With one day left in San Francisco we decided to romp around our immediate area, investigating the shops & blocks, catch a film, & grab a coffee, have a drink at a bar & dine at the cheesecake factory. It was a good final day giving us the opportunity to catch our breath.

There is no doubt San Francisco is a beautiful town sadly for us though the homeless were prevalent on every street & corner & though they weren't brazen or pushy their existence cannot go unnoticed which saddens the heart & I'm sure for some adds discomfort to the experience. As for the city itself well let's just say when you get tired of walking around San Francisco, you can always lean against it.

San Francisco, CA from 7:42pm to 9:21pm PST (1 hr, 38 mins).

One week into our USA honeymoon & ten days into the American spring we found ourselves in the golden city of San Francisco.

The first day in this beautiful city we had no intended plans so we made our way one block over to Union Square to where the Hoho (hop on hop off) buses congregate, of course this means so do their tour operators looking to make a sale which means badgering & haggling. Of course you can use this to your advantage if your willing to tell them what you want & don't allow yourself to get pushed into a sale.

So we chose our bus & made our way round the loop of the city. This took us by the Tenderloin area, city hall, the 5 sisters (full house homes), Haight & Ashbury section, Golden Gate park, the Presidio, Lombard St & of course The Golden Gate bridge.

After the loop we returned to the Haight & Ashbury area & nearby Golden Gate park with the Japanese tea house.

Later that evening we found a diner for dinner & then made our way back to the room for a 'Grease' moment with twinkies & champagne.

San Francisco, CA at 7:53am PST.

Our next leg found us driving the long & winding road from Anaheim to San Francisco, the Pacific Coast Highway. What better way to do this journey than in a true American car, the Ford Mustang convertible or its equivalent according to rental guidelines. Sadly we got the equivalent a Chrysler convertible, which in itself was a nice looking ve-hickey, spacious & comfortable which we certainly realised after our 12 hour drive, but not a Mustang.

Our first stop was Santa Barbara advised to us by a family we met in Disneyland, & well worth the stop. With its beautiful Spanish feel Santa Barbara houses approximately 90 thousand people & is a warm & welcoming town not far from the ocean.

We then stopped in San Luis Osbipo for 'gas' but continued in up the highway to Morro Bay, a true small American seaside town. If you do stop here make sure you get down to the waterfront to check out the stores & diners.

Now it was a cool day so as yet we hadn't dropped the top but for the third leg of this drive we decided it was time to get the lid open & have the wind flowing through our hair, well Kyla's. So roof down we sped off up the highway to Carmel. Arriving in Carmel was like arriving in Beverley Hills by the sea. The number of luxury cars was only outdone by the number of art galleries on very block. Now this is quite an experience because Carmel seriously is a small seaside town...but with a hell of a lot of money.

Our final leg was from Carmel into San Francisco which we did by night. This turned out great as traffic was still busy but nothing like peak hour, so at least it was a instant drive with no stopping.

All in all the drive was a great option & well worth doing with such a beautiful view through mountains & over the sea I am certainly glad I did it & would recommend it to anyone travelling the west coast.

Side note, hope for a clear day because it is very windy & it would be dreadful in the fog.

Anaheim, CA at 7:24am PST.

So as we make our final journey through a wonderful world brought to life by the creative imaginings of a man named Walt & his alter ego & partner in crime Mickey, it's hard not to shed a tear & smile at the same time.

Our last day led us to the few areas yet to cover like Mickey's Toontown, Fantasy Land & Tomorrowland. All had some great rides for both young & old & we enjoyed catching a glimpse of a few other favorites like Sleeping Beauty (Aurora), Cruella D'ville & believe it or not Darth Vader.

And as the sun set on our wonderful little experience we hunkered down for the final parade. The only way to say so long.

And you know when I ponder over the last 3 days it's hard to believe that such a magical place was all started by a mouse.

Park Vue Inn at 8:51am PST in Anaheim, CA.

