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Monday

Good breakfast then bought tickets to the zoo - the plan for today.  Been wanting to visit this particular zoo for many years now, ever since the birth of a baby panda back in 1999.  I remember reading about it and then finding that the website had some 'panda-cams', so some colleagues and I would check on the progress most days, it was lovely to see.  Anyway, there is free parking at the zoo and that would help with other plans.

Bought deluxe tickets as these also gave access to the skyrail stations which take you from the bottom to the top of zoo and back again.  We took the rail to the top end of the zoo to see the polar bear exhibit - another fantastic animal to see and this was a great environment for them with a deep pool and glass all round so you can see them under the water.  We were most interested in seeing the animals we hadn't seen in the wild, so the polar bears really count. We were treated to two polar bears, with the biggest paws I've ever seen, playing and fighting in the water.  They were right up against the glass and put on a real show.

We walked down to the giant panda exhibit, the main reason for coming here.  We saw the second youngest munching away on bamboo and a new baby fast asleep in a tree hammock.  The mother was also asleep as it seems these days that she only really wakes up to eat.  These are magnificent creatures and you really are very close to them which meant that R could get some great shots.

Took a walk down to the main entrance via the bear canyon as these are other animals we'd not really seen.  After taking a safari as part of our 10-year anniversary trip, 5 years ago, we've had the opportunity to see the big 5 and several others up close and in the wild on that trip and because of where we are living.  After that, it's hard to see some animals in captivity, even if they have been born there and don't really know any different.

We then took the zoo bus tour, which was included in the ticket price, which was very interesting as you get a real insight into the animals and the history of the place from the driver and guide.  Of course, one thing about being at the zoo is that there are a lot of school parties and that is probably the case during term-time all year around.  The kids are all suitably impressed by things though, lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs' all the way around.

We left the zoo and went into Balboa Park as r wanted to see the Model Railroad Museum but unfortunately we discovered it is closed on a Monday!  So we made plans to come back tomorrow after taking the trolley bus tour around the city.  We walked around the beautiful park, went to visit the Automotive Museum which was cool with a special motorbike exhibition plus, I bought a rather nice Coca-Cola handbag.

Off to Fashion Valley mall for a bit of retail therapy and decided to go to the movies, Forbidden Kingdom, which was worth seeing - a westernised oriental story with a good cast and interesting nods to legends and stories that you may already know about.  It was escapism for a while which is always nice when you're on holiday.  Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, with 10% off due to a promotion from our last visit, another look around the shops but didn't buy much.  Spending money isn't always necessary, window shopping can be fun and anyway, sometimes, you just can't find anything to buy.

Wednesday

Today was the start of our drive down to San Diego.  We collected the car, checked out of the hotel and set off.  We hired a Garmin with the car as it saved the whole map thing so we started off towards route 1 working out the quirks on the system along the way.  The plan was to drive down route 1, past Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, San Simeon and Hearst Castle where we were going in a couple of days, then turn off just after Cambria towards Paso Robles.  All in all, without stopping for pictures etc it was going to take over five and a half hours but hey, we were on holiday and that's what this was all about.  We had the iPod on shuffle, bottles of water, sunglasses and basically a happy air around us.

We stopped quite often to take in the view and take pictures as it was really lovely.  I kept thinking about the Red Hot Chili Peppers track, Road Trippin.  It reminds me a lot of the road from where we live in Strand, up to Kleinmond, but the surroundings on route 1 are more green.  That said, I think the SA road is more breathtaking, especially as you have mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.  It's certainly a trip I take all of our visitors on and one that we do quite a lot at all times of year, especially in the right season if you carry on to Hermanus and go whale watching.

All was going well, we were about 5 miles from San Simeon when we spotted smoke further up the road.  We soon found the source of the smoke - there was a fire along the road and it was closed!  We had a choice, stay there and wait and hope the fire would be dealt with quite quickly (though we were told it was likely to be several hours) or we could go back the way we came - all the way back down the road we had been on for most of the day!  This was a massive detour, to head all the way back towards Monterey, take the road to Salinas, then take the 101 down to Paso Robles.  It was going to take us a couple of hours to get back to Monterey and then almost the same again to get down to Paso Robles - it's a long time to be in the car!  Plus, we were starving by this time as we'd planned to eat when we got off route 1 which would have been another 45 minutes at the most.

So there was nothing to do but head back to Monterey as we had no idea how long we would be stuck on route 1 otherwise.  Stopped in Monterery for a very late lunch or slightly early dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, nice place, nice atmosphere, great food - the crab cakes were fantastic!  Then we headed down the 101 to Paso Robles and crashed at the hotel.  Very basic but hey, we're only sleeping here as we have quite a long day tomorrow, so leaving fairly early and getting back quite late.  R did all the driving today and will probably do most of it tomorrow, not because I don't like to drive (I love it) but, well, he's a guy and can be a bit of a car hog LOL!

Distance: 256 miles but actually 426 miles with the detours - no wonder R was tired!