USA 🇺🇸& Canada🇨🇦 2019

Friday 3rd January 2020: Cambria to Santa Barbara

Another clear morning for a walk along by the beach.

After a great breakfast at the Ranch Cantina (Daybreak Sammies for Cate and Nigel, Breakfast Burrito for Annie, Cinnamon Swirl French toast for nick and smoked Trout bagel for me) we set off – supposedly for Hearst Castle however only to find that tour buses had booked out the tour tickets 😞. Very disappointing as it was something I really wanted to see however not to be.

We continued down to a small town called Cayucos for coffee and then onto a Spanish Mission at San Luis Obispo.

They had some really sweet Spanish/Mexican crafts in the gift shop – Nick was happy as he got some juggling balls 😀

From here we pushed onto Santa Barbara and our hotel, Hotel Milo by the beach. Time for another walk, however Nick started complaining when he worked out we were headed to the shops … so the boys split for beers and fries (guess who had what!) and a bike ride, and the girls to shop.

Heading back to the hotel, Santa Barbara

We enjoyed complementary wine tasting at the hotel and then headed out for Mexican for dinner … navigating based on Google Maps recommendations, it was a pretty casual eatery to say the least, but the food was brilliant! And cheap!!

We all bunked in for the night in a family room … quite literally – one kingsize bed and two small double bunk beds – me on top, Nick and Nigel sharing and the girls in the big bed … cosy!!

Thursday 2nd January 2020 – Highway 1: Carmel to Cambria

Beautiful clear morning for a walk today – 5 mins down the road to this stunning beach!

Lots of people out walking their dogs … some would have been locals and others holidaying (many places are pet friendly)

I decided I would like to retire and live in Carmel … and picked this house 😊

We enjoyed the hotel (included) breakfast before packing up the Chevy Tahoe and hitting the road.

Views were just astounding for miles …

We drove through Big Sur National Park and stopped for walk through the redwoods.

We stopped for lunch at yet another astounding view spotastonfouning

And another stop to view the elephant seals … there were so many of them! All making gross noises and letting off gas!!

We arrived at our accommodation for the night – Oceanpoint Ranch at Cambria – only really ranch-like in feel … very cosy and homely. We walked to the nearby beach to watch the sunset – so beautiful.

…. before a read over drinks and dinner at the Ranch.

Wednesday 1st January 2020 – Roadtrip San Francisco down Highway 1 – Carmel-by-the-Sea

Another morning walk – the San Francisco Bay is just so beautiful and hard to leave. We breakfasted are the Boudin Sourdough bakery (except Cate – she wanted the steel cut oats again at the hotel … and some ‘me’ time!!).

We loaded up the car and set out through the streets of SF for Highway 1, south. Views were breathtaking, but only to get better the next day!

We stopped in Santa Cruz, a surfer town with a massive amusement park & the longest boardwalk on the West coast. Cool vibe but also pretty touristy and a little tacky.

After lunch, we headed back on Highway 1 again to Carmel where we were staying the night in the Lamplighter B&B. Love Carmel – so absolutely beautiful … village style, sweet houses and shops – I could have stayed another night!

The girls and I wandered up the street from our accommodation in and out of shops – just delightful! We were staying in a gorgeous little B&B – nautical themed, with little covered fire pits outside and chairs, plus we had open fires in our bedrooms which we just had to light!!

We had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant- grilled vege salad, spanakopita and hummus/ pita bread .. delicious!

Tuesday 31st December – San Francisco

Cate and I walked this morning … beautiful morning and not too cold.

Breakfast at the hotel before picking up the car …. and driving (Nigel taking the helm) to Muir Woods, a National Park with amazing redwoods.

We walked up the main track and then took another track for a hike up above the canopy …. steep but beautiful!

We headed back to SF stopping at Sausalito for lunch on the way. Then the girls and I went up to the Haight Ashbury district- this was the hippy gathering area during the 60s and looked like it hadnt changed much! They were keen to look in some of the vintage shops – it certainly was an experience!

We met the boys back for dinner at an Italian restaurant and then to bed (the New Years fireworks were meant to be good, but too late at midnight !)

Monday 30th December – San Francisco

We breakfasted at the Boudin sourdough bakery this morning before heading to the dock for our Alcatraz tour. (Well uncharacteristically we actually missed our 8:45am departure but fortunately managed to get on the next boat. After a 15 min ferry ride to the island we listened to couple of guides talking about the Island’s history and the Indian occupation, before heading up to the cell block for the guided audio tour.

