Hey all, How's everything going at home? Hope all is well. We're still going great guns, loving our road trip so far. The coast road 101 is just about the most scenic beautiful trip I've ever done. If you get the chance to do it, go for it. Anyway, here's what we got up to last week: Wednesday 05.06.13: We were up early this morning and had left Standish-Hickey by 7am. It was foggy and a bit cool when we set out, but not too bad compared to what we've been used to. Today's destination is Half Moon Bay which is 380km away and just south of San Francisco - only a short trip today woohoo!!!! We took the highway this morning and bypassed the scenic coastal road since it was faster. We travelled through the wine district which was really pretty. Then we had a coffee stop at Petaluma and did some research on parking & the best views at the Golden Gate Bridge. Once we had everything sorted out we were back on the road and before long we were finally at the famous bridge. It's set on the Marin Headlands which is where we stopped to take pictures and it is just amazing. Photos really don't do it justice. It's such a gorgeous structure and it really put it into perspective how huge it is when big cargo boats went under it and they looked so tiny. It was super windy on the headlands and quite cold but so worth it for the views of the bridge and of San Francisco. At one stage I thought we were going to get blown right over, that was a bit freaky. It was foggy when we first arrived (as San Fran is notorious for) but it cleared while we were there, so we have photos of both foggy & clear which is nice. We stopped off at all of the viewpoints and headed to the visitor centre for a look which was 4 miles away and out the back of beyond but worth a stop. Then all that was left to do was drive Toby right on over the bridge - very cool :) On the other side the traffic wasn't as bad as I expected through San Francisco so it was only another 45mins to Half Moon Bay State Beach. We checked into the campground and settled in for the night. We were lucky we arrived when we did as we took the last 'first come, first served' site for the night. The campground is right on the beach which is nice but it's pretty exposed so its a lot cooler and windier here tonight. Benny wishes he had his surfboard though, the waves are pretty decent! Thursday 06.06.13: Can you believe we've been over here for 3 months already? I can't... :) I admit we struggled to get out of bed this morning. The alarm was snoozed a few times so we didn't end up hitting the road till just after 8am. We took the coast road to Santa Cruz then detoured inland to Salinas where there was a Walmart - we just needed to grab a few groceries & things before we hit LA tomorrow. I didn't want to be cruising downtown LA trying to find a grocery store with motorhome-friendly parking so we figured it was easier to get everything today. Afterwards while we were getting back out to the coast road we stumbled across Laguna Seca Raceway so we chucked a u-ie and came back for a look. It's literally in the middle of nowhere. There's a campground inside the state park and it's set up on a hill so it looks down on the raceway so that would be such a cool place to stay. You're meant to buy a day pass to access the raceway but the ranger on the gate told us if we could be out in 15 mins he wouldn't worry about making us buy one. So we raced around having a quick look and jumped out to walk up the back of the track to view the 'corkscrew' (apparently the most famous part of the track). We were in and out in about 13 minutes haha - it was very cool of him to let us in for a free stickybeak! Back out on the coast the road became super curvy and windy on steep cliffs and once again there were sections with no guard rail - scary! Toby was chewing through fuel with all the hills and curves so we had to stop at a little private servo in the middle of nowhere - somewhere in Big Sur I think. It was super expensive at $6.60 per gallon where we have been paying roughly $3.50-$4.00 per gallon, but we were running on empty so had no choice. They were located on a lonesome stretch of road along the coast so I guess they could charge whatever they like huh. A bit further along I saw a sign for Elephant Seal Beach and thought "Cool, I wonder if they actually have elephant seals there or if that's just a random name?". I got my answer when we came around the bend and saw masses upon masses of elephant seals laying out on the beach. So of course we stopped in for a look with every other tourist in the area and they were very cool. It was so fascinating to watch them crawl along the beach and even over the top of each other - there were so many - but they were pretty smelly. We pulled in for the night at Morro Strand State Beach at around 5pm. The 'campground' is pretty much a parking lot but we can see the ocean from our site so that's pretty cool. We're dining with water views tonight!! :) It got a bit cold as the sun set tonight so hopefully it's warmer in LA... Turns out we travelled roughly 350kms today. Friday 07.06.13: Today is our last day of driving and we've only got about 320kms to do which will be nice. We left Morro Bay by 7.45am and took the freeway 101 all the way to Oxnard. We had lunch at In 'N Out Burger, grabbed some stuff from Walmart and then had a look in Target. We both had to buy some summer clothes coz jeans & jumpers aren't going to cut it at the beach and in