2nd stop California

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Now we’re in California. We arrived, collected a car, worked out how to use it & took off amongst Los Angeles traffic. HELP. Janet didn’t feel like tackling the downtown traffic so she drove us out to Hollywood & we checked in a hotel on Sunset Boulevard a.s.a.p. Next morning it all looked much easier & we set off northwards sticking to the coastal highway. Stopped at Malibu Beach & went for a dip. Pelicans skimmed along near the edge of the water & dolphins were playing there too. Those lifeguards look good & they’re kept busy with the strong rip tide dragging people out too deep. It was quite scary.
We drove on to Santa Barbara, an exclusive & too expensive place to stay but we liked it so much that we found a hotel in Goleta about 8 miles further north and decided to stay there rather than move on & do too much driving. Plans for Yosemite were abandoned. There have been lots of fires there so it wasn’t a good plan anyway. Stayed in Goleta for 4 nights. Santa Barbara is beautiful. We would recommend this place to anyone & we’d like to come again. Local laws such as no bills posted on walls & serious fines for litter etc as well as a clean beach, gorgeous plants, trees & flowers everywhere & a backdrop of hills makes this one of the best places to go.
4th August - It’s Nibby’s birthday today. Hope she’s enjoying it as much as we are. We walked round the SB Botanic Gardens. It was very hot there so the Redwood trees were a delightful shady relief. We then went to the Museum of Natural History. “Must go to the Museums” we hear the children say. Finally we walked down the main street towards the sea. Fabulous shops. Even Paul thought so. We drove the scenic route home & saw the most expensive, enormous, beautiful properties ever seen. Everywhere is so green & the plants flower in abundance. Had a lovely swim in the hotel pool then walked across the road for a Japanese meal to end another day.
5th August - We took an amphibious bus/boat trip round the town & the bay today. Then visited the Santa Barbara courthouse. A lovely building giving great views of SB.
Next day we checked out & drove south as far as El Clemente & had a swim. Dolphins playing in the water there. It was SOOOO hot the sand was too hot to stand on. There weren’t many people there but we chatted to some people on the beach. Surprise, surprise, they were teachers! Drove on southwards, stopped again in Del Mar for refreshments then on to San Diego & found Pauline & Rob’s home in a very lovely setting. We were given a great welcome. The next day both Pauline & Rob went to work. Rob just happens to be the Captain of the amphibious bus/boat in Seaport Village so we went there & found him & went for a trip on the local streets & water. Went for a swim in the pool on the site where P & R live. Choice of cool, (warmed by the sun), heated to 89 degrees, & a Jacuzzi, 95 deg. In the morning Rob was off work & he took us inland to a reservoir in the mountains. Air temp 100+ degrees here. Beautiful place though. Watched the Olympic opening ceremony on the TV in the evening. Pauline & Rob took us out on Saturday. We crammed loads in: a visit to San Diego City College, Balbao Park, California Tower, Alkazar Gardens, a model railway working museum, botanic gardens, a picnic in Presidio Park & finally an impressive memorial on Mount Soledad from where we could see into Mexico. We needed a swim by the end of that day.
We left Pauline & Rob the next morning & spent 5 hours doing the ‘guided tour’ of USS Midway, the aircraft carrier that has become a fixed floating museum in San Diego. It was fantastic. Drove north to Los Angeles & found our hotel for our last Californian night.

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Photos

Santa Barbara
A well known tourist on the beach walk

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Towards the beach

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Peace campaign memorial

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Of course he knows, he's posing

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A a pair of them

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Pelicans pose too

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Santa Barbara & hills at back

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Skating & skateboarding area well used by locals

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He can't get any more on there, can he?

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He can't see out either

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That tourist again in the botanical gardens

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Orchid display

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Why don't our orchids look like that?

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Aaaah! Somewhere cool.

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Just liked the view

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It's a lovely place

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George Washington is buried in here

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Tree 132 yrs old. 180 ft across. A protected local pride & joy

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Building of Adobe bricks as used by American Indians

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Courthouse

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Courthouse

Comments

[Nibbler]

Nice Blog!!!!
Aloha parents, I can't believe you got ripped off in NY! The cheek of some people. The pictures look really good. It's nice to see pictures because it stops me missing you as much. We've just arrived in Bali today from Bangkok. Really looking forward to hitting the beach tomorrow and Mattyy's gonna do some surfing. We'll update everyone soon. Hope Hawaii's as amazing as I imagine it to be. Have fun, lots of love your baby xxxxx