LA was and always will be a slimy hell hole of a place. Although it does have funparks and I do like funparks. Six Flags Magic Mountain did not disappoint - this funpark only has rollercoasters - that's it - period. Brilliant. There were not many people there and sometimes you could stay on the ride and do it twice. As Titch and myself were queuing up for tickets some weird american gave Titch two free tickets as she had them spare. Bummer free admittance. Brilliant day was had by all. We were staying in a cheap hotel in an area that can be best described as a truck stop. There was a 7/11 so we managed to stock up on essentials like beer. Lets not forget we had about 4 30ths to celebrate on this trip...
Our next day started with a nice drive up the coast along highway 1 - we managed to get stuck behind about 50 harley davidson riders just as we hit the winding hilly part of the route. The problem here was that these riders were not hip and young, eager to throttle back and feel the wind in there faces .... oh no - these guys were ancient and did not appear to have enough strength in there feeble little fingers to pull back hard enough on the throttle - Result being a very slow 20mph - 25mph costing us at least one hour in extra traveling time - but it was a very nice scenic route so not too much of a problem really.
We arrived in Santa Barbara, checked out the pier and the main drag - we found a nice warm starbucks - where I found a new brew not offered in the UK ! I got the meal deal which consisted of the Pumpkin Spiced Late with a Pumpkin and cream cheese muffin. Fantastic. Bit sweet though and would not have it again for the entire holiday. I found a radio shack and brought a pair of motorola walkie talkies with a 6 mile range for only £35! (They are over £100 in the UK and they only have a 2mile range(EU LAW only permits up to 2miles) So all in all we brought six and distributed them between our 4 jeeps and my luxury car. Bingo intercar communication - constant trash talking en route for two weeks. Brilliant. We carried on to San Louis Obispo where we had a hostel booked for the night. Very basic accommodation and nice and cheap - quite a nice town and served as a good stopover on the way to San Francisco. We went to a few bars that night and got quite drunk - the last place we went to was a karaoke bar (Brad was refused entry because he did not have photo ID - quite funny really since he is pushing 30!) we kicked on anyway and Daryl got up and sang a song! Brilliant.
Next day nursing quite a few hangovers we proceeded to travel up the coast - we stopped at some famous Golf Club called Pebble Beach -we managed to get down to the the 18th hole and watch some rich people tap the ball in. Very good looking course - would have been fun to hack my way around it but alas I think you need to be able to play and have a big fat wallet to make it to the green. We arrived in San Francisco that night so could not see to much of the city on the drive in.
Our accommodation was comfortable and when the sun rose we were able to explore our surroundings - we found ourselves located about a 5minute walk from the city center. We had a boat to catch this morning and that boat left at 9:05am sharp. we were on our way at 8:00am and a little part of me was wondering "do we have enough time". We arrived at the start of a cable car lane and decided that would be the best way to get there. after about a 25min wait we were finally on a cable car and traveling up the hill. Brilliant. People were hanging of the sides and the cable car was packed. There was a guy in the middle dancing with the controls and bells were going off every over second. It was a hive of activity as the drivers took us on our journey to the bay. The lead driver decided to play us a tune using the bell and his boot. Brilliant! Very impressed with that one - most unexpected. We arrived at our stop and checked our watches - we had 10 mins before departure of our boat and we could not even see the bay yet. Stink. Myself and two others started a mad sprint to pier 41 where we hoped to collect our tickets and have them waiting for our friends when they caught up. As we rounded the bay and approached the pier we heard a loud honk from our boat as it slowly departed the pier......without us. To cut a long story short we managed to get on standby for the next crossing and finally made it to Alcatraz. I did the audio tour and was surprised to find that it was quite good. After a game of hacky sack in the "recreation Yard" we left the island and returned to the mainland.
We went out for dinner at a delancy street foundation restaurant - really nice food and great service in a restaurant overlooking some big bridge. To work in the restaurant you must have been in prison on at least two different occasions - kind of a reform place - so that was unique. I had the meatloaf and it was delicious.
We explored San Fran over the next few days and found it a really nice city - could not live there though - there were far too many crazy and homeless people - really got to love the american way of help yourself or your screwed.
Our next stop was a tiny little town called Jackson - its located within the wine district. There was a wine and food festival on so we visited a few wineries and sampled the local brew which was quite good really. Brought ourselves a few cases and then headed back to to the town. We visited a few local pubs in the area and we could have been in a set from the dukes of hazard. Rickety old pub looking down the main street with the locals leaning on the rails. One of which made it quite clear to me that he did not like bush. I mumbled hallelujah before sinking my head into my ice cold pint. On too our next pub in the area - this one had wood where the windows should have been and the 5 harley Davidson's parked outside really should have made us turn and walk away. But we had already had a few pints and our dutch courage stood up to the challenge as we proceeded in. After a while our eyes adjusted to the darkness and we could see that the pub was not as scary as first thought. A friendly female waitress behind the bar politely asked what we wanted. We got our beers and took up residence near the back of the bar between the two pool tables. We had a large group so for the rest of the night we owned the tables. Actually it was Brad and I who owned the tables as we were undefeated the entire night.
