On the way from Palm Springs to Needles, we took a detour into the famous Joshua Tree National Park. It was a bit like a sunnier version of Blaenau Ffestiniog, bleak but beautiful, with probably less drugs, drink, and domestic violence than Blaenau, too! It was a long drive to Needles, and as everyone had told us, there wasn't much there, except freeway interchanges and freight-trains. But our hotel was fine, we got a good meal at the diner next-door, and apart ...

So we left Santa Monica, managed to find our way out of LA, and drove into the desert, for our stay in Palm Springs. We stopped off at an outlet mall on the way, mainly to get a coffee and use the loo, but we ended up looking 'round the shops, Sal was frustrated at how cheap everything was, and how little space we have to spare in our bags! We made it to Palm Springs, and checked in at our 50s-themed motel, we had the 'shake, rattle, and roll' room which was jus...

Prince in the 'hood (have we mentioned we went to see Prince?) was going to be a hard act to follow, but the following day we were up early for a trip to the Getty Museum and Hollywood, and we were really looking forward to it. The museum was fabulous, and as the collection was started by an insanely rich American, it was full of really old stuff from Europe, rich Americans LOVE really old stuff from Europe! We were there for the morning, but we could have stayed...

Driving in the States is pretty easy, most of the time, but getting into LA was tricky. The freeways can be difficult to fathom, as the exits can be on the left or right, and if you're in the wrong lane, you're stuffed. It's worse than in the UK, Aussie, or Canada, too, 'cos if you end up in the wrong neighbourhood here, you could be in serious trouble! We only got lost a couple of times when we were looking for Santa Monica, and didn't stray into the 'hood, so w...

South again, on HWY 1, from San Simeon to Santa Barbara, we've hooked the iPod up now, so we can stop listening to George Benson, after the tenth repeat, it was getting a bit boring! Eating sensibly here is difficult, and longer we're in the States, the tighter our clothes are becoming. We realised, one day last week, that our 'fruit and veg' intake that day had been one glass of orange juice, and a dill pickle inserted in a beef sandwich! We'd eaten at a rib'n'...