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Summer Hols: California Part II

Here we have it – the conclusion of Californian adventure!

I left off last time having just left Santa Monica and was about to begin the drive north with the ultimate goal being to land in San Francisco by the Thursday or Friday, ready for my flight on Saturday afternoon back to Indianapolis.

The next stop on my drive was Malibu. Malibu is a beautiful stretch of the coastline with warm, sandy beaches and, naturally, plenty of palm trees. It’s also home to many celebrities of the LA area, although I didn’t see any around. I spent a few hours at Surfrider Beach here, and had fresh fish from a restaurant whilst sitting on the pier over looking the ocean. The view from the pier and the beach was postcard-esque and, just across the other side of the Pacific Coast Highway was the biggest KFC bucket I’ve ever seen!!

Moving up from Malibu I later arrived in Santa Barbara during the early evening. The sun was just going down but it was still incredibly warm, and the coast areas were full of young people just, well, hanging around. It was like a High School Musical version of some chavs hanging around a bus stop in the UK! I walked around the harbour for a bit, looking at some boats, before I started to wonder what the hell I was actually doing and headed into town. In the centre of the town area there was a market going on, I don’t know if it was a weekly or a nightly thing, but the main street through was closed off to traffic. This was great for people watching, as there was some strange, strange characters that walked past. I was making these observations from my seat inside a FISH AND CHIP SHOP! It claimed to be authentic and to be fair it was pretty close. The bigger surprise was the amount of British people in there! I only spent the one afternoon and night in Santa Barbara, and it also happened to be the one night where I had a really cool room at a pretty good price. It was at a Super8 motel – Google Maps you did me proud again!

The rest of the trip now gets a little bit hazy until I actually get to San Francisco. I don’t mean that in a ‘Hangover’ kind of way after I’d been roofied up by someone, just that I was stopping at so many places that I can’t really remember what order I did them in … although the photo album does kind of help the memory. Basically, the next few paragraphs are gonna be a bit choppy is what I’m trying to say.

On the drive up north I visited a vineyard. That was pretty much it; I turned up, walked around their small visitors centre (that extended to a some yards outside), and that was it. I even walked through the wine tasting area and was completely ignored by everyone – I would understand but I didn’t even have the ‘tache then. Still, around this area was probably some of the hottest weather I experienced out in California; it was absolutely baking – but in a nice way. There was hardly any humidity.

I then stopped at one place on the coast that looked very much like the set to the Disney film ‘Pete’s Dragon’. It was a very busy fishing harbour with lots of small boats and a real fishy smell in the air – you wouldn’t have though it really would you!? Echoing in the background was the barks from some seals/sea lions, so after a short stroll down the pier I was making my little sister jealous back home by emailing her camera phone pictures of the seals playing in the water.

Next up was the area of Monterey and Carmel. This is where I really started to notice that change in the scenery, landscape, and vegetation. The palm trees that had been everywhere in the south had now started to disperse and were replaced by ‘normal’ looking trees (David Attenborough eat your heart out). The coast now was also raising straight out of the ocean, compared to the gentle, flat sandy beaches that I had become used to. Some of the driving and the roads were absolutely breath-taking with very sharp drops into the ocean should you not be paying enough attention to the road. This scenery continued for pretty much the whole stretch of what is known as the Big Sur, and truthfully the views looked more and more European the further I travelled north. Especially when the mist coming off of the Pacific ocean meant that visibility was reduced to a medium fog, and of course the temperature dropped a lot – not great when you’re still wearing shorts. Walking around Carmel (the town where Clint Eastwood was once Mayor) this again had a very European feel; there were coffee shops and even a British tea and sweet shop – I think it was based on a Jane Austen theme. The view when I walked down to the beach was amazing – there were people sunbathing everywhere but there was NO SUN. Obviously it was there, as each time I took my sunglasses off to see properly I was then blinded by the glare. Oddly it was still really warm, it was just the amount of mist that was coming off the ocean.

