famous and dangerous criminals, such as Al Capone (scarface), the birdman, "machine gun" kelly etc. we got to see all the cells, including cell block D, solitary confindment, and it was really great to see how they would have lived in this prison. We even saw the cells were the 3 prisoners escaped by digging out the wall with spoon handles, made famous in the clint eastwood film, "escape from alcatraz". it was cool as we saw the film in bali on our travels.
what a tree.
it may seem wierd to get excited by a tree, but trust me, you can't help but be overwelmed with the sheer size of these things. the holes were still in the walls, behind the vent grills!!! We both learnt alot of the history, which i won't go into, but we both loved the tour. it was a little scary being in the prison and walking in and out of the cells. not somewhere i'd like to visit for real!!!!
im sure there is lots i have forgotten, but will talk when were home. Still loving life and living out our dreams. love mart and soph
ps, we got tickets to coldplay in 4 days. the concert was sold out, but we decided to ring up and check on "disabled seating". ok im not disabled, but im immobile because of the boot and crutches, so we explained this on the phone and we got 2 tickets in the disabled seating area. GOD BLESS THE BROKEN FOOT. wwwoooooohhhhhhhooooowwwwwww
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Mum
non-member comment
California Dreaming on such a lovely day
Hi ya you two hope all is going very well with you both. The latest blog is just brilliant, glad to see you both enjoying California so much. It has lots to offer the holiday maker whether you are on the coast or in land. The wild life is quite surprising to come across, and so different to seeing anything in this country. Alcatraz sounded scarey (all the strories they tell you), bet you were glad not to be left behind. The giant red woods were awsome a sight not to missed if you are in that part of the world. The pics are good especially San Francisco with the roads going down to the water front. Trust you are both well and enjoying the last few weeks of this around the world tour, which will be at an end before you know it (now thats scarey too). Speak soon, love you loads, Mum and Dad xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx