Our first proper blog entry!! Get comfortable this could be a while!

Where to begin......

We flew into Los Angeles 2 weeks ago, spent our first night strolling along Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier, dodging hobos hunting money for vaesectomies and watching the sun set.

We picked up our trusty steed on Thursday morning, blue ford focus SE no less! 8 hours of driving inland across country, we chose a motel in Seligmann on historic Route 66 to hole up in for the night, had a buffalo burger and realised we were in hick town!

Next morning on to the Grand Canyon in a word stunning - for a hole in the ground. Spent the day wandering around and the night shivering in our tent when the temp dropped to -3. Fay got lost on the way to the toilet at 4 in the morning ended up walking around the pitch black woods for half an hour before she was rescued by her loving and not annoyed husband.

After little sleep we drove to Las Vegas to meet the Howells-Pringles at the Stratosphere. What followed was 3 days of fun in the sun lots of walking, drinking, buckets of bbq chicken and TVM speculation( google it). One highlight being sat in a classy veranda bar supping cocktails being admired by the poor and being sung to by a giant mechanical frog.

From Vegas to Palm Springs in the desert for a night stop. Cool little place, really warm and nice vibe.

Santa Barbara next, California's best smelling city (it really was) smelled like heaven. Dip in the pool and a drink in the local brewhouse.

Up next Monterey where the weather turned. We hid from the rain in the Monterey Brewhouse and watched Sir David Beckham inspire LA Galaxy to win. Good sea food and our first hostel.

Saaaannn Fraaannncisco! We didn't wear flowers in our hair but hoods on our heads as it rained a lot. We adopted our new tactic of hiding from the rain in a bar watching Louisiana State College beat Alabama in the college American Football. Despite the weather we got to see the Golden gate bridge, have a meal in chinatown, climb telegraph hill, explore fishermans wharf and more importantly blag a free meal from a newly opened melt and soup cafe. We nearly joined the passing anti-government march but the 2 bus loads of police with guns put us off. Fight the Power! but not if they're armed.

Today was a monster 400 mile drive, not on the pretty coastal highway we'd been on all the way up to San Fran but the ugly fast food filled interstate highway. Dropping off our trusty steed in Los Angeles with an extra 2000 miles on the clock. Got the next 3 days to chill in LA before flying to Auckland on wednesday. God i miss work!!