2951.7 miles and a speeding ticket later... California, done!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thought it was about time for me to add my five cents to these blogs.

Please forgive me in advance for lacking the grace and literacy elegance of Lisa’s blogs. I hope you find my replacement adjectives such as ‘very cool’ and ‘awesome’ justly suitable.

We’ve had a very busy five or so days since Lisa’s last entry. After leaving Las Vegas we battled our way through the fire and smoke-ravaged Californian National Parks towards San Diego. I didn’t have every high aspirations for San Diego however once the smoke cleared SD began to charm.

We spent our first couple of days exploring the SD beaches; Mission Beach (MD) Ocean Beach (OB) and Imperial Beach (IB). We visited the trendy beach La Jolla which inhabits hundreds of sea lions, many of which were basking in the sun on the sand or playing in the water with the divers.

We spent a great day with Sam and John (Lisa was their bridesmaid way back when) who now live in San Diego. It is always nice to be shown around (and fed) by ‘locals’. Lisa especially enjoyed her time catching up with Sam and playing with Charlotte who is expecting a little baby brother and sister soon (Sam is expecting twins!).

Apart from our hostel – which was the best that we have stayed in so far, for me the highlight beyond doubt of our time in San Diego (although not actually in SD) was our venture across the Mexican border into Tijuana.

We were told before crossing into Tijuana of its rather shady reputation, to leave all valuables behind and to walk across the border. So we left ‘our remaining’ credit cards and anxiously, but excitedly, drove towards the border, parking the car in the final car park on the US side.

We approached the border by foot passing through a set of gates you see at football matches. The type that let people in but don’t let them out. Within minutes you could already see the enormous cultural and economic differences in the two sides. We walked by a small market, passed a plethora of pharmacies, all with little men in white medical jackets standing out the front trying to sell me discounted Viagra (did Lisa let them know in advance I was coming??) and were greeted by sights and sounds of a bustling Saturday night in the border city of Tijuana.

Tijuana was fun!... What were they talking about shady.. huh?! We quickly found ourselves a margarita (would be rude not to) and a Mexican meal (see previous bracket) and watched all the action from above. Brides standing through the sun roofs of limos roaring up and down the main street and donkeys on street corners posing for photos with kids wearing sombreros sitting aloft.

After being entertained for a few hours by this we felt we got the general idea and decided that we would head back to the border. It wasn’t until then that the shadier side of Tijuana raised its head. We returned to the border via a different route and what we discovered was prostitution on a grand scale!

These streets, four or five of them, were clamored by hundreds of prostitutes, all lined up catalogue-like, barely a meter from one another. Tall girls, short girls, young girls, old girls, red hair, brown hair, big boobs, small boobs, ugly girls, well... they were all ugly girls actually.

After perusing for a short period we eventually made our way back across the border, this time having to cross border control. Safe and sound.

We left SD to head back to Los Angeles for our final day in California, which we spent at Universal Studios. Being one for the glamour and glitz of Hollywood (although it was disappointing in LA), I was excited at the prospect of going to the Studios. We began by doing a tour of Universal City, which sets the backdrop for hundreds of movies. We passed a live filming of ‘Desperate Housewives’, saw the set for War of the Worlds, and were scared (or not so scared) by the rather plastic-looking Jaws.

Although slightly smaller than I imagined, Universal Studios didn’t disappoint. We danced with the Blues Brothers, frolicked with the dinosaurs at Jurassic Park, saw Shrek in 4-D (the 4^th dimension was being squirted the face with water) and went on The Mummy ride twice!

With our Californian adventure coming to an end, we dropped the car off at the airport and finished just like we started…..with a burrito.

Brad