Los Angeles & Highway 1

We had yet another wonderful drive down H1 and saw much the same great views and amazing drops. I was actually starting to get used to having a dangerous drop on every turn and so we tried to go for it and make the last tour of the day for a place called Hearst Castle in San Simeon. We missed it but saw a great video about William Randolph Hearst and his dream to build this amazing castle on a hillside in the middle of nowhere. It was built over 15 years, cost millions and was huge fitted with antiques from all over the world, especially Europe where he had gone on a world tour with his mother when he was a boy of 11. The trip apparently had such an influence on him that those influences were used to build his dream 30 years later when he built this amazing castle. It is an amazing dream and an amazing place where he entertained Charlie Chaplin and other movie stars and importnat business people from LA and SF - but he was lucky to be a media billionaire by the time he was 35 - so he could fulfill his dream. Apparently, he did a daily journal every day when he was on his world tour and so was able to remember the experiences he had all those years ago - at least that is what we tell Sam and Toby!! Hopefully Sam and Toby will be so much happier than he was in his life !!!

We arrived after that in Santa Barbara - a place that Sheena and i remember as a little fishing village type place just off the 2-way road H1. Guess what - it is now a huge town with 9 different exits off the 8-lane freeway! We eventually found the Four Seasons hotel - and had a great time there - unfortunately it was Sheenas favourite hotel and we only stayed one night here - mainly to see the Pelicans that we remembered as huge - but they were actually big but normally sized! We found that Santa Barbara has a range of 4 or so islands off the coast and as this is the place that hot and cold current flows meet, the channel between the mainland and the islands is rich with food and so more sealife is here than at most places in the USA - more whales cruise through etc... including the Blue Whale - whose tongue alone is bigger and heavier than the biggest Bull Elephant on the planet and whose artery to the heart an adult could easily swim down. So we need to come back here to whale watch between May and early September to see all the sea life. There is also an exhibition on the pier of a real ocean going marine biology research ship and a great guy called ken who brought the sea to life for all of us - octopuses that are as clever as cats and amazing starfish and other creatures - all good for Sma and tobys education and marine biology lessons.

After a good lunch and lots of swimming in the very good pool club , we reluctantly set off for LA. I was delighted to be returning to LA where I had been many times whilst working at Sky over 10 years ago and had not really been back much since then. We stayed at Shutters on the beach which we had been recommended. It was a great position on the beach, very friendly and had a great view of the beach and sea from our rooms. It was a bit out of town for the things we did but good when we got there.

We mainly did the studio tours whilst in LA. We did Universal studios which was great fun - but very much a Disney style tour - mainly for Tobys age and above. The Waterworld show was amazing where they waterski behind a jet ski and a sea plane flies and lands on the set in front of you. We sat in the "wet" seats cos Sam and Toby wanted to and literally got sprayed and then soaked with buckets of water that the cast threw over us!!! Sam was the star on stage at the Animal actors - where he played with the golden Labrador from Marley and me and also Lassie as well as a range of other animals.

The next day we did a tour of the Nickelodeon animation studios where all the Nickelodeon animation is created, planned and finished off. We saw the head of Art for the Sponge Bob series painting a specific Spongebob picture for the Obamas as they like Spongebob as well!! We saw Dora, Diego Max and Ruby and all the other characters on Nickelodeon from the 9 shows they make there. All the actual animation is outsourced to South Korea or india and has been since the start of the animation studios 11 yrs ago. We saw a new show that is due to air in the autumn of 2009 in the USA and probably autumn 2010 in the UK called Fanboy and Chumchum - before other kids had seen it. Nickelodeon were very kind hosts and our thanks to Nicole and Cherie at Nickelodeon who made it happen.

That afternoon we dropped Megan with Michelle - the wife of a work colleague Malcolm Dudley-Smith from Warner Bros. She had kindly offered to look after Megan with her daughter Sienna whilst we had a VIP tour at Warner Bros. which Malcolm kindly arranged.  Megan had a great time playing with another little girl and she became best friends with Michelle - hopefully Michelle learnt a little about a 3 1/2 yr old girl to help with Sienna in the future!!! We had a great tour at WB - & it would not have been appropriate for Megan - we saw around the actual WB movie and TV studios - where Friends was made and sat on the set and went into Central Perk - and movies such as Dark Knight were made. We saw around the Gellers parents house - and as Friends fans we really felt very privileged and excited - see the pictures. I actually held Jennifer Anistons coffee cup and she was sitting next to me - on the Central Perk sofa!! WB has had an incredible run of Movies & TV shows over the last few years and the studios really had a feeling of success. With Harry Potter, the Matrix, Austin Powers and Dark Knight and TV series like Friends it was a very unique tour which we will remember for a long time.

That evening we drove back to have dinner with Malcolm and Michelle in their fabulous Hollywood house - high in the hills with a great view over the city - a really great LA house which is very stylish and cool. M&M&Sienna were very, very hospitable and we had a lovely dinner on their terrace overlooking LA as the sun went down - it was lovely to be hosted in someones house - especially one as lovely as this - as we were very restauranted out up until then as we had been 10 weeks on the road! So thank you for your hospitality M&M and we hope to reciprocate in the UK in 2010 - Many thanks.

On our last day in LA we got up  very late and started packing for South America. We sent one bag home back to UK (that is 3 suitcases we have sent back so far!!! and we have not bought anything I promise!!!) We went shopping and had lunch in Rodeo Drive (near the hotel) and bought some things needed for SA and then went for a last walk on the Beach and a swim in the Shutters pool. We felt as though we had been in LA for 4 days and nights but had not really done LA and again somewhere else the kids really enjoyed and is on their list to return someday. We left the next morning for Las Vegas dropping off our rental car - our Kia Sedona - which actually was very good, quite fast and lots of room - but we were quite happy to let it go!