As a country where a drive to the shops can take an hour, I think it's fair to say that say that America has some pretty impressive drives. We have already crossed the Smoky Mountains, skirted the Outer Banks of North Carolina and hit the Mother Road (Route 66) now it's time for California to show us what it's got.

The Pacific Costal Highway or Route 1 runs pretty much the whole west coast but we would be sampling the highlights from the Golden Gate Bridge all the way down to LA.

Picking our car up from San Francisco Airport we got talked into an upgrade to a slightly bigger car. Determined to sleep in the car as often as possible I agreed!

So we headed South in our Ford Focus, first stop Santa Cruz. The San Fran fog seemed to follow us a little further than we had hoped but eventually it cleared and dramatic cliffs and Pacific views opened up to our right. About an hour in to our journey I spotted a weary figure half-heartedly thumbing a lift. Having been on the other side, I decided to return the favour and even out the hitchhiking karma. Raven (although I highly doubt that was her real name) was a young girl who explained that she had moved away from home (run away) because of disagreements with her new step dad. This was all starting to sound like a cliché and I was a little worried that maybe we had just picked up an underage teenage run-away who's 'mom and new daddy' were out looking for. My initial fears were calmed when she explained that she was headed to LA to meet up with her 'soul mate' husband that she married three months ago (at least I knew she was 18). The fact that he was on probation for 'some stupid stuff' would have worried me if it weren't for the strange meowing coming from the back seat. Silly me! Of course the 18 year old, runaway, little Mrs Jailbird hitchhiker had a cat, on a piece of string wearing a little red bandana! I'm not sure what I had hoped for when picking up hitchers, maybe a couple of friends just looking to travel on the cheap (like us) or maybe a NorCal Woman's Beach Volleyball team member looking for a knight in shining armour (Ford Focus) but I guess that is all a part of the fun. Finally we reached Santa Cruz and made our excuses to drop Raven off.

Santa Cruz was pretty much just a place on a map, somewhere that I had heard of but not sure why. Josh had suggested that the Boardwalk is worth a look as we were passing. So we did. The bustling boardwalk was full of families out enjoying the perfect summers day, it even seemed to repel the foggy weather looming either side. Maybe its own micro-climate caused by excessive sunscreen and cotton candy? We hung around to watch the Chinese Circus show in the pavilion before hopping back on my Nobel steed (still a Ford Focus) and continuing south on the PCH to Big Sur.

Big Sur has some of the most impressive coastal scenery you can wish for. The fog that was still following us only added to the drama as we climbed up above to reveal mountain tops then drop down below to the oceans crashing waves. Passing over the Bixby Canyon Bridge was less of a landmark than I had hoped and it was starting to get late as we drove through the cluster of camping options. Asking around we found them to be either fully booked or out of our price range ($0-5). So we nestled our car behind a pile of gravel in a lay-by and chowed down on our tin of cold ravioli (again). Quickly realising that sleeping on the front seat wasn't a very comfortable option I set to ripping the car apart. I managed to remove the fixed rear seats to allow the back to lay flatter and unrolled one of our camping mats, using the other as a pillow. Liann managed to recline her chair and used the open glove box like a little foot stool. A huge improvement on previous car sleeps but still roughing it.

Day two of our PCH road trip started with a quick stop at the Julia Phiffer National Park and a waterfall that crashes directly onto the beach. We drove to the small town of San Simion, which is the title of a song by an old favourite band of mine. Nothing to see! We had a wonder around the Hurst Castle visitor centre but were too cheap to pay to go in. Plus America's idea of an old stately home doesn't have a scratch on back home. Down on the beach we played with the woven Guatemalan Frisbee that we bought in...... San Francisco (I know, I know) and I went for a quick swim. Very quick because it was bloody freezing! Further down the road was probably the highlight of that day. We pulled into a beach that had a huge Elephant Seal colony. It was fantastic, the males were battling with each other just like a David Attenborough show and the clumsy pups flicked sand over themselves to help cool down. The deep grunting noises that the adults made echoed around the rocks. It wasn't possible to get very close (and probably not a good idea either) but I still managed to get a couple of acceptable shots. That night we had, you guessed it, more cold ravioli and this time we slept in a Truck rest area. Memories of hammocks in Central America lulled me to sleep ignoring the sound of air breaks and engines.

Santa Barbara is a lovely little city with strong Spanish/Mexican influence. We spent the whole day there wondering the streets, the pier and the Mission. As it so happened we were there at the start of a Spanish holiday and there were lots of festivities going on which added a buzz to the town. I also managed to get hold of Ben and Nick, two more friends from Belize who live just a little south in Ventura and were available to meet up for dinner.

Meeting the guys at Ben's house we went out for Pizza and a couple of beers and had a catch up. Not only was Nick kind enough to offer us his futon for the night but the guys paid for our meal too. I've said it before, people really make travelling special! Thanks guys!

We had nearly reached our final destination, LA and Mike who lived in Irvine just south of LA had offered us a place to stay for a few nights while we explored the city. On our way from Ventura to Irvine we managed a whistle stop tour of South LA including Venice, Long Beach, Huntington (pronounced Hunnington apparently) and Santa Monica. Santa Monica Pier marks the end of Historic Route 66 so now we had been to the start (Chicago) the End and the entire length of the remaining 66 in Arizona.

Huntington was crazy busy, with thousands of people all there for the Surfs Up surf completion and festival. With no chance of parking there we spent a few hours in Newport and Venice Beach where the only thing to do is people watch. I managed to get a couple of sneaky shots of people rollerblading in bikinis or cycling with dogs in a basket. One guy was even rollerblading whilst playing guitar, pretty impressive!

Driving through Laguna Beach and Orange County to Irvine marked the end of our Pacific Costal Highway road trip. It is easy for the remarkable scenery to over shadow the towns and cities along the way and for me the landscape was worth the trip alone but gems like Santa Barbara and Venice/Newport were a bonus.

Now it's time to catch up with friends and explore LaLa Land!