We found our travelodge, with the friendliest, chattiest reception staff ever, napped for five minutes and promptly got stuck in the awful LA friday traffic that I vow every time we'll avoid. Highlight of the journey: passing an establishment called Psychic Reader and Advisor, which I naturally translated as Psychic Which!
Eventually we made it back to Palos Verdes for drinks with friends and gazing out to sea - and the whales turned up. We think grey rather than blue and at least one of them had a calf in tow judging by the much smaller spout. Always wonderful to see, though we only glimpsed the whales. Then back to Santa Monica and we're having tuna melt, patty melt and chocolate malt in the good old Broadway Deli. Tomorrow up the coast to Atascadero and Paso Robles...
