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Published: June 20th 2008
We arrive at our next destination, Monterey, staying at the Days Inn which is around $70 a night for anyone wanting a cheap but comfortable room for the night. The first thing on my list of priorities is to find a pub which will be showing the Champions League game, Man Utd V Chelski, so we make our way towards the centre and are pleasantly surprised to find a street market, one of Karens favourite pastimes (mine really). As we are walking through the array of stalls, most of which are selling some kind of food - one of my favourite pastimes, we spot the Britannia Arms which was advertising the game for tomorrow, that’s that sorted. After a stroll around the small marina where we were introduced to the delights of clam chowder by the eager restaurateurs plying for your business it was off for a quiet drink. One thing that was very noticeable was the decrease in temperature, for the 1st time in a while we feeling the cold and made a retreat to our hotel for an early night.
It’s the big day and I apologise now for those expecting a comprehensive detailed diagnosis of Monterey, sorry
Pebble Beach
The Club Houseit didn’t happen, some things in life are far more important, it is the European Cup final. Richard and I arrive nice and early at the pub, a 11:30 kick off for us, however the room is almost already at full capacity, disappointingly with more Chelsea than Man Utd supporters. Not going to go into detail regarding the result as I am sure everyone is well aware by now, only needless to say it was a fine game with Man U running out worthy champions. Karen and her mum had gone out shopping and visiting the touristy stuff, but came back in time to see Terry and Anelka miss their penalties. The only thing to do now was to celebrate and party, so it was a move to the Mucky Duck over the road where we had the misfortune of finding out that it was half price Wednesday on all food and drink. Needless to say we did not move for quite a while and I apologise to anyone I may have upset during the festivities.
We leave Monterey and after a superb breakfast at a little café, we start our journey towards LA. We head for the Pacific
Park Highway and slowly make our way towards San Simeon, our next stopover point. This is a well known drive which provides some spectacular views and pinnacles for me when we arrive at Pebble Beach golf club (will host the 2010 US Open). Its an absolutely beautiful course set in superb surroundings and home to probably some of the richest people in America, going off the size and value of the nearby property. After a brief look around the course and shops we make our way to Carmel, home of Clint Eastwood. This place really is like turning back the clock, all of the shops have a theme which would date them back 50 years or more. Some of the biggest names on the high street are represented including Tiffany’s where I thought it only fair to buy Karen some beautiful earrings for putting up with me over the last 24 hours. Sorry got that wrong, I didn’t buy anything as there was nothing available for under a £100. We went to Hoggs Breath Inn instead owned apparently by Mr Eastwood himself, quite a nice little place, mainly outdoor with a nice roaring fire in each corner of the courtyard
The Hogs Breath
Clint Eastwoods Bar in Carmel and made do with a couple of diet cokes and a bag of crisps.
Leaving Carmel we now head off to San Simeon where we are staying for 2 nights. There is not a lot to say about San Simeon apart from the magnificent Hearst Castle which is situated literally on top of the small mountains that overlook the tiny village which is set right next to the Ocean. We do the touristy stuff and arrive at the foot of the mountains where we are picked up by one of the many busses which will drive you to the castle, you are not allowed to drive there yourself as although it is a castle it is also a working farm, all 50,00 acres of it (used to be 250,000). As you approach the buildings you get a real sense of the size and enormity. History tells us it belonged to a very wealthy family - the Hearst’s, however it was William Randolph Hearst who once had inherited the estate started to add on buildings and decorate each building with antiques from all over the world. We did tour 1 of the building (there are 5) which takes you through
Outdoor pool at Hearst Castle
All the tiles are made from marble the main building and one of the guests houses through to the grand Theatre eventually finishing of with a look at the best swimming pool we have ever seen. Hope the pictures do it justice.
As we were driving towards San Simeon we thought we saw some sea lions stranded on the beach so we decided to take a closer look. Approximately 5 miles back down the road there was in fact a beach which had literally hundreds of sea lions all bathing on the beach, apparently this is the only month of the year they visit and they do so in order to shed their winter coats. It was a wonderful sight. I cannot leave San Simeon without mentioning a restaurant that served the best steaks ever, so good in fact that we went back the second night. I cannot remember the name of the place, however if your passing that way it’s the last hotel on your left if your heading to LA, cant miss it really.
We are now on our final leg of this journey which will take us to LA. We are staying at Torrance which according to my search criteria for a
hotel on google is near to Santa Monica however we were to find out that we are about 15 miles away. We arrive at around 5pm and decide to head for Redondo Beach which we are pleasantly surprised to see has a pier which is buzzing with people. As we are walking there are numerous restaurants that are selling crabs on the menu, this is something I have wanted to try for years. I go to one of the many containers which are holding the live crabs and select one of the Dungeness varieties which is apparently the best tasting (wants to be for $37). From here it is taken to the steam machine and cooked for approx 25 minutes. With handy size hammer and extra large bottle of fine beer Richard was kind enough to buy me, I start to demolish the poor looking thing and I have to say it was absolutely gorgeous.
