For more years than we can all remember we've been having caravan holidays in Europe, but in 2002 we decided on a change and went for a tour of California. We flew to Los Angeles, stayed in Santa Monica, toured up Route 1 to Morro Bay and San Francisco, across through Yosemite to Bishop, down to San Diego, and then back to Los Angeles for the flight home.
Around Los Angeles
We started out in fantastic apartment on Third Street in Santa Monica, just along from the Promenade,
and a short walk from the path down to the beach.
The first day we went over to Beverly Hills, wandered around Rodeo Drive shops and even went for
a look around the stars houses.
We also went for a look round the Getty Center, an inspiring building of marble, steel and glass
perched high the hills above Los Angeles.
The Getty Center also had some pretty strange looking cacti.
One afternoon we went over the Santa Monica hills along Mullholland Drive for a look across at the
Hollywood sign.
And for the incredible views of downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica and the San Fernando Valley.
We were on a family holiday so we had to do Universal studios. We paid the extra for "Gate A" passes
and it was well worth it. You get into everything with no queues and have reserved seats at the shows.
So we got to the end of a long day feeling remarkably relaxed.
John got to voice over some lines from Scorpion King, U-571 and Shrek on the sound effects stage.
We got attacked by King Kong on the studio backlot tour.
And by Jaws too.
The only filming we saw was being done by film students, but we did see them building a special
lakeside set for The Hulk.
Of course we went to Disneyland. We're all getting a bit old for it now so the rides seemed
tame and there were lots of little creatures everywhere, but we had a pretty good time anyway.
We had a great lunch at the indoor restaurant by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was cool, calm
and a great break in the middle of a hot hectic day. The food and the singers were good too.
But the highlight, once we'd gotten over the embarrassment, was dancing in the grand parade. Rachel and
John were just sitting on Main Street when someone asked if we wanted to be in the parade. I thought we'd
just be walking, and maybe waving a flag, or something. But we had to learn three dance routines and join
in with the Hippos and Elephants from Fantasia.
When we drove up from Los Angeles to Morro Bay, we stopped at Santa Barbara. It was
a lovely place and we had lunch at a seafood restaurant on the pier.
There was a great skate park next to the beach, so James got some time to try out some tricks.
We also went round the old Spanish mission building.
After staying overnight at Morro Bay, we continued up Route 1 along Big Sur to Monterey.
The scenery along Big Sur was spectacular.
We stopped at Nepenthe for a snack. The restaurant, cafe and shop were all perched on the cliff
just south of Carmel, with fantastic views along the coast.
We followed the 17 mile drive round the Monterey peninsula, and grabbed some excellent (and
remarkably cheap) sandwiches and pasta at the Pebble Beach golf club. We ate them by
Bird Rock watching the seals, sealions, sea otters and the birds.
San Francisco can be foggy, and sure enough, as we drove up from the south, the fog was
rolling in over the hills.
On our first day in San Francisco we walked to Alta Plaza, up on Pacific Heights. There are
some great houses up there and one of John's little fantasies is to get a place overlooking
Lafayette Park.
We went on a whale watching trip to the Farallon Islands. Fantastic views across the
bay, but not a good idea for anyone who gets sea sick.
Out at the Farallons we found lots of humpback whales, seals, sea lions and seabirds - puffins,
pelicans, guillemots, and murres.
We also spent a day at Golden Gate Park. We hired a rowing boat, and walked round the botanical gardens.
And on the spur of the moment we decided to try out the 9 hole golf course. We started out
letting Anne and Rachel tee off, then picking up their balls and dropping them near the
green. But by the end, they had both managed to play a couple of complete holes.
We stayed at the very colourful Hotel Del Sol just off Lombard. They had a courtyard
with hammocks and a pool, which was a nice surprise.
We went down to the Embarcadero and James spotted some skaters at Pier 7. So we stopped for
a coffee and a cake, while James got his board out.
James doesn't normally let us watch him doing tricks, so photos like this are rare indeed.
The big container ships now stop on the other of the bay - and they sure are big. This one
was steaming out under the Bay Bridge.
From San Francisco we drove across to Yosemite. The view on the way in was pretty good.
But the views from inside the valley were spectacular. We ended up taking more pictures here
than anywhere else, so I've put together a few panoramas.
We went up to Glacier Point on the first evening to watch the sun go down, and look straight down
the cliff to the tiny dots (people) moving around in the valley.
The second morning we went for a walk and saw this group of deer. They weren't concerned about us
as long as we didn't come to close.
This was the view up to Vernal Falls from the main bridge on the way up. At this point we
decided to go up the Mist Trail 'cause it said it was only 0.3 miles (which is easy right).
The Mist Trail turned out to be a hard slog up rough steps cut into the valley side. But
it was worth getting to the top.
From there we went across to Clark Point on the John Muir trail. Which had some more great views,
including back across to Nevada Falls.
At the junction with the I 395 by Mono Lake, just after we left the park, the was a Mobil gas
station with a trapeze rig beside it!.
We stayed overnight in Bishop and then drove down to San Diego. For a large part of the
journey we were on our own in the wilds of the Rand Mountains.
In San Diego we did the classic tourist stuff - staring with Seaworld. We all particularly liked the circus.
Shamu was pretty spectacular. We watched the daytime show and stayed on for the House of Douse in the evening.
The baby killer whale was especially cute following its mother around.
And we got to feed the dolphins.
The last day before we flew home, Rachel and John went to the San Diego Zoo. Anne and James had run out
of steam by that point and spent the day in the apartment reading and watching movies.
John loved the aviaries. But Rachel didn't really like the idea of being in a giant bird cage.
The elephants were pretty playful when we were there. Scratching each other and watching the crowd.
But the main one watching the crowd was the meercat lookout.