Once we were back in L.A. we took the metro to the airport where we picked up our white, sparkly, automatic Ford Focus. I was brave and took the first turn at the wheel; it was a little strange at first as I adjusted to being on the right side of the road and the left side of the car. The fact that it was an automatic made things a lot easier, even though I still kept trying to change gear via the car door.

We drove out of L.A. and headed for the coast road. We made our first stop at Santa Monica, which was very pretty and we parked up and walked along the pier. We had a late lunch on the pier and then watched the sunset before getting back in the car and driving onto Ventura where we found a motel for the night.

The next morning we checked out of the motel and continued up the coast to Santa Barbara. We parked up in the centre and spent the day walking around the shops and the local farmers market. That evening we went to the cinema and watched the new James Bond film and finished the night off with fish chips:-) After eating we drove onto Santa Maria where we found our next motel. The next day we set off early as we had a lot of ground to cover up to Monterey. The drive was gorgeous with amazing views of the ocean and half way we spotted a sign for elephant seals so stopped to take a look. The seals were massive and there was a lot of them all laid out and sunbathing on the beach.....quite a sight. We arrived in Monterey mid-afternoon and parked up and had a quick walk around the town and stopped in a little cafe for a coffee. We found a motel just outside of the town and made up dinner from foods we had bought at the Santa Barbara market.

On our fifth day with our hire car we visited a small town next to Monterey called Carmel-By-The-Sea. Carmel was a very pretty place with tiny streets, quaint little shops and a gorgeous beach. We spent the whole day exploring the gift shops and walking along the beach. We also found a cheese shop and bought some amazing Habanero Monterey Jack cheese...delicious! Late afternoon we returned to the car and set off driving to Yosemite National Park. It was quite a long drive inland and so it was quite late by the time we arrived in Mariposa; a town just outside the national park. We booked into the Mariposa lodge with plans to drive into Yosemite the next day. The next day we woke up to heavy rain. We drove up into the park, paid the entrance fees and found the info centre. Despite the weather we decided we would try and explore as much as we could. We spent the next two days exploring Yosemite and even though it was a pretty grey for most of the time we were still impressed by the views and the bright autumnal colours. We went on a couple of walks and were extremely impressed by Vernal and Nevada Falls. On the walk up to Nevada Falls we spotted a lynx, which came wandering out of the trees and sat by the lake where we managed to get a few photos....amazing.

After Yosemite we headed in the direction of San Francisco, stopping at Napa Valley on the way. We visited a winery and tasted a few of the wines there. On our last day with the car we drove into San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was pretty spectacular. We returned the car and headed for our San Fran hostel.