"Without love in the dream..."

"...it will never come true."

22. Friday 28th September - LA (West Hollywood)
First lie-in for a while!
As I found LA a bit too stressful to go for our usual drive/walk about, we decided to go to Venice Beach.

It wasn't the best day weather-wise, so no muscley men I'm afraid...

But it was the perfect day for a walk on the beach, even if I got a load of beach tar stuck to my foot!

23. Saturday 29th September - Drive to Sequoia National Park
We stopped off at CALM (California Living Museum) on the way, a brilliant nature reserve specialising in animals native to California (all too injured to be in the wild). It was fantastic, way better than I was expecting. Big faves were the touch-aquarium, beaver and porcupine.

Anemone

Beaver

Porcupine

Also liked the birds - condors, falcons, bald eagles, vultures, a road runner... Absolutely brilliant.

Peregrine Falcon

Vulture

Roadrunner

24. Sunday 30th September - Sequoia National Park
I don't know if it's the altitude or what, but we struggled with our energy levels today, and yet got really silly mid-afternoon.

We did a few walks in the park, saw shorter but bigger trees than previously (if that makes sense), ending with the biggest of the them all: General Sherman.

I think my favourite thing was Tharp's Log, which was a cabin made out of a huge fallen log!

So cool.

25. Monday 1st October - Hearst Castle
Oh wow. Oh wow oh wow.
Had we known it would be so good we would have booked more tours. We went on the main rooms tour which seemed to fly by in seconds despite being an hour long.

Also saw wild zebras roaming with the cattle, before visiting the huge male elephant seals lounging on the beach!

26. Tuesday 2nd October - Pacific Coast Highway
First off we stopped by the elephant seals again, which are so interesting and mesmerising. I don't know what it is but I could watch them forever.

We then carried up the highway, seeing some beautiful views and some which should have been beautiful but were obscured by the fog!

We had lunch in a remote little beach cove, all very secluded and romantic. Tricky to climb into but very worth it. We did leave pretty sharpish once we realised the tide was coming in though!

We also stopped at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park but, as the hike we wanted to do was closed, we took the ranger's advice and walked another. It was boring, too steep, and it didn't even have a good view! Though my vision was obscured slightly by CB spraying bug repellent in my eyes...

27. Wednesday 3rd October - Monterey
We took a whale watching tour all morning, which I thought was going to be very very dull but turned out to be absolutely wonderful.

We saw a group of humpback whales lunge feeding:

And we saw them breach:

We saw a pod of orcas who were just going nuts having a laugh and showing off for us!

It was so good the drivers stayed out for extra time and actually called their orca-mad boss to come out and see!

Absolutely fascinating and so much fun. Great day.

28. Thursday 4th October - San Francisco
Final night!

On our drive from Monterey to SF we stopped at the Winchester Mystery House.

SO GOOD. We did both tours, so saw pretty much every room. It is mad. Less creepy than I thought it would be, but more historic and interesting and rambling.

A particular fave was the witch's cap room which, when you stood in the very centre made it sound like you were speaking into a microphone whilst underwater, but only to you - no one else in the room heard your voice any different!

Physics is fun.

29. Friday 5th October - Flight home (and CB's birthday!)
To be honest I felt like the holiday was ending as soon as we dropped Drive Boy (our rental car) off  the day before.

I felt sad the holiday was over, but I felt so much more relaxed than I did when still in Sheffield.

It was such an amazing holiday, really difficult to pic out favourite things or even favourite days or places. And it's corny and I've said it before, but honestly the holiday wouldn't have been nearly as good without being there with CB. He's my best friend and I never grow sick or tired of spending time with him. Every day is an adventure - but this month was more so than most!


*Quote from the Grateful Dead.

"Once in a while you get shown the light..."