Once I had set off driving again, I went to find the Bixby Creek Bridge. This is the big bridge that is featured in the Visit California video on my last post, and it’s a beautiful construction. I won’t turn this into a nerd-a-thon, so no facts I’m afraid (although it was very important in the linking of north and south California!). The photographs that I took aren’t great I’m afraid, as the mist was rolling in thick and I was worried about falling over the very steep edges. I also did the 17 Mile Drive which is renowned for it’s scenery around the Pebble Beach area, but I couldn’t really see much as the light was fading and, surprise surprise, there was fog and mist galore. It was a strange feeling though, and highlighted even more clearly the varying climates and environments in California – this area could have been Scotland. There was also a great salty aroma and taste to the air, which reminded me of home and Old Hunstanton beach during the winter (that’s a good thing, by the way).

Next up was a stop in Santa Cruz. This was a nice town, I didn’t see much of it other that the pier and the board walk as I only stayed overnight and then moved on by late morning. I also liked it because the palm trees were back again (although only temporarily). The main thing I remember from Santa Cruz was a sign on one of the food stands offering Deep Fried Cheesecake … I mean, I love cheesecake, but DEEP FRIED?!

This now begin my final drive up to San Francisco. Now, I’m going to put it out there straight away, but I wasn’t a big fan of the place. Most people I’ve told that to are generally a little shocked by it (ok, shocked may be a over exaggeration) but for me it just felt a little too much like the UK/Europe for it be American (I guess that’s actually a huge compliment to San Francisco, heh). I don’t mean that I hated it, far from it, it just will not be somewhere that I’ll rush back to. I did most of the touristy bits: walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, Pier 39, and also drive down the windy Lombard street so many times that I lost count. The hotel that I stayed in here for one night was also on the dodgy side. For starters they offered valet parking. I HATE valet parking – I think it stems from the fact that I don’t like other people driving my car. Even though this wasn’t my car, I still didn’t want to let the Mustang go, but I did. The hotel room just made things even worse. The door didn’t shut properly and, of the two beds, one of them looked like the last occupant was probably murdered on top of the sheets. Or maybe just really messy with the wine, I don’t know. The most important thing was that it was right in the middle of the city though, so was a great base for exploring.

I was amazed at the inclines of the roads, the angles of which made me want to drive everywhere. Even then it’s a very strange feeling as the bonnet/hood of the car stops you getting a good view of traffic at an intersection as it’s just pointing directly up into air. I felt like I was in a movie most of the time, driving up and down the roads – I just wish I could have made a few jumps. I left San Francisco one afternoon and headed over to Walnut Creek to the San Francisco Creamery http://www.sanfranciscocreameryco.com/. This place was featured on Man Vs. Food for their giant ice cream – it’s called the Kitchen Sink and I attempted it. Well, I failed miserably at it. It was some awesome ice cream though, however it did some bad stuff to my body. On reflection, and with the benefit of hindsight, I probably should have went to the bathroom before leaving this place. Maybe it was the brain freeze or the insane sugar rush, but I didn’t go and just headed back to the car. This was bad, because as soon as I got onto the freeway I needed to pee very badly. Still, the feeling was manageable. That is until I reached what I think was the Bay Bridge. The traffic here was terrible, bumper to bumper, and my bladder felt like it was expanding to a size that could possibly cure world drought in one sweep. I readied a water bottle as a last resort, but in a country where everyone drives a Pick Up or some other giant vehicle, you have to be wary of people watching in. The pain was then getting pretty bad, as 4lbs of ice cream is digesting inside of me and thankfully the traffic started moving. I finally got my movie sequence as I rushed through the traffic and off the bridge, now just looking for a fast food restaurant or gas station. By now my jeans are undone to relieve some of the pressure around my waist, when I finally spotted a gas station! I pulled in, parked up, and did quite possibly one of the most ridiculous walks/runs of my laugh into the kiosk all the time sweating like Dr Conrad Murray at MJ’s funeral. I found the bathroom, but it was locked. I then become all un-British-like and went straight to the front of the queue to get the key … and that was the end of that: relief!

