We arrived at Universal Studios Hollywood just as it opened and were pleased to see that a Monday before the summer holiday was the perfect day to come. The queues were modest, there were no crowds and not that many kids so we were able to get around to pretty much everything that the park had to offer before the early closing time of 6pm (it opens later from Memorial Day Weekend which seems to signify the start of summer for all things this side of the pond).

We started with the Haunted House which had some pretty cool sets and effects as well as real people jumping out at you. Rich’s feet bore the brunt of this when the skittish girl in front jumped back on them a few times! We then went on to enjoy the Mummy Returns ride, the Jurassic Park ride, the Fear Factor Live show and the Animal Actors show. We also did the studio tour – naturally – and we were thrilled to get to see the Jaws set, the plane crash set from War of the Worlds, plus lots of treats on the backlot including Wisteria Lane as the Desperate Housewives show was on hiatus.

By 5pm, we had done it all so we wandered back through the Universal City shops towards the car when I spied the Things From Another World shop – a comic book shop. We spent half an hour browsing and then after a couple of choice purchases, we jumped in the car to head for Hollywood. We took a meander along Mulholland Drive and then eventually found somewhere to park in Hollywood. We arrived camera in hand to see the stars on the pavement (a little bit of an anti-climax) and Gruhman’s Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre and then quickly realised that there is not really that much to do in Hollywood. We took a ton of photos and left, not even an hour since we parked (making the $10 flat fee rather expensive’) and decided to head back to Santa Monica.

We drove back with the top down along Sunset Boulevard, through West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and finally arrived in Santa Monica. I wanted to see Venice Beach so we carried on driving a bit further only to find everything very much closed up and quiet and nowhere to eat. We took a quick gander at Muscle Beach – clearly not the same empty but interesting to see the gym on the beach nonetheless – and then headed back for some grub.

The overcast weather looked set to continue as we left Santa Barbara to make our way to Anaheim, Los Angeles.  We were staying in Santa Monica but first we had tickets for a baseball game – the LA Angels vs the LA Dodgers at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim.  The weather turned out to be perfect as we sat for three hours or so in the unsheltered seats high up on the upper tier with a fantastic view of the game.  We had enjoyed the Mets game we went to last year in New York, so were looking forward to seeing another baseball game.  This time we were treated to five runs in all (instead of just the one in thirteen innings in the last game we saw) – four of them for the Angels and three in one innings.

The fans were all mixed and it was interesting to see the difference in attitude to the opposing teams’ fans – there was good-humoured joshing and chanting but no feeling of hostility.  Whilst this very much made for an enjoyable game, especially for the neutral supporters that we were, we did feel that they also missed out on the elation of winning, the passion of supporting a team.  When the team won, after the initial clapping and cheering, the fans filed out quite unaffected by the game.  With the LA Angels now our second team, we left the game happy and thinking that the best of both worlds would be to have the passion but without the negative element that comes with it.

Back on the freeway, we were directed by SatNav to Santa Monica and the Doubletree Suites.  Our room was fab – a suite (as the name suggests) with plenty of space and a nice view of the freeway!  The view didn’t matter though – we soon got ready to explore Santa Monica, by far the nicest place in LA we found.  The sea-front is pretty quaint and the pier quite similar to Santa Barbara only with a funfair at the end.  The pier and front is featured in so many TV shows and films that it seems quite familiar to us (well, me at least) and we could recognise exact spots where certain scenes had been filmed.  Besides that, however, the appeal of the pier was more limited than we were expecting – I lived in a town with the longest pleasure pier in the world after all!  The funfair was no better than that of Brighton pier and the weather was certainly more Brighton than L.A., that was for sure.

From the pier, we walked to the 3rd Street Promenade.  This was a treat.  Street performers filled the centre of the pedestrianised street and shops, cafes and cinemas.  We meandered up the street and decided to catch a movie.  Whilst we waited for the start of the film, we found a great little diner to have some food.  We had finally caught on to not ordering too much food so we enjoyed a very good quality and normal-sized burger.  I revelled in the opportunity to drink root beer everywhere we went, with all its Germaline-flavoured goodness.  Rich could not really see the appeal so I left him to his strawberry milkshakes (yuk!) and he let me indulge in root beer.

