We left Ventura before noon, and reached Pismo Beach, 2hrs north, early afternoon. Our plan was to drive along the coast, but we forgot about this, and followed the GPS. We headed to the beach, got bodyboards for Sarah and Tim, and… that was pretty much our day. At the end of the day, the coast is better on bodyboards than in a car.

At the hotel, we got surprised by complimentary drinks and snacks (easy way to get great feedback on tripadvisor), a nice swimming pool. We ate sushi, and enjoyed the evening.

Now is the time to relax! We spent the morning at the beach next to the hotel, had lunch in Camarillo with Jim, Brunzie’s dad who lives nearby, went shopping at the local outlet, came back to the beach, and had diner at a nice lace near… the beach.

Not a busy day, in other words!

We left the hotel after a good night of sleep, went to Hollywood to taka a picture of the Hollywood sign, drove and walked on the Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, and finally reached the coast.

We had to take a short break there because of a flat tyre, and drove the coast highway up to Ventura. Our hotel is a 10min walk from a beautiful sandy beach, where we spent the late afternoon.

We spent the full day, from 8:45 to 21:30 at Universal Studios Hollywood. A great day for everyone, with great entertainment. We watched the shows (special effects, animals, waterworld, did almost all the rides, took the traditional bus ride. We had a long, busy day!

Some queues were long, I can imagine the nightmare it must be on weekends. We were lucky to arrive early, we could do many attractions before lunch.

Best show for me was the waterworld, where they catapult a plane over the wall and in the water. The best ride was the Simpsons, funny and impressive.

Last week of our holidays id starting today. The plan is to relax, pretty much!

We left Las Vegas before lunch, drove on busy highways to L.A. where we arrived late afternoon.

No time for much else than a short tour to Hollywood.

Once again, we had a slow start, enjoyed the breakfast, the swimming pool, and the gym with Timothé.

We left the hotel before noon, drove to Las Vegas with a detour via Zion again, such a beautiful road it was worth an extra half hour.

We arrived at LV mid afternoon, checked in at our hotel and went to Circus Circus. Fun for the kids, but crowded and noisy…

We took the kids back to the heart of Las Vegas, on the strip, to the M&Ms store. We had diner at the Hard Rock Cafe (first time in my life).

We ended our day by a night walk along the strip up to the Bellagio where we stopped a few minutes for the water show.

It was quite a long day. Tomorrow, we will drive to the west coast, finally!