We spent the day today at Universal Studios. It was a straightforward 25 minute drive from our hotel and we were in the park before 10am. It was a swelteringly hot day and also extremely busy and we certainly noticed the difference not having a fast pass as we had at Disney, as the queues were very long indeed.

We started with the studio tour which was a fascinating hour or so looking around the back lots of old film sets with one or two surprises thrown in!

We then moved on to the very impressive Hogsmeade section of the studios and the girls really enjoyed looking at all the Harry Potter sets. We had lunch in the Three Broomsticks which was nice and then queued for ‘Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey’ which was absolutely fantastic.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the rest of the studios, meeting some old friends and queuing for rides.

After a long and sun drenched day, we returned to our hotel and had a swim in the pool. We had a snacky tea in our hotel room before going to bed shattered!

An early check-out meant that we left Santa Barbara by just after 10am this morning.   It is such a beautiful place and is probably my favourite of everywhere we have visited on this trip. To think we only came here because Yosemite was closed, we certainly got lucky with our choice of alternative venues! Santa Barbara is impeccably clean, laid back and just a really classy place with amazing beaches and spectacular views. I’d be back like a shot!

The route to Santa Monica was quite straightforward on Route 101 and only a couple of hours drive so we stopped off on-route in Camarillo, at a Premium Outlet shopping centre. It had Adidas, Nike, North Face and many other factory stores with great discounts! After a good look around, we eventually got back in the car and continued to Santa Monica.

The last 20 miles were back on the Pacific Coast Highway, Route 1, which was a lovely way to finish our road trip and we arrived in Santa Monica via Malibu with some amazing views over the Pacific. We now only have the short drive to the airport to contend with on Monday morning!

We checked into our hotel and had a quick swim in the lovely pool before walking to Santa Monica Pier. We deliberately went past the Wyndham Santa Monica at the Pier. This hotel was previously the Holiday Inn; Becky and her family stayed here 40 years ago for 3 weeks whilst her Dad was studying at the University of Southern California, so it was lovely for her to see it and reminisce.

We walked down Santa Monica Pier, which was absolutely packed and total chaos, the complete opposite of the calm serenity we had in Santa Barbara, but not in a bad way. The atmosphere was just fantastic and there was so much to see. We perused the various stalls before heading back to our hotel via McDonalds much to the girls delight!

 

We spent the morning at ‘The Mission’, Santa Barbara’s most historic landmark. The Mission was established in 1786 and still operates as an active parish church; it is very beautiful and was a perfect place to spend our morning.  We did a self- guided tour which ended in the peaceful stone church.

We had our picnic lunch in the quiet grounds of The Mission, which has a lovely rose garden, before heading back to West Beach for our final afternoon in Santa Barbara. We spent a couple of hours on the beach and in the water, where two sea-lions came very close to see what we were up to.

We decided to hire kayaks and paddle boards again and spent a lovely hour and a bit, just paddling around the harbour. All of the girls are now confident in a kayak and also all had a go on a paddle board.

As a fitting farewell to Santa Barbara we had fish and chips on Stearn’s Wharf at Longboards Grill, looking out at the setting sun. Tomorrow we leave for Santa Monica and the final stop of our trip.

We set off this morning to explore part of the Santa Ynez Mountains. We did some research and set out for the Inspiration Point Trailhead which was about 5 miles from our cottage by car.

We set off from the start of the trail on foot and it proved very steep in places but had some great views. The walk took about an hour and it was very hot and sunny with little shade.  The girls all did really well as we climbed about 1000ft and were rewarded with a fantastic view out over Santa Barbara and The Pacific.

We then headed down to Leadbetter Beach for the afternoon. This was not quite as nice as the other beaches, mainly due to the amount of seaweed on the beach and in the ocean. Nonetheless we had an enjoyable few hours and then walked along Stearn’s Wharf to get an ice-cream. The views back to West Beach were just lovely.

The evening ended back at our rental cottage with roast chicken and a game of Family Fortunes which Becky and Issy won.

 

We set off after breakfast to explore West Beach today as the weather was again absolutely glorious. The ten minute drive into central SB is a pleasure and we parked along harbour way and walked the length of the harbour wall to Point Castillo which was lovely. It finished with a 250m ‘plank’ out to a beautiful sandy beach which was inaccessible from anywhere else except the sea! It was quite idyllic and we spent a lovely hour playing in the surf.

We then moved the car to the main harbour parking lot and set off for West Beach. If anything it as even more lovely than East beach yesterday, which we weren’t expecting; the sea was a lot calmer and crystal clear waters meant that we could really enjoy diving down and exploring the sea bed.

We spent most of the afternoon at West Beach but had our eye on some kayaks and paddle boards and made the decision to hire these for an hour or so at the end of the day. It was so much fun, we had a double and two single kayaks and a paddle board and we rotated between them as we went around the bay. We had sea lions swimming alongside us at times and it was lovely to be on the water. The paddle board was the most tricky but by the end of the afternoon, Issy, Becky and I had all done quite well on it and we are looking forward to taking them out again!

We ended the day in familiar fashion, a lovely supper in our little garden, with some Californian Rose and sprite for the girls!

After a lazy morning, we gave Becky’s mum a call after breakfast to wish her a very happy 81st birthday and once we had constructed a picnic lunch we headed off to Santa Barbara (about a 10 minute drive) to check out the beaches.

