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Published: April 23rd 2010
21st & 22nd April 2010 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu & Santa Barbara Thought we'd start off by doing a little place name-dropping! We hadn't planned to visit all of the above, but as we were sat in 'the beast' setting off from the Los Angeles campsite, Jonathan looked at me and said, What can we go and see on our way to Santa Barbara? Well, he did ask!
We were heading West anyway but instead of heading round the outskirts of LA on the Interstate 101, we went West through town instead. We travelled the length of Sunset Boulevard from LA central to the coast, taking in the Hollywood sign and the very posh neighbourhoods of Beverly Hills and Bel Air along the way. It took a few attempts to get a picture of the full Hollywood sign, we got Hollywoo and ollywood and even Hoood, lampposts, electricty lines, trees and buildings all conspired against us!
It was quite a hair raising drive to the coast down Sunset Boulevard, lots of traffic and very narrow lanes but Jonathan became buddies with a local bus driver and between them they managed to hog both lanes for most of
the road! When we hit the coast, the driving became a whole lot easier. We took the Pacific Coast Highway along the edge of the Pacific Ocean and enjoyed spectacular views, but strong winds. We stopped at Point Dume beach for lunch and to dip our toes in the Pacific and then carried onwards just up past Santa Barbara to our next stop at El Capitan.
Ocean Mesa at El Capitan is set on the hillside with gorgeous views of the ocean and rest and recuperation were the order of the day here. Thursday morning we got up late, went into the canyon and had breakfast at the little deli, then donned our waterproofs and went exploring the local scenery. Jack especially liked the llamas and the baby goats running all over. We then headed into Santa Barbara for the afternoon, or what was left of the afternoon after the lunchtime nap in a car park by the sea!
Santa Barbara is a lovely little town with a great atmosphere. It was full of cafe culture bars and restaurants all with pavement tables - we stopped off for pasta and garlic bread at Barucci's, a great Italian. The
$4 dinosaurs we bought yesterday to stop a full blown pulling everything off the shelves tantrum (I know, questionable parenting!) ended up in the pasta, thrown into the patio heater and under the table. Not to worry though, they were all rescued before we left and headed back to the van to drive back up the coast and grab an early night.
On our way to Pismo Beach today, sun sea, sand and sangria - hopefully!
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anonymous
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looks flipping amazing sis! i'm not sure if i've ruined your map above - sorry if i have! looks like you're having an experience of a lifetime and jonathans getting some brilliant pics - these blogs are becoming the highlight of my day!! love paulaxx