It felt a little sad packing up and leaving our lovely condo, Shorebirds 187, this morning and the weather reflected our mood with the mist again enshrouding the ocean & beach. We had a great time during our brief stay here and the condo was absolutely fantastic.

We were all in the car by 11am and back on the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco. This stretch was not as picturesque as the passage between Morro Bay and Monterey but nonetheless it was still a pleasure to drive and we quickly ate up the miles to San Francisco. We wanted to make sure we finished Route 1 in style so we drove through San Francisco and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge which was shrouded in mist.

After taking a few photos we crossed over it again back into the city and drove to our hotel. We were a little early for check in so we walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf and had a picnic looking out over the bay, getting our first look at Alcatraz! We also went to Pier 39 to check out all of the sea lions who live there.

We then walked back to our hotel to check in via Lombard Street which is famous for its steepness and zigzag road. It was quite a climb but worth it for the views from the top!

We checked into our hotel and got ourselves familiarised with the facilities including the pool. I have to say it is much more temperate here than down the coast in LA. The breeze is a little cold and we were all glad to put a fleece on as we set out for Bobo’s Burger Bar for our supper which was a delicious way to end our day.

We were rudely awaken by the alarm this morning which was a shock to all of our systems. We needed an early start to get to our 9.30am whale watching cruise and again, the early morning mist meant it was a chilly day. We wrapped up well in lots of layers and set off for Moss Landing Marina, a 20 minute drive from our condo.

We checked in and were greeted with coffee and donuts which was a nice touch and very much appreciated before boarding ‘The Sea Goddess’ with nearly 100 other passengers. The passageway out of the marina to the sea was very calm with lots of sea lions and seals playing on the rocks and a wealth of different seabirds around.

Unfortunately the calm sea didn’t last long and once we were out in Monterey Bay a cold wind blew and the sea was choppy with some very big waves which did nothing to settle our stomachs!

Throughout the trip we were lucky enough to see easily in excess of 20 humpback whales and 100’s of sea lions all feeding from the depths of the Monterey Canyon, an underwater area of the bay that is big enough, and deep enough, to fit the entire Grand Canyon inside it with room to spare!

It really was quite awe inspiring to see the majestic beauty of these enormous creatures up close and to see them moving with such grace as they continually surfaced and then dove down to the depths to feed. As they surfaced, sea lions and sea birds frantically feasted on what was brought to the surface as they broke the water and expelled air from their blowholes, which I have to say was quite foul smelling!

As amazing as seeing the whales was, the 3 girls struggled with the waves and felt quite poorly for the last hour or so which was a shame and slightly took the sheen off what was an amazing experience for them.

After recovering over lunch at home, we set off in the afternoon to visit the town of Monterey. We visited the popular area of Old Fisherman’s Wharf and spent some time looking at the shops and wildlife over an ice cream.

We spent our last evening in Watsonville once again enjoying the amazing sunset over a few drinks and an amazing fresh fish supper. Tomorrow we get back on the Pacific Coast Highway for the 100 odd miles left to San Francisco!

 

We had the strange sensation this morning of actually feeling a little chilly! We had slept with the balcony doors open last night and fell asleep to the sound of the sea which was amazing but the mist had come in over night and the temperature had dropped to the lowest it has been since we arrived in the States. We all had to put a jumper on!

A very lazy morning ensued before we drove out to Watsonville town centre to stock up on groceries at the Nob Hill grocery store which made us laugh. After two weeks in America, we are now at one with the language; Eliza now asks to use the restroom, Issy talks about sidewalks and jaywalking and Tessa loves oreos and pretzels. Having said that, we fool no-one and everyone knows we’re English!

By the time we returned, the sun had burned the mist away and the weather was set fair despite a cool wind blowing off the sea. We spent the afternoon on the beach relaxing which was much needed after a fairly mad previous week. We enjoyed the calm tranquility of having a large stretch of beautiful coastline almost to ourself; we shared it with only a handful of other families which was lovely. Brown Pelicans swooped along the surf in large groups (18 in a row at one point) and the girls built a sand model of Splash Mountain from Disneyland.

We had a nice supper on our balcony watching the sun set and are very much looking forward to tomorrow when we are off first thing on a whale watching cruise. Fingers crossed we see some in action!

So it turns out that four in a bed is not the best recipe for a good nights sleep. On the plus side, we did get breakfast with the room at the Best Western so we filled our stomachs ready for the day ahead despite feeling a little jaded! Check out wasn’t until 12 so we made the most of a spare couple of hours and made good use of the pool and spa on another gorgeous day of sunshine.