Disney California Adventure & excitement is at a high. The layout of the entire Disneyland complex is as such. Disneyland sits to the right, Disney California Adventure lies to the left & both are divided by Downtown Disney which is filled with an array of shops & restaurants including World of Disney, Build-a-Bear, & House of Blues. So exit stage left!

First thing we did was organise our World of Colour fast pass for late that evening, then we made our way as usual around the park. Soaring California was a calming but good ride to start the day, & then we made our way through the different lots Hollywood Pictures Backlot, A Bug's Land, Golden State, & Paradise Pier. Most of the lots have a 4D ride or show but the standouts were It's Tough to be a Bug! show, very funny; & Toy Story Midway Mania! ride, a great car ride where you get to shoot various items from your car. Heaps of fun!

Another couple of rides you can't miss is the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror featuring the Hollywood Hotel a ride complete with gut-wrenching ghosts viewed from jaw-dropping heights; & California Screaming', a good ol' rollercoaster ride with a good kickstart. We also took a ride on Mickey's Fun Wheel. Kyla didn't find the heights & the rocking so fun. So to her credit she entered the Hollywood Hotel with me on my second time round. Brave girl, I think I may have misinformed her on how tame the ride was. Oops!

We ate corn dogs & huge cartoon-esque turkey leg then headed back to the hotel to rug up for the evening show. So glad we did. The World of Colour, wow what a show. It is a choreographed spectacular of water fountains & fan like sprays where colours & images of Disney movies are cast to a great Disney Movie Soundtrack montage. You truly cannot imagine this show, it needs to be seen. Stunning!

And so we say goodbye once more until the sun rises again over our final day at Disneyland.

Park Vue Inn at 6:55pm PST in Anaheim, CA.

Disneyland, Anaheim & it's everything you could expect, hope for & dream of. We headed into Disneyland on our first of three days leaving the Disney California Theme Park to be tackled at some time in the remaining days. Hmmm, what to do first?

Well we decided to get an overall view of the park. Disneyland Railroad it is. The park is so huge that in our opinion the best way to get around & not miss anything was to circle west beginning with Adventureland which provides the attractions of the Tiki Room a musical performance by robotic birds, flowers & tikis; the Indiana Jones adventure, don't miss this great roller-car ride that takes you back though all the great Indy movies, so not number 5; the jungle cruise, where you are taken on a river cruise with a very punny (sorry funny) cast member; & we climbed through Tarzan's Jungle Treehouse.

From there we went to New Orleans Square where we rode Pirates of th Carribean, great animatronics; & ventured into the Haunted Mansion, an eerily haunting walk n' ride filled with floating phantasms & spectres, so cool you need to see it to believe it.

We sort of skipped back & forth through Frontierland & Critter Country experiencing Splash Mountain, where surprisingly you get wet; we ran around Tim Sawyer's Island, now sadly named Pirate's Lair; watched Poohbear crave honey on The adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride; & had a good old western chuckle at the Golden Horseshoe Stage.

By late afternoon we strolled around Fantasyland & Mickey's Toontown planning to enjoy these areas over the next few days. We were fortunate enough however to continue our celebrity spotting snapping some photos with Goofy, Minnie & the one & only Mickey Mouse.

So as night settled in we decide to make for the main gates & dinner but our intrigue outweighed our appetites when we decided to enjoy one last ride 'It's a small world'. Now we both have heard the horror stories of this ride & have actually experienced it in Tokyo Disneyland but this is the real deal & not some cheap knock-off. In the end the song didn't get to us & we enjoyed the ride & international displays, that is right up & until the ride broke down 5 meters from exiting, & only the actual rude not the audio. Now that song sends shivers down my spine. Eventually we got off & I can tell you we exited straight away & had dinner outside the theme park.

Tomorrow Disney California Adventure park.