"...in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

15. Friday 21st September - South Rim of the Grand Canyon
CB got up at dawn to watch the sun rise over the Monument Valley Buttes, and I hear it was fantastic. I woke up long enough to look out the window before going back to sleep for an hour. I would love to be a morning person, but I am a Philly and mornings are difficult for Phillies!

On the drive to the canyon we stopped at an ancient Puebloan cave dwelling - well not actually there, but the closest viewpoint. I could say this about every picture from the holiday, but honestly the photo just doesn't do it justice.

This houses 125 people in its hey day and is amazingly still in such good shape it looks as though people could move in again tomorrow!

The South Rim of the Canyon was just as spectacular as the North. We found a little-used hike to an amazing viewpoint, which we had to ourselves for half an hour. Considering how busy this tourist attraction is, I would say it was a miracle!

16. Saturday 22nd September - Sedona, Jerome and Lake Havasu City
I though Sedona was going to be a soulless highway of concrete and malls, but actually found it to be kinda funky and cool. Great hippy vibe and kooky little shops to walk around and point at the weird yet horrendously overpriced crystals and junk. Brilliant.

Jerome was nearby, up in the mountains. It used to be a ghost town until a load of artists moved into the crumbling houses in the 1970's. Now it is an odd mix of artsy stuff, touristy stuff, and ghost-themed stuff!

We then carried on to Lake Havasu City, which is famous for little else but having London Bridge! I'm not sure whether Robert P. McCulloch thought he was buying Tower Bridge or if he knew exactly what he was doing, but he bought the bridge from the City of London Corporation in 1967 and it was dismantled and transported brick by brick to be rebuilt in Arizona.  It's kind of brilliant. Obviously I've spent a lot of time in London, walking up and down its bridges, and I felt strangely at home on this one. I sang as many typically English songs as I could at the top of my voice whilst strolling along it. I'm sure the locals loved me!

17. Sunday 23rd September - Joshua Tree National Park
Wow this place is cool. Incredible and other-worldly. It somehow managed to be both desolate and lush at the same time.

Absolutely boiling hot though, and no water anywhere other than at stations on the outskirts of the park. And we drove through the whole park. And it wasn't small!

Driving to Palm Springs from Joshua Tree we got into a huge traffic jam for hours, and by the time we made it to our motel no restaurants were open. Luckily I NEVER eat fast food so when we had to go to MacDonald's I actually found it quite fun!

18. Monday 24th September - LA (Anaheim)
The drive from Palm Springs to LA gave me little to report, other than the fact that freeways are terrifying! We stopped at Walmart for an extended pootle around it's hallowed aisles, ended up buying a little bluetooth speaker. Walmart really is amazing.

We found a cool mini-golf course in Anaheim where I proceeded to throw a huge tantrum because I was losing. Not my finest moment. In my defence, I think I was overtired and dehydrated. But then after showering my bad mood away, I realised I had lost my bag with my moisturiser!

Not a good day for Philly...

19. Tuesday 25th September - Disney
Oh. My. Dear. Lord. I love Disney.

We got there for about 8.30am (to be there when it opened) and we left the Park at about 10.20pm (as it was closing).

It was SUCH A GOOD DAY!

20. Wednesday 26th September - LA (West Hollywood)
After a harrowing drive to the California Science Center, we had an absolutely fantastic day.

First we saw an Imax film about space travel and the plans for going to Mars, then we spent a few hours in the King Tut exhibition. We only got tickets as we were going to be at the Center anyway, but oh wow was it good. There was about 166 pieces from his tomb, 66 of which had never been outside of Egypt before. And I am now very much hankering to go to Egypt!

Finally we then saw the retired Space Shuttle Endeavor. This is my second space shuttle, and I really like them.

They are just overwhelming in size. And engineering. And the knowledge that they have been to space! Plus learning about the shuttles, the missions and space travel in general is always a win for me.

21. Thursday 27th September - Universal Studios
More theme parks? YES PLEASE.

So good. So so good... Another opening time to closing time day and loved every second!

*Quote from the Grateful Dead.