San Francisco

 

As we headed over the Bay Bridge into San Francisco we were greeted by the thick fog this city is famous for.  After checking into our hotel we had a wander around North beach which is the area where we were staying, we hit a couple of bars and met a couple of Germans travelling to Vegas who my friend Nick was happy to introduce to some of the local brews :)

The next morning we visited Coif tower which is a memorial left to the firemen of San Francisco and which has great views of the city and Golden Gate Bridge.  Fishermans Wharf was next on the agenda which is the seafront Piers where most of the tours leave from, we tried to book Alcatraz but unfortunately it was full for the next few days, so a word of advice book a week or 2 in advance if planning a visit!  The pier was fun, lots of shops and restaurants and the famous seals keeping the crowds entertained with their antics!

By then I figured it was time to ride the famous Cable Cars which was so much fun, this being the only place in the world that has one, that I was surprised to learn at the Cable Car museum, which was really interesting and explained how the whole concept was born and how they worked, it is full of amazing facts as well as a lot of history of the City and how it has been developed since the great earthquake which devastated the City in 1906 along with the subsequent fire which raged for 3 days.  I had no idea!!!  The City was more or less left in ruins and had to be completely rebuilt, so it is fairly young and modern as cities go.

It was then time to eat so we hit China Town which had a great selection of restaurants and shops, for some dim sum and just strolled around for a while through Union Square and the financial district on our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at the Stinking Rose a garlic restaurant followed by some live Jazz in a bar.

Next morning we visited the Haight Ashbury area for a look at the hippy relics and onto Golden Gate Park before heading to the Golden Gate bridge where we had a bit of a hike and took some pictures although the fog moved in fairly quickly and covered most of it by the time we got there and it was extremely cold as later I was told the wind is coming in from Alaska, so I was not faring well with this as I was dressed for milder weather, be warned and wrap up well if you are coming, even this time of year, definitely need a scarf :)

Then drove to the Mission area which is a Latino district for a look at the murals and artwork and back to get ready for dinner with Nicks family at a japanese restaurant on Pier 39 where some hot miso soup was welcomed to warm us up!  The next day we headed to Napa Valley for our wine tour!!!

 

 

 

 

Los Angeles and beyond!

 

LA baby!!!  I was warned not to expect too much and that was about right!  Went exploring from Redondo Beach we headed to Venice beach and watched the skaters for a while playing around at the skate park and walked along for a bit past all the psychic s and fortune tellers of which there were many!!  We then headed to Santa monica and walked along the pier there which is the end of route 66.  Then it was off to see the tourist sights, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Universal Studios where we had dinner at Karlstrauss Brewery and watched them filming a show below us which was interesting entertainment!!  The next morning we started our Road trip up the coast to San Francisco.

 

 

Our first stop was Santa Barbara which was a beautiful city where we stopped for a wander around the designer shops there and had lunch and then hit the road again onto San Luis Obispo where we were staying for the first night.  Here we found a quaint little wine store which did tastings so we stayed on there for a while and sampled some of the local wines which were extremely good, check it out if ever you are there, Central Coast Wines where Greg will be happy to sample you some of Californas finest selections :)

Then to Morro Bay to visit the rock which was formed about 26 million years ago by a volcano (and who says America has no history ha ha), saw some crazy squirrels which were fun to watch and very curious, as well as seals and more surfers braving the cold waters, it was not warm here at all.  I am very surprised at the differences in the climate here along the coast, all due to the marine layer which is like a thick fog which usually burns off through the day, although that was not always the case.

Next stop Big Sur National Park for lunch followed by a small hike to Pfeiffer Falls which was well worth the walk.  We then ended the day in Carmel, a quaint little town famous for its golf course and beaches.

Monterey was next on the agenda, famous for its marine life and aquarium where we spent most of the day before heading into San Francisco!!!

San Diego

 

 

San Diego is indeed a very beautiful place with so much to see and do I could not possibly hope to even scratch the surface in a week!!  However I did my best and managed to get to the world famous SD zoo for a day with Steve and his daughter who were very kindly putting me up for the week and taking good care of me.  The zoo is very well put together with an amazing selection of animals to see and programs in place for preserving them for future generations, good fun and interesting to see!  The following day I met up with Ashley and we had a girlie day out visiting the sights on the trolley tour which we jumped on and off of at various stops like Old Town which has a lot of ghost tours, Seaport, and Coronado followed by a few margaritas at happy hour :) I rode the coaster train down to San Diego from Carlsbad which had some great views on the way down of the coast and enjoyed watching the surfers riding the waves!!  It was so much fun catching up with everyone again from the Bahrain days and we just enjoyed hanging out in various bars and restaurants in the evenings, mainly downtown in the Gaslamp area, famous for its nightlife and it did not disappoint!!! The food here is amazing and everything tastes great, I love the mexican influence this place has being so close to the border which we were sky diving over on saturday at 13,000 ft, thanks to our friend Thayer for organising that for us, it was such a thrill!! I ended the week on sunday with a BBQ at Steve and Heathers which they very kindly organised for me as a send off and then I headed to LA to start a new adventure!  Road trip!!!

 

My First Post

The first of many, finally the trip begins, it still does not feel real but here I am in San diego!!!  After a great flight I arrived to find Steve and we were off!  It has been lovely meeting his family and just chilling out whilst getting over jet lag as that is mainly what I have been doing up until now.  I did manage to get up early yesterday and go for a 4 mile run and today I am certainly feeling the pain!  We then enjoyed a lovely day sailing from Newport Harbour down to Laguna beach and although the weather was overcast as we left, the sun did manage to come through in the end for a spot of sunbathing on deck.  Good times!!!