San Francisco – Manchester, UK

Today is the last day of our trip so we get ready, make sure everything is packed and go for one last walk around the bay.

After we check out we drive over to the airport, hand the car back to the rental company and then get the airtram over to the international terminal, after we check in we get something to eat, spend our remaining change on sweets and then wait for our plane.

We board the plane and take off, I pass the time by watching three movies (The boat that rocked, Lesbian Vampire Killers and Fired Up) along with TV shows such as Free radio, Flight of the Conchords and Being Human.

We land at London Heathrow the next morning on the Sunday (5^th July) and then wait for our internal flight back to Manchester.

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San Francisco

Got up and went out a bit later than normal but we wanted to relax a bit as it was the penultimate day of our holiday.

When we went out we got a bowl of clam chowder for brunch which was served in a sourdough bread bowl. It tasted ok but I think it could have been better. We then walked around the area for a while until it was time for us to board our boat to go across to Alcatraz.

We departed from Pier 33 which was about a five minute walk from the main Fisherman’s Wharf area.

The ferry journey was short ride until we reached the island, but was very windy so sprayed a lot of waves over the front of the ship.

When we docked we had to listen to a short orientation speech about the island and it’s history before we could carry on.

To get to the jail cells you needed to walk up the steep roads until you made it to the top. Here you were given the audio tour earphones and entered the cell house.

The audio that you listened to guided you around telling you who stayed in that cell, what you did for lunch, etc. it was quite interesting. Once thing I do not agree with though is the mythology, some my even say admiration people have for the prisoners who escaped from the island or people like Robert Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz). At the end of the day these people were nasty pieces of work, some of them even cold blooded murderers who deserved to be locked up in such a desolate place. I was glad to see a memorial in one cell for a guard who had been killed there when he foiled an escape attempt.

After touring the cell block the audio part of the tour came to an end so we were free to explore where we wished. We went out to the yard and it was so windy there it almost blew you off your feet.

We then walked around a bit more visiting the gardens, museum, morgue, pretty much everywhere we were able to go until we had nowhere else. So we walked back down to the docks waited for a while and then boarded the ferry back to Fisherman’s Wharf.

After spending a few minutes back at the hotel we decided to go for a walk to Chinatown which was not too far away. We saw loads of oriental shops and restaurants there (what else would you expect). We then walked back over to Fisherman’s Wharf where we stupidly had a meal at Johnny Rockets, not only was the food very over priced it tasted bloody awful and the service was dreadful.

We bought some last minute souvenirs and gifts and went back to our hotel to pack for our trip home tomorrow.

Route 66 Day Twenty Two

Monterey – San Francisco

This seems to be a very repetitive routine now but got up and went down for breakfast, same things as usual; bagel with cream cheese and a bowl of cereal.

After we check out we head over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium which is just a couple of miles down the road. I could not believe the price of the tickets; $30 each, I was expecting them to be a maximum of $20 each. I don’t mind the high price if I felt I was getting value for money but all the aquarium had was some otter pools, one tank with a couple of sharks and a big room full of kelp (yes I know there was more but they were the first things that came to my head when I was typing this).

After we finished in the aquarium we walked along the main street out side looking for somewhere to eat, we decided on a place called Bushwhacked and went in for fish and chips.

After we left Monterey we followed the Pacific Coast Highway north again all the way to San Francisco. As soon as we arrived within the outskirts of the city the traffic became really bad it it took ages to go those last few miles to the hotel.

We were staying at the Holiday Inn Fishermans Wharf, the same place we did a few years ago, it is a good hotel in a great location. After we un pack we go for a walk around all the tourist shops and down to pier 39 before going to In n’ Out for our dinner.

We take it back to the room and settle in for the night.

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Santa Monica – Monterey

Went down for breakfast this morning before we checked out, Sarah had the eggs Benedict again and I had steak and eggs in a wrap that was bloody awful.

After breakfast we go out for a quick walk to get our official photos at the end of Route 66, first we go to the Will Rogers marker at the end of Santa Monica Blvd (although the official end of 66 is Lincoln and Olympic a few streets away), as well as a sign on the tourist information centre on Ocean Ave.

When we check out of the hotel I notice that they have added of over $70 of extra charges to my bill, as you can imagine I am not very happy about it, they sorted it out but I did not get an apology which I felt I deserved.

We leave Santa Monica and head up the coast, we make our first stop in Malibu and get an ice cream at their local shopping mall and who do we see sitting on a bench there, Brent Spiner, the man that plays Data in Star Trek.

We then continued up the Pacific Coast Highway until we got to Monterey, along the way we passed a number of scenic stops where we had a great view of the sea as well as in one place a group of elephant seals.

In Monterey we checked into the Holiday Inn Express and then went and got something to eat at the Great Wall Chinese restaurant before going back to the hotel and settling in for the night.

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Santa Monica – Universal Studios Hollywood

Woke up and ordered room service for breakfast, I had a ham and cheese omelette and Sarah had the eggs Benedict.

We got ready and then headed to Universal Studios, the last time I was here was in 2000 so was interested to see how much it had changed.

We park our car and then walk over to the theme park through Universal City Walk which is a shopping and dinning area next to the park.

I decide to get the front of line passes, they are like regular tickets but mean you get to go to the front of the line on all the attractions so it will save us time and guarantee we will get to see everything.

