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.

California - Sonoma Valley in wine country

We awoke to yet more atrocious weather in Tahoe & frankly couldn't wait to leave. It was just too cold & wet to enjoy more of Tahoe so saving it for another visit, we set off for California's wine country.

With Napa apparently being "too touristy" we have plumped for next valley Sonoma as our 'base' here and it's wonderful.

For the first time on this trip, everything feels very European but with an American touch. The mile upon mile upon mile of vineyards make it feel very French or possibly Surrey as so called wine estate housing all look like the footballer wives ones in Esher. 

The Silverado Trail we did highlighted just where the money here is in this area. The vibe is very 'upmarket American'. No huntin' , fishin' & shootin' types as far as I can tell. I can imagine Chelsea Clinton & her mates hanging out here.

Dinner last night was possibly the best so far at a Portugese restaurant in Sonoma plaza. Very chi-chi. From there we meandered back to our Inn... to listen to one of the noises on our ambient noise maker machine thingy. 'White noise' is particularly interesting...?!?

Very random.

California - Lake Tahoe (south side)

Sat 27th Sept

Our drive to Lake Tahoe was yet again through some amazing scenery & vomit inducing mountain roads.

Me: "I can't look! I can't look. Wow! Ohmigod. I feel sick"
Mat: "So don't look"
Me: "But it's so pretty. Nope I feel sick".

You get the picture.

Being up in the mountains, the weather has also turned. It's c-c-c-o-l-l-d-d!! Good job Mat made me pack my down jacket.

We are probably here not long enough to get a real feel for the place but Lake Tahoe feels like the sort of place you would go away to for a romantic getaway or in other words a dirty weekend. There are loads of people just hot-tubbing about here! There are also countless wedding chapels. Not sure if its because Tahoe is on the stateline with Nevada and rules are different but it's all very odd. I did ask a waiter why earlier & he just said it was big business & people like getting married here.

They clearly also like 'adults only" rooms as we were offered one in one of the hotels we visited before we made our excuses and plumped for this one. What the actual f-ck is an adults only room?! The lady kept going on about a spa in the room but surely an adults only room is one where children are not in it and if you don't have children in it, then it's adults only then?! I dread to think what else could have been in there but it's all beyond my tiny mind.

Tahoe currently also seems to be in a state of flux. It's a little too early for skiing season & summer is clearly over so lots of people hanging around. There are lots of pretty bright young things here however and we joined in to enjoy what Tahoe's night life had to offer.

Frat boys, sororities, batchelor/ette parties... we encountered & a casino!

Mat had never played in one and can you believe that at first attempt on the roullete wheel he walked away with $200!!!!! On a $50 stake, we actually made money. Celebrating at a nearby bar earlier, it all got abit hazy but mojitos were involved & being the oldest hanging out with a bunch of 20-somethings, it felt like being at work!!

California - Bodie Ghost Town

Sat 27th Sept

Having got up from possibly the worst bed I have ever slept on & a hearty breakfast later at the only diner in town, we set off on a hike around North Twin Lake. The weather had changed overnight to very cold & we could see on the mountain peaks that it had snowed overnight. Hard to believe I was lazing by a pool a couple of days ago!

Lots of fishermen were out already. They like their fishing round here. Apparently the biggest trout in the world was caught in the lake. Our guidebook book says 'State' so possibly a fisherman's tale....

Conscious of bears in the woods, we stuck to the shoreline for our walk but again spent most of it being scared of meeting one!  No bears & drunk on yet more gorgeous scenery later we headed off to Bodie a ghost town now a historical site.

It was quite creepy wandering around what essentially was a thriving mining town 200 years ago. Peaking into peoples homes, bars & hotels & seeing their belongings covered in dust was all abit Stephen King.

Had it really been left as is or did a historical curator get let loose with the sprinkle dust to get that authentic feel. It looked very muc abandoned so who knows... What I did very much like were the copies of letters held in the museum from people apologising for taking stuff from the town since they had been 'cursed' from taking it. There are numerous newspaper articles on this so called 'curse' so are abit spooky.

There is nothing like perpetuating a curse myth to stop people from taking things but I left everything as is. You just never know!

California - northern Yosemite & the High Sierras

9pm Fri 26 Sept

We have now ended up further north in Yosemite but very much away from the valley and into 'wilderness' High Sierra country. The air is distinctly cooler up here & for the first time this trip, I'm having to wear a jacket.

We are in Mono Village where the folk round here are of the huntin', fishin' & shootin' variety & the men's beards have been lovingly grown for years rather than for the hipster look.

We have come in search of bears as apparently there are loads round here. We seem to be the only idiots who are excited about the prospect of seeing bears as most people here are carrying bear spray. In fact, we have frankly been shitting ourselves at the prospect of meeting one! As it is, the most bear like creature we have met so far at night is a guy called Ron.

As it is so far out from the usual tourist trail, Mat & I stick out like sore thumbs not least because of his bright green hoodie & well, I suspect not many Filipino-Essex girls have ventured up here.  There is no wifi or phone signal anywhere & this post will probably be posted this weekend when we hit Lake Tahoe. It is a little disconcerting to be so cut-off but that's 'wilderness' for you.

Having soaked up yet more amazing views from Olmsted Point & lunch by Tenaya Lake bird watching, a hike in Tuolumme Meadows made for yet another photogenic afternoon.  I also learnt what a 'tufa' is on Mono Lake. Weird alien landscape made of leftover calcium carbonate as opposed to 2for1 deals found in supermarkets... :-)

Still no bears though!