The next day we drove to Yosemite national park and lets just say - it would rank in the top 5 most stunning places I have ever seen! It was quite breathtaking and I was totally blown away. Photos probably won't do it justice but you should get an idea. We had two days here but I think we should have had at least four. We did some nice walks up to waterfalls and wondered around some really large trees. Our accommodation was fantastic - we had an entire lodge to ourselves and while outside on our deck with Daryl we witnessed a deer walk past us. Brilliant.
Our next destination was Vegas but enroute we had to decided to travel through death valley - we made sure we had the air conditioning on to keep the engine nice and cool. I think the temperature got to about 35degrees but it was 4:00pm by the time we got there so mid afternoon could have been a lot hotter. Really enjoyed this part of the drive and on the desert straight we managed to get my Chrysler 300 Touring car to 115mph. Brilliant. Nice car. We arrived in Vegas at dusk - the sky was treating us to a fantastic sunset with a colour explosion everywhere we looked for about 10 minutes before it finally went dark. When this happened we could see our final destination illuminating the sky. Vegas. We had arrived. We found our hotel without too much drama and settled into our beautiful rooms with the marble bathrooms and outstanding view down the strip. Loved the gambling and enjoyed the tables although your money seemed to go down at an alarming pace ! All up at the end I was down $US100 so that's not bad - I had planned on loosing $US400 so on that line of thought I am actually $US300 up!
The wedding was probably the weirdest night for the whole trip - we had drunk about 6 beers each before we even left the hotel - needless to say we were already drunk. We left the hotel and met our two Hummer Limo drivers outside the hotel lobby - one for the girls and one for the boys. Our one hour stag/hens night had started and we would meet again at the Elvis Quickiwed on the strip. Daryl brought along a nice big bottle of chivis regal (whiskey) that was consumed on the rocks at a frantic pace as we made our drive down the strip. We stopped in a few pubs along the way - running in to consume tequila slammers - then running back out to our limo (stop time:4mins - drinks consumed:14). I believe the girls polished off a massive bottle of vodka in the same amount of time as the boys managed our whiskey. Needless to say at this point we were very very drunk. Let the wedding begin..... It was possibly the most funny wedding ever with people dancing in the isles, on the seats with caterpillar flops up the aisle.
Brilliant trip that will be remembered for a long time.
Our next day started with a nice drive up the coast along highway 1 - we managed to get stuck behind about 50 harley davidson riders just as we hit the winding hilly part of the route. The problem here was that these riders were not hip and young, eager to throttle back and feel the wind in there faces .... oh no - these guys were ancient and did not appear to have enough strength in there feeble little fingers to pull back hard enough on the throttle - Result being a very slow 20mph - 25mph costing us at least one hour in extra traveling time - but it was a very nice scenic route so not too much of a problem really.
We arrived in Santa Barbara, checked out the pier and the main drag - we found a nice warm starbucks - where I found a new brew not offered in the UK ! I got the meal deal which consisted of the Pumpkin Spiced Late with a Pumpkin and cream cheese muffin. Fantastic. Bit sweet though and would not have it again for the entire holiday. I found a radio shack and brought a pair of motorola walkie talkies with a 6 mile range for only £35! (They are over £100 in the UK and they only have a 2mile range(EU LAW only permits up to 2miles) So all in all we brought six and distributed them between our 4 jeeps and my luxury car. Bingo intercar communication - constant trash talking en route for two weeks. Brilliant. We carried on to San Louis Obispo where we had a hostel booked for the night. Very basic accommodation and nice and cheap - quite a nice town and served as a good stopover on the way to San Francisco. We went to a few bars that night and got quite drunk - the last place we went to was a karaoke bar (Brad was refused entry because he did not have photo ID - quite funny really since he is pushing 30!) we kicked on anyway and Daryl got up and sang a song! Brilliant.
Next day nursing quite a few hangovers we proceeded to travel up the coast - we stopped at some famous Golf Club called Pebble Beach -we managed to get down to the the 18th hole and watch some rich people tap the ball in. Very good looking course - would have been fun to hack my way around it but alas I think you need to be able to play and have a big fat wallet to make it to the green. We arrived in San Francisco that night so could not see to much of the city on the drive in.
