Day 18 weds 6th

This was our last day in Santa Barbara, and there was definitely the feeling of 'the last few days' as we began to organise ourselves for the end of the trip and the last packing before the big one!

Naturally, after all this shopping, the last thing we needed to do was to go buy stuff...OK that was the theory but there were just one or two things we'd spotted along the way and decided to pop out to get!

What a mistake that was! We'd left Siena happily chilling and reading in the room, telling her we'd just be a couple of hours, so when we got back 5 hours later we expected her to be pretty mad. Turned out she's hardly moved but had managed to polish off a few books and some of the fruit and snacks in the room!

Anyway, we'd finally finished buying. No more. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Oh, apart from a couple of things that we'd get if we happened to pass the right shop again !

Finn, Derry and Alan decided that one mode of transport we'd failed to go on since we started back in May was a bike - so we hired a couple of the trikes and pootled off along the road. This being California, of course, everything is marked and you follow a highly prescribed route (rowt?!). Finn was in a single seater, and - as you'd expect - quickly worked out how to spin the wheels, skid, wheelie, veer widely off course and stop right on front of the more sedately paced dad'n'Derry machine. I'm sure we terrorised the neighbourhood, and were frequently on the receiving end of vexed Californian expressions of dismay and shock that we'd veered 20cm to the left of the road dividing line. Well it's tough to stay on track when you're trying to ram a single seater with a 7 yr old girl doing the steering and you're pedalling like fury!

Satisfied that we'd left the neighbourhood in disarray and secret admiration of our rebelliousness, we chucked the keys back at the rental clerk - and the safety helmets, high visibility jackets, flag, safety harness....

By now it was high time we saw Peter and Robert again - this time we'd been invited out to an out of town family run Italian restaurant which was a favourite haunt of theirs.

The biggest surprise of the day was waiting for us when the guys presented our kids with an array of pressies. We were utterly unprepared, particularly when one of the presents was a longboard/skateboard for Finn, whose jaw spent several minutes on the ground. Suzanne and I were mostly calculating how the heck we were going to get that in amongst everything else we'd just bought!

Derry was presented with a bear we soon named Wilbur, and in the true course of events, Wilbur was about half Derry's size, fairly solid and clearly capable of taking up a whole airline seat, never mind a hold bag! Siena wasn't left out, with the most practical - a bag to carry the other things in!!

So everyone was on a real high as we piled into a couple of cars and headed to Petrinis for more pizza and pasta delight. Naturally Finn was first to book his place alongside Peter in his convertible BMW!

Tomorrow morning was going to be a bit of an early start, so we didn't hang around too long after the meal, but we said our goodbyes to Peter and Robert. They'd been so generous and welcoming, we'd all really enjoyed spending time with them and we hoped that Peter's potential planned trip to Europe and London would happen before too long.

So the clan, clutching their gifts, walked the couple of hundred yards back to the Motel, and settled down. Suzanne and I got cracking on packing, which mostly involved creating a huge pile of cardboard and plastic in the corner and trying to cram all the contents into the bags. We were pretty much there by midnight, thank goodness we have an 8 seater which can take us all and the bags!

Day 19 thurs 7th

Final morning at the Marina Bay Motel, we finally managed to have 5 breakfasts without spilling anything! A last minute run around the room picking up the odd piece of new clothing hidden in a bag in a corner somewhere, and we were off away from Santa Barbara for the last time, heading east towards LA, and perilously close to the airport which would send us home!

We were all looking forward to visiting Universal Studios, and even with our bad timekeeping, we were there around 11, not long behind.....The Duncans!!

They're not short of spotting a chance for making a buck or two, these Americans, and Universal has the great idea of offering 'preferred' parking for just a few dollars more, where you get to have your car stored undercover, so avoiding the 95 degree heat, and just a short walk up escalators past a very enthusiastic attendant welcoming us to the home of entertainment!

Walking in to the main entrance, we knew we were in for a good, if roasting hot, day. The first thing we did was pick up our 'VIP' passes - which basically get you to the front of every queue. Another cracking idea! It nearly doubles the price of the ticket, but I'd say is worth every penny. The very first show we saw was Shrek4D, and the untainted if guilty pleasure of walking past folk who'd been there for an hour straight in was sufficient to warrant the credit card dent.

