Rich and Cat's Travels: LA to San Fran

Having arrived in LA in at lunch time after an easy 9 hour flight we waited for our pre-booked bus to Hollywood where we would walk a Km to our hostel. After what felt like an eternity (but was actually only about an hour) our bus arrived and off we headed. We managed to find our hostel on the first attempt (not something that happens much but it does help that we are now in an English speaking country again). Our hostel is just off Hollywood Boulevard and right behind the Chinese theatre so we are close to all of the sites. Once we dropped off our bags we headed out to have a proper look at the Chinese theatre, walk of fame and Hollywood Boulevard. Following our tour around we decided to get a good old American dinner of burger and a shake in a diner with old fashioned jukeboxes on the table (even though they didn't work).
The following day we had our free breakfast at the hostel, which we had to make but consisted of waffles and maple syrup, then headed out on a walk to the Hollywood sign. It was only a couple of miles to the sign. However you cannot go right up to the sign and can only view it from the top of a hill in the local park but it was a very nice walk and as it was such a nice day we decided to walk the long (very long) way back across the park and to the observatory. Once we were there we got a cab to go and pick up our new free rental camper which we have for the next 5 nights. We took our new camper over to Venice beach where I wanted to go roller skating. Rich was very apprehensive about this due to his total lack of balance but he said he would give it a go. We managed to get up the beach a little in the hour we had the roller skates and, apart from a controlled sit down, Rich didn't fall over once.
The next day we headed out to Universal Studios for the day and got there nice and early, so early in fact that we were the first people on the Transformer Ride. We managed to do all of the rides and even managed to do some of them twice before heading off for a drive around Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. We saw some very nice cars and some very nice shops but luckily, for Rich, most of them were closed.
The following day we headed out to Six Flags which is another theme park but full of big roller coasters which are very scary, some of the scariest in the world! Again we got there very early and managed to get on all the rides, even some of them twice and once we were feeling very dizzy we left and headed to our first campsite in the camper (as we were in LA before it was cheaper to stay in a hostel rather than a campsite). The first night was really cold, a total shock to the system following the warm days and meant we didn’t sleep too well but as normal we were up early and we headed out to Santa Barbara which is a Mediterranean influenced town, including the court house (which is still in use) and has a Spanish influence. It was very nice to walk around but some sections were closed off for renovation. After that we decided to head out to the Marina to see if we could go Whale watching but it turned out that a storm was brewing out to sea so all trips were cancelled. Instead we travelled up North to the next village, Solvang which is a Dutch inspired village with several windmills and Dutch buildings. After a good tour of the village and a nice cup of tea we headed to our next campsite more prepared for the cold night.
The next day we headed further up north to Big Sur which is a 100 mile stretch of coastline that is mostly national park. As we were just getting into the start of the national park we stopped at a vista point to see if we could see any of the promised Elephant Seals. We looked out into the sea opposite the car park and spotted a couple swimming in the sea and got very excited and then we proceeded to walk a little and saw a few more on the rocks. We then actually looked around properly and spotted something on the beach and as we walked closer we realised there were hundreds on the beach just lying there enjoying the sun. It turned out that they were on the beach for the month in order to shed their fur and grow a new layer. We carried on through Big Sur and stopped to complete the short walk to a waterfall. Along the way we spotted a vulture on the hill having a good look around. He was very close and not bothered by all the people around him but after 5 minutes he flew off in search of dinner. We carried on the walk and saw the waterfall which cascades off the cliff onto the beach and into the blue/green ocean. It was then that we also spotted some Whales in the ocean having a swim close to the bay, they were obviously looking for some dinner as well as they were in fairly shallow water and travelled the length of the bay but took their time in doing so, with only the occasional water spirt from their blow hole to show us where they were.
After this we carried on north through Big Sur and walked in another park where there were huge imposing redwood trees growing over hills and in valleys. We walked to the top of the hill, saw a waterfall and the view over the valley before heading back. Our final stop was at the beach where there is natural purple sand speckled within the normal sand and some areas have a high concentration of this purple sand which make the beach sparkle. We walked the length of the beach and viewed the many rock out in the ocean which have had doors and windows carved out by the unpredictable current in this section of the ocean.
Finally we headed to the end of Big Sur and out to our final campsite about 90 minutes south of San Francisco. The next morning we were up early to drive the final section and we dropped of the hire car before tackling the public transport to get to our hostel. For our first day in San Fran we decided to walk to Union Square and then headed to the Wharf where we found a farmers market, which supplied us with lots of delicious food for lunch including oysters, grilled raclette on toast and brownies. After this we headed to Coit tower where you can get fantastic 360 degree views of the city and surrounding islands. This was good but really helped us to understand just how hilly San Fran is. The walk up to the tower was impossibly steep and all the cars have to park at right angles to the road to avoid the risk of brake failures ect. We have another 6 days in San Fran and it looks like it’s going to be a busy time as there is lots to see and do in this crazy town!