Our accommodation was comfortable and when the sun rose we were able to explore our surroundings - we found ourselves located about a 5minute walk from the city center. We had a boat to catch this morning and that boat left at 9:05am sharp. we were on our way at 8:00am and a little part of me was wondering "do we have enough time". We arrived at the start of a cable car lane and decided that would be the best way to get there. after about a 25min wait we were finally on a cable car and traveling up the hill. Brilliant. People were hanging of the sides and the cable car was packed. There was a guy in the middle dancing with the controls and bells were going off every over second. It was a hive of activity as the drivers took us on our journey to the bay. The lead driver decided to play us a tune using the bell and his boot. Brilliant! Very impressed with that one - most unexpected. We arrived at our stop and checked our watches - we had 10 mins before departure of our boat and we could not even see the bay yet. Stink. Myself and two others started a mad sprint to pier 41 where we hoped to collect our tickets and have them waiting for our friends when they caught up. As we rounded the bay and approached the pier we heard a loud honk from our boat as it slowly departed the pier......without us. To cut a long story short we managed to get on standby for the next crossing and finally made it to Alcatraz. I did the audio tour and was surprised to find that it was quite good. After a game of hacky sack in the "recreation Yard" we left the island and returned to the mainland.
We went out for dinner at a delancy street foundation restaurant - really nice food and great service in a restaurant overlooking some big bridge. To work in the restaurant you must have been in prison on at least two different occasions - kind of a reform place - so that was unique. I had the meatloaf and it was delicious.
We explored San Fran over the next few days and found it a really nice city - could not live there though - there were far too many crazy and homeless people - really got to love the american way of help yourself or your screwed.
Our next stop was a tiny little town called Jackson - its located within the wine district. There was a wine and food festival on so we visited a few wineries and sampled the local brew which was quite good really. Brought ourselves a few cases and then headed back to to the town. We visited a few local pubs in the area and we could have been in a set from the dukes of hazard. Rickety old pub looking down the main street with the locals leaning on the rails. One of which made it quite clear to me that he did not like bush. I mumbled hallelujah before sinking my head into my ice cold pint. On too our next pub in the area - this one had wood where the windows should have been and the 5 harley Davidson's parked outside really should have made us turn and walk away. But we had already had a few pints and our dutch courage stood up to the challenge as we proceeded in. After a while our eyes adjusted to the darkness and we could see that the pub was not as scary as first thought. A friendly female waitress behind the bar politely asked what we wanted. We got our beers and took up residence near the back of the bar between the two pool tables. We had a large group so for the rest of the night we owned the tables. Actually it was Brad and I who owned the tables as we were undefeated the entire night.
The next day we drove to Yosemite national park and lets just say - it would rank in the top 5 most stunning places I have ever seen! It was quite breathtaking and I was totally blown away. Photos probably won't do it justice but you should get an idea. We had two days here but I think we should have had at least four. We did some nice walks up to waterfalls and wondered around some really large trees. Our accommodation was fantastic - we had an entire lodge to ourselves and while outside on our deck with Daryl we witnessed a deer walk past us. Brilliant.
Our next destination was Vegas but enroute we had to decided to travel through death valley - we made sure we had the air conditioning on to keep the engine nice and cool. I think the temperature got to about 35degrees but it was 4:00pm by the time we got there so mid afternoon could have been a lot hotter. Really enjoyed this part of the drive and on the desert straight we managed to get my Chrysler 300 Touring car to 115mph. Brilliant. Nice car. We arrived in Vegas at dusk - the sky was treating us to a fantastic sunset with a colour explosion everywhere we looked for about 10 minutes before it finally went dark. When this happened we could see our final destination illuminating the sky. Vegas. We had arrived. We found our hotel without too much drama and settled into our beautiful rooms with the marble bathrooms and outstanding view down the strip. Loved the gambling and enjoyed the tables although your money seemed to go down at an alarming pace ! All up at the end I was down $US100 so that's not bad - I had planned on loosing $US400 so on that line of thought I am actually $US300 up!
The wedding was probably the weirdest night for the whole trip - we had drunk about 6 beers each before we even left the hotel - needless to say we were already drunk. We left the hotel and met our two Hummer Limo drivers outside the hotel lobby - one for the girls and one for the boys. Our one hour stag/hens night had started and we would meet again at the Elvis Quickiwed on the strip. Daryl brought along a nice big bottle of chivis regal (whiskey) that was consumed on the rocks at a frantic pace as we made our drive down the strip. We stopped in a few pubs along the way - running in to consume tequila slammers - then running back out to our limo (stop time:4mins - drinks consumed:14). I believe the girls polished off a massive bottle of vodka in the same amount of time as the boys managed our whiskey. Needless to say at this point we were very very drunk. Let the wedding begin..... It was possibly the most funny wedding ever with people dancing in the isles, on the seats with caterpillar flops up the aisle.
Brilliant trip that will be remembered for a long time.