We then set off for Watsonville along Route 1 – The Pacific Coast Highway. We drove it for 4 hours from Morro Bay to Watsonville, over 120 miles. It was absolutely breathtaking, exhilarating to drive and a little hair-raising at times. For most of the route it was a single lane highway that wound tightly around the cliff tops with hair-pin corners and a maximum speed of 25 mph and all the time you had the beautifully vast expanse of blue that it is the Pacific Ocean just on your left. There were times when we cut through and over mountains and down through tree lined valleys and one point we were even driving above and then in the clouds. It was really magical.  Along the way were numerous places to stop and take in the breathtaking view of the rugged unspoiled coastline, beautiful ocean and amazing sea creatures. Words and pictures cannot even begin to do it justice but it was an amazing experience and one that will stay with us all for a very long time.

We arrived at our beach condo just after 5pm a little nervous after our experience at the Madonna Inn last night, but were relieved to find that all was well and that our condo was absolutely beautiful.  Judging by the squeals of delight from the girls about their bedroom and the overall sea views, we clearly had done well in this choice of accommodation, particularly after 2 long days of travelling. It has a stunning sea view from the living room and our bedroom, with a balcony and a little path from the back door onto a private beach. After we settled in, we ordered in pizza’s, drank beer and watched the sun set in absolute heaven wishing we had more than 3 nights here!

It’s amazing how long it takes to pack up a months worth of stuff from a hotel room! We eventually managed to get up, breakfast, pack and load the car for an 11am departure from San Diego. We had such a good time here, the city is just beautiful and there was so much more to see. I think we’ll definitely be back!

We set out on the 330 mile trip to San Luis Obispo for our one night stop-over at the quirky Madonna Inn. The first half of the journey was fairly urban and stop start as we made our way back and around LA. Traffic was slow and heavy in parts yet we were all in good spirits. Our rental car (Ford Edge) is very spacious and comfortable and nice to drive which has made the whole driving experience so much more pleasant.

We made good use of the Car Pool express lanes and made reasonable progress around LA to eventually meet up with the Pacific Coast Highway at Ventura and it was stunning to drive alongside the sea. We then cut inland at Santa Barbara and went over the Santa Ynez mountains which was absolutely breathtaking, both to look at and to drive through.

After 7 hours (with a couple of quick toilet stops) we eventually rolled into the car park of the Madonna Inn. We entered reception only to be told that they had cancelled our room earlier today, due to the previous occupants leaving it unrentable, and had no other availability of rooms. They had tried to contact us via email but we were on the road and unaware!

We were obviously very cross and disappointed and they were absolutely no help to us which did not make things any better. To cut a long story short, I rang around the local hotels to find us some accommodation. Most places were obviously full but thankfully, upon hearing our plight, the manager at the Best Western Royal Oak, just up the road, managed to fit us in despite being full! If only the Madonna Inn had been so helpful given they had put us in this situation!

We squeezed into smallish bedroom (we’ll be sleeping like the Waltons) grateful to have somewhere to stay. The girls were happy as it had an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) next door which we visited for supper. Sadly, they did not serve alcohol!

Whilst it is disappointing to have our plans spoiled, thankfully it is only for a one night stop over and we will be back on the road tomorrow for the 180 miles up to our holiday home in Monterey hoping for better luck!

Today felt like the hottest day so far with scorching sun and little shade throughout the day. The Zoo is located fairly close to central San Diego in Balboa Park and we caught the hotel courtesy shuttle bus there at 9.30am.

The zoo is very impressive but almost impossible to do in a single day due to the sheer scale of it. Having said that we gave it our best shot and saw everything we wanted to. We walked the length and breadth of the park but also took the Skyfari and Kangaroo bus at various points to give a bit of relief in the heat. We particularly enjoyed the Skyfari as the views were beautiful so we rode it twice!

Throughout the day we saw some beautiful animals in amazing settings. Particular highlights included the Giant Panda, the Africa section (elephant, cheetah, giraffe, lion and rhino),  as well as seeing Orangutans, Koala Bears and Tigers.

But our favourite moment had to be seeing the majestic Polar bear. We were lucky enough for it to swim to within the width of a pane of glass away from us which was absolutely unbelievable.

After a long day in the sun, the hotel shuttle bus picked us all up fairly exhausted at 6pm. We headed back to the hotel and whilst we would have loved to go out and explore more of San Diego, we made the sensible decision to have a quick swim and then eat at the hotel prior to bed.