That was also pretty much the end of my trip too, as the next day I flew back to Indianapolis with plenty of photographs, souvenirs and memories. As a bonus I was also able to drop the Mustang off without having to explain an odd urine coloured stain on the leather. Phew.

I’ll be uploading the photos to my Flickr tomorrow evening, writing this just took so much longer than I thought …

Summer Hols: California Part I

A few weeks ago I posted a blog that rambled on and on about my trip to Utah on my summer hols. Well, the next leg of my trip was taking me to California. Cali. CA. The state where they elected The Terminator as their Governor. My whole stay in California was scheduled for 7 days; I had booked the flight into Los Angeles and a flight departing San Francisco a week later, but other than that I had nothing planned. Well, I had the rental car sorted, but I’ll come onto that in a moment. I think I might end up splitting this blog into a couple of entries: one for SoCal and one for NorCal, as otherwise it could be pretty lengthy.

So, having avoided the Mormon fundamentalists and a life of multiple wives successfully (wait, hang on …) I boarded my plane at Salt Lake City and headed off to L.A.

On landing in LA I headed to the car rental office. When I say “headed to the car rental office” what I actually mean is that I jumped on a bus at the airport and 20 minutes later we were at the Biggest Car Park In The World. LAX is a massive airport. After renting the Camaro in Utah, I had decided to rent a cheap little car for the week here. I’d like to say that the woman at the rental desk was an excellent salesperson, capable of selling ice to an eskimo,  but that would be lying … because I buckled at even the slightest prompt of upgrading to a Mustang. I did get a very good rate, in my defence, and when asked what colour I wanted I did go for a plain-ish one. If a little bling.

With some help from friends in the US that either live or have lived in California, I came up with the rough list of destinations. I managed to visit all of them in the week with the basic plan being to drive North from LA using the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH1) up to San Francisco.

• Los Angeles
• Laguna Beach
• Newport Beach
• Huntington Beach
• Venice (Muscle) Beach
• Santa Monica
• Malibu
• Santa Barbara
• Pismo Beach
• Monterey
• Carmel
• Santa Cruz
• San Francisco

On leaving the airport (complete with MASSIVE grin from the Mustang), I drove around pretty aimlessly trying to get my bearings. Realising I was driving in and out of some “interesting” looking neighbourhoods (and not knowing which gang colours I was wearing), I punched “ the Hollywood Sign” into Google Maps on my phone and off I went. Driving around and through LA is pretty crazy; the driving is nothing like here in Indiana. The freeways were some of the busiest, largest roads I’ve ever driven on. In some places I’m pretty sure there were at least 6 lanes of traffic and everyone bumper to bumper. Again in contrast to Indiana the roads were in pretty good condition – even had cats eyes which were very helpful at night! Driving around was very cool; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, there were palm trees everywhere, and the car was awesome.

The drive towards the Hollywood sign took you through some cool looking neighbourhoods as you headed up into the hills. I parked up at a place that, strangely, also offered horse riding at their “ranch”. Pretty bizarre. There’s a long walk up a continuous, winding slope to get anywhere near the sign which, during midday LA heat, was tough going. The view across the city (or part of it) was incredible although a little off putting when you can see the pollution hovering above it like a cloud. The view of the sign was pretty good too.

Before leaving for LA I had also bought a ticket online to go and watch the LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center. It was a good game (with all the usual American sports event theatrics thrown in) although I refused to celebrate when Robbie Keane scored for LA (being ex Tottenham and all that plus the fact I was wearing an Arsenal shirt). Despite multiple requests from my sisters (and one of their boyfriends) there was no kidnap of David Beckham. Leaving the game that night I headed further south of LA and to Laguna Beach. I wanted to go down to San Diego, but with my relatively short time I didn’t know if I’d be able to squeeze it in; I guess I’ll have to put it on my ‘list’.

