266 days since selling up, 138 until the grand return. David Jones recording.
Well it's a little confusing because we are currently in Hawaii enjoying island life, which means lazing around, watching the surf, soaking up the rays, watching the surf, eating, drinking, reading and watching the surf. Book fans: Agatha's on the last chapter (drum roll), now looking for an agent! Know any?
Let's give you a quick catch up. Had a brilliant time in San Francisco; we had both left our hearts there on a previous visit, so picked them up at the train station and I think lost them again on the drive to Los Angeles down the Big Sur. If I could, I think I would live in San Francisco. It's a beautiful city: just so beautiful and unique. The Golden Gate Bridge, the hills, the cable cars and trolley buses, pastel buildings, the bay and the Pacific Ocean, stunning!
We stayed at a Travelodge in Marina District, near Presido Park, the perfect place for us: near the marina and an easy walk to the bridge, and down a quiet, quiet road. Slightly longer walk to Fisherman's Wharf but easily do-able. Cable car or trolley bus to the main shopping district. Whilst in San Francisco, we did all the sights, including some we hadn't done before. We saw the brown bison in Golden Gate Park, the Painted Ladies - a famous row of Victorian houses that survived the 1906 earthquake and have the city skyline shimmering behind. Virtually lived in Chestnut St near our hotel, doing most things there: eating out, getting our haircut (thanks to the ladies at FLiP), doing our laundry (in the coolest laundromat on the west coast - thanks Missing Sock!) and going to the cinema (Black Swan - but I wouldn't bother...)
After three days we then moved on to spend the next five days driving down Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles - the highlight was the Big Sur - 100 miles of spectacular mountainside driving right by the Pacific. We saw stunning scenery and wildlife, including the McWay falls (pictured below).
We then experienced a surprising beach full of elephant seals (look below, and then look again - they are seals not boulders!) They were making such a noise, like giant woopee cushions. We listened to them, hudreds of them, shouting and burping and playing as we watched the sun set into the Pacific ocean: so romantic! We also spent some time whale watching looking for the tell-tale sign of a spurt of water in the ocean (there are photos in the album).
On our journey we also visited Hearst Castle, the amazing home of William Randolf Hearst, the publishing millionaire. It was like an ornate Mediterranean village. It was very 1920s, and apparantly lots of famous stars and personalities of the time stayed there (Charlie Chaplin, David Niven, Gary Cooper, Amelia Earhart, and Hearst's mistress the actress Marion Davies). We had a brilliant tour guide - thanks Diane - and if you want to get a sense of the time, Diane recommends watching 'The Cat's Meow' - an Eddie Izzard film about an incident on a boat in the 1920s including W.R. Hearst and his mistress, Marion Davies. We have a copy - but it's deep in the heart of the lock-up, ask to borrow sometime in the summer.
We continued on our journey until will arrived in Los Angeles, the day after the Golden Globes. We didn't see anybody famous, but took a whistle stop tour of all the sights. LA has never been my favourite place, but at least this time it was hot and sunny, the other time I had been here it was cold and rainy like Brighton on an August bank holiday. From here we caught our plane to Hawaii, such fun!
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