On Thursday we set off from Upland and drove through LA to Venice Beach, home of Baywatch and Muscle beach. Saw the Hollywood sign in the distance. Walked along the huge white sandy beach, then passed all the hippy shops, saw some over 60s men pumping iron on muscle beach, very disappointing! Drove up to Santa Monica and wandered through the main street with lovely shops and restaurants, then along the beach and onto the pier. Palm tree lined streets everywhere, blue sky, and white sand. Really nice seaside place, and even went on amusements on the pier, where Jill beat Craig at car racing game. Carried on driving up the coast on the Pacific coast highway, passing therough Malibu, the home to celebs and lots of million dollar homes overlooking the sea. As we drove up the coast Craig spotted dolphins swimming aling the coast. We stopped to be amzed at the sights of hundreds of dolphins swimming and jumping in the sea, it was really amazing to see them in the wild and so close to the shore line. The coast line wqas also full of surfers, who also seemed to be watching the dolphins more than the surf. We also think we saw some whales, not sure but we kept seeing the water shoot up. Thursday night stayed in Santa barbara, another really nice holiday place, old spanish style buildings, palm trees and lovely houses. Had a really nice Steak and Craig enjoyed some coconut shrimp. Had a walk along the water front and saw a harbour seal. We headed back on the PCH stopping as we spotted more whales, dolphins and seals. Drove through San Luis Obispo, where it was red hot blue sky, then drove over the hill to Morro Bay to see the FOG. Morro bay known for its big rock off theb coast, which was mostly hidden by fog, very spooky esp with the sound of the fog horn blasting off, still manged to have a wander round this nice surfer place, very similar to cornwall, and also spotted sea otters feeding on the fish. The waves were big, some good surf. On advise from locals we headed about 2 miles north and the fog cleared back to clear blue skies, very bizarre. Stayed in a cute little place called Cayocous, wateched the sunset on the beach, and found a really nice hotel for the night. Enjoyed 3 lots of CSI that night, party on! Saturday drove back to Morro bay as the fog had cleared and we were able to see the rock, we then headed back on the road north to Hearst castle. Did a tour of the castle, this multi million dollar home, swimming pools to die for, private cinema and views right out to sea. Guests included Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill to name a few. From here stopped at San Simeon to Jills top highlight of the trip so far. A streach of beach covered with elephant sea lions, all laid basking in the sun. Amazing to get so close and watch them all sleeping, scratching and snorting, and see them wobble off into the sea. Couldn't believe the size of them, and these were the babies, used almost a full memory card so don't worry you will get to see the photos. Dragged Jill away to carry on driving up the best section of the PCH, dramatic cliff side drive, rocky coatsline replaces sandy beaches, cypress trees replacing palm trees. Big surf, and more dolphins. Arrived at Carmel, a oldy worlde place, with big old trees and lovely old cottage style houses. watched the sunset on the beach. Struggled to get accomodation everywhere booked up for a big car race the next day. Drove to Monterey and ended up in a delightful motel, not! Got to here some great country music at 3am. Up early and took the 17 mile drive passing more sea lions and then stopped off at Pebble beach gholf club. Walked to the first tee and the 18th green and had lunch overlooking the first tee, manicured green. Don't worry all you budding golf fans theres hope for you all yet, just about every other first tee shot went flying off into the trees. From here we drove up to San Fran, a mammoth 5 hour journey, as we got stuck in a huge traffic jam caused by a pumpkin fair! Passed so many big pumpkin farms, the yanks really do love halloween. Arrived at san Fran sunday night, tired so just went for a short walk arounf cow hollow a nice street with designer shops and restaurants, managaed to find a nice cheap pizza place.