We very much enjoyed the film – Next with Nicolas Cage – and then strolled back to our hotel feeling quite beat.  It is quite strange to think how much we had done that day already and we went to bed looking forward to a day at Universal Studios the next day.

We were disappointed to peak through our curtains of our hotel room to find an overcast, rather gloomy sky.  We had expected the weather to improve the further south we got and so far that was not proving to be the case.  The weather was still mild, though, so we decided to get out to see the Mission of Santa Barbara and have a proper look around the town and sea-front.

The Mission is a Spanish Franciscan founded in 1786 to evangelise the local Chumash tribe.  The original building was destroyed along with the rest of Santa Barbara in the 1812 earthquake and the existing building suffered more damage in the earthquake of 1925, although the interiors survived this quake.

From the Mission, we followed the Scenic Drive up the hill to give us views of the city that would have been a lot prettier had the sky been clearer.  We eventually wound down to the coast and parked up near the Visitors’ Centre.  The clouds were starting to break up and we became optimistic that the day would turn out nice after all.  We strolled along the promenade and wandered down onto the pier called Stearns Wharf.  We were a little bemused at the fact that cars could drive onto the pier and park at the end, presumably to save visitors the effort of walking the 300 yards or so to the end.  We had fish ‘n chips (they actually called it that too!) on a picnic bench at the end of the pier and watched fishermen and boats while the sun started to struggle out.  By the time we walked back to the car, the clouds had all but gone and the temperature had risen a few degrees.

We decided to take advantage of the sunshine and go back to the hotel and more specifically, the pool at the hotel.  We spent a few hours sunbathing and swimming, only having to share the pool with a young girl and a couple of Scottish women.

After showering and dressing for a night out on the tiles, we called for a taxi and went the three miles or so to State Street in the city centre.  We ate some good Mexican food and drank beer (Rich) and a margarita (me), watching two hen parties with amusement.  It struck us as a stag party entered, that Santa Barbara was the Bournemouth of California!  Our next stop was an English pub which thankfully lacked the more naff accoutrements that are usually associated with these sorts of establishments.  Instead, they had seats to spare, European beer on draft and a jukebox that had decent music.  The FA Cup Final had been played earlier that day and we watched some ‘highlights’.

After much beer and people watching – our favourite holiday past-time – we grabbed a cab back to the hotel and fell into bed after our latest night out yet!

After more delicious waffles for breakfast, we hit the road early to make sure we got to our first port of call in time for our pre-booked tour.  We were heading for Hearst Castle – the spectacular holiday home of William Randolph Hearst, the famous publisher.  We took the Highway 1 south for about 30 miles and just as we were getting near Hearst Castle, we noticed a large stopping area overlooking a beach filled with what looked like boulders or logs.  As we drove past, we realised that the beach was filled with elephant seals, basking in the sun.  Knowing we had an hour to kill anyway, we quickly turned around and spent a happy hour watching the wonderful creatures shuffle along the beach, fan themselves with sand to cool down and make the most ridiculous gurgling sound, so different from the distinct barking of the sea lions we could hear from our yurt.

There were some informative volunteer guides who told us about the seals population which was so big that the colony we were admiring had actually had to move to this spot from further north due to over-crowding.  The current healthy population is remarkable given that the numbers of seals had dropped to single figures in the early days of the twentieth century due to the demand for their fat to be used as lamp oil.  The spread of electricity saved their hides, literally.  It took another seventy years or so for them to become protected species and now they are thriving.  Their only predators now are the Great White shark and the Orca whale, both of which live in the Pacific waters off the coast of California.

When we dragged ourselves away, we drove up to the visitor centre of the castle.  We started the recommended tour for first time visitors which shows you a bit of everything although to see the whole shebang, you need to go on all four tours, which seemed a bit of a cheeky marketing ploy to us.  The landscaping and the architecture are pretty remarkable with a spectacular view of the Santa Lucia mountains and the Pacific coast.  We were taken round the esplanade and gardens, one of three guest cottages Casa del Sol, the outdoor Neptune pool and the indoor Roman pools, the Assembly Room and the Refectory of the Casa Grande.  The tour was definitely while but we couldn’t help but feel that they were really making the most out of this so-called monument with the various tours and merchandise. After hearing and seeing so much about the wealth of the Hearst family, we were not feeling particularly charitable when we were asked to become Friends of Hearst Castle to help them keep up this national treasure!

