Having read the last blog post back I struggled to make out some of the words so if you managed to work out what I was trying to get across congratulations. I think it was a mixture of jet lag and trying to avoid murder in our hotel room. LA wasn't the best city we've visited and we were excited to leave and see what the west coast had to offer. We went to pick our car up from the ghetto district of Inglewood. The Metro ride to collect the car took us through the picturesque areas of Compton and Willowbrook. LOL. If you haven't been there don't go. After spending an hour fearing for our lives and personal belongings we were in our Toyota Corolla and ready to hit the road, first stop, Santa Barbara.

We were ill prepared and put all our eggs in one basket by stopping off at a Wal Mart in search of a tent and all other camping goodies that we might need. It didn't disappoint and we managed to snap up a tent, double air bed and the best purchase of all, a double zebra patterned purple duvet and pillow set for just $15. Bargain. We arrived at a campsite just north of Santa Barbara and set up our tent, the nearest town was quite a drive away and we had little food and drink but had enough for the evening and went to bed. We woke up the next morning and made friends with a Mexican family who offered us breakfast and then later that day dinner as well. We kindly accepted and had a goooood breakfast burrito and then joined them and their other 27273892 family members for dinner.

The weekend just gone was Labor weekend and is a big public holiday in the USA so all the campsites were fully booked. We spent a second night in Santa Barbara and managed to get ourselves on our feet with some camping gear and some food and then we headed north along Highway 1 to Avila just outside of San Luis Obispo. We were lucky to find another campsite but only for one night so we were on the move again the next day. After stopping in San Luis Obispo the next morning to visit the mission and the town itself we stopped at Morro Bay tried some fresh local oysters encountered some Seals and headed for Big Sur.

Our luck had finally run out with campsites and all of the local ones were full. We ended up pulling up at the side of the road and setting up our tent. It was good fun apart from being woken up early morning by what sounded like a coyote or raccoon or some form of wildlife. What we do know is that it was gorging on Ellie's chicken bone from the night before which she hadn't thrown far enough over the side of the mountain! We moved on from Big Sur but still wanted another night and we found a campsite with room and set up our tent. Being surrounded by Redwood forest for a good 80 miles or so was incredible. The views were amazing, to the left the ocean and rugged landscape and to the right forest for as far as the eye can see. Camping was still good fun and the novelty hadn't worn off yet so we were still enjoying it. We did feel like retired OAP's though as we were in bed by about 9 every night and awake at 6am.

We left Big Sur on Monday spending the day in Monterey. We stopped off to see Elephant Seals just outside of Carmel to add to the seals and sea lions we had already seen. We spent the day in Monterey eating more american food and trying hard not to shop. Monterey was fun as have all the towns and cities along the coast been all the way up to San Francisco. They've been so different to LA which is a good thing and all so chilled out. We camped in between Monterey and Santa Cruz that evening and the following morning we were in Santa Cruz. Home to a lot of surfers and hippies the town was cool we checked out the famous boardwalk, downtown and the Henry Powell Redwood State Park. Our next stop was San Fran, we arrived yesterday (Wednesday) and met up with one of our friends brothers who's at university here which was nice. We took a stroll through Chinatown and the Coit Tower & today we visited the notorious Alcatraz prison. San Francisco is so laid back and probably our favourite place so far. Were staying not too far from the Golden Gate Bridge and despite all the warnings about fog and not being able to see any of the sights the weather has been brilliant.

We are seeing some more of the city tomorrow and then heading in land to visit Yosemite National Park. Over the next week or so we are going from Yosemite to Sequoia national park, Kings Canyon, Death Valley & Las Vegas. We've got a jammed pack road trip to be getting on with and obviously as we are camping we don't really have wifi so we'll probably blog when we are in Vegas in a week or so.

Steer clear of the crazy machete wielding murderers in London and the NATO summit if you're in Wales. Who knows what ISIS are planning next?!

(Today we booked our helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon!!!!!!!!)