NORTH AMERICA TRIP FOR DEN, KEITH, ANG & IAN

Los Angeles, San Simeon & San Francisco

MARCH 9th-18th

We all arrived LA on the evening of the 9th, staying at the Hampton inn & Suites in West Hollywood.

Over the next few days we took in the following highlights of this amazing city in the glorious sunshine:

Hollywood walk of fame, looking at the many stars on the pavement and getting all excited when we found someone we knew!!
Open top Bus tour around Hollywood and Beverley Hills (including Melrose place (TV series)).
Santa Monica (and the sun did come up over Santa Monica Boulevard where Keith’s trainers also fell apart). 
Rodeo drive, looking for Keith’s new trainers! & Den/Ang shopping (going there was a big, big mistake).
Venice beach & Muscle Beach, what a vibe that was, plus had a quick workout and a nice stop at the beach front bar.
The Farmers Market, a dazzling array of foodie stalls and shops selling a wide variety of street foods and exotic delicacies.

Dodging the little Autonomous Uber eats robots that buzz around the streets delivering takeaways. They all have individual names, so cool.

On the Thursday we picked up the GM 7 seater and headed up to the Griffith observatory with great views of LA and the famous Hollywood sign. It has to be said that Den played a blinder on the first driving stint, where probably the hardest part was getting out of the car park with the twisty narrow lanes and then getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road.

In the evening, Ang and Ian headed off to downtown LA to watch the LA Lakers Basketball Game (they won) while Den & Keith took in a ‘boujee’ Italian restaurant in the glitzy East Hollywood district where they rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt sat at the next table!

On the Friday, we checked out and headed up the coast on route to San Francisco. Den volunteered to drive again (not knowing what was to come).
We visited Malibu which didn’t seem to have very much other than a beach and some mega properties up on the hills, then we drove to the very nice chilled and lovely town of Santa Barbara for a short stop. Then we set off to San Simeon where we had an overnight stay booked. The road however rapidly turned into a mixture of twisting mountain turns, gorges, passes and F1 chicane’s, but it has to be said it was all very skilfully handled by Den & Ang. 

In San Simeon, we stayed at a nice Quality Inn hotel (with free cookies and coffee!). There was an amazing diner next door where we had a very nice slap up meal (including a a very tasty clam chowder, a nice steak and finished off with apple pie and ice cream!)

We set off the next day along more of the narrow mountain passes, up to the famous Big Sur where we stopped for a drinks break. Then, with a few solid 80s tunes to sing along to, we went onward to San Francisco (via an emergency pee break about an hour from SF, couldn’t hang on)
Once again, the perilous terrain was handled superbly by Hamilton and Norris. 

Den then took on the task of driving into downtown San Francisco with great gusto, where some of the roads were ridiculously steep and challenging to drive, if you weren’t used to it,  but we got to the Holiday inn Express on Fisherman’s Wharf late afternoon, all safe and sound.

After checking in we ventured out for a walk along the very busy sea front wharf (Saturday night) and had a nice dinner in the famous Pier 39 complex of shops, bars and restaurants.

Over the next few days we enjoyed the following highlights in a hot and sunny San Francisco heat wave: 

We continued our strategy of seeing the city in an open top bus to get our bearings and take in all the sights of the city as quickly as possible.
We walked across the incredible Golden Gate Bridge, took a fabulous boat cruise out on the bay that took us right underneath the bridge and also took a sunset tour around the city and over the other ‘Bay’ bridge,  which has the unique title of being the widest bridge in the world. 
We saw the famous sea lions on the pier who were out in force and enjoying themselves basking in the sun.
We ventured skilfully down the crooked road and even paid a visit to Mrs Doubtfire’s house at 2640 Steiner Street.
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Alcatraz island (or Colditz as Den kept saying), on a lovely clear sunny day with spectacular views. Those prison cells were so small!!!
We had a real highlight taking a trip in a Waymo, a driverless car, a sensational experience and a ‘must do’ if you visit. It’s just like calling an Uber and the technology is incredible.
On a very hot Paddy’s day we enjoyed a drink in a vibrant but relaxed Molly Mallones Irish bar where they handed out plenty of free souvenir Irish gifts.

Not sure if it was a highlight for Den but she went to use the toilet and a man was already in there!!! she certainly made a swift exit! Keith managed to acquire us some free colour catchers (for our washing) by giving a theatre guy a sob story saying he was homeless and had no money to do his washing.

Our evening SF culinary experiences were all first class with plenty of sea food on the menu as we sampled many of the local dishes.

We said goodbye to the spectacular city of San Francisco on Wednesday morning and headed off to the airport for our flight to Austin, Texas…..