Next day we are driving aimlessly towards Beverley Hills to see if any of my buddies are about and manage to stumble across Rodeo Drive, famous for its shops. We stop and allow Christine and Karen a couple of hours to fantasise about what
Steaks All Round
Best steaks ever! could have been (they both actually make a purchase from Coach!), have a lovely breakfast just off the drive which is very reasonably priced, park for 2 hours for free and we are in Rodeo Drive, Beverley Hills - can you believe that. Ken, Boris or whoever is in charge heed note. Next we drive on to Hollywood and stumble across the Walk of Fame, now where on earth can you walk down the street and bump into Superman, Batman, Dora the Explorer and the whole cast from Star Wars, it’s all nuts. For a place that’s so well known it was rather shabby though.
We did the Universal Theme Park and our first stop was the backstage tour. As you board the motorised train which takes you around various points of interest, we are greeted by our guide who introduces us to the driver Bob who was rather a large guy, to this we all start a chant of big bob, big bob, big bob big bob big bob, much to the bemusement of 75% (correct factual figure as I counted the ones who were not laughing) of the people on the train. To be honest we thought
Shopping in Beverley Hills
Karen and her mum spending mine and Richards money... that the majority of the backstage stuff was beginning to look its age, however the street from Desperate Housewives was rather good. Only 5 days after we visited the park a large fire destroyed a large part of the backstage, perhaps someone else thought it needed a facelift. Best ride of the day was the new Simpsons ride, it is a simulator ride but very very good. We did the City Walk at night and after a relaxing massage in a funny looking water machine thing we head off to the Hard Rock Cafe which had the best chandeleir ever, made completely out of saxophones. The city walk is well worth a visit just for the illuminuos signs alone.
Christine and Richard have booked into a swanky hotel front room suite at Santa Monica for their last 3 nights (or at least that’s what they thought, don’t get much for your money in this area), far too expensive for us non wage earners however we do book into a travel lodge that’s not too far away. One day whilst driving to pick up Richard and Christine we have to suddenly stop as the car in front decided to slam
Sea Lions
On the beach near San Simeone his anchors on to allow a pedestrian to cross the road, we manage to stop OK however after a large screech we are whacked from behind. To our friends and families we were both OK if a lttle shaken (thank God we were in a tank) but to the insurance companies we have never been so traumatised and in so much pain in our lives. Should be good for a couple of million bucks, after all this is America and god bless you all. Anyway I digress, Santa Monica and Long Beach were by far the best places we found in LA, both well worth a visit. On 3rd Street just off the sea front in Santa Monica is where a lot of street entertainers are strutting there stuff, well worth just chillin there with a beer at any of the bars, plenty more high street shops at more realistic prices for the ladies. Long Beach has some lovely marina’s, one of which harbours the Queen Mary. It is a very modern area and if you look hard enough you can hire a segway to help you get around, we were just too late in the day when we visited.
Farewell Ma and Pa
Richard and Christine enjoy a drink on their last day We also visited the very well known Malibu beach, however unless you are fortunate to own one of the luxurious houses which are set right on the beach, there is not a lot to see. The day Karens mum and dad are heading home we leave Richard to check out one of the finest tobacconists we have ever seen while we hire a bike each and ride from Muscle Beach to Venice Beach which is about 37 miles, sorry 3.7 miles. Christine sets off at Tour de France pace leaving Karen and I way behind, and to her great credit and I’m sure she wont thank me for saying this but did tremendously well for a lady approaching 50. It’s the end of our 2 weeks with the Outlaws and it had all gone very well, thanks for coming, we really enjoyed your company and see you soon.
On our last day before we fly over to Washington DC we went back to Sunset Boulevard and were very fortunate enough to witness Holly Hunter be immortalised in concrete, receiving the 2363rd star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and in attendance non other than Steven Spielberg. I also got to
Pulled Again
Brian pulls Marilyn go to the toilet with Laurel and Hardy, Spiderman and Spongebobsquarepants, how good is that.
Keep reading and see you all soon....comments, please leave some you lazy gits.....lol
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Christine Middleton
non-member comment
Well remembered!
Well done Brian - glad my list of where we were on each day helped! Also, thanks for knocking 10 years off my age - whoops told everyone now! Karen's photos get better and better - going to dump most of mine and nick hers. Lovely photo of Holly HUNT!!! Where's the one of Speilberg then???