An assortment of pictures and comments from our trip around Southern California.




Santa Cruz is one of the best places to Surf - if you can of course - the place, particularly at the North End is famous as one of the first places to start the craze, though difficult to see in the pic there were lots of surfers in on the day of our visit, the South part is more seaside like with many fun rides - a bit like Southend - but with the sun.


This pic was taken At Santa Cruz - the Lighthouse was close by.








This pic was taken from the pier at Monteray - there were absolutely loads of sea lions in the bay area.





When we got to Carmel, which is famous for Clint Eastwood being the Mayor there, we checked out the beach which was fantastic, but a Little cold, then we headed for the mission but we were a little late as it had just closed, so this pic is from outside of the grounds.



We saw many seals and sea lions along the coast some in the sea and some on the beach like this one. Unfortunately there were also many dead ones on the beach we were assured that this was normal at this time of year as many of the pups could not survive and it was all a natural process.



Some of the best sea food is available along the coast - here Suri is checking out the local crab which was sold fresh from the end of the pier - it was top quality.









Morro Bay was an interesting place - though a little sleepy, it is famous for the rock and close by a power station which was incorrectly sited close to the rock. On the day we went it was lovely and sunny but very windy.




Here I am trying to escape from the local Jail - fortunately I got out.










Here we checked out one of the oldest houses in California where California was declared in dependant of Mexico - A lovely building with some interesting historical pieces.






Santa Monica on the pier Suri is checking out the police and I was checking out the location of Bay Watch - Great beach.







Another Mission -







We went up to Hearst Castle - not really a castle, but it was interesting to see what could be recreated if you had a limitless supply of money to buy up old furniture and to rebuild Rome in the middle of California on the top of the hill overlooking some beautiful scenery. Here is the outside swimming pool.




Here is the indoor swimming pool.





Whilst visiting Downtown Los Angeles we thought we might try our hand at the talent show ... but decided it wasn't for us and anyway we were too busy enjoying ourselves - it would be too much like going back to work.





Whilst at Santa Monica we thought we would participate in the Muscle Men n Women scene, but there was nobody around so we just messed about on the swings ..................















.............. n ropes n things.








We looked up a few people in Beverly Hills - here I am outside the house of Peter Falk - Columbo - trying to do an impression of him - not sure it was too good.





Surprisingly for me - one of the highlights of Los Angeles was the Universal Studio complex - I am not keen on Disney type things but this was pretty good, here I am fighting with Jaws.









Here Suri and I are setting off for a trip through Jurassic Park - where we got pretty wet - well done for Suri going on this ride - I am not sure she knew what was coming....



Suri and Shrek - what a lovable chap.







After leaving Los Angeles we headed inland and North through some beautiful scenery, on our way we went through miles and miles of Orange Groves - I have never seen so many oranges in my life - and so sweet and juicy, as you can guess we tried a few.




Here I am checking out one of the old logging trains - now used solely as a tourist attraction - it was just the start of the tourist season so we were virtually on our own - unfortunately the trains were not running.






You can gauge the size of these Sequoia trees, here we drove through them and it was pretty tight - and the snow was still hanging around.






Here I am in front of the largest ( by volume ) tree in the world - very impressive I can tell you.

Some are over 2000 years old and still growing - unfortunately lots were chopped down last century.









Suri walks through a fallen Sequoia tree - quite amazing.










The General Grant tree stands 81.1 m, and its diameter is the second-largest of all Giant Sequoias at 8.85 m - absolutely mind blowing.







One of many Waterfalls in the Kings Canyon.











Unfortunately not all is good in the forests of California - they have suffered from many fires recently and now most worrying is the effect of acid rain from the cities which are polluting the area - many will I fear not survive






If you click on this picture you should be able to see Suri and see just how tall these trees are.