Well it’s 4 more nighttime sleeps until Pauline and I get on plane for a 16 hour flight to California. Then it’s an overnight stay in San Francisco to sample the delights we will immerse ourselves in at the end of the trip. After that we become travelling hobos, stopping where we want to until we hit LA on the 27th December.

The aim is to spend christmas in the snow, but we’re concerned about the fact that we’ve never driven in snow before. So, on the 22nd December we will head off to Gold Country – think lasseters at Dreamworld. First stop is Old Sacramento, then Nevada City for the night. Depending on the snow conditions, we may spend Christmas in Lake Tahoe, or we could just sleep in the car! 🙂

On boxing day we’ll head towards the coast and highway 1. First stop is Monterey and the Monterey Aquarium. We’ll then do the 17 mile drive, say hello to Clint Eastwood in Carmel, and try to make San Simeon or Cambria for the night. This is so we can get up and wonder over to Hearst Castle. We’ll then head for Los Angeles, after creating a soap opera in Santa Barbara and having a burger at Bob’s Big Boy Diner.

A few days in Los Angeles staying at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, using the City Pass to visit Universal Studios, do a hollywood stars house tour, see the walk of fame, drive the sunset strip, pretend to be James Dean at the Griffith Observatory (which will be closed) and have a soda from a soda jerk at the Fair Oaks Pharmacy.

On the 30th December we head to Las Vegas for New Years, and will stay at the Monte Carlo (nowhere in Vegas is cheap for new years). They close down the entire strip of Las Vegas and light fireworks off all the buildings. We will probably arrive late on the 30th, explore the strip on the 31st during the day, party all night, get up late and try to make the 1.30pm flight to the Grand Canyon. I picked this flight/bus trip cause apart from sleeping in, you get to see a sunset over the canyon and fly back over the lights of Vegas at night. I’ll keep my eyes out for any CSIs. On the 02 January I plan to make my first million in the slots, and then in the late afternoon we fly back to San Francisco to begin the week long stay at the Mosser Hotel.

We are booked to do a tour of San Francisco and Alcatraz and I can’t wait to look at the houses from Full House and Mrs Doubtfire. Pauline heads off to the Macworld Expo while I get to explore San Francisco. Hopefully I won’t be killed by Dirty Harry or run over by a car chase. I’ll certainly find enough things to do. Then on the 10th January we start our journey home filled to the brim with gadgets and purchases and grumpy because we have to lug it all around.

My aim is to update this site with info and images as we go along, but it depends on how much spare time we have and whether we get mugged as soon as we get there and get the camera or the powerbook stolen. 🙂

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