It turns out that Santa Barbara has two central beaches, separated by a pier called Stearns Wharf, called East and West beach. West Beach is a bit smaller and calmer so naturally we headed for East Beach.  It was absolutely beautiful and we couldn’t believe how few people were there. If this was a beach in the UK, every square foot would be taken up but here there were at most a couple of hundred people across the several miles of sandy beach. We spent most of the day here, enjoying the sea which was lovely and warm as well as playing games in the sand. The views from the sea back to shore were also incredible with the backdrop of the Santa Ynez mountains as far as the eye could see behind aces of palm trees, it really was stunning!

When we had all had a bit too much sun, we set off to find an ice-cream and explore Santa Barbara a bit more. It is a really lovely place, heavily influenced by Spanish architecture. We had found our ice cream at a local store called McConnells and also visited the biggest fig tree in the whole of America, said to be able to fit over 1000 people beneath its bows. It certainly was very impressive!

We eventually headed home via the supermarket and ended the day with a lovely fish supper.

We left San Francisco quite promptly this morning, aware that the 330 mile trip to Santa Barbara would take between 5 and 6 hours. So after a good breakfast (and some sneakily stowed in a bag for the journey!), we packed up and left our hotel by 11am. Given it was Sunday, we were really lucky with the traffic and made excellent time to Santa Barbara.

We travelled nearly all the way on Route 101 from San Francisco to Santa Barbara which appeared to be a straight road for about 300 miles! We arrived at around 4.30pm even with a stop and the final part of the journey took in the scenic Route 154, the San Marco Pass, through the rugged Santa Ynez mountains which were breathtaking to look at.

It was nice to arrive in Santa Barbara and a relief; we have now broken the back of all the driving on this trip with just a small 2 hr journey left to LA next Friday. We have already done over 1000 miles but, with only a few hold-ups, they have generally all been a pleasure, not something I would say about driving 1000 miles in the UK!

Our little cottage is lovely with everything we need over the next five days, including a hammock in the front porch which was a welcome relief after nearly 6 hours driving!

Its nice for us all to be back together after having two hotel rooms in San Francisco. The girls are delighted with their bedroom in the cottage even given the fact that we have pushed two single beds together to make their bed!

After we settled in, we set off for the supermarket to stock up on supplies and Becky cooked a lovely meal to finish off our day. We’re looking forward to exploring the local area tomorrow.

 

 

Today was our last full day in San Francisco. We spent the morning lazing by the pool making the most of the sunshine. Eventually we felt we should get on with the day so we packed up a picnic lunch and walked down the now familiar route,  to Fisherman’s Wharf and ate our lunch watching swimmers in the bay.

We then gradually made our way, via a combination of walking and bus to Union Square. Shopping was the main focus of the day and the girls attacked it with some vigour! I on the other hand ambled around behind them, herding them in the same general direction, occasionally handing out money for their purchases!

When they were all shopped out we had a lovely meal in Fisherman’s Wharf to finish off our time here in San Francisco.

Tomorrow we were supposed to be setting off for five nights in Yosemite National Park but because of the terrible forest fires we are unable to go unfortunately as the Park is closed. We are instead heading back down the coast to stay in a cottage in Santa Barbara which I am sure will be just as enjoyable.

This morning we set out to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. After breakfast, we used our bus hopper passes to take us out across the bridge to the vista point on the far side with the aim of then walking back across it. The temperature differences between the vista point, which although windy was hot and sunny, and conditions on the bridge, which was very cold, windy and inside a cloud, were a stark contrast! Nonetheless we walked the nearly 2 miles back across the bridge at a good pace, weaving in and out of the large numbers of others doing the same, both by foot and by bike.

After a rest break and some picnic lunch at the Visitor Centre, we then hopped back on the bus, crossed the bridge again, and headed for the town of Sausalito on the Marin Headlands. Sausalito is a beautiful place, built in the hills with stunning views back to San Francisco across the bay. It was also hot and sunny with far less breeze which was a treat, so we walked the Main Street and had an ice cream looking back at Sat Francisco in the distance.

We then got back on the bus for the trip back across the bridge for the 4th and final time today. We sat on the top deck of an open topped bus, and although cold and windy had a great time!

At the hotel, we made the most of the sun and had another dip in the pool before getting a taxi to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants to watch them play Pittsburgh Pirates. This was a great experience enjoyed by all. We obviously were lucky mascots in our new caps as Giants won 13-10!

 

After a good nights sleep we breakfasted well in the hotel. We are actually in two next door rooms here with Tessa, Issy and I in one, Becky and Eliza in the other. Whilst not ideal, it working fine with two king size beds in each room.

After breakfast we wandered down to the bay and began to slowly make our way around Fisherman’s Wharf to Pier 33, where we were booked onto the 1.30pm ferry to Alcatraz Island! We walked along the Hyde Street Pier which is designated as a Maritime National Historical Park. The Pier includes a magnificent fleet of historic ships, a Visitor Center and Maritime Museum and we enjoyed looking around.

We then browsed in several shops and had a quick picnic lunch looking out over the bay before checking in for our ferry. The 20 minute trip across to Alcatraz is really beautiful and provides some great views of the island on approach with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

I previously visited Alcatraz Island 18 years ago and it has lost none of its intrigue or mystique in the years that have passed. The audio guided tour of the penitentiary is absolutely fantastic and all of us were gripped by the couple of hours we spent wandering around hearing about the history of the place.

 

Afterwards, I was lucky enough to meet one of the guards who had spent 9 years working there and got him to sign a copy of his book for me.

The ferry ride back provided some amazing views of San Francisco and we then made use of our bus hopper tickets to ride back to our hotel on an open topped bus through the financial and main shopping districts which was good.

We had a quick swim at the hotel and finished the day in the Dim Sum Club for supper which was delicious!