Tuesday12th May

Set off early again along the Pacific Coast road heading for Santa Barbara where we stopped for brunch. We we not sure if we would be able to go through, as they have had terrible fires in the city but there was not any evidence of fire around the city at all so they must have got them under control. Santa Barbara was very picturesque we had a walk around the town before setting off once again.

We followed the Pacific Coast road all the way down the coast, the next place was Malibu beach, a lot of the beach has very expensive houses on the front so you can't see the sea until you are a way south. Next along was Santa Monica, just out side of the city of Los Angeles. At this point we decided to look for accommodation around the Anaheim area to the south. We took the highway down to Long beach first to have a look at the Queen Mary which is docked there and has been turned into a hotel. We could see the funnels as we drove to the docks area, she was very grand. The town was quite nice and the beach, just like the other beaches we had seen was beautiful white sand and kept very clean.

Wednesday 13th May

Drove down to a coastal town called Newport Beach. There was a pier with a cafe/bar at the end so we walked along for a coffee. We were upstairs and could lookout over the pier where there were lots of people fishing for pacific mackerel, they were pulling out five and six fish at a time, filling up large buckets. Heading back to the car we walked past the sea front car park where the surfers park and they have some unusual vehicles to transport their boards, lots of big old cars, one was a hearse.

Later we walked back along the pier and had a beer there were even more fishermen there now and it was fascinating watching them. There were a few sea lions out in the bay and it was funny watching them chasing the fish on the fishing lines as they were reeled in. There were a few pelicans hovering around also after the fish, then some dolphins swam past the pier heading down the coast, leaping out of the water. Afterwards we walked along the sea front and watched the sun go down over the sea.

Thursday 14th May

Spent the day on Newport beach, the weather was good and Robin decided to have a body board and go in the sea. The waves were good and there were lots of surfers in the sea. There were quite a few people on the beach and we were there for most of the day. The beach was well patrolled by life guards who sat in huts and drove up and down in wagons.

We headed up the highway towards Los Angeles and our final hotel of our trip. The free ways around the city were chaotic up to six lanes of traffic at times and moving very slowly. We were glad to arrive at the hotel.

Friday 15th May

Headed for the hills north of Hollywood and along Mulholland drive, there are lots of scenic view points along the road which is quite high up you could see down over the city, but the view was not very clear there was a haze. The mansions on Beverly hills and Bell Air were mostly behind gates, Robin didn't like it, saying the opulence was OTT!

We drove up to Griffiths park to the observatory, from where we could see the Hollywood sign in the hills. The observatory was a great find and not on the tourist maps, it was free to get into and there was lots to see and do, it was nice to get out of the chaos of the city for a while. The roads were very busy and chaotic on the way back to the hotel.

Saturday 16th May

We decided to go to the beach for the day, less hectic!, we headed for Venice beach. The weather was hazy but there were lots of people around and lots on the famous muscle beach with it's gym equipment and tennis courts. The haze over the city seems to be there permanently and is probably due to all the cars on the road!

Sunday 17th May

We got going very early in the hope that there wouldn't be as much traffic on the road., which worked at the start but late morning the traffic was as bad as ever. Last day of our adventure, we headed for the remaining sights of LA which we had to search for on the internet! None of the tourist maps show where they are, we think they probably want you to go on one of the tours. Having identified the thing we wanted to see we set off first to the Chinese theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, we looked at all the names in the concrete slabs outside and compared our hands and feet sizes with some of the stars!

We walked some of the Hollywood walk of fame along Hollywood Boulevard where famous peoples names are in stars in the pavement. We then headed off to Rodeo drive, a very nice road to the north where it is residential, then turns into the shops, we walked along and peered in through the windows at the goods with no prices. There was an art exhibition in the park by Rodeo drive, which we had a look around, there were many different types of art for sale some different and interesting and not too over priced. People watching was the order of the day!

We drove down to Santa Monica beach for the rest of the afternoon. There is a nice town centre and there were lots of musicians and acts busking along the street. We had a walk along the pier which was very busy with people walking, fishing and selling things. The beach was also busy with lots of people in the sea but not many surfers the sea was quite calm.

Headed back to the hotel to pack the cases, we were busy sorting things out when the room began to shake we looked at each other and quickly realised that it was an earthquake. The shaking went on for about ten to fifteen seconds which felt like a long time, we waited to see if there would be an alarm in the hotel to evacuate but nothing happened, so Robin went down to the reception to see what was going on. There were people in the lobby crying and the man at reception said it was not a common occurrence and he had never witnessed and earthquake like this one before, which we found hard to believe considering where we were. We sat out side for a while to see if there would be any more aftershocks, when we felt it was over we went back in.

Later there were news flashes on a few channels reporting the quake. The epicentre was a couple of miles from the hotel and it measured 4.7 on the Richter scale. It was quite scary. LA airport was shut down for a short while whilst they checked the runway for cracks.

Monday 18th May

Today we leave for home. We have had a great adventure and have seen some wonderful sights along the way and experienced things that we will never forget.
Thank you for following our travels!
Robin and Anne x