California and Vegas

Our Honeymoon – February 2020
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DAY 1 – San Francisco, (Sat 1^st Feb 2020)
At the airport we caught the BART train to downtown San Francisco, getting off at Powell Street. From there it was a short walk to Union Square and onto our hotel, Beresford Arms. Despite being tired from our flight (and our long wait through arrivals), we checked in, freshened up and headed back out in order to make the most of our first night and in an attempt to beat any jet lag!

We walked along Post Street, just beyond Union Square but then decided to turn back and find a bar. We ended up having a few cocktails at Owl Tree (described as a hidden treasure with it’s dark mahogany and cozy booths) as Lee attempted to explain the rules of American football to me in anticipation of the Super Bowl the following day. Feeling peckish, a few doors down we found a sushi place called Sakana. Wow, this was really good sushi. We’d highly recommend a visit to this place but be warned, it’s popular.

DAY 2 – San Francisco, (Sun 2^nd Feb 2020)
Annoyingly both Lee and I were wide awake by 4:30am. As soon as the complimentary breakfast was ready at 7am, we went down and stocked up on croissants and muffins (not quite your typical continental breakfast). We left the hotel at 8am and as we had time on our side, we decided to walk the 2.5 miles to Castro, San Fran’s vibrant gay district.

We walked along Market Street for the majority which to be honest felt a bit sketchy and quite unsavoury. It was hard to tell if that was because it was so early on a Sunday morning or if in fact we were walking through a dodgy area. We did a lot of crossing over the road, back and forth, but as soon as I saw a Wholefoods and a few cute coffee shops started popping up, we both started to relax as we could tell that we were approaching Castro (described as one of the safest areas in SF).

Having worked up an appetite we grabbed a bagel from The Posh Bagel (a pricey $20 but delish) and continued to walk around Castro spotting all the naughty shop signs (Hand Job, Sit & Spin, Sausage Factory to name a few). Not wanting to walk back the way we’d come, we opted to get the tram and headed to the Ferry Building. To our delight it turned out the tram we were on, was the very same one that was used in the 2008 film Milk, the film all about the amazing Harvey Milk (worth the watch if you haven’t seen it).

We popped inside the Ferry Building (Pier 1) to see what it was all about and found it full of lots of cute, farmer market type shops. From there we walked along the Embarcadero to Pier 39 and onto Fisherman’s Wharf, not realising that it was actually another 1.6 miles.

It was now still only 12:20pm and we’d already done 15,000 steps, so we decided to treat ourselves to an Uber to head back up to Union Square, as Lee was desperate to buy a 49ers cap before watching the Super Bowl later that afternoon. Although we’re not really American football fans, we did feel quite privileged to be in San Francisco for the Super Bowl as it was their home team, taking on Kansas City Chiefs.

After a mad dash back to the hotel to pick up our ID’s (something you don’t expect when you’re in your mid/late 30’s), we finally found a bar, after our 3^rd attempt, as we weren’t willing to pay $20 entry fee to then have to stand for 4 hours. Amazingly we found a bar called The Lark. As we popped ourselves up at the bar, I was initially worried that we weren’t in the right place. The bar was dark, it was empty and it lacked the atmosphere we were hoping for. How wrong could I be…it wasn’t long before more and more people started flocking in, wearing their 49ers merch and here we were with the best seats in the house!

With Tegan in town for work, she came and met us for a bit. Later that night (not forgetting the Super Bowl goes on for HOURS) we got takeout from Super Duper Burger and headed back to our hotel to rest our drunken weary selves. [Steps walked: 22,595]

DAY 3 – San Francisco, (Mon 3^rd Feb 2020)
Woke up at 5am, a slight improvement from yesterday. Not wanting to start our day with muffins again, we headed to a nearby cafe, Honey Honey, for a quick breakfast. Pushed for time, from there we grabbed an Uber down to Pier 33 for our 8:45am Alcatraz tour. Despite the clear blue skies and the sun shining beautifully, we were grateful that we’d chosen to wear our big coats today, as down by the water it was really quite cold and pretty windy. We spent about 2 hours on Alcatraz, doing the audio tour and taking it all in. We both agreed that it was pretty pricey for what it was, but we were glad that we’d done it ($39.90 each).

