La Quinta Inn Monterey

... caught up on sleep after San Fran. Up at 9am and headed towards Fisherman's Wharf and looked in lots of gift shops. Rich got tempted by clam chowder so we had lunch on the pier, sitting next to lots of huge pelicans outside the window! Very scary. Then drove down Cannery Row, named after a John Steinbeck novel! Went in a shop that sold things that ...

... there we'd find out. I'm not entirely sure it was a town so much as a point or small region. We found the Big Sur State Park and decided that it was the best option and turned on in. Although the woman at the front stand was a bit concerned for us, we knew Lola would do fine...she's seen it all. We decided to do a hike up to see some Redwoods and Pfieffer? Waterfall. Christa learned at the Grand Canyon and on that hike I learned...flip ...

... had a falafel wrap), we drove down to New Brighton Beach a couple of miles outside town. Unfortunately, as the beach is part of a state park we had to pay to enter, which pleased us no end. We forgot all about the charge though as the beach was beautiful and deserted. Driftwood was scattered all over the sand and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw one of the bits of wood move. On closer inspection we ...

First all, PCH is one of the best roads we've been down as well. Mark it up with Rt 50 and 270, I think. A few different times we just pulled over to the side and got out to enjoy the view. Not that the wide screen and split-screen TV's weren't enough...best channels ever, but being outside is always different. Fantastic bridges almost just sitting in the canyons between mountains, ocean on the right, nothing below, canyons on the left. I tagged a couple signs headed down as well I believe ...

... car park on the front, and immediately found a great café with loads of tables on the boardwalk, overlooking the beach. It was one of those places where the slight lack of quality is made up for by quantity! Liz, Juliette and I ordered the "Breakfast Special" - eggs, bacon and hash-browns - whilst the younger members of the crew had the pancakes (these were so voluminous that I think only Olivia managed a whole pancake - and there ...

... our supplies such as water, ice and wine. We went to the local Safeways to do some shopping. Due to the wine, we were asked for ID, which is not a problem as they always ask. Azrael presented his Swiss ID and the old **** behind the counter actually turned around and told us that only US ID is accepted! WHAT?!?!?!? So foreigners can never prove their age and can never buy alcohol??? Obviously he gave us the "I’m just doing my job" line, but I’m sorry.... we ...

... sea, its like looking down on clouds and you can't view the sea. The drive was very twisty and steep in places. The drive was over 150 miles and enjoyable but its the longest drive we've done with no gas station!!!!!!! We stopped off at Hearst Castle (the newspaper billionaires home) for a quick view. We continued along the road and cooked on our gas BBQ some lovely steak sandwiches by ...

... Even the touching pool, where I got to play with the sea urchins (did you know their spines will turn in toward you to hold onto you (gently) as they catch your scent to see if you're food?), sea stars (some were even *soft* and *fuzzy*, though most were like suede), the squooshie sea cucumber, got to see what a chiton feels like and looks like when alive (Ian and I found a dead one last year and had no idea what they were at the time ...

... Pebble Beach was worth a look so in the morning we set off up there - it is a private road around a very expensive looking residential area but the coastal sections of it offer amazing views out to sea and along the coast. Well worth the $5 entry fee. Done with that we set off on the drive down the coast. The Big Sur is a swatch of land along the California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise out of the Pacific Oceean ...

... t really know what to expect from this area but it was good fun. We won spider rings on the slot machines and took photos of Alcratraz but unfortunaty you have to book 5 days ahead to actually look around it so i'll save that for next time. We wondered back up to the car park via china town which is more impressive than Manchesters version! Our next destination today was Santa Cruz. We are loving the driving around USA and are finding a lot easier than we ...