LA and Orange County were incredible for car spotting; it just got boring in the end. Ferraris, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis … it was like being at a real world Goodwood Festival of Speed that I attend in the UK. Although some examples did prove that money doesn’t equal taste or class, as this Rolls Royce that I saw proves … It wasn’t all that bad though, as I saw plenty of beautifully cared for old American classics driven by old men with very young looking girlfriends. Speaking of old men with young girlfriends, I tried to find the Playboy mansion whilst I was out there but other than driving to some huge gates where Google said it was, that’s all I saw.

The weather here was amazing, every day being warm sunshine. Which was lucky as the beaches were huge and packed with people surfing, playing volleyball, or posing. Mostly two of those at the same time; the show offs doing all three. When you’re glowing in a UV ray induced bronze and have spent hours in the gym, that’s fine. But I wasn’t and I didn’t. I don’t possess that truly English capability of going bright red in the sun, but I had only been there a day so had some catching up to do. I spent a few days at the beach areas, each one with it’s own character. Newport Beach was really cool; I liked the boardwalk and the pier. I hired a beach cruiser bike for the afternoon and cycled up to Huntingdon Beach and at times I felt like I was in one of the visit California TV adverts as random strangers were high-five-ing me as they rollerbladed, skateboarded, or cycled past in the other direction. All I needed was some random celebrities thrown into the mix.

It’s mostly all true …

Huntingdon Beach is obviously the place to be if you’re an out of work Dr or looking for some evening work, as every small shop on the beach front had a Dr on site that could ‘help’ you with your cannabis prescription; for medicinal use of course. It was a pretty crazy area: I even saw someone dressed in a Santa outfit, just passed out laying on a bench but I wasn’t able to get a photo.

Santa Monica was very nice too, quite expensive, but I loved the pier (which was used in Forest Gump). At night-time, it looked so cool with the fairground all lit up. I also met up with a friend and her family there for the evening, so I saw a familiar face (and got beat by little kids at fairground games!). The beach was massive and a the time I visited it not very busy at all. Moving on from here I went onto Malibu where the sand was seriously white and the ocean ridiculously clear. Compared to any water I’ve ever swam in before, the Pacific Ocean has to be the choppiest, most wavy that I’ve known.

Before hitting Santa Monica, I had gone back into Los Angeles to do the touristy parts of Hollwood and Sunset Boulevard, Rodeo Drive (no I did not feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman), and then Downtown Disney (yes I did feel weird). Rodeo Drive and Beverley Hills matched all the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media; in the couple of hours that I spent walking around the streets laden with designer boutiques, I think I saw at least two women carrying sorry excuses for dogs in their handbags.

To be honest the strangest part of my Disney visit was, strangely, not being a single grown man at a family amusement park but instead my accommodation that night. Now, as I had done in Utah, I had no lodgings booked for my travelling – I was just going to find somewhere each night to sleep. Around Newport, Huntingdon, and Santa Monica I had been really lucky finding great hotels on beach fronts at pretty good rates. However, when I went searching in Anaheim (where Disneyland is) my luck ran out. When the guy at the front desk, standing in his office with bars separating the two of us, tells me that it will cost “$60 for the night, $200 if you want to see the morning” that should really have set my alarm bells ringing. But it didn’t. So I parked the car up, paid my monies, and took my solitary case up to my room where the whole place looked like a crime scene. Adventures are best, right?! This place was so hardcore it didn’t have covers round power outlets (probably ok with wussy American 110v power) and I had a microwave in the bedroom where a TV would normally be.

I think that will do for this post as I’ve written more than I wanted to, so I’ll write the rest of the trip in another entry another time. Even though I was only in the Southern California area for a few days, it’s one of my favourite places I’ve visited in America. Perhaps even the world. It’s definitely up there. And not just because of Katy Perry and her California Gurls …

I’ve got a huge amount of photos of Hollywood and all the beach areas that I went to that I need to upload to my Flickr, so I’ll get on that in the next couple of days too. Bye for now.