Breakfast in our room again before we made our way along the coast to Santa Cruz and towards Pescadero (partly very foggy on that route). We stopped and had some pies at an organic farm and shared a very curvy forest road with a lot of cyclists and one of them even overtook us on the way down the mountain to Palo Alto! We tried to find the Google headquarters but couldn’t find it.

On this part of the journey Mama was our driver and guided us into San Francisco. She nearly freaked out when she had to drive up the really, really steep Mason Street up to Nob Hill. But we made it and it was worth the experience. After check in we took the car back to Hertz – down the road (Mason St).

QOTD: ‘Look, I just found a US $100 bill’.  (Man @ Hertz when returning the car.) No problems because of the crack in the windscreen – thanks to ADAC Rental Car.

When returning to the hotel we had to wait for our room.  But this was no problem at all because we spent some time in the Club Lounge in the meantime.

Our hotel the ‘Intercontinental Mark Hopkins’ is one of these old fashioned Grand Hotels with a lot of character. Our room was on the 12^th floor with an amazing view towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

In the evening we walked through Chinatown and had a lovely meal in Little Italy at a pizzeria below the Coit Tower. On the way back to the hotel Dad saw a CA number plate he fancied and is thinking about buying….

We once again had breakfast in the room. QOTD: ‘Ich muss auf Klo, halt die Stellung!’

After check out we went back on HW No. 1 through Big Sur. Now we had sunshine and nature’s beauty was even better than yesterday. We stopped at quite a few vista points and saw a group of dolphins at Bixby Bridge. Around midday we stopped at beautiful Carmel. We even dipped our feet in the ice cold Pacific before we went on to the 17-Mile-Drive (US $10).

Today’s final destination was the Best Western De Anza Inn, Monterey. The hotel was clean but after staying in Cambria this stop we would probably skip next time and would rather stay in Carmel instead.

After breakfast (we had it in our room this time) we drove north to Big Sur. HW No. 1 goes through beautiful scenery along the coast and there are indeed spectacular views around every curve. When arriving at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park we had to park on the road but the distance to the viewpoint of the waterfall was only a really short walk. We’d expected a much longer walk and decided to drive back to Limekiln State Park and do some serious walking. We didn’t regret it, because here we walked 2 trails through the forest and then enjoyed the beach. (The sun didn’t come out today so it was not too warm).

QOTD: ‘It looks a lot like Lord of the Rings in there’  (The ranger at Limekiln – and he was right.)

In the evening we went back to Medusa’s and enjoyed Mexican food again.

Had breakfast in an undersized breakfast room. After that we took the car to the Elephant Seal Rookery near San Simeon. This is an amazing place with hundreds of seals laying on the beach. They stank and made funny noises. After a little chillout at the hotel we went back on the road through Green Valley to SLO (San Luis Obispo).  Our first stop was at Hertz at SLO airport to notify about our cracked window. But typical for relaxed California the answer was don’t worry nothing can happen. Our next stop was at Target where Liam bought his Crosley record player. Next stop was downtown SLO where we parked the car and waited for the start of the Farmer’s Market at 6:00 pm. It was worth waiting for! Suddenly the Main Street fills up with stalls and crowds of people. We ate ribs, strawberries, clam chowder and mac’n’cheese before we drove back to Cambria.

QOTD ‘I’m gonna eat some ribs today!’

After Breakfast at Frank’s we went on a scenic route on Highway #154 to Lake Cachuma. While taking some nice photos we had a nice chat with an Australian couple. Our next stops were Solvang, the Danish like town and and Los Olivos where we bought a bottle of white wine for the incredibly expensive price of US $29. Via San Luis Obispo (HW 101) we arrived at the Fireside Inn at Moonstone Beach. It really was right next to the beach. While it was warm we relaxed in the hotel’s Jacuzzi.

In the evening we found a nice Mexican family restaurant (Medusas) where we had some really good homemade food.

Anecdote: Linda dropped a Nacho and discovered littering costs US $ 1,000 ! Puuhh !

On our way to San Luis Obispo the car windscreen suddenly cracked.

It was foggy and quiet fresh in the morning but we still hat our breakfast outdoors. Frank the manager was a real character and he entertained us with his breakfast buffet explanations (lots of pastries, strawberries and turtle eggs!) After breakfast we walked along the misty beach down to the pier where Linda and Daddy ate gigantic cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles. Then we did a little bit of shopping on picturesque State Street. We had lunch at the newly opened Public Market (finally Mama had a clam chowder). Then we walked to the Court House and up the stairs of the tower where we had a really nice view over Santa Barbara and towards the Santa Ynez Mountains.

We took the trolley bus (50 ct.) back to East Beach and went with the car up to the Mission (Meanwhile we found the reason why the satnav wasn’t working properly – just a flag was missing).

Form the Mission we drove on a scenic winding road past beautiful houses and gardens to Montecito and back to the hotel. Ate nachos for supper

Woke up at 7 o’clock. The sun was shining. We got ready and packed our cases before we had breakfast at the hotel again.

1^st QOTD ‘I like your style’ – Waiter to Liam when he ordered waffles.

After checkout we took the hotel shuttle to Hertz to collect our rental car. It was a red Nissan Xterra which accelerated rather nicely. Daddy was driving and despite the satnav not working properly we found our way out of LA towards Santa Monica and Malibu along Highway No. 1. On our way we stopped at the Camarillo outlet shopping mall and indeed did some serious shopping.

2^nd QOTD ‘Please drive to highlighted route’ – the nice satnav girl was telling us all the time

In the late afternoon we arrived at our hotel in Santa Barbara, the ‘Inn at East Beach’. Out room no 107 was located right next to the pool. In the evening we went shopping at Trader Joe’s and had dinner at Carls Jr/Green Burrito.

Dad and Linda woke up at 4 o’clock. Linda laid at the window reading Gossip Girl. We got up at about 6:20 and went to the breakfast buffet. Then we took the Metro to Hollywood and walked along the Walk of Fame. We could also see the Hollywood sign. After returning to the hotel, Liam and Daddy watched a film while Linda and Mama spent some time in the outdoor Jacuzzi and spied on the happenings on the Red Carpet. In the afternoon we went to the Staples Centre to see the last game of the LA Lakers against the Memphis Grizzlies. We had seats in the second last row but still had a great view. It was exciting to see the game, but unfortunately Kobe Bryant was injured and didn’t play and the Lakers lost. After the game we felt the jetlag and all went straight to bed.

After 6 months of preparation and some worries because of Liam’s 10 years+ passport validity we were really looking forward to start our journey to California.

Mum and Dad got into the Business Class (Upper Deck). Linda and Liam didn’t really sleep. They watched films the whole flight… After arrival we got a taxi to our hotel in downtown LA. After check in we relaxed at the pool and enjoyed the nice weather- Then we checked out the area (LA Live, Staples Centre). At the Nokia Theatre next to the hotel preparations for the MTV Movie Awards taking place the next day were ongoing. The ‘Red Carpet’ already was laid out.

We ate at ‘Tom’s Urban’, a cool sports bar, before we went back to the hotel.