Catching the ferry back was really nice, by now the wind had died down and it was actually pretty warm. We had a little stroll towards Pier 39 again and decided to grab a corn dog, just because we’d never had one before and weren’t we really sure what they were like. The verdict, “yeah, they’re kind of OK…sort of”.

We then took the steep climb up towards Lombard Street to take a look at the famous Zig Zag Road. Having been there before in the summer months, it was a little disappointing to see it wasn’t as pretty this time due to the lack of colourful flowers. As we’d made it this far (and because we hadn’t mastered the local transport) we decided to walk back to Union Square, however ended up taking a slight detour once we realised how close to Chinatown we were. We ended up grabbing some lunch from Dum Sum Corner (so Lee could get his fix of Xiao Long Boa) and eventually headed back to our hotel for a siesta.

The siesta however turned into, ‘we’re too tired to do anything’ and so we decided on a lazy early evening and got takeout from Pearl burgers (opposite our hotel) for dinner. [Steps walked: 11,845]

DAY 4 – San Fran to Lake Tahoe, (Tues 4^th Feb 2020)
Still being affected by jet lag, once again we were up super early and so went to see if we could pick our hire car up any earlier. Good news, we could! It didn’t take Lee long to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road and before we knew it we were driving over the Golden Gate Bridge and our road-trip had begun.

The drive to Lake Tahoe took us about 3 ½ hours, taking Route 80 and onto 50. We found the closer we got to Lake Tahoe, the more beautiful it got, specially El Dorado county and Pollock Pines. We checked into Hotel Azure which I’d purposely booked for it’s close proximity to the lake but also because it had a pool and hot tub. With the temperature being about minus 5, we wrapped up and headed over to the lake for a quick stroll and to take in the magnificent view. It really was so beautiful.

To us it looked like all the local businesses were closed for the season however, after stumbling across a Scottish pub called MacDuff’s, we realised that a lot of these places were open but just didn’t look overly inviting (my theory being that they lack windows to beat the cold). Now we’d found somewhere warm and somewhere we could treat ourselves to a drink, we decided to grab some lunch here; a pizza for Lee and a ‘mug’ of chilli for me, this food was REALLY good! The bar staff were also really helpful and gave us some great tips for our stay here. We then headed back to the hotel to take advantage of the hot tub. It felt funny being outside in our swimsuits and dropping our dressing gowns to the floor when it was literally freezing. Even the ducks had taken refugee in the pool as it was that much warmer than the lake!

Later that afternoon we decided to check out the local bowling alley. To my surprise and to my delight, I beat Lee in the first game, however my winning streak was short lived. Later that evening we went for a drink at The Idle Hour, a cute little wine bar overlooking the lake. Now super tired from such a long day, we grabbed food from the local supermarket for dinner and ate it back at our hotel. Then it was time for bed, but not before Lee took another dip in the hot tub. [Steps walked: 10,468]

DAY 5 – Lake Tahoe, (Wed 5^th Feb 2020)
Before arriving in Lake Tahoe, I’d read up on things to do whilst here (especially if like us, you’re not here to ski) and one of the things it mentioned was the Scenic Gondola ride. I was keen to do this, however looking into it, it appeared to be really expensive for what it was. We’d mentioned this to the guys at MacDuff’s who then kindly told us, if we head up to Tramway Drive (across the state line and up Kingsbury Grade Road), we’d get the exact same views. And so this is how we started our day. We were slightly anxious as we didn’t have snow tyres or snow chains, however we took it slow and the views were amazing.

After a quick pit stop at McDonalds for breakfast, we drove to Inspiration Vista Point to see the beautiful Emerald Bay. The drive there was beautiful, however climbing higher and higher up into the mountains was a little scary at times. I was keen for a snowy hike however much to Lee’s delight, the footpaths were closed for the season. Heading back, we stopped at Camp Richardson Beach (population 75) which again was another amazing view.

In preparation for Vegas, we decided to ‘pop’ back over the state line to Nevada to check out one of it’s casinos, however it was really naff and so we were there all of 10 minutes. Not sure what to do with ourselves, we decided to head back to MacDuff’s for a bite to eat and a few drinks. This somehow turned into possibly the most drunken night EVER for Lee and I (and I don’t just mean on this holiday). Free-pouring ‘pints’ of JD and coke, shots of tequila with the locals and a round of grape-juice Jägerbombs later; Lee and I are back at the hotel and in bed by 7:30pm (something we only know thanks to a tree-hugging photo of me on the walk home). [Steps walked: 4,916 steps]

DAY 6 – Lake Tahoe to Monterey, (Thurs 6^th Feb 2020)
With the worst possible hangovers in tow, we made the long drive to Monterey. I can’t quite remember as this day was a write-off, but I’d say it took us around 5 hours. We checked into The Stevenson motel which was quite good, but right on a busy intersection so a bit noisy.