The show, by the way, was great, as you might expect - a cinema style presentation, with moving seats and the odd spray of water which Derry didn't get because she was too short, and which Finn wasn't entirely sure was ogre snot or not! If this was the standard of entertainment to come, we were in for a good day!

Shorty after, we managed to find the Duncans amongst the horde. It wasn't exactly an emotional reunion, but the boys were clearly glad to see each other and all the kids were immediately back in their comfort zone - as, of course were we. We joined forces to go to one of the big shows - Waterworld. Our VIP passes got us to the front row where we were assured of getting wet! Luckily no-one had told us anything about the show, which was really good, as it was quite spectacular - look away now if you don't want to know about it, but basically there was loads of action, explosions (and they are hot!), water, stunts and a full size aeroplane which crashes right through the scenery!

That set the scene for the rest of the day - loads of fun, backwards and forwards up and down the large escalators, sometimes with the chaps, sometimes just us, split up, together, all over the place! We found an almost healthy (but hey, don't get your hopes up) lunch. Having avoided all spillage this morning Alan managed to throw an entire Coke (and they are large!) over the table, and Derry with it!.

Refreshed, we took the studio tour, which was advertised heavily as being the best part of the day - unfortunately for us it didn't match up to the expectations - mainly because what is normally 45 minutes of half a dozen or more 'exhibits' for us became over 90 minutes of waiting in a queue of trams. Unusually there were 2 filming lots on the day (desperate housewives and one other), and we weren't allowed to drive past while they were filming. So the trams backed up against each other, and we sat sweltering without water or loos for all that time. If I'd been producing I'd have made them do it in one take! The shows themselves were impressive - of course - and memorable (Jaws, Psycho, um... and some others...), and the wannabe compere in the bus did his best but was clearly frustrated at the end. It just put a damper on the whole thing, but the kids were really good. (and clearly some things left their mark - including Derry's memory of Psycho some 4 weeks later where the scary man with the knife gave her nightmares!)

One of the highlights of the day was the Simpsons ride. Apparently the same ride as was used for Back to the Future, but beefed up and a whole lotta fun. There's no clue that it's not a roller coaster, but it's an Imax experience in cartoon splendour, as you sit in your 'booth' and race around a cartoon world where gravity is irrelevant and the impossible an everyday occurrence!

Everyone proclaimed it the best ride they'd been on. Siena as yet hadn't been on any of the rides, and looked unlikely to, even missing out on Backdraft - which Suzanne and I thought was great - but she finally went on the Jurassic ride, where they (the girls!) promptly got soaked. Meanwhile the boys had been all together, and getting soaked on their own way by constantly standing in front of the water vapour/spray machines designed to cool the visitors down.

By now the day was getting on, and we knew there were only a few chances left to see the shows. So we all met up again at the Simpsons ride for the second time. Sarah and I grabbed a beer (but you're only allowed to buy one per person) while everyone (Suzanne and Siena included) went on - and loved it.

So with a happy throng of Lintons and Duncans, we trogged off to the last show, Terminator2 - which was a theatre presentation again, great 3D, video and stage effects. All very impressive, and a fitting end to the day.

And so it was time to leave. It had been a fantastic finale to our Californian escapade, and indeed to the whole trip. We were too full of the day to look back over the whole trip, and we decided to leave to find food outside the complex. We suddenly had a hugely upset Finn, who had realised that this was goodbye to Matt for some considerable time, and the enormity of that after 3 weeks of friendship got to him bigtime.

So we reversed our decision and headed back inside, mainly to get some food. Of course, who should we bump into in the queue for the same restaurant...! so although we didn't get to eat together (oh, the steak style food was very good by the way), we did get one more chance to say goodbye to Sarah, Colin and the tribe.... with a very strong intent to see each other before long.

We'd had a cracking day, and looking back on it now it was one of the highlights, even if it was 'American' and not part of the original reasoning or plan for the trip. But it means fantastic memories for the children and us.

The car was slightly subdued on our trip across LA in the dark to our final motel. It took us a little over half an hour, but we all were revelling in the events of the day. When we arrived at the Cal Mar Motel, in Santa Monica, it was a little frustrating to have to haul all our luggage - 7 big bags - up 2 flights of stairs, but at least the room was large, and we could all quickly crash out; the kids were out of it fast but they'd been great all day. What tomorrow, the final day, would bring we could only guess. But we sort of didn't want to think about it.