The first thing we did was see the Waterworld stunt show and to be honest it did not seam like everything went according to plan with it, there was long periods of silences that looked like they should not be there and some of the actors did not have the type of enthusiasm you would expect.

After the show we then boarded the tram for the studio backlot tour, this is a great ride as it goes around all the sound stages on the Universal backlot, back in 2000 we even drove right past Kevin Spacey when he was outside his trailer. This time Sarah actually saw Jennifer Love Hewitt in an office but before she could point her out to me she was gone. Ghost Whisperer is filmed here so she may have been taking a break.

Also on this tour you go through the Earthquake set, Jaws set, Fast and the Furious and a load others, many of which you recognise from movies.

From here we headed down to the lower level and when on the Mummy ride, which I don’t think is as good as the Florida one as well as Jurassic Park. We then went on the Backdraft special effect show which they don’t have in Florida followed by the behind the scenes experience showing you how they do the effects in the movies.

We then go back up to the top level and watch the animal actors on stage, this follows exactly the same script as the Florida show so I could say the dialogue before the actors but it was still entertaining.

Next came the Creature from the Black Lagoon the Musical, I found out that this was a press screening and the show was not due to be launched for a few days so that was quite interesting.  But as for the show it self I did not know what to make of it, to be quite honest it was terrible and a large proportion of the audience walked out during the performance, it was not the acting that was bad, that was quite good, it was the story and how it mixed with the music. I think it was trying to be a tongue-in-cheek version of the 1950′s original set to music and filled with sexual innuendo, but it was falling well short of the mark, I really think they will need to do some work on this before it is properly released.

We also go and see Terminator 2:3D which again is the same version as the Florida one.

Finally we go to the Universal House of Horrors which is a walk through haunted house filled with actors who jump out at you, Sarah was particularly scarred by a little person dressed as Chuckie running after her, I was laughing the whole way through, Sarah wasn’t.

We leave the park and get some food at Universal city walk before going for a little drive around LA down Wilshire Blvd around Rodeo Drive before heading down Santa Monica Blvd back to the hotel. I really wish we had more time to spend here but we need to move on tomorrow up the coast. Santa Monica is on my list of places I would have a holiday home, after Florida of course.

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Las Vegas – Santa Monica

Got up and had the continental breakfast again before packing our bags and hitting the road once more.

Spent a few hours driving and caught up with Route 66 again at Barstow and followed it for large areas at a time. But again certain places we lost it and had to go on the interstate.

We stopped for lunch at In N’ Out burger before continuing towards LA. It was getting late and as I have been to LA and especially Santa Monica many times before (even spent a whole month there back in 2000) I know what the traffic would be like if we tried to go through the centre of the city so we decided to leave Route 66 and take the freeway to the coast.

When we arrived in Santa Monica we checked into our hotel, The Georgian which is right on the coast and went up to our suite.

After checking the room out and unpacking we go down and head for Santa Monica Place where we want a Mongolian BBQ and hot dog on a stick, which is our usual when we are here and have been dreaming about it for the past few days. For those that are not aware Santa Monica Place is the shopping mall they filmed such classics as Woody Allen’s “Scenes from a Mall”, “Terminator 2″ and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to name a few. But when we got there we found out it has been knocked down and is being rebuilt and will not re-open until 2010. so that was that idea out of the window, in the end we settle for a pizza and salad from Wolfgang Puck Express on the Third Street Promenade.

We then go for a walk to the end of the Pier where we have a churro and a hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel for the night.

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Las Vegas

As today is the first one on the trip we did not have to check out of the hotel and drive somewhere else we had a bit of a lye in, we did not get up until after 9am!!! We also got a continental breakfast delivered to our room. Luckily this was complementary as part of our room plan otherwise it would have cost $50 for a couple of bagels, orange juice and some hot chocolate, what a rip off.

After we got ready we spend a couple hours walking around the strip near to our hotel before returning and driving a couple of miles to the gun store.

I just want you all to know that I am not a violent person and I believe that guns should only be used by the military and law enforcement and should never be able to be purchased by normal people like it is in the UK.

But after seeing adverts all over the place to shoot a machine gun I had to go and check it out.

I paid to shoot an AK47 (like the one that all terrorists and militia around the world use, an MP5 like the SAS and other special forces use and a lever action shotgun like Arnie used in Terminator 2). I have to admit it was quite fun if not a little short lived. I was all very rushed and a lot of people were taking part, it was a bit worrying that here all these people were paying to fire machine guns without any checks to see if they were sane or anything, what if they decided to run amuck In the shop? People would not be able to stand a chance. And another thing this place actually sells machine guns, they even had grenade launchers for sale, what possible reason would a normal person want to own any of this, surely they should be made illegal over here.

Anyway after we went back to the room we freshened up a bit, after all it was 114 degrees out side and then went to the Bellagio for the buffet. This has to be one of the best buffets I have ever been to and it is well worth the long wait to get in. after we had been queuing up for about 20 minutes a woman came past and offered us her jump the line pass to get to the front, what a nice person, this saved us about another hour in line.

Once we were in I was sure to make the most of it and went for kobe beef steaks, sushi, shrimp, basically anything that costs a lot and went back again and again until I could not take anymore, but there was always room for dessert and and I had five cakes (what a greedy bugger I am).

After this we went out and watched the fountains outside the hotel before going back to the Venetian and to bed.