After a few days on the coast we headed back inland to experience some of California's National Parks. Sequoia was first with it huge trees (and the General Sherman; the largest tree, by mass, in the world), awesome hiking, meadows, bears (yes - wild bears on the hiking trails - pretty crazy but super cool) and a return to campfires...

Santa Cruz - this place sounds as awesome as it is; tea on the beach, sunsets, surfing, sea otters, seals, the boardwalk, historic giant dipper, log flume, arcades, hippies and lots of fun.

Big Sur, it has such a nice ring to it... Following the highway 1 up the coast of California was particularly cool, providing grand vistas of the ocean. A random stop at San Louis Obispo resulted in a small festival, local beer and a cool little town before we hit the highway 1 again for more amazing driving whilst watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. We hit Big Sur just as it got dark to relax by the camp fire after another amazing day of driving... A n...

Santa Monica - big beaches, a pier with a theme park, people roller blading and people working out - welcome to California...