It's Monday & our final day in LA so we have decided to see something we have both loved the concept of for pretty much our whole lives. An American University, & not just any university, UCLA! We caught the Met 2 bus, which we have now mastered & headed off to Uni. When we arrived we were amazed at the size, & the people. It was Greek week, that is signing up for your Frat House & it was fun, & exciting & busy. So we watched from the sidelines a little & then continued our journey around the campus. As we made our way past the track field we literally walked into Venus Williams. We didn't ask for a photo though because everyone else was ignoring her & we didn't want to be the uncool kids. Turns out we were just the stupid kids though because as soon as everyone else realised who she was she was signing autographs & taking photos. Oh well we saw her first. So now we had finally succeeded in our celebrity spotting challenge, nothing now to do but to head back to the hotel & get ready for the Anaheim leg. Not without lunch first though. So we stopped at Mel's Diner on Sunset Blvd, you know from American Graffiti, for what I must say was the best burger I have ever had. Now Mel's is a true American diner with booths, jukeboxes & Billy Crystal. Oh yeah forgot to mention that somewhere between playing 'Tracks of my tears' by Smokey Robinson & biting down on my burger Mr Crystal sat down at the booth across from us. So we ate & managed a snap with Billy unbeknownst to him & we were on our way. Only to walk straight into paparazzi shooting an unknown bearded & tattooed rock n roller. Still trying to work out who he was? From there we travelled low-key in a stretch limo to Anaheim, checked in & headed over to the Honda center for the game between the Anaheim Ducks & the Edmonton Oilers. What a great game. Rough, fast, skillful, I love ice hockey. There were a couple of Green berets & marines at the game who received a standing ovation from the crowd. Awesome! Anyway that was our last day in LA & I can gladly say we got more than we expected. Disneyland you have a lot to live up to.

Today was our chance to tour LA. So off we headed to Hollywood Blvd where the Walk of Fame, Graumann's Chinese Theater & the Kodak Theater (home to the oscars) all exist. We discovered that the Metro buses don't exactly run to time so we caught a cab. Had a good time seeking out our favorite stars & stumbling across those we had all but forgotten, & found the hand & foot prints of some pretty spectacular people like Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin & believe it or not Darth Vader. We did the movie stars tour & let me tell you there is some money here, my God?! The paparazzi were parked outside J.T.'s place & we discovered we were staying across the road from Lindsay Lohan, & where Led Zeppelin had torched a hotel room in the 70's & next door to Jennifer Aniston's favorite hotel. We stopped outside Robbie Williams' house & we heard him talking, so we called out only to be received by absolute silence. Anyway the tour ended & so we tried our hand a second time at catching a local Metro bus with success & off we went to the Santa Monica Pier. It was cool seeing a pier swarming with people, burger stands & a ferris wheel, roller coaster & merry-go-round. We then took a stroll along Venice Beach saw the guys working out on Muscle Beach, ate a dog on a stick & went looking for our bus home. One & a half hours later we found it. With dinner time approaching & with the earlier taste of stalking a celebrity we headed out to see who we could find. First we had to stop at the Saddle Ranch Chop House where we ate a great steak, watched a couple of college girls get thrown from the mechanical bull (the one from desperate housewives) & we had our first ever taste of a butter biscuit & corn bread. So we walked the Strip, Sunset that is, passed the Comedy store, the House of Blues, the Viper Room & the Whisky-A-Go-Go yet no celebrities. Eventually we were resigned to the fact that the only star experience we would get was hearing Robbie Williams from afar, & so we headed home a little disheartened but loving LA.

Well we landed early. Caught a shuttle bus with a cool mid-fifties aged black guy by the name of Mike. Checked in & raced off to Universal Studios. The tour of the studios was good, but the new King Kong section of the ride was excellent. In fact all the rides were excellent, & the front line pass meant we waited no more than 30 seconds which helped with our fatigue. We then ate dinner at an Italian restaurant down the street on Sunset Blvd, great pasta. Absolutely buggered and big day tomorrow, off to bed.

40 hours & counting until takeoff for the USA.