By mid-afternoon we were back on the road, heading for our next stop-over, Santa Barbara.  The trusty SatNav got us straight to our hotel, a cheery and more-than-adequate Best Western.  The hotel had two pools, nicely furnished clean rooms and friendly staff.  The pool-side garden areas were immaculate and the pool and hot-tub were clean and well-maintained.  After settling in to our room, we drove down to the sea-front down a neat residential street.

Santa Barbara is a very nice town with a well-preserved ‘historic’ centre and lots of places to eat and drink.  State Street is a buzzing hive of activity after dark.  After our long day, however, we were not in the mood for a lengthy meal or late night drink so we headed back to our hotel, stopping for our favourite fast food, Taco Bell, on the way back.  We would leave exploring Santa Barbara until tomorrow.

We woke early with the early strands of daylight falling through the yurt skylight and the transparent canvas part of the yurt that is above the bed. Stepping out to see the beautiful Pacific made getting up worthwhile and we stood for a moment on our terrace, taking in the view.

We ate our breakfast at the lodge – a do-it-yourself affair but still very well done nonetheless.  Waffle makers and waffle batter were at the ready along with milk, cereal, juice and hot drinks – all available for you to help yourself.  The waffles and syrup were goooood and there were delicious apples which we took for our walk.

Marty, one of the very friendly staff at the lodge, gave us a map of the coast with his recommendations of where we should visit.  The places were all north of the camp – where we had already driven through – but we decided to head up that way any way since we hadn’t stopped on our way down.

First stop was Limekiln State Park – a car park and campsite with three walking trails.  We walked all three trails – not quite believing the distances on the trail signposts which had the trails at five miles for the kiln trail, four miles for the falls trail and three miles for the hare trail.  None of them could have been more than a mile and a half each.

In any case, the kiln trail took us through gorgeous redwood forests up to four kilns which had been built by the first settlers in this area to make charcoal from the mighty redwoods.  The falls trail took us up the rushing river which itself was a mini white-water until we hit the end of the trail, a 150 feet sheer cliff with a magnificent waterfall.  Several photos later, we headed back and found the start of the last trail: a much less interesting walk with no particular purpose that we could gather – presumably there are hares in this area but these are shy and rare so not surprisingly, we didn’t see any.  We ate our snacks on a log enjoying the peaceful woodland atmosphere:  birds chirruping, the breeze through the leaves, crickets and other insects busy at work building and foraging and doing whatever it is that insects do to pass the time.

We drove further north, returning to Carmel to get some supplies and then headed back down Highway 1 to Pfeiffer Beach.  Despite the hot sun, we needed to wrap up to go on the beach as the wind was very strong.  The sand whipped up and got into every fold of clothing but the ocean looked amazing and the craggy shoreline was another photogenic scene.  We managed to find a spot out of the wind and sat for a while watching the waves crash against the rocky outcrops.  The beach was dotted with visitors but there was no-one brave enough to have a dip in the water.

After a quick exploration of the rocky cove by Rich, we hit the road again to get back to the yurt resort in time for dinner.  As we prepared for dinner, there was a merry gale blowing outside.  The canvas of the yurt was making a dreadful racket in the winds and walking in and out of the yurt was quite a feat in itself.  We were not quite sure how we were going to get any sleep if the wind kept up.

We wrapped up in our windproof jackets to make it over to the main lodge for dinner and as soon as we were inside the wooden lodge, with its gas fire and pretty candles, the weather outside was forgotten.  The food was probably considered to be expensive by the American guests but seemed excellent value by our UK standards.  Both days the meals were delicious with a welcome dose of fresh vegetables and a lack of the inevitable fries.  The service remained friendly yet unobtrusive which made for a romantic setting to enjoy some good home-cooking and even better company.  After indulging in some scrumptious desert, we braced ourselves for the wind only to find it had completely dropped and the night was cool but still.  We slept like babies.