Hello everyone,

We left Venice beach and headed for Laguna Beach, Orange County which was a little beach town where one of Louise's favourite T.V shows was filmed. It was nice, there was lots of one off shops and there was hardly any homeless people on the streets which was a bonus. We spent about 3 hours there just walking about and sunbathing on the beach since it was red hot. We also met two flamboyant guys who when they heard we were English started excitedly talking about Wimbledon to us and then gave us loads of tips for Vegas.

We arrived in San Diego and treated ourselves to a double room since it wasn't much more than the dorm. We had heard nothing but good things about San Diego so were eager to get there. We booked into the HI hostel ear,ly evening; it had a great relaxed atmosphere and they were doing a special meal deal....all you can eat burgers on the BBQ with marshmallow rice crispy cakes for dessert what more can you want!! We were tired so decided to pay it and we sure got our money's worth, I think I managed 4 beef burgers!! That night it was the night of the royal wedding but we ended up talking with a guy from El Salvador and just went to bed instead! People weren't making such a big deal of the wedding as we thought or maybe we weren't around the right people. We did watch the highlights the next morning and it looked excellent, we both wish that we were back home just for the atmosphere and the patriotism.

The next day Louse had the whole day planned out due to her extensive research which makes it effortless. When we only have a couple of days in some places it's important that we organise our days in advance so we make the most of it and this is Lou's territory and I'm the taxi man!.......it works well! Our itinerary for the day was a trip to the Coronado which lies on a peninsula off San Diego and stretches out into the ocean acting as a barrier to the city and it was famous for two things; the white beaches and the infamous Coronado hotel. It was red hot again, we had nothing but sun since we arrived in the U.S and as we sunbathed on the beach 6 fighter jets came screaming in for landing as the air force base was located on the Coronado they were practicing just off the coast because we could see the air craft carrier about a mile out; F-15's I think....it was like something out of top gun!!

The hotel was amazing it was huge it practically took up a mile long space on the beach and it was made famous by Marilyn Monroe it the film 'some like it hot' ...........we've never seen it! It has also housed every single president in the U.S.A to date.Our next destination that day was Balboa Park which was a great choice, it had a rose garden and a cactus garden and although this might seem boring to some people, it's become a tradition that we visit the botanical gardens in each city. It was very Spanish influenced this park, fountains everywhere you look and terracotta buildings everywhere. We spent a good few hours here and it was well worth it...p.s no tramps!

The next destination on our list was the gas lamp quarter, it was meant to be a good area for a night out with nice restaurants, however our guide book stated it was the place to go to find fake boobies due to the amount of money kicking about. So we decided on playing the game of who ever spots the most wins.......this way means it's less perverted! We ended up going into a classical car shop and we loved it; they had loads of cars from the movie Grease, Dukes of Hazard and Starky and Hutch etc to see them in person was impressive they were unbelievably HUGE!!!

That night as we were walking through the gas lamp quarter hand in hand we came across TGI Fridays and it was full of kids; must have been a private party. However as soon as we passed the window they started banging to get our attention, then all the tables held up pieces of paper with things they wanted us to do; these ranged from doing the thumbs up, waving or the chicken dancei obviously I opted for the chicken dance. As soon as I started clucking away doing the chicken dance on the street the restaurant went wild screaming.................it must have been a competition, It was a nice feeling as we walked away knowing I had made someone's day haha. This had been a pretty fun filled day and we were flagging a little bit but we decided to pop by San Diego old town on the way back to the hostel.

It was like being in an old country western town, we've never been in one before but that's how we imagined it would look. Every restaurant was Mexican and you could smell the sizzling fajita's seep onto the streets and everyone in the bar was accompanied by a corona bottle; all the shop fronts and restaurants were lined with fairy lights and electric heaters............if only we had one more night here!!

We headed back to the hostel; shattered, but we needed to get ready for Vegas as we were heading there one day early then meeting our families the following day! We got up in the morning had a couple of hot chocolates for the road because they were free and Skyped just before we left. My Mam and Dad were still packing but organized Steph was all packed and ready to go; she didn't say but I bet she packed two weeks prior.

ROAD TRIP TO VEGAS, HERE WE COME................to be continued!!

Love Adam and Louise xx