We took a stroll down to Fisherman’s Wharf to have a look around and found Monterey to be very cute and quaint. Having not eaten all day we grabbed a Subway and headed back to our room for a rest. Keen to make the most of our time in Monterey we had good intentions to head back out again later that night, however sadly never made it!

DAY 7 – Monterey to Pismo Beach, (Fri 7^th Feb 2020)
Waking up and feeling normal again, we walked back down to the wharf to have another quick look around. We then got on the road for 9:50am, as today we were heading south to Pismo Beach and although it was only 150 miles, I knew we’d be making a lot of stops.

The drive along the Pacific Coast Highway really is beautiful. 15 minutes in the car and already I’m making Lee pull over so I can take some photos, this time at Carmel-By-The-Sea…another 10 minutes later and we’re stopping for Bixby Creek Bridge. The weather was mostly great, sunny and blue skies, however the higher we went the more clouds we entered. I feel like we missed some of the views due to the thick clouds, however this is quite common and so I guess part of the whole experience

By 11am we’re at Pfeiffer State National Park having a little walk through the giant trees, before heading to McWay Falls. And from there it was onto Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery for around 1:30pm.

Having done this route before back in 2014 with some girl friends (but in the opposite direction) I was familiar with Madonna Inn, however I’d never been, so Lee and I decided to check it out for lunch. From there it was only another 20 minutes to Pismo where we checked into our hotel, Ocean Palms motel.

Before heading to the beach for a romantic stroll, we popped to Pismo Beach Premium Outlets to see if we could pick ourselves up a bargain. Later the evening we had a quick drink at Harry’s Night Club & Beach Bar, had dinner at Brads and grabbed a milkshake from Cool Cats before calling it a night. [Steps walked: 16,008]

DAY 8 – Pismo Beach to Venice Beach, (Sat 8^th Feb 2020)
We set off at 8:45am, heading to LA for what feels like ‘part 2’ of our honeymoon and with no planned stops on the agenda, we take it easy. By 10:15am we reach the pretty sights of Los Padres National Forest and shortly afterwards decide to take a tiny detour to drive through Santa Barbara. As we approach Malibu, we both start fantasising about being millionaires and try to pick out which house we’d like to buy. It seems here that the beaches go on for miles and miles and so we stop at Zuma Beach to take it all in.

Jumping back in the car for another hour, we eventually arrive in Venice Beach and check into The Kinney – the nicest hotel so far. As we’re not here for long we soon head down to the beach to see what it’s all about. Although I’d been here before (back in 2014) I’d forgotten how crazy and chaotic Venice Beach Boardwalk was, what with the large crowds and strong smell of weed in the air. With the queues too long for us to get a proper lunch, we decided to grab a slice of pizza each.

_{Side street by Abbot Kinney Boulevard}

After a nice long walk on the beach, we head back to the hotel via Abbot Kinney Boulevard (a mile-long road lined with cool shops, restaurants and galleries) and enjoy a quick dip in the hot tub before we lose the sun. Later that evening we headed back to Abbot Kinney Boulevard and had some well deserved drinks at The Other Room before having dinner at The Tasting Kitchen. (NB everywhere was really busy, we had to put our names down at a few restaurant and wait to be called when there was availability…possibly because it was Oscar weekend).

It was here at the The Tasting Kitchen where our night took an unexpected (but very fun) turn. Sat at a large sharing table, it wasn’t long before we started talking to locals Celeste and Scott, who gifted us a cocktail after we’d told them it was our honeymoon. Chatting away all evening, they then told us that their friends were hosting a Mardi Gras party and insisted that we come with them…and so we did!

At this point as we jumped in an Uber with these two strangers, crazy thoughts started going through my head, ‘are we going to be murdered’, ‘are they swingers’, however, I decided to go with it.

