San Diego and Phoenix 28th February - 2nd March

Stayed at 'Lucky D's' hostel in the middle of downtown which was a young hipster's paradise (we are no longer young). Not particularly clean and a bit scuzzy, but decentish.

The fabled Gaslamp District was the nicest bit of town and full of touristy bars and restaurants, unfortunately a bit out of our price range - arse. Saw a fair few of 'the forces' wandering around town as san Diego is still a bit of a base. Fortunately no-one asked us to drop and give them 20.

We took the bus up to a small town called La Jolla to the north of San Diego and had a great sunny morning there. Lots of wildlife knocking around including seals (seen so many on this trip) on the rocks, some ground squirrels chilling out on the beach and some seriously big pelicans. Mediterraneanesque buildings all over town looked great in the sun - a really lovely place.

We then jumped onto the trolley and headed for the famous Balboa Park (though no sign of Rocky). Couldn't believe how many museums and art galleries there were. Took advantage of some of the free entrances and checked out a couple of galleries and the botanical gardens (stop taking photos of flowers Sarah).

Was particularly excited that the San Diego sports museum was free entry as well, but have to say it's the worst museum I've ever been to. Really run down and just a couple of disinterested staff. All of the exhibits were also massively stats heavy on American 'Sports' which even I found unbelievably dull! No wonder no-one else was actually in the place when we were there...

Took our friend the Greyhound 8 hours east the next day to get to Phoenix and crossed the state line into Arizona. Definite change of scenery as we passed loads of desert and cacti on the way which was exciting for the first hour or so, then got very dull.

Read on the way there that we'd managed to book a motel on the prostitute strip that the Lonely Planet guide said to avoid so we didn't exactly have high hopes. We'd heard previously that some motels charged by the hour - GRIM.

Turned out that the motel road was massively long so we weren't surrounded by ladies of the night, but the area was still pretty crappy. We had to wait for our room to be ready and witnessed a few dodgy characters being refused rooms so at least there was a bit of screening. Motel wasn't too bad, but there was slight confusion when I asked where the breakfast room was. The woman seemed to be pointing outside until I realised she was pointing at a tiny table in the middle of reception - ridiculously poor.

Phoenix itself was unbelievably dull and just a kind of inter-change city with no real centre or character. If you have a choice, never come here!

We went to the Desert Botanical Gardens the next day which to be fair was really good. Loads of great scenery and some really cool cacti.

We'd also randomly timed to be in the city for Mardi Gras so we had a quick look at a very average parade which was pretty half-hearted.

The real highlight was eating at Alice Cooperstown - of 'Man v Food' series fame. Great restaurant set up by the rockstar and had a top atmosphere. Ordered a 'big unit' hotdog which was ridiculously massive - all the staff shout 'Biiiiiiiiiiiig Uniiiiiiiiiiiiiit' and ring a bell when they bring it out. We didn't get close to finishing it, but gave it a good go...