Aaaaaand we’re back! Goodness me I haven’t posted in weeks! I’m very sorry about that! So much has been going on and I’ve been camping nearly every night so decent wifi has been hard to come by. I’ll catch you all up over the next couple of days and then hopefully get back to regular (or at least semi regular) posts!

For now then, back to San Diego…

So although it may be some time before I am able to cross America again on my bicycle I did have one last road trip on the cards before I was to fly to Asia. Having met Mum, Dad and Alex in San Diego we now had 8 days to drive up to San Francisco from where were would all depart. It was a Bush road trip (missing one little blond Bush of course).

So then, having de-champagned we spent the morning exploring Ocean Beach, my arrival at the coast still slowly sinking in.

In true Ness Bush style we had a schedule to keep so after our morning stroll we set off for the port and our afternoon activity, whale watching! After much faffing around from Alex and I taking photos we ended up in a mad rush to get there and we rocked up just in the nick of time to set off out of the bay into the ocean.

Dad, by far the most enthusiastic “spotter” on the tour boat spent hours with his eyes trained on the horizon searching for the tell tale white blowhole spray that indicates a passing whale. Sadly for him 3 hours of peering over the port side of the boat proved to be totally fruitless and the captain evenutally announced the presence of a fin whale off the starboard side! Looking a bit cross Dad dashed across the boat and was still one of the last to see the blowhole spray! Hilariously on the way back to the port he then quite unexpectedly proceeded to point excitedly to the water exclaiming “THERE’S SOMETHING”!! Unfortunately, with everyone’s attention thus caught “something” turned out to be a floating strand of kelp!! Not quite the spot he had hoped for I suspect!!

Ok so I’ll admit, I actually have no idea if there is a whale in this photo although I strongly suspect that there is not. Sorry about that. At least now you have some idea of what the trip was like for Dad!

The more observant of you may also have noticed from the photo above that my hair has changed from what was essentially a totally bonkers overgrown mop looking like this:

into… well as my sister so kindly pointed out, into this…

…

Heading back to the hotel we settled down with a bottle of wine and 3 months after Dad and I had watched the sun emerge from the Atlantic Ocean we  sipped our wine and watched it slowly sink into the Pacific.

The next morning we jumped into our rental car which was, in true American style, larger than my bedroom at home and headed north where we were due to stay with some old family friends in Santa Monica. After the obligatory drive around Beverly Hills where we, along with the other tourists, gawked at the ridiculously posh houses (and ridiculously tall palm trees) we headed to the lovely Romero’s for an evening of food, wine, table tennis and magic!

The following morning, wishing we were able to stay for longer we set off as we must and spent the morning at the wonderful Getty Museum. It was fantastic and I would totally recommend it to anyone heading to LA. The architecture was brilliant, the garden superb, the exhibitions fabulous and of course, being California, the weather perfect!

After a wonderful morning it was time to get back into the white beast aka our rental car. We were going to Santa Barbara. A few years ago (the exact number of which I wouldn’t dare disclose) my Nan and Grandpa travelled up the west coast of America and a visit to Santa Barbara was my Nan’s one and only request. After a series of unexpected events involving a camper van full off wine, and some lost friends, Santa Barbara was bypassed and so my poor Nan sadly missed the main place that she had wanted to see! Now a number of decades on we were going to go on her behalf. She might not get to visit in person but boy will she be receiving a good post card!

I had intended for this to be one post but it turns out that I’ve written more and included way more photos than I had planned! With Ness Bush’s rigorous scheduling it’s hardly surprising there’s lots to say I guess so I’m going to leave you with our lunch spot, San Luis Obispo’s, biggest attraction… the chewing gum wall… kind of cool if you can get past the fact it is truly gross!