Leaving LA after only a day or two was tough as there is always more to do, but we do love a bit of nature and we had been told Big Sur was going to satisfy that craving for us...we were'nt disappointed!

The area up this stretch of California coast has barely anyone living in it as the terrain is so dramatic that there is little for people to do here apart from a bit of foresty and tourist stuff at pit stops. Photos don't really do it justice, but the views of the beaches, rugged coast and fog rolling in and out like a duvet across the sea made this one of the best scenic drives we had ever been on. Camp sites were full so we weaved our way up a hillside and pitched on a turnout, which a few other people we had passed on the way up had done. Up with the sun, we carried on the rest of our drive up the coast before heading inland up to Yosemite.

We had booked a campsite inside the park for the Sunday night which was really sterotypical of what you'd expect of a american woodland campsite - we really felt like we were in the John Candy movie "The Great Outdoors"! With camp set up, off we charged on our whistle-stop tour of the big sites. Again, photos just do not give you any idea of the scale of the things you look at. Every so often we'd just pull the car over, get out and stand and stare. It makes you wonder what the first explorers that came out must have thought when they saw these MASSIVE cliffs and valleys. It's true, things just are bigger in the US of A .

After getting back to our campsite and finding out we'd pitched on the wrong site, we picked up our crappy tent, moved home for the night then had ourselves a little picnic and some cheap beer before nestling down for the night hoping that we'd not left any food in the tent with us that would attract the curious black bears. Nothing but squirrels as it turned out, so we headed off to San Francisco unscathed, knowing that we'd seen enough to know that we definitely want to come back for a proper holiday. (I know how that could sound, but you know what I mean!)