California - Happy Birthday To Me

I left my heart in San Francisco and we saw and did so many amazing things in this great city, I'm going to write a separate blog post on it to remind/cheer me up when we return to the UK.

And separate posts also on what we have been doing since leaving San Francisco which included:

Driving down Highway 1 listening to Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.

Visiting Monterey and its aquarium and taking a boat out to Monterey Bay whale watching and actually seeing humpbacks up close feeding, along with dolphins, seals, sealions and porpoises.

Our blink and you'll miss visit to Carmel.

Hearst Castle and the magnificent ridiculousness of its grandeur being recounted by our Donald Trump lookalike guide.

Elephant seals arf! arfing away.

Seeing and photographing hummingbirds.

Cambria and its scarecrow festival.

Beautiful Santa Barbara.

And celebrating yet another birthday today where every Essex girl should...Malibu!

Older, none the wiser, feeling luckier and most importantly glad to be alive.

California - San Francisco

It's all very well going to San Francisco & wearing flowers in your hair but it would also be useful to know where you can park your car for more than 2 hours!?!

We arrived in the great city yesterday excited but due to mis-information from our Air BNB hosts, ended up getting abit pissed off as we spent a good hour plus finding long term parking space for our car! To cut a long story short, we did find somewhere but all abit unneccessary. Not a good start to our San Francisco visit but all sorted in the end.

Anyway, we are in a very stylish apartment somewhere in the Haight Ashbury / Castro area so right in the middle of it all. I would say the London equivalent would be Shoreditch/Hoxton crossed with Old Compton Street. Lots of bohemian & interesting characters around & there's a tram stop just outside our building! Mat and I are possibly too straitlaced to fit in with the impossibly trendy folk here but it's just like living in London I'm guessing.

I'm loving all the architecture in the city already & there's a definite European feel to the place. The hills are interesting too - not just for driving but also walking. I haven't seen a lot of high heels being worn yet! The Castro district is as you would expect & it was only a Tuesday night. I would have loved to have been here in my early 20s!

We had a 'gentle' night out taking in a tasty Thai in Castro & drinks in the Market Place & soaking up the whole San Franciso vibe. Along the way we met a man in a dress looking very stylish, a couple skateboarding down a hill & SO many buff men. Standard San Franciscan night I'm guessing.

California - Sonoma & Santa Rosa

Mon 29th Sept

Most of my Mondays are not usually spent with the intention of getting sh&t faced but as today was wine tasting day, it ended up that way. Having consumed wine since this afternoon , I've started to sober up!

Our day began with a strange bacon & pancakes combo for breakfast which I wasn't entirely sure about. Our Inn is lovely but this breakfast wasn't up there. What is it about Americans and bacon and pancakes?!

Anyway because 'the best beer in the world' is in Santa Rosa, we headed over there to the Russian Brewing company to get some bottles. We also had a little explore and stumbled upon the most beautiful art deco building in the form of the Barnes & Noble outlet in the middle of Santa Rosa. Gorgeous!

We also visited the Charles M Schulz museum. Having grown up with Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus & the whole Peanuts gang, I thought it would be a commercial homage but a fun one anyway. How wrong was I!

I will devote a whole blog post on it at a later date as I took enough photos but I found the Charles M Schulz museum to be one of the best museums I have ever visited. Yes even better than the Slate Museum in north Wales!!!! Interesting pieces, well laid out & fascinating & insightful information. I left knowing more about the Peanuts gang but most of all liking the great man more. I had no idea he was such a humanitarian. I actually felt humbled & moved by him.

The rest of the day was then spent vineyard hopping. Our Inn is affiliated with several vineyards to enable us to take part in free tastings & as I wasn't driving I definitely swallowed!!

So sobering up & with a rapidly growing headache, I need to go. Sonoma has charmed me into submission.

A couple of pics below from today as I've been accused of having blogs too text heavy. Wifi signal becomes an issue when I'm loading pics so will upload more when I get home.