We ended up having such a random, brilliant night and everyone we met were so lovely and welcoming. The party was at a place called The Waterfront where we saw the announcement of Mardi-Gras’ King and Queen (yep, as random as it sounds) before heading to Circle Bar in Santa Monica (described as a Boisterous party destination). Not wanting a repeat of our last night in Lake Tahoe, we decided to be good and take ourselves home before getting too carried away. [Steps walked: 16,328]

DAY 9 – Venice Beach to Vegas, (Sun 9^th Feb 2020)
Goodbye Venice Beach, hello Vegas! Super excited, we set off on the long drive (approx. 4 ½ – 5 hours). It took a while until we were through LA and out the other side, but as soon as we were we stopped at a services to grab some breakfast and a much needed coffee. The drive was surprisingly windy but quite easy, as it’s pretty much one straight road. We stopped again to re-fuel and then arrived at Planet Hollywood perfectly timed, for our 3pm self-check in.

Dumping our bags and heading out onto the strip, Lee’s face was brilliant! It’s so hard to describe Vegas to someone who hasn’t been before. People say you either love it or hate it and I could tell Lee was going to love it. We headed over to the Bellagio and Caesar Palace to explore and to grab a bite to eat. I ended up with a very over priced Pad Thai from a food court ($19). After wandering around we decided to head back to our casino (Planet Hollywood), grabbed a beer and had our first little flutter. I got super excited when I won $35!

Both absolutely shattered from our crazy antics in Venice Beach, we were back in our hotel room super early and it wasn’t long before we were fast asleep. [Steps walked: 9,492 steps]

DAY 10 – Vegas, (Mon 10^th Feb 2020)
We started the morning in Paris, by having breakfast at the Mon Ami Gabi (inside the Paris Las Vegas hotel) which was really good. Next on the agenda was a trip to Pawn Stars, home to Lee’s favourite TV show! As it was such a lovely sunny day we decided to walk there (and that way we’d get to see more of the strip), however I think we underestimated how far 4.8 miles actually was!

After popping into Pawn Stars, we decided to treat ourselves to a drink and a sit down at Rick’s bar (Rick being the owner and main character of Pawn Stars). Expecting a tacky tourist trap, the bar was actually really nice. Known for their amazing brisket and BBQ meats, we shared a sandwich, drank beers (and cocktails), before getting an Uber back down towards the main strip.

As it was still such a beautiful day we went and had some more drinks at Cabo Wabo Cantina. Situated opposite the Bellagio, it’s a great place for sitting in the sun watching the world go by. From there we quickly went back to our room for an outfit change, before walking up to the Wynn for their ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet. FYI, no trip to Vegas is complete without a visit to the Wynn Buffet! As we hadn’t eaten since our shared sandwich, we decided to head to the Wynn around 5pm, managing to avoid the queues.

Absolutely stuffed, we slowly walked back down towards the Bellagio to catch the water show, which really is a sight. Due to our food coma state, it meant we were back in our hotel room before 8pm. Was this a sign we were getting old! [Steps walked: 22,903]

DAY 11 – Vegas, (Tues 11^th Feb 2020)
After a bit of a lie in (a rarity for us so far on this trip) we drove the short distance to the North Premium Outlets for a spot of shopping. Here you’ll find so many high street and high-end shops, with HUGE discounts. Both Lee and I were successful shoppers – two Coach handbags and a pair of Nike trainers for me, yay.

From there we headed back to the strip and had a couple of drinks at Beer Park, another a rooftop bar opposite the Bellagio before going back to Cabo Wabo, this time for a bite to eat as the food there looked amazing. Later that afternoon we headed south down the strip as Lee was keen to explore that end and he also wanted to check out Grand MGM (because of it’s boxing significance). Walking back up, we popped into the Cosmopolitan (where I stayed back in 2014) and whilst enjoying the most amazing cocktail (a LadyLove Juice) at The Chandelier bar we played roulette on the machines built into the bar (there really is no getting away from it). We then spent the rest of the evening in our hotel casino, having a little gamble and enjoying the free Jack Daniels & coke. (TIP: as you play on any game or machine, waitresses will bring you free drinks – the bigger you tip them, the quicker they come back to you and the drinks get stronger). All in all, I’d say we were pretty successful in Vegas, winning over $100 a couple of times. [Steps walked: 14,326]

