First Outing in US

Taking the opportunity of Independence Day holiday, we took a trip outside LA. I must said it was a very brave decision of us but we were glad we did it. We took Lucas on a 6 days trip outside LA by car. In KL, we hardly took him out. The thought of packing for him is not very encouraging. Lucas had a luggage and 2 boxes! Dominic and myself only had a luggage. Here, we desperately wanted to see something and had no choice but to take him along. How circumstances can change a decision so drastically!

Santa Barbara and Solvang

Our first stop was where else other than factory outlet again (it was on the way and we needed to stop to feed Lucas..excuses, excuses). We spent an hour there. Then we adjourned to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a hippy town with Spanish architecture and nice beaches. We stayed at Solvang, a Danish town. Yup..visiting 'Europe' right here in California. Lucas was quite excited and behaved himself.

San Simeon and Cambria

Next we went to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. The castle is like those castles in Europe but this is located in the middle of nowhere. We stayed at Cambria, a very relaxing town by the Pacific Ocean. We enjoyed Cambria very much. Don't mind going again. We also managed to eat delicious seafood dinner at reasonable price.

Hearst Castle is not baby friendly i.e. not stroller allowed. Dominic has to carry him on a back pack baby seat. It is like carrying a 10kg rice on his back and walked for an hour. The weather was hot too. The heat wave did not make it any easier.

Monterey

Next stop was Monterey, another town by the Pacific Ocean. The most scenic drive on the coastal highway is from Big Sur to Carmel. It is very scenic indeed. Highly recommended. The pictures taken was like postcard. Lucas was showing sign of tiredness. He has been sleeping less than 12 hours for the last 2 days.

San Francisco

When we hit our final destination San Francisco, we were all quite tired. After spending a few days in laid back towns, San Francisco seemed hectic. We tried to catch the fireworks as it was July 4th, but the crowd was just too much. The live band the the music in Hard Rock (we had dinner there) were deafening. Lucas cried and wanted to be carried all the time. He was very uncomfortable with the loud noise. We had to hurriedly eat our dinner and make our way back to the hotel.

The public transport sucks or rather too many visitors. The queue for the cable car, bus and train are impossible (we found this out after buying the day pass for US$11 each). We ended up walking most of the time and did not manage to cover many places.

Lucas had his first haircut in a salon in Chinatown.

The weather near the bay is very pleasant. But once we were an hour from the bay, the weather hit 105 Fahrenheit! It was no fun in such heat.

Come to think of it, we managed to d0 quite a but considering we had a 9 months old baby in tow.

We are of course glad to be home now. Time to have a break from a break..sounds familiar?