We’ve been here 5 days and been pretty lazy - not that hard in the Almond Smugglers Cove 4 star all-inclusive resort. Apart from the beach, the pools, the cocktails and the great food, we have managed to get in some snorkelling, wakeboarding, sailing their Hobie-Cats and sea kayaking. We also got out to the weekly “Jump Up”, a reggae street party at Gross Islet, and down to Margot bay for a day out. [View Full Entry]

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We went back to Freedom in late June and found ourselves slowed up by engine and outboard problems. In July we headed south from Levkas to Kefalonia and Zycanthos then on to the Gulf of Corinth. For the first month we didn't see a single cloud. During August while the Ionian was busy with summer sailors, we were a hundred miles away on the tny island of Trizonia and visiting Delphi. In September we returned to the Ionian to collect visitors from Preveza airport for family sailing time. First it was Richard and Jill for a week of sailing fun, then [View Full Entry]

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Horray for Hollywood North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Hollywood By California Dreamin March 20th 2007[url='/Bloggers [View Full Entry]

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In the last few days we have been completely ‘blown away’ by the number of grey whale spouts we have seen as we have been driving south down the pacific coastal road. From Monterey we spent the day stopping and gawking and pointing at the ocean - very exciting and very special. We stopped in Cambria for a night and in Santa Barbara for 2 nights. We had a very posh meal one night (a pound of fillet steak between us) and went out on a whale watching trip to see the grey whales. [View Full Entry]

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Now we are headed south down California 1 - the Coastal Highway - and have stopped at Monterey. Last night we went to the liveliest bar in town - it was the English pub - but we met some friendly locals. This morning we visited the huge aquarium with sharks and 300 lb tuna and 1500lb sun fish. But our best memories are the sea lions and the really cute sea otters at Fisherman’s Warf. [View Full Entry]

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As we left our cute cottage, plucked an orange from the bush outside and set off to San Francisco. We stopped at the town where they filmed ‘The Birds’ - ooh ere - and then drove across the Golden Gate bridge. With Andy navigating and Kate driving, we took a rollercoaster ride up and down those famous streets and along the “crookedest” street. Whilst here we have taken the tour to Alcatraz, walked around Fisherman’s Wharf with the lazing seals on pier 39, visited union square, city hall and Chinatown, and taken the cable car on it’s steepest run - ding [View Full Entry]

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We are now in wine country, in the Sonoma valley - Napa Valley’s prettier neighbour. It is lovely, but we think Slovenia beats it for beautiful countryside. We are staying in a little cottage just off the main plaza - with orange trees on our doorstep and every possible detail thought through with style. We had a day the vineyards where we drank a little wine. The next day we drove to the coast to peer over the cliffs at elephant seals snoozing in the sunshine. A couple of little pups were a bit restless and barking as the elders slept [View Full Entry]

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A long drive when we left Kings Canyon so a big breakfast - but ordering is so complicate. “How would you like your eggs ma’am?” “er, fried?” Wrong answer, she was looking for Over, Up, or whatever else they do with them here. Then it’s “biscuits, bacon, sausage, muffin, wheat, white, rye, griddle cake or potatoes ma’am?” Err… So with our huge American breakfast inside us and the roof down, we drove past all the snowy trees twinkling in the bright sunlight - risking melting snow dumping on our heads! It was 8,000 feet down then 6, [View Full Entry]

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From Death Valley to Kings Canyon you have to drive around the Sierra Nevada mountains - over 300 miles. So after 2 days and stops in Bakersfield and a much cuter town called Visalia, we passed through acres of orange groves to reach the west side of the Sierras. We literally looked up from the orange groves to the snow peaked mountains. 10 miles climbing up the hills it was evident the snow was going to be a problem for our little Mustang. Andy had already worked out that we were going to stop for snow chains. It was evident that [View Full Entry]

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As we nosed through the mountain range headed for Death Valley we didn’t really know what to expect - but you do tend to think about those early pioneers trying to get their wagons through the mountains only to come across Death Valley!!! The area truly is vast and barren and seems endless. We booked into a lodge at Stovepipe Wells on the end of the valley and took trips to all the best tourist sites. We did have lots of fun particularly on the sand dunes - it’s a lot like Formby - only much much bigger!!! It was hot [View Full Entry]

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