The audio was super interesting plus seeing inside the cells and the prison. We then headed back to the ferry to San Francisco and walked down to the financial district. We grabbed a bite to eat and then to our next tour -an architecture tour! We all enjoyed hearing about the history of the city and the different architecture styles and architects – Willis Polk, Mies Van der Rohe.

Willis Polk Curtain building (glass on the outside, pillars on the inside), Hobart Building, also Willis Polk but more traditional style, and an office building where the Maltese Falcon was filmed

Inside the office building from the previous photo, and One Bush Street – great example of modernist architecture

Salesforce a Tower, Millennium Tower, Shell Building

After the tour, we rested over a drink. The girls and I went to one shop – Urban Outfitters and then we all went back to the hotel for a light dinner.

Sunday 29th December – San Francisco

Cate and I went for a long run/walk this morning, up through the Marina district, to the Presidio (and pretty close to the Golden Gate for Cate …. not me!).

We had breakfast at the hotel and then rented bikes to bike across the Golden Gate to Sausilito – a long ride (took the best part of 2 hours! With a stop for coffee at Philz). The weather was misty and overcast .. and then quite rainy as we headed into Sausalito.

We had salads for lunch at The Joinery – delicious! And at least we dried out a bit before heading back on the ferry to San Francisco .

A little shopping before a good (and well earned !) seafood dinner. Xx

Saturday 28th December – New York to San Francisco

Up at 4:00 am this morning !! , getting a taxi to Newark airport for a 7am flight – not knowing how long it would take to very through security (which did take 40 mins). Just enough time for an average breakfast before boarding our Alaskan airlines flight to San Francisco.

This is Nick, in the taxi from the airport at San Francisco to the hotel …. catching up on some zzzzz’s!

We left our bags at the hotel and walked to the Ferry Building (about a 35 min walk) to go to the Farmer’s markets. We all had legendary toasted sandwiches from “The Farmer’s Wife” – all locally grown produce, delicious cheese – delicious!

After wandering the markets for a while we headed back down the esplanade to Fisherman’s Wharf for our afternoon tour – in a VW combi van.

This was at the Palace of Fine Arts, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art.

The tour was great – really engaging guide and we got to see a lot of the city.

View from Coit Tower – built as a memorial for Lily Coit who was associated with the San Francisco fire department, heroed with saving the city’s historic buildings from fire

The “Painted Ladies” – Beautiful Victorians

Friday 27th December – New York

We were up a little later this morning – long days and lots of walking catching up with us. After breakfast at the hotel, we set out for Central Park, stopping in at the New York Public Library. A beautiful building , with decorated ceilings, reading rooms and research areas.

We continued up though Times Square – a must see on Annie’s list. Bright neon lights, tacky shops, touts, dirty … so over hyped!

We finally reached Central Park – nice to be out of the intense crowds for a while – though still a lot of people around.

We made our way to Wollman Rink – for another item on Annie’s list – ice skating (though she nearly backed out once she found out that it was bankrolled by Trump!.

We rented skates (not Nigel who said he would be chief bag and shoe minder and photographer). We all had a great time – the kids had a few falls (I managed to stay upright!).

After skating (after 2pm by this stage), we headed back to Little Italy to the handmade pasta restaurant we went to a couple of days earlier …. we had decided to have a late lunch as we were out that evening to an ice hockey game. And the pasta at Aunt Jake’s was that great!

We then went back to the hotel for a rest and to pack up (leaving very early Sat morning).

At 6:15 we walked to Madison Square Gardens for the New York Rangers v Carolina Hurricanes National Ice Hockey game – great atmosphere and a fantastic game to watch : so fast! We all enjoyed it.

Thursday 26th December New York

A little sleep in the morning, before heading out of the Hotel for breakfast to Bluestone Cafe in Greenwich Village (Australian run – and they know how to make a long black!) – delicious avocado toast!

We then continued walking through Greenwich Village, West Village to Chelsea – very relaxed feel, suburbia almost.

Onto Chelsea and the High line – an old restored tram line, up to the Vessel, an unusual structure, very photo worthy!

From here, the boys went to the American Museum of Natural History, and the girls to Museum of Modern Art,.

Xxx

Wednesday 25th December New York

We started the day with an early morning walk (Cate, Nigel and I) over to the east side … beautiful clear and still (cool) morning.

After a hotel breakfast (much to Annie’s distain – she was over the hotel breakfast – even though there were many options) , we headed for the subway to Brooklyn Bridge. We had planned to bike over the bridge, but with so many people walking it, it would have been too much of a hazard!