Monday 27 May - Wednesday 29 May

Driving down Highway 1 (Monterey, San Simeon, Santa Barbara)

We reluctantly left Yosemite the next day as we couldn't find accommodation for an extra night and made our way west towards the coast, stopping in at Gilroy to take advantage of the Memorial Day sales at the Outlet malls. We stocked up on clothing for when we're back in Oz - got some amazing discounts on designer gear, leather jackets, handbags, shoes, brand name clothing and some of our travelling gear. We waited to buy our travel gear in the US as it was way cheaper than trying to purchase it in Bahrain - plus there's a wider variety in the States. REI is where we bought most of our gear from and now that we are members, they even send us a cheque each year from their profits as its a Co-op. Bonus!

After staying the night in Monterey in a quaint little place on the beach called Bide-Wee Inn, we began our lazy drive winding our way down Highway 1 along the California coast. We cruised the famous 17-mile drive down the coast through numerous pristine golf courses including Spyglass Hills Golf Club and onto the renowned Pebble Beach Golf Course where we just had to stop for lunch to sample the emerald green views overlooking the famous 18th. This whole area is a millionaires playground! The houses on this golf course are incredible.

We moved onto our next stop for the night, San Simeon Beach Lodge - if you blinked you would've missed it...we nearly did. Driving down Highway 1 with the Pacific lashing the vast cliffs was awesome - but did make me a little seasick as there were loads of twists and turns. We stopped to look at the elephant seal colony on one of the beaches below - my god they stank - that was enough for me, I got back in the car whilst Gary took some photos.

We had one more stop in the gorgeous town of Santa Barbara before we hit LA, and it was great to get out the car, have a swim and wander about town taking in all the sights. I kept on thinking about that Soapie called Santa Barbara that we used to watch when I was a kid. This town is absolutely stunning!