the desert!!!! We packed for Canada weather not California! Once we were done it was time for the final leg of our journey. We took the coast road all the way and went through Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice Beach etc before arriving at Dockweiler Beach around 5pm. There was lots of busy traffic, especially from Santa Monica onwards so after navigating and driving through all of that we were both glad to get there! It was foggy when we arrived so we're hoping for some sunshine tomorrow. Again the campground is pretty much just a parking lot but it's right on the beach (apparently the only beachfront campground in LA county) so we are literally steps to the sand which is why Ben picked this place. What he neglected to tell me is that it's bordered by LAX, a sewerage treatment plant, a steam plant and an oil refinery - I feel like we're back in Gladdy hahaha. Even though we're in the flight path of LAX and you can constantly hear the planes its pretty cool to sit outside and watch them all take off. It'll be interesting to hear how noisy they are tonight at bed time! :) We were sitting out the front having a beer when our neighbour Spencer popped over and introduced himself. He, his wife Maggie and their kids Sam & Masey are here for the weekend from Las Vegas and they are really such lovely people. We ended up chatting with them all afternoon and they invited us to join them for dinner which was really sweet of them. They had friends Lori & Robert who live down the road visiting as well and it was really nice to meet them & chat to some new people. Ben & I haven't yet run out of things to talk about but it's still nice to have some fresh conversation. Plus no one usually talks to us when we're camping as we're sort of the odd ones out - there are the older (retired?) couples who travel with their little yap yap dogs and then the families with kids. So they all band together while either walking the dogs or supervising the kids playing.... Then there's us, the almost 30 year olds with no kids or dogs haha so we don't really fit into either group.... Sooo it's just nice to meet such lovely people and enjoy some friendly conversation :) We had dinner and then took our drinks down to the fire pit on the beach - I LOVE that you can have beach fires!!! It was so relaxing sitting in the sand around the fire with good company, listening to the waves crash on the beach while drinking beers and watching the planes take off. We were talking to Lori about the weather and she told us that June is the worst time to visit because of the fog that rolls in just about every day. She calls it 'June Gloom' so maybe we won't get any sunshine this week.... We'll see. Still we're both looking forward to just settling here for a week and not travelling every day! Saturday 08.06.13: We didn't end up coming in from the fire pit till after midnight last night so we had a bit of a sleep in this morning. It was just nice not to have to get up and go anywhere. We did some laundry and then gave Toby a tidy up - after being on the road for the last week it was nice to be able to clear everything out and have a really good clean. Ben also volunteered to put the mattress topper on the bed - now he understands the bed-making experience hehe. Chores done, it was time to relax... We had lunch then sat out the front of our site in the sun chatting to Maggie & Spencer when they came home. The fog rolled in that afternoon but we both stayed out and enjoyed the sun a little too much - we're both a little burnt now. We went for a walk up the beach later in the afternoon then came home & grilled hot dogs for dinner, yum, yum. The park is pretty much full tonight and there are people everywhere. It's a real party atmosphere - everyone has their music going, party lights twinkling on their awnings, BBQs smelling awesome and fires roaring on the beach. I love it, it's almost like one big block party! :) Sunday 09.06.13: Spence & Maggie had gone out for dinner last night so we had planned on catching up with them this morning before they left to exchange numbers so we could catch up with them again when we get to Vegas. However we were still in bed when we heard their RV start up this morning. A quick glance at the clock showed it was only 6am and once we realised they were actually leaving Ben jumped up to throw on some clothes and run outside.... But it's not a fast process climbing over the top of me and then scrambling down the ladder so by the time he was pulling a shirt on they had backed out and were gone. They're just genuinely nice people & we got along with them really well & would've loved to catch up again so we were both pretty disappointed that we didn't get the chance to say bye and exchange details... It wasn't till later on in the day that we discovered that they'd dropped their leftover firewood out the front for us, along with a note with their details - so lovely :) After that we decided to go for a ride along the beach bike path in the direction of Venice Beach/Santa Monica. We got around the marina and the bike path ended and became a bike lane in the traffic for a while. I wasn't too keen on playing in the hectic traffic so we called it quits and stopped in at Noah's Bagels for some lunch. They didn't have any wifi so after we'd eaten we found a Macca's on the way home & stopped in there to check emails etc. On the ride back home we saw an LAPD helicopter overhead circling a particular