More LA

More Venice Beach and our favourite bar...which literally had sawdust on the floor...and j's future husband...the guy with long hair sat on the bar stool...bless her its all she could do to stop staring...

Los Angeles

so our first real jaunt in the mustang, we managed to lose the coast road (yes, we lost the entire pacific ocean) so drifted inland for the 2.5 hour drive to LA. los angeles is one of those iconic places that youve heard of so many times and seen on tv...you almost feel like you know the place. we stayed on venice beach, which is the hippy/alternative part of the city...this was no accident...we both loved venice, and really was our cup of tea. although this was a predominantly beach related holiday, we felt it would be wrong not to see a bit more of LA, and not wishing to get stuck in traffic, we plumped for a very touristy coach tour...which included hollywood (where jayne bumped into one of her ex boyfriends from the uk...i mean...what are the chances of that?!) beverly hills, the farmers market and a few toher places, and we even did the cheesy 'stars homes' bit...the photo in the next section was marilyn monroes house...we even saw our vey own famous person at the farmers market where we had lunch...shes that famour we didnt know her name but she has been in films

San Diego beach

a big them of our trip was surfing, J is a keen beginner surfer and i have never tried it before, so we took lessons in san diego, which i have to say were massive fun, very exhausting, but lots of fun. our hotel was right on the beach and we spent our mornings having breakfast by the beach, bit of pottering, long boarding up the boulevard, sunbathing and surfing, while our evenings were spent in a very very cool bar just off the beach. we didnt see much of central san diego but that wasnt the point. san diego was a wonderful place and would go back in a flash

San Diego

So, a short 3 hour flight..and we were in California! We started in San Diego where we picked up our black mustang convertible, which was to be our transport for the next 10 days as we cruised up the coast. First stop, Balboa Park....a beautiful park which also houses the slf proclaimed 'best zoo in the world'

American Football

Always always wanted to go and see a live american football match. it became popular in the uk in the erly 80's when they started showing on channel 4 (we only had 4 channels) at 6pm on a sunday evening, so it was with massive excitement that we got tickets to a game, which coincided with jaynes visit. was so excited. about 70 000 people turned up, but being america, the spectacle, the beer and the food is more important than the actual game itself. tailgate parties are where everyone fills the car parks with bbq's and drinking and parties, hours before the game...some people even tailgate without actually going inside to watch the game, they just wsatch it on tv in their cars...strange. the game itself was again very american. very stop/starting, lots of breaks (for tv commercials), and a bit dull at times to be fair...still an amazing experience