December 20, 2016

So the final leg of our big USA adventure – a drive down the beautiful Pacific Coast, via Big Sur and into Santa Barbara.  

We departed Monterey mid morning after grabbing a quick breakfast and hitting the road for one of the most scenic parts of the California Coast.  The drive is definitely not one you should rush – I was constantly saying pull over I want to just stop and look.  I actually would have liked to have taken longer and stayed one night on the coast so we could do more exploring as there is so much to be seen in this part of the world however we needed to get to our accomodation in Santa Barbara.  

As well as our numerous stops along the coast to take photos and admire the beauty we also stopped at San Simeon for lunch.  We had hoped to visit Hearst Castle which is on the hill overlooking San Simeon, however most tours were booked out and the only one left was at 4pm and we needed to continue on our journey.  After leaving San Simeon we stopped to visit the elephant seals which you can find on the beach about 10 minutes south.  It is an amazing site to see the seals playing and enjoying life – at certain times in the year this beach is so packed with seals that you can’t see the sand!  So amazing!

Finally we arrived in Santa Barbara around 5pm – we loved Santa Barbara – such a pretty sea side town.  We ate dinner at a casual cafe on the water, with a beautiful sandy beach out the front – it reminded us a lot of home.  We only had the one night here which was just not enough for us to explore and just hang out so if we go back again we definitely would stay the extra night or so.

Our final morning in the US was spent having a delicious breakfast in the main street of Santa Barbara followed by a look around the shops and then a walk on the lovely Pier.  We hit the road back to LA around 1pm which took us along the final stretch of the coast via Malibu and back to Santa Monica where it all began.  We stopped at our favourite Mexican for an early dinner before a quick drive back through some of the stunning streets of Beverley Hills and back to the airport for our late night flight!  We seemed to cram a lot into our last few days which seem to rush by all to fast.

So there is the final leg of our great US adventure.  So much fun – a trip I would highly recommend for anyone wanting a great family holiday.

 Here are the final few photos to show of our last few days.  I do have a video but sadly I can’t get it to load into vimeo so it will have to wait for now.  I hope you have enjoyed hearing about our trip and of course I am always happy to share any other info about places we stayed and things we did.  

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