Monday 24th January

We awoke from our first night in the hostel to the realisation that were not allowed to inhabit the hostel from 11 until 5, therefore we asked the reception for things to do and they recommended Henry Cowell State Park. We made the trip up via bus and then hiked for around 5 miles deep into the heart of the forest. A days excursion ensued where we trekked up to the viewpoint (overlook bench) which looked over Santa Cruz and Monterray; a beautiful scene. Pierre and James decided to bus it back due to Wards gammy knee and Pierres lack of motivation. On the other hand, Chewy and Boob decided to walk back, this included trespassing on a exclusive golf course for the bourgeioise of Santa Cruz as well as fighting off bums ( America is full of tramps and bums- its facking ridiculous). Anyways, Chewy and Boob got back.....eventually and were warmed at the sight of Wardy and Pierre sitting on the step with a cold beer. Afterwards, they settled down to another homemade pasta dish ( Pierre and Christian again) and watched Titanic with a guy with learning difficulties and two German b****es who were increasingly cold but pleasurable on the eye.

Tuesday 25th january

We woke up after a night of laughter with Pierre; Entente Cordiale has certainly improved our relations, he loved the company of the English boys and we went to breakfast at Taco Bell. Not a great breakfast but it did the trick. After which we met up or found Billy (our Aussie mate from the Green Tortoise in San Fran) hanging around and went shopping for the rest of the day. Also, we went on a walk of the Santa Cruz coastline, this was amazing until Wardy went missing and we had to call 911...joke. We found him after around half an hour, it was due to James not wearing his glasses although all was well afterwards. The night was a chilled out session which included another homemade meal due to the early morning ahead of us.

Wednesday 26th January

We got up at 6.00am to get the Greyhound bus all the way down to L.A. this turned out to be a 13 hours trip and along the way there was an emotional goodbye to Pierre who was going to Santa Barbara. The moment we said goodbye, over the tanoy at the coach station Sarah Brightman and Andrea Boccelli was playing and we were left with Billy the Kid; 18, pure and impressionable, just the way Boob likes them. We made it into Venice beach, checked ourselves in before acquainting ourselves with the surrounding area and people.