Yosemite to Monterey Bay to Santa Cruz to San Francisco and the Pacific Coast Highway

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We couldn't get a bed in San Fran so decided to go to Monterey Bay first as it wasn't too far out of the way. A cool hostel nicely located, and we get there in the afternoon and then head down to Cannery Row to explore. It's a quintessential fishing village (of old) with it's speak-easys and cheap restaurants and neon lights to attract the tourists, and we settle own in a bar where they have live blues/jazz music. The next day we have our complimentary breakfast – helllllllo stakcs of pancakes as high as me – and walk to the harbour with our new French friend we made, Valentine. We um and ar about doing a whale watching boat trip but figure we can do it on the way back through to LA, and just go see all the sea-lions at the harbour. Really cool to see, not so great to smell or hear – they never shut up!





Onwards to San Francisco with a stop at Santa Cruz Boardwalk. It's a weekday so the rides are shut but it's still a really cool atmosphere, and a beach bum's paradise. We finally arrive in San Francisco and go for a walk once we're checked in. I forgot just how steep some of the hills actually are. Hannah fancies Chinese food so we naturally head to Chinatown. Found a great little restaurant and chow down on some food and have a TsingTao beer which is surprisingly nice. Finally get back to our hostel without incident (which surprises me a little as I felt very unsafe the last time I was in San Francisco). We spend the next day exploring the city starting with a walk along the Golden Gate Bridge. The best thing being that we spot a pod of dolphins whilst we walk along it; I've never seen dolphins before so I stare majestically for hours. We decided to head to Golden Gate Park – which is several miles from the Bridge – to check out the gardens etc. However, when we arrive we quickly realise that each garden charges an entrance fee; $8 may seem small but when you're travelling the world, $8 to see a few trees suddenly seems far too expensive. Back to the city for a wander; Union Square (which is really cool as it has several heart statues so we enjoy spotting those), and through the Financial District (which I remember from last time as “Hobo Central” - still a very apt name), and along to the best bit of San Fran – the piers. We stroll along and manage to get to Pier 39 in time for sunset and witness a truly beautiful sunset over Golden Gate bridge; golds and oranges turn to purples and mauves. The temperature then drops and we decide to get a bit of a trot on back to Fort Mason, stopping briefly to enquire about Alcatraz tickets.







Alcatraz; something that everyone should do if they come to Alcatraz, hence last time I got up at 2am and walked across the city with my friend Molly and queued for 4 hours for tickets. Needless to say I learnt my lesson, and despite what the person behind the desk may tell you, you do not need to get there at 3am. So I advise Hannah that we get there for around 5am which will be plenty early.







Up at stupid o' clock and we set off, thankfully it's only a half an hour walk. When we arrive there is only one other couple – who were advised to get there for 4am or earlier by the staff – and we wait for the desk to open.... at 7:45. Finally they open and Hannah gets her ticket for the first boat, and I head back to the hostel for a nap. Fat chance. Too noisy (and smelly in our 32 bed dorm which includes two senior citizens) so I pack our stuff and check us out and relax in one of the hostel's lounge areas. Hannah finally arrives back – having spent double the suggested time on the island, very typical of her to want to see every nook and cranny – and we set off on the Pacific Coast Highway to our next destination, San Luis Obispo.







Driving Big Sur was great until darkness hit, then it becomes a test of nerves, resolve, and your sphincter muscles. The bends are sharp and come out of nowhere (thankfully all the many road signs give you an indication of speed to do, although from this roadtrip that means very little as California drivers don't like to stick to speed limits and get very angry if you do – a lesson I learnt the scary way in Yosemite). We finally arrive in San Luis Obispo; my back is in agony and spasming, but we decide to head to get some food as we are starving and there's nothing short of 5* bistros along the PCH. It turns out that San Luis Opispo has a very cool area that doesn't shut until past midnight, full of eateries, sports bars and pubs. We finally settle on a burger place; The Habit, and grab some burgers to go and eat back in our motel.







Slowly awaken the next day after a much needed lie-in and set off on the road to Santa Monica via Malibu. Malibu turns out to be a lot bigger than I thought, but still very atypical with its palm trees and sandy beaches. We decide to do Santa Barbara another day so we can get back to LA in time to go to Staples Centre and watch the Lakers in a pre-season game. Upon arrive home we look at the schedule and it seems they've swapped the game to another date so we miss out for the second time. A chilled night of pizza and (American) football on the TV is still an enjoyable one however.







We head to Santa Barbara and upon the recommendation of Tom and Patty – a couple we met in Avila Beach – we head to the Funk Zone which also happens to have a music festival, but sadly it turns out toe be $25 entry which we don't see being worthwhile as it's absolutely tiny. So we wander the art galleries/wine bars, and wander along the pier before seeing the Court House – a beautiful Spanish-inspired building with great views across Santa Barbara, and wandering along State Street with it's quirky shops, surf/skate shops, coffee shops and ice creameries; it kind of reminds me of Brighton.







We decide to walk to Hollywood sign, which is more of a trek than I realised, but we had some great tips and directions from Tony – the housemate of my friend Jim. After a very muggy 1.5 hour walk we make it to the top, although nearly take a few wrong turns as it surprisingly wasn't signposted – if you ever walk it and get to the fork in the road on the tarmac, take the right hand fork which goes uphill and seemingly away from the sign, not downhill and toward it. We meet a couple who live in LA and are hiking with their small child in tow on the father's back and they tell us to do the hike to the mystical tree. So after the Hollywood sign, we do it. At first I thought we'd gone the wrong way because we actually had to scramble at times, but after a 30+ minute walk we arrive, and it was so worth it. It's a beautiful tree underwhich people have left metal boxes full of notes and photos of loved ones, and thought provoking poems. There's hundreds of rock towers so hannah and I make our own, then after being annoyed by the midges (and a need for the loo) we start to walk back down. My back and legs are crying out to stop having had very little rest the last few weeks, so I was glad when we finally got back to the car.



Our adventure in California ends with a drive around Santa Monica and LA trying to find WD40 to get off the remnants of the tape that we used to hold the car's bumper on, and to find a padlock as I seem to have misplaced mine. Turns out that the padlocks were very expensive and crap, but I finally settle on a bulky monstrosety in Staples before heading back to our apartment and realising mine is on my bag. Hannah gets annoyed at me for not being able to go to the batting cages and having to waste a day driving around. Drop the car off at the airport; initialy they question the bumper but I tell them it was like that anyway (which it really was) and show them the card that stated it had damage and they okay it. Back to the apartment for dinner before going back to the airport for my flight. I initialy leave the apartment without my bag until Hannah realised about 10 seconds later so we spent the whole bus ride laughing. Then the whole fairwell crying. I hate goodbyes.

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