DAY 12 – Vegas to LA, (Wed 12^th Feb 2020)
Sad to be leaving Vegas we set off and head back to LA, this time to stay with my friend Ed and his husband Matt, in their amazing pool house. Arriving around 2pm we sat in the sun around their pool, catching up with Ed before walking to Electric Owl for a few drinks and pre-dinner nibbles whilst we waited for Matt to finish work. We then walked back to theirs, and Matt drove the four of us to Soho House in West Hollywood for dinner which was really good. It was here that we had our first LA celeb spot, Kelly Osbourne. [Steps walked: 4,429]

DAY 13 – LA, (Thurs 13^th Feb 2020)
A brilliant start to the day, Ed and Matt took us up to Runyon Canyon for a hike. We were so grateful to be staying with them for many reasons, but one being that we felt they were giving us a little taste of local life. We don’t think we would have known about this area had we been staying in a hotel and the views from here were amazing, seeing right across the whole of LA.

Back at theirs, I had a quick dip in the pool before Lee and I set off for the day. This was our only full day in LA and so we had a lot to squeeze in. We first drove to The Griddle Café for breakfast, and it wasn’t long before Kourtney Kardashian was pulling up in her Mercedes G-wagon behind us. How comical, we’re in LA for less than 24 hours and already we’ve seen a Kardashian.

After breakfast we walked along Rodeo Drive and drove around Beverley Hills taking in the sights. We then headed back to Ed and Matt’s to ditch the car and decided to head back out on foot, walking along Sunset Boulevard and going to Chateau Marmont for a cocktail. Later that afternoon we walked back to Ed and Matt’s to chill for a bit before going back to Electric Owl for dinner. [Steps walked: 16,089]

DAY 14 – LA to Encinitas, (Fri 14^th Feb 2020)
My first Valentine’s Day as a wife and did I get a card? No! But I did get these lovely chocolate covered strawberries from Ed, and Lee made it up to me by going to get us coffee and a croissant. Today we were saying goodbye to LA and heading south to Encinitas, just outside of San Diego, to stay with my good friend Alicia and her family. Annoyingly I hadn’t realised beforehand how close to San Diego Alicia lived, if I could go back I would have looked into us flying home from here rather than LAX. It also would have been good to see San Diego…but I guess that gives us a brilliant excuse to visit again.

It was a pleasant drive down to Carlsbad / Encinitas, taking us around two hours following the coast most of the way. We arrived around lunchtime and so after dumping our bags and a quick tour of their house, Alicia came with us to grab some lunch at La Costa Town Square. It was so nice catching up with her, having not seen her since our wedding in September.

Later that afternoon, this time with Lawrence, Inez and Elodie in tow, we headed to Saint Archer Brewing Co for some drinks before driving a little further to Moonlight Beach. This beach and surrounding area was so pretty. I think the next time we come, we’d be keen to spend more time here. After some beach and bubble action, we walked to Culture Brewing Co to grab some more drinks and got takeaway tacos that we were able to eat there. From there it was back to Alicia and Lawrence’s, where we put the kids to bed and enjoyed a nightcap of red wine. [Steps walked: 5,721]

DAY 15 – Encinitas to LAX, (Sat 15^th Feb 2020)
Sad to be waking up on what was the last morning of our amazing honeymoon. After having a pancake breakfast with Alicia, Lawrence and the girls, we set off driving back up towards LAX where we dropped the car off and took the shuttle to the airport for our 3pm flight back to London.

All in all, it was an amazing trip and the perfect way to celebrate our honeymoon. I really hope that one day we’ll be back. I’m sure we will.

TRAVEL DETAILS
_{FLIGHTS – Virgin Atlantic = £838.04 (for the both of us)}
_{DEPART: London Heathrow (11:40am) – ARRIVE: San Francisco (2:45pm)}
_{DEPART: Los Angeles (3pm) – ARRIVE: London Heathrow (9:20am)}

_{CAR HIRE
Argus Car Hire / 11 days / Jeep (Ford Escape or similar) / pick-up San Fran, drop-off LA = £250}
ACCOMODATION
_{San Francisco – Beresford Arms / 3 nights = £426 ($535)
Lake Tahoe – Hotel Azure / 2 nights = £152 ($190)
Monterey – The Stevenson Monterey / 1 night = £73 ($92)
Pismo Beach – Ocean Palms Motel / 1 night = £83 ($113)
LA – The Kinney Venice Beach / 1 night = £144 ($182)
Vegas – Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino / 3 nights = £229 ($290)}

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