Week 3 in USA

Wow we collected our car from Las Vegas airport and were upgraded by the lovely kind attendant. We have a Buick enclave, a massive silver beast with plenty of room and a great sound system!

Many of he roads are dead straight and the first sunset we saw was pretty good

We headed off to the Hoover Dam, about 1 hour away from Vegas and OMG what an amazing structure.

It is difficult to see the double curves in the wall below

5.5 hours later after 2 stops, we arrive at the Grand Canyon.

We fall into bed as it is past 11

Ravi, my lovely husband makes me coffee, mmmmm. starbucks would make a mint by setting up here!

How do you even start to describe this place.We were on the South Rim which is 7000ft above sea level. The North Rim on the other side of the picture is 8000ft high and is 10 miles away or about 250 by a rather long car journey.

This place is full of Bollywood wannabes

and a few Speechless young femmes

Remind me -When is hug a tree week?

Our first day was spent walking about 6 feet along the edge of a path that runs around parts of the canyon rim......yes scary and dangerous if you go too close in.

Duckie clinging on for dear life! This one's for you Upekshe,Tanya and Debbie

Mmmmm .............I feel a Duckie calendar might be on its way

Bye Bye Grand Canyon its off to Southern California next......We will be back some day

After a VERY long drive through the mountains we arrived in Santa Monica.

The Venice area near the beach in Santa Monica was one mans re-creation of his favourite city. In its' hey day it was full of working canals. During the early seventies it became a really run down area, full of druggies etc. Rent for a house for a month was $45 (approx £30) In the early 90's the state had money put in and now it has 350 houses worth approx $1 million each!! A lot of the canals have been filled in and covered over with tarmac and are now roads.

Still a few canals have remained

This we think was Jim Morrisons' (The Doors) house. Since he moved on it it has been "re-modelled!

Mmmmmmm .................Muscle Beach ...............where men, old and young, pay $10 per day to work out on the beach while being watched by all! Check out the guys shorts..........yes really ridiculous budgie smugglers

The Crazy side of Venice beach - poor snake!I was on the other side of the road when Ravi took this photo

I missed this guy in Jaws - he is really quite a cutie surfer dude

Some of the more artistic characters on Venice beach, others included musicians, dancers, buskers, acrobats, tattoo artists, skateboarders, portrait and landscape artists, massage operators and dozens of t-shirt shops. Ravis' favourite T-shirt said "I put ketchup on my ketchup".

I tried to recreate those lovely Baywatch moments I remember................not quite the Hoff but he'll do

Yes we are standing under the actual end of Route 66- we used the road for part of our journey.

3 houses covered in a bubble of plastic having been sprayed or fumigated for termites.... yuk

Our first sunset on Santa Monica Beach

The Hollywood sign-This was an interesting drive-we tried to get close to the sign and ended up finding a small road which took you up to Griffith Park. From there you can walk to the back of the sign.We gave up about a third of the way up as we had the wrong footwear and it was really hot.

This is how close we were - not bad going 

Above is the Hollywood walk of fame where the stars have their names placed

This one was good to see- though did they really go to the moon or was it all staged in a studio

There were so many stars and repeats we gave up and went for lunch after some shoe shopping

Below is the original Chinese Theatre where it all began

don't they look happy together

This reggae singer and Ravi hit it off-he reckons he is going to be famous! We have a signed edition of his first CD! You saw him first here.

Ravi gets a haircut courtesy of 'Tigre' his celebrity hairdresser who is based at Barber Dolls on Hollywood Boulevard- thinks she's wearing a wig though.

Sunset in Santa Barbara which was our next stop north of LA

I found some Yummy fresh seafood - right on the harbour. I had Cervice - ooohh SO tasty and fresh.

This place is really well manicured-and people take a lot of pride looking after their properties

Above is the Santa Barbara Mission water station used to wash clothes

The 21 missions along the California coastline, were places set up by the Spanish .The main aim was to build and create religious communities by converting the local 'Chumash' Indian tribes to Catholicism- for a better way of life.

The irony was many locals died of diseases such as smallpox which the Spanish settlers brought over with them!

This is a beautiful church and has really nice gardens and courtyards

Below is a really old example of an early altar

This sculpture found on the water storage area is reckoned to be the oldest in West USA

They must have known we were coming and sent a cadillac to greet us!

Examples of flora and fauna around the town

This building is supposed to be on of the best examples of architecture in the USA!??????????

I can't see why, still what do I know

Below this beach was voted 4th best in California..........sand is sand whichever way you look at it!

OK......THE NATURE DAY.

First just north of San Simeon to see about 1000 elephant seals dozing on the beach.We spent ages watching these mammals- some as long as 16ft and several times the weight of a human.

These two are youngsters play fighting-a skill needed later to determine who is the alpha male.

Only 2% of these males ever get to impregnate the 40 or so lady seals in a harem.

The males lose about 40% of their body weight in the build up to breeding.

Below- these two have clearly had enough

These five are the no so old babies who feed of their mothers for around 27 days and 

gain around 10lbs per day.

They are then left to fend for themselves as the mothers go to sea to get ready for the next pregnancy.

As the day heated up these guys moved to the shoreline to be cooler on the wet sands.

We then went to Morrow beach to see one of several volcanic plugs and many species of birds

We were lucky to find about 10 sea otters resting in the kelp - one with a baby on her chest.
There are only 2700 left of this species of sea otter.

After a locally caught fish and chip lunch at Giovannis - we walked around Morro rock watching the surfers come in - this is the life. We did see some sea lions too but the photos were not clear.

I think my husbands caught the sun today at Morro beach

Ok back in SLO now - San Luis Obispo and the 5th mission to be built here in 1772

Then into the quaint streets over the creek and we find this gem. Bubble gum alley.

You chew your gum and place it on the walls - a tradition started in the late 1950s

Yes' when in Rome' as they say - mine looked good

Looking for a backpack for your dog~look no further!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This one's for you Trevor-get your American beauty out of the garage

So now for Vegas in San Luis Obispo - The Madonna Inn this place is outrageously OTT.........you were right Julia 109 themed rooms, all different, designed by Mrs. Madonna and kitch as they come.

Below was the dining area near the Ballroom and bar photo doesn't show it
but all the seating is baby pink leather!

This is just a lobby !!!!!!!!

Tomorrow its off to see the OTT Hearst Castle then on to the dramatic coastal stretch and BIG SUR