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We collected our car, a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder………in Orange - looks good though, especially with the roof down! Amy made Gordon drive out of San Francisco as thought it only fair he to experienced the steep one way streets she encountered on the way in. We drove South out of San Francisco and soon picked up California Highway 1 - our home for the next few days. I think it is safe to say we didn't exactly bask in the Californian sunshine, more hide in the fog and mist. There were a few views to be behold, but unfortunately most of the views were immersed in dense mist and fog :-)
We made it to Monterey early afternoon and after checking into the Surf Inn, we headed back down to the Pier, the original "Fisherman's Wharf" - does it make us all old and sad if we actually preferred this one to the San Francisco commercialised version?!? Wandering along the harbour, we spotted grey seals and sea otters playing amongst the kelp - simply beautiful J In the evening we took a stroll back to the town centre (more like a mile long hike!!) to find somewhere for dinner. We ended up in Denny's, "The Diner that's always open" - good job really as the town was dead!!
We were up early again on Tuesday, and back onto Highway 1. Unfortunately yet again, mist and fog was against us, though it did begin to clear in places as we got further south - some beautiful coastal views and finally some Californian sunshine. We went straight through Morro Bay where we were staying for the night, and onto Pismo. We had a lovely walk along the beach, and even a paddle in the sea before heading back north a few miles to Morro Bay, where after a speedy check in, the sun had finally managed to clear the mist. Quite simply the most beautiful and picturesque place we have found so far. Gorgeous harbour, which we enjoyed with our pitcher of Bud, we watched (and heard!!) the Sea Lions playing underneath the deck. It was so lovely, we decided to head back in the evening for dinner to find the Sea Lions still showing off for anyone prepared to stand and watch.
Today we made our final journey down the coast to Los Angeles. We left Morro Bay early, as we wanted to have as much time here as possible. First stop was Santa Monica Beach and Pier, Baywatch Country - disappointingly Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff were nowhere to be seen! Sandy beach as far as the eye can see though in both directions and beautiful blue sea and skies.
Gordon then proved that he is actually no better at navigating than Amy - in fact, arguably worse. Did anyone else know there were 2 Hindry Avenues in Hawthorne?? Well there are, about 5 miles apart, and funnily enough our hotel is only on one of them!!! We eventually located the hotel, and after a speedy check in and freshen up, headed straight back out in search of the Hollywood sign. Having established that short of getting arrested, you can't actually get anywhere near the front of it we settled for a few pictures from distance.
Once back at the hotel, we went in search of dinner and randomly found an Indian just over the road. This road incidentally has 10 lanes of traffic - strangely the white man telling me it is safe to cross doesn't exactly instil me with confidence. Nevertheless, we somehow made it there and back safely and the food was amazing - not quite to the Balti Hut standards, but not a million miles away and certainly made a change to not hear "Do you want fries with that?"
Tomorrow is Disneyland day; we are really looking forward to meeting Mickey, Minnie and of course Tigger!
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