The 2 stage journey down went OK, although the first leg of the trip from Grants Pass to Seaside, Monterey Bay, was a bit longer than planned when we hit some traffic problems south of SFO. We were all travelling in Lucy's car and, although it's a nice, smooth ride, it was a fairly tight squeeze for those in the back - Lucy and Jo.
We checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and almost immediately went out for dinner to a local restaurant - just in time to catch their Early Bird special. Jo, Lucy, Scott and I went for a walk down to the beach afterwards:
Jo was still suffering with her various ailments - the knee injuries from the bike rides, various bites plus a blocked ear, all of which meant repeated trips to various pharmacies, and this night was no exception.
Monday was July 4th - America's Independence Day - and after a late-ish breakfast, we went through to the adjacent town of Monterey to watch their Parade. I've posted photos of a number of the floats on Facebook, so won't repeat them here. Instead, some photos from our day in Monterey:
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| The male Lesinas are posing, appropriately, in front of the patron saint of Italian fishing |
We strolled around the town, taking in Fisherman's Wharf and then along to Cannery Row, where we had lunch in the local brewpub, after which we drove through to nearby Carmel, where Clint Eastwood used to be mayor. It's a beautiful, well-to-do town. We stumbled upon the pub he used to own - the Hogsbreath Inn:
Cade, as usual, trying to look super cool.
In the evening, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner, which included a flight of sangrias:
There's been another drought in California, and, as a result, civic fireworks displays have stopped. Individuals are still allowed to set off their fireworks, but not on the beach and not rockets. Scott had bought some fireworks for us to enjoy as part of the July 4th celebrations, but where to light them? Problem solved when we drove up to a large parking lot to find other families lighting theirs, so we all got out of the car and watched as Scott and the boys lit the fireworks:
The finale was the best bit - the biggest firework took nearly 2 minutes - check this video - https://youtu.be/6XizDZ4_z7A
On Tuesday morning, it was the second leg of our journey south to Newport Coast and it went OK. Lots of traffic round LA as usual - 4m. + population and almost as many cars it seems - but we got there by the 4 pm check-in time. Lucy and Jo went to the store and Scott did his usual on the BBQ.
Wednesday had to be a quiet, non-car day. The Lesinas were active locally - running, gym-ing and basketball-ing, whilst Jo and I took a leisurely stroll down to the beach and along to Crystal Cove, stopping for refreshment at Ruby's Shake Shack:
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| Jo slowly climbs the steps up to Ruby's |
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| Me just outside our resort |
We arranged for an early start for Thursday morning, but it turned out even earlier than planned when Cade went sleepwalking at 4 am. He dreamt somebody was chasing him and took off - out the patio doors and over the railings. The first any of us knew about it was when we heard a knocking on the door and a ringing of the front doorbell. Lucy got up and there was Cade, with blood coming from his foot - he'd obviously landed on something and cut it.
We faced the early morning LA traffic again but still made it to Universal Studios before 8:30 am. Coffee at Starbucks was the first call then we headed straight for the Harry Potter Experience. Even at this time, the lines were long but we persevered and soon Braeden was in his element:
as was Jo:
We took in the spectacular Waterworld show, had a spot of lunch and then lined up for the Walking Dead attraction - another new show:
You then walk through darkened corridors lined with zombies - some animatronics and some actors. It's pretty good - and was certainly more than enough to scare Braeden and Jo - and it's a different kind of attraction, which makes it more interesting than the usual rides and simulators.
The LA traffic tried its best to delay us again, but we still got back to our villa by 6 pm - thanks to Scott, who must have been the only one to stay awake on the return trip.
Today (Friday), it's been a lazy start. I'm watching Andy Murray's semi-final and Lucy has just gone out for a run and Scott has gone to the gym. We're planning to catch the shuttle bus at 12:30 down to Laguna Beach. Tomorrow, Jo and I are having dinner with Carter Yates and his wife. We used to work together at Fischer Ultrasound in Edinburgh back in the early 80's. I recently made contact again with Carter through Linked In. He lives just south of here in San Diego. Looking forward to catching up again.