Tomorrow brings about the first of the big driving days on this trip as we head north up the Pacific Coast Highway for over 300 miles to our one night stop-over in San Luis Obispo.

We opted for a slowish start this morning and by the time we had finished breakfast and were ready for the day it was gone 11. We headed up to the La Jolla district (pronounced La Hoya) via the coastal road and it was beautiful. We spent the first couple of hours over a picnic lunch swimming at the Childrens Pool which was a beautiful little cove built originally for the youth of the local community. We had a great time just relaxing and doing some snorkelling with some seals and sea-lions in the near vicinity.

We then drove a bit further up the coast to the main La Jolla Cove which is renowned as an Underwater State Park due to its kelp beds and sea life and also because it is home to hundreds of seals and sea lions. The tiny beach was very crowded but we managed to find a small spot to use as a base. It was quite amazing, the water was full of people and seals/sea-lions (still can’t really tell the difference) all happily just swimming together. I did a bit of snorkelling and came face to face with one under the surface which was quite a shock but it was lovely to see them up so close, even if they were a bit stinky!

We all got a bit sun-scorched so set off for a late afternoon stroll across the cliff tops and were utterly amazed to find literally hundreds of seals/sea-lions sleeping on the rocks including pups. We were able to get within touching distance of them which was quite remarkable and an incredible experience for all of us and we ended up spending a good hour just watching them and taking hundreds of photos!

When we had finally had enough and exhausted the batteries on our cameras we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before heading to downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter for some well earned supper. We had a great meal outside and enjoyed watching the world go by before heading home to bed!

Another gloriously sunny and hot day with not a cloud in the sky. We caught the 9.00am hotel shuttle bus to SeaWorld which was only 10 minutes away.

Despite never getting to grips with the map and how to find where we wanted to go, we managed to see most things that we wanted to around the park. It was noticeable how much quieter SeaWorld was than our Disney experience which surprised me a bit. We headed straight to the dolphins and were lucky enough to be able to stroke and feed them. We then saw them in action in the show which was fantastic.

Becky was keen to see the piranhas being fed so that was our next stop. It was quite grisly watching them fight over a large dead fish and see the speed with which it disappeared. We then stumbled upon an area of Bat Rays. Again we were able to feed and touch them which was absolutely amazing and probably my favourite part of the day. They were so friendly and keen to have their heads stroked.

We then queued for the Orca show and were not disappointed. They were absolutely incredible and to top it off we got absolutely soaked by a wave caused by one of their tails! The water was freezing but it helped cool us off and we dried out pretty quickly.

We also managed to catch the sea lion show, saw beluga whales, penguins, sea otters, sharks and much much more.

The hotel shuttle bus collected us just after 5pm at the end of another long day and took us back to the hotel. We had a swim in the pool before supper and then watched some trashy American TV to wind down before bed.

After the previous two days exertions we made the decision to not use the 3rd day of our Disneyland Park Hopper tickets and instead, spent our last morning in Anaheim chilling by the pool. The hotel allowed us to check out but still use the facilities and we had a blissful couple of hours, which was just what we needed to recharge the batteries and relax, a stark contrast to the madness of Disney! It was another hot day (33c) without a cloud in the sky.

We then drove the 90 miles south, using Route 5, to San Diego. We made good use of the Car Pool lane (for 2 or more in a car) as everyone in and around LA seems to drive on their own so we had a lane to ourself for quite a bit of the journey.

Once we had checked in to our hotel and settled in, we took a walk to the Old Town and State Historic Park which was absolutely great, It was where San Diego originated and had the look and feel of the Wild West coupled with Mexico.

We had a Mexican meal with Margaritas (allegedly the best in San Diego and were actually very good), bottles of Corona and Fajitas and really enjoyed it before getting a cab back to the hotel. We finished the evening off with a few hands of rummy before bed!

A late start to the day following our exertions yesterday in the Disneyland Park. After a good breakfast we made it to the other park in the resort – California Adventure by around 10am. It was even hotter but we had another fantastic day. Highlights included the Radiator Springs Cars ride and the Grizzly River Run but we also met a lot of other characters and took in a couple of shows.

We took a couple of hours out of the park for supper at around 6pm and then returned to Disneyland Park for the firework show at 9.30pm which was fantastic. We eventually got back to our hotel room exhausted but happy around 10.30pm ready for our beds.