We headed up to Melrose Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood for a night out. A great night was had by all and we all ended up back at the Orbit hostel until 5 in the morning.

The bars on Sunset Boulevard were mainly grungy rock type - not our cup of tea but good none the less.

Have a look at the piccies...

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Part 2

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Jonny and Carla kindly sorted us out tickets for Universal Studios - cheers guys!

So, whilst in LA, we headed up there. We both had a great day and saw some amazing special effects and shows.
We took a tour of the Back Lot, where they still film TV shows and films, and they were filming the sequel to 'Meet the Parents' - 'Meet the Fockers'. Sadly, we didn't see Ben Stiller or anyone from the set.

Here's the pictures - Part 1 and Part 2.

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After our drive down Highway 1, we ended up in Santa Monica. We stayed at the HI hostel and planned to stay here for 2 weeks, so we could sort the van out and get it sold.

Met some great people whilst we've been here and had a great time seeing all the sights.

Here's the pictures...

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Just thought we'd add a few more piccies, whilst we're waiting for our flight at LAX. (Thanks to Air China's wireless connection!).

We drove down Highway 1 (aka Big Sur) from San Francisco to Santa Monica. We did it over 2 days and had a night in Santa Barbara along the way.

Fantastic scenery and it was a great drive along the Pacific Ocean.

(Click on 'Read More' for the pix)

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We didn't book the tickets for Alcatraz enough in advance, so we had a take a combined city tour and Alcatraz excursion. Cost us an extra $30 each, but it was the only way we'd see Alcatraz.

We both had visions of this dark and mysterious island in the middle of choppy waters. It's not! It was a really nice day and Alcatraz looked like a holiday island. It's only a mile from the Pier, so you can pretty much see right over to it on a clear day. I'd imagine, if it was a dark and dingy day it may look a bit more spooky.

Here's the pictures...

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We took a cable car through San Francisco. I managed to make a couple of little movies on the camera.

You can download them here :-

Movie 1 - 3 Mb / 10 seconds.

Movie 2 - 8.2 Mb / 29 seconds.

Movie 3 - 15 Mb / 54 seconds.

There's also a few pictures here from the cable car ride and of Ghiradelli Square.

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San Francisco - Part 2

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Sunday 11th July

We'd booked the HI Fishermans Wharf to stay at, whilst we were in San Francisco. Great hostel!
Ideally located for Fishermans Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge and in a very safe residential area.
They also have free WiFi internet, which made me go out and buy a laptop!

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From Rachel, Nevada are next stop would be San Francisco. It's quite a drive, so we had a night in Lee Vining next to Mono Lake and then took the 66 mile scenic Tioga Pass through the beautiful Yosemite National Park.
At 9945 feet, Tioga Pass is California's highest road and you see some spectacular scenery. Not for the faint hearted as there are sheer cliff drops and hair pin corners. It certainly tested my driving skills!
I'd love to drive through on a Harley or a nice sports car. The van did really well and I was glad of the 5.7 V8 engine, to get us up some of them hills.

Tioga Pass is only open on average, for 5 months of the year, due to the weather up there. Snow and ice closes the road during late Autumn (Fall), Winter and early Spring.

Here's the pictures...

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