group of apartment buildings in the neighbourhood up from ours. I don't know what was going on, we assume they were looking for something/someone as they circled for about 10-15mins then did a few laps up and down the beach before circling the apartments again then flying off.... We heard on the radio that there was a shooting in Santa Monica the day we drove through so it may have had something to do with that or it could've been something totally unrelated!?! Bit creepy though.... Once we got back to Dockweiler we went and sat down on the beach soaking up some sun until the fog rolled in. There was a big group of kids playing volleyball near us and as we're laying there we hear one kid trying to teach his friend how to play: "You gotta use an open hand, ya know, like you're highfiving a b*tch in the face!". Ben turns and looks at me then says "Well now my American experience is complete". Haha. We had a relaxed night grilling burgers for dinner and watching the ocean. Quite a few people have left the park now so it's a lot quieter than last night! Monday 10.06.13: Happy 30th Nick!!!! It's another beautiful sunny & clear day so we decided to go for another bike ride (in the opposite direction) today along the beachfront to the Manhattan Beach area. We went for a walk out on the Manhattan Beach pier - a lot of the beaches have piers here, I just love them. This one had a cafe and an aquarium on the pier but neither were open. You get such a great view from out there though, both out to sea and looking back towards the land. Plus there were a lot of surfers in the water near the pier so you could stand up there and watch them, giving you a totally different perspective which was very cool. We chained our bikes up at the pier and walked around Manhattan Beach for a while, just exploring and having a look around. We stopped in at Starbucks for a coffee & to use their wifi to work out a plan for once we leave LA then started the ride back home. We stopped midway at a beach cafe for some lunch, it was so relaxing sitting there on the sand watching the waves while we ate. We've both really missed the beach!! Once we got back home we went and settled on the beach for the afternoon, got some sun and relaxed. The fog didn't roll in which was great, it made for awesome plane spotting!! Again more people have left the park today so it's even quieter than yesterday..... Tuesday 11.06.13: More riding today - our bikes sure are getting a workout here. This time we're off to Santa Monica. Turns out on Sunday we were almost at Venice Beach when we stopped and turned around. If we had kept riding another kilometre or so we would've gotten off the road and back onto the beach bike path. I just didn't like riding on the road because you have to be watching EVERYTHING. There are cars everywhere and when I ride I just zone out looking at stuff around me & I'm pretty much in my own little world. I mean our bikes are cruisers not speed racers lol. So the beach bike path is perfect for me because I can cruise along having a stickybeak at everything, but on the road I have to be alert and not get hit by cars - it's a bit stressful for little old me. It was a beautiful day for a ride anyway and there's so much to see. I just love the interesting mix of people out on their bikes - there are the tourists, the cruisy beach bums with no shirts on, the sporty racers in their lycra get-up who speed past you & the barbies with their trout pouts & face full of make up just to go for a ride lol. We parked our bikes up at the Santa Monica Pier and went a-wandering again... We found a great little Thai place in Santa Monica so we stopped in for lunch & it was delicious. Then we wandered around 3rd street promenade (shopping district) and hung out at the shops using their wifi to organise & book our next weeks accommodation. Dockweiler is a fantastic place to camp but having no wifi means we need to get out and find some to be able to work out our road trip & make bookings etc. On the plus side at least it's getting us out and about and seeing places! We were a while in at the shops working out where to go next so when we got back down to the pier and our bikes were still there that was a relief. I google mapped it when we were on the wifi and it was a 14.5km ride one way from Dockweiler to Santa Monica, so that would've been a long walk home haha. I'm sure we'll both sleep well tonight & probably be a bit sore tomorrow! A bit of trivia for you... We have a little 'chocolate box' that we keep stocked with fun-size choccies for dessert (in the name of science of course, testing out all the different ones over here). So tonight after dinner we both had a kit kat & I said to Ben "Mine tastes funny, does yours?" He says "Nope mines fine". I checked the expiry date and it was fine, but still it just didn't taste right. I'd had one yesterday (which I bought in Canada) and it was normal, but this one was odd. After taking a closer look at the packet we discovered that this kit kat (bought in US) is made by Hershey for Nestlé whereas the Canadian ones are made by Nestlé (just like in Oz so they taste the same). Now I don't like Hershey chocolate, I've tried it a few time but it doesn't change, I just don't get what the fuss is about, so that explains my gross kit kat. Ben thought I was a bit nuts but I guess I know my choccie (not sure if I should be proud of that or not haha). Big hugs and lots of love to you all, Benny & Loz xxxxx