California!

Very soon (SO SUPER SOON) I will be visiting the sunny state of California with Nathalie. It reminded me that I'd never really been through my shots properly since being in the States earlier in the year with Shane (who has a great photoblog you should check out). Looking through reminded me of the benefit of time - I saw so many shots I'd missed on the first edit. Kinda tempting to go back through all libraries and pick out some old shots.

We started off in Santa Monica, an uncommonly lovely part of LA.

Our hotel was right by the famous Muscle Beach.

We then headed into the belly of The Beast, LA itself and Hollywood.

Of course, LA is the home of a religion I am not mad about, but since it is so intrinsically mixed up with celebrity and the film business, I am still rather curious about Scientology.

We found ourselves outside this place:

And of course, we ventured in. It was a decidedly creepy experience. It is also the site of the famous meltdown by BBC journalist John Sweeney when making an episode of Panorama about Scientology.

We also indulged in taking in a little wildlife while we were there.

We then hit the open road North and got some real heartland America stuff, which is always great.

While I was driving, Shane snapped these:

And of course, San Francisco was beautiful, and I didn't take nearly enough photo's. I plan to rectify that on my return.