A Whales Vagina, otherwise known as San Diego, was a city many people recommended we visit. Conveniently, Aidan has a friend living there so we left the glamour of Los Angeles and headed towards the home of Ron Burgundy (sorry if you've never seen Anchorman..)

Aidan met April during a very hazy, but fun-filled week in Barcelona back in 2007 and has had little contact with her since. Thanks to Facebook, she heard we were in California and generously opened her doors to let two relative strangers in. We spent a great couple of days catching up/ getting to know April, her dog Remi and her cute as anything nine month old baby, Gray.

A place to be rather than see, we spent most of our time just absorbing the San Diego atmosphere. With April's guidance, we sampled some of the best street cuisine in the city, including the best breakfast burrito ever and a great 'hole-in-the-wall' drip coffee cart!

We were kind of thinking of basing our adventures around Anchorman memorabilia, so were disappointed to find out that most of Anchorman was actually filmed in Long Beach, LA... As a compromise, April was sympathetic enough to take us to a bar with a fantastic wooden portrait of the one and only Ron Burgundy!

We ventured out for a day to ride our bikes around Balboa Park, an enormous assortment of gardens, artistic and historic buildings and craft stores. They even had a gigantic Australian Moreton Bay Fig tree, just like the one Aidan had lunch underneath everyday in primary school. The entire park was a beautiful artistic centerpiece to this vibrant, youthful city.

Another mention-worthy place we visited was the La Jolla Playhouse to see a musical with April and a friend. This highly regarded theatre shows many famous off Broadway productions. The one we caught was 'Side Show', a remake on a 1997 production about congenital twins in the early 20th century. It was a healthy dose of culture for us and we were captivated from the start, laughing (and crying) the whole way through!

Sadly, in San Diego we encountered our first real hiccup. After riding around the park, we parked our bikes at the back of April's house. Being a quiet access road, we figured our bikes would be safe chained to the fence. We woke the next day only to find the chains cut and our bikes missing... We can only hope that whoever stole them needs them more than we do.. Goodbye to our much loved CCM Scopes!

With our car a little lighter we eventually said goodbye to April and her beautiful family and headed over the hills and into the desert...

Our first stop was Barstow, a small desert town connecting several major highways. The town itself was pretty ordinary, although they had one thing going for them - one of the best drive-in cinemas in the country! With great anticipation we drove out along the dusty old highway, paid our $7 admittance and parked right in front of a huge screen overlooking the distant street lights. The novelty of the whole experience was nice and the films weren't too bad either! The coolest thing was the pre-screen entertainment, provided by a cute little kit fox running around the parking lot!

The next morning we continued through the Mojave Desert National Preserve. This 124 000 square kilometer desert would have taken a week to explore in its entirety, so we limited our visit to the north western corner.

We started out in Kelso, a current ghost town that thrived during the peak of the railroad trade. There was a fantastic display in the information centre all about the history, culture and geology of the area. We spent a good while chatting with an enthusiastic ranger. He was showcasing a fascinating true story of a Morman family who were massacred in the desert during early settlement in 1851 and the incredible survival story of their daughter, Olive Oatman...

After absorbing lots of new information we filled up our drink bottles and hiked out along the scenic Teutonia Peak Trail. The unique desert plants captured our imaginations, including the curious Joshua Tree, which looks like something from another planet!

It was a nice way to say goodbye to this diverse and beautiful state of California. All stretched out and minds well fed, we are now more than ready for the exact opposing in Las Vegas!!