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Over Christmas I took two and half weeks to fly home and take a road trip up to San Francisco with Jo. It was great to see home again, especially after being away for so long. I’ve finally gotten around to putting up some photos:

Here’s some photos of Christmas Eve. The one on the left is from a hike we went on. I think it was about 85 F (30 C). Though maybe I’m just used to London. That’s Mom and Dad on the right.

After Christmas, Cessi, Mom, Dad and I went to a desert resort for some R&R and to celebrate Dad’s birthday. I’ve never been to one of these Palm Spring like places and it was impressive to see how they had turned the desert into a lush garden. We aren’t golf types so we spent our time on the local desert trails and in a zoo which featured the local fauna. As you can see from the picture on the right, Cessi really missed the desert.

Jo came into town on the 28th and we spent the first couple days bouncing around LA and Pasadena. Here are a couple picture of us at the Getty.

On New Year’s Eve we set off for San Francisco. We took the 5 which features hundreds of miles of absolutely nothing. Jo managed to capture the feeling of the place with this photo.

We got into San Francisco before sunset and settled into Evans flat. There was a small get together there so we had some pre-New Year’s drinks there. We then headed off to find a rooftop bar with a view of the Bay fireworks. Unfortunately all of the venues which offered this were ridiculously expensive. So we headed over to the Elbo Room where we met up with one of Evan’s house mates. We celebrated the count down with champagne in a can. Oh yeah and with a straw. It was a silly contradiction to drink champagne with a straw, but it fit the mood.

The next day Jo and I caught the sunset at Muir Beach. I really liked that beach. There were lots of dogs running around in the surf, and bonfires were getting lit as the sun went down. It had a really nice feeling of community, though I wonder how crowded it gets in the summer.

The next morning we headed into Berkeley for a bit of exploring and then started our journey down Highway 1. This was the part of the trip I was really looking forward to. We were heading to Monterey for the night, but stopped at a scenic light house to get some air. The entire coastline up there was stunning, and it was hard to decide where to stop and enjoy the view. We didn’t get into Monterey until late evening, but got up bright and early to check out the famous aquarium. Oh yeah and have “the best breakfast in Monterey”. Jo’s got a mug to prove it. The aquarium lived up to its reputation and we spent lots of time touching slimy creatures in the tidal pools and getting lost in the massive glass windows of the fish tanks.

The next part of the trip was through Big Sur. It’s one of the most famous landscape photography spots in the US and was frequented by Ansel Adams. My photos can’t really do it justice and I definitely want to go back for a longer visit.

That night we had to get to San Luis Obispo to stay at the Madonna Inn, but first we stopped in Santa Cruz for a break. We discovered some sea lions resting, or stranded, on the pylons under the pier. They were making a lot of noise, but I think they could probably get down if they wanted to. The Madonna Inn is no relation to the pop star and was created by a family in the 50’s. They’ve grown it into a massive hotel. I first thought it was going to be a cheesy tourist trap, which it is, but there’s something more. Every tacky detail has immense attention to detail and there’s a sense of quality about everything in the hotel. The photo on the right is of the dining room and gives you an idea of what I’m talking about. Jo and I enjoyed a scotch on some big red chairs we found near the bar. I highly recommend the place, if not to stay, at least get a coffee in the cafe.

The next day we had to cover a lot of miles to make it back to LA. We stopped at a secluded beach called Pirates Cove (that’s how I remember it anyway). We had to drive on a muddy road to get there and reaching beach level took a bit of bouldering. Jo was worried that we’d get swept away by the tide. I didn’t understand why until she told me about the dangerous tides that you get on the Welsh cost. We weren’t at risk of drowning, but I did get soaked when I miss timed the waves trying to climb into the cove.

We then stopped at a monarch butterfly preserve near Pismo Beach. The little guys had a lot of trouble staying still in the high winds, but I managed to get a few photos.

We finished off the trip with a bit of sight seeing in LA. I took Jo down Sunset Blvd to see Hollywood, the La Brea tar pits, Rodeo Drive, and Beverly Hills. She was surprised at how normal everything was. The possible exception was the crazy person utopia near Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

It was such a great trip! I really want to head back to Big Sur and the surrounding areas for an extended stay. There seemed to be so much unspoiled land there to explore. Maybe do some camping… hmm.