http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Woowoowoo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Woowoowoo en-us Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:31:44 BST Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:31:44 BST Well itrsquos nearly four Orsquoclock in the afternoon on Sunday 20th January our last day in America. So time for one final blog and a bit of reminiscing of the past 7 weeks.I forgot to mention the other day my head was too addled with flu that we went on a great trip down to Castro it has a great city village vibe and is the largest home to San Franciscorsquos gay community. In some wa http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-237814.html OK OK OK we know we havenrsquot written for a while but we were definitely dying and it wasnrsquot just a small bout of man flu either We decided it was time to face the big outdoors once more and finish off our sightseeing plus it really doesnrsquot take that long before you start to lose the will to live after watching so much American TV. So armed with a handbag full of various pills a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-237249.html Well we havenrsquot written a blog for a few days because we havenrsquot really done much except some more shopping and catching Janrsquos flu and cough We both feel achy and rough so wersquore spending the day in bed again which is a real shame because itrsquos bright and sunny out but wersquore stuck with it for now.Hopefully wersquoll be OK to go to Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bri http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-236609.html Yesterday the weather was a glorious 60 degrees the sun was shining so we thought wersquod have a wander around town. Wersquore right next to Chinatown so therersquos millions of restaurants shops and specialist supermarkets loaded with boxes of completely unrecognisable food stuffshellip.well we think theyrsquore food Wersquore also in the middle of the main shopping area with all t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-235733.html Well today we finally hit the last leg of our tour after driving up the remaining stretch of the Californian coast via Half Moon Bay and Neil Youngrsquos mega ranch Broken Arrow he has the largest private herd of wild buffalo that were used in Dances with Wolves for you trivia fans unfortunately the coast was extremely foggy in parts so you couldnrsquot really see much most of the time.W http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-235101.html Today we travelled to Santa Cruz AKA WestonSuperMare or South End on Sea on a wet and cold January morning drab dull and somewhat disappointing you can imagine the pikeys doing their thing on the waltzers in the summer. Somewhat surreally every where we went outside speakers blasted out Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits reminding us both of ldquoTim Nice but Dimrdquo playing airguitar on h http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Santa-Cruz/blog-234803.html Part 1We left Santa Barbara in glowing sunshine and headed up the dramatic Highway 1 Gladys our sat nav took us on an alternative route via highway 154 and through Los Padres National Park very dramatic and breathtaking views. We took numerous blurred photos and images to try and capture the beauty but I guess you just had to be there.The Big Sur is equally stunning with mountains ascending to o http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Big-Sur/blog-234688.html Well we just had to add a quick ps after heading off to the Fishouse this evening mainly because we felt our culinary critique of the USA has been somewhat lacking in recent days predominantly because we havenrsquot experienced any tongue tingling gastronomic worthy delights of late. However this evening rectified this. We started with a shared starter of crab cakes with mixed coleslaw and tan http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Santa-Barbara/blog-233932.html Left Santa Monica and LA with clear blues skies ahead and temperatures around 60 degrees which is positively hot in comparison to the past few days so warm in fact that Andy even threatened to wear his shortsWe headed up the Pacific Highway which runs all the way up the Californian coast and with the ocean on our left and the mountains on our right we headed for Santa Barbara. Passing through M http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Santa-Barbara/blog-233875.html Yesterday was pretty cold and blustery so we decided to head back to the flicks to see The Bucket List well when in Romehellip plus cinemas are 10 to a penny here and very cheap too. Would highly recommend the film Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman at their best but bring a box of tissues with you. In true American style the audience applauded at the end but then the film did deserve the acc http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-233551.html Today was very dark and overcast this morning the locals were talking about two storms one heading up from the south and another coming from the north and both converging over California Well when the going gets tough the tough go shopping So we headed down to Venice as scheduled and hit the surf dude shops and boutiques. Hallelujah that the pound is so stronghellipWe bought some unusual ite http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Santa-Monica/blog-232973.html Las Vegas was easier to leave than we were led to believe we anticipated mega queues at checkout but the hotel was relatively quiet. We picked up our Sebring convertible and headed to Victorville. The scenery was absolutely stunning wide open desert plains stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction and snow topped craggy mountains formed an amazing backdrop. Unfortunately the phot http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Santa-Monica/blog-232717.html Happy New Year And what a start New Yearrsquos eve we decided to eat late afternoon as Vegas was absolutely heaving we soon discovered that we werenrsquot the only ones and all the restaurants were rammed. They estimated that an additional 300000 visitors descended on the strip and it certainly looked like it and they were all wearing these odd little plastic top hats or plastic ldquoha http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-232095.html Well the alarm went off at 5.15 which is still the middle of the night in my book we meandered our way through the casino which still contained numerous gamblers and red eyed folk seeking their fortunes not sure whether theyrsquod just arrived or been there or all nighthellip Bill who I accidentally called Bob a few timeshellipbut he didnrsquot seem to mind arrived in our Hummer early http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Grand-Canyon-National-Park/blog-231402.html Yesterday was quite a chilled day starting with a good liein mind you we were up until 3.00 watching the complete series of ldquoI Love New Yorkrdquo an extremely trashy but strangely compulsive dating show on TV. We went up the strip for a change and visited the Mirage Treasure Island and the Venetian they all seem to merge into one after a while and they certainly all sound the same with http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-231191.html Christmas eve was spent quite quietly in the Cleopatra barge over a few gins and vodkas. The bartender was quite obnoxious and kept interrupting our conversation with what he thought were witty anecdotes but we didnrsquot let him spoil our night. We had a quick flutter on the slots Irsquom still 4.50 up and Andy is 2.00 down but then wersquore hardly high rollers spending only a couple http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-230639.html Arrived quite late last night after another runin with United Airlines remind me never ever to fly with them ever again Well we thought things werenrsquot too bad only a 90 minute delay then we discovered we had to fly via Denver wait there for an hour pick up new passengers and then head off to the Sin city. In Denver there was a lot of pandemonium as loads of passengers missed their conn http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-230151.html Well itrsquos our last night in New Orleans and although another chapter in our travels opens tomorrow New Orleans has certainly made its mark on both of us and perhaps we can be audacious and use Rupert Brookersquos words and say ldquoIf I should die think only this of me that therersquos a corner of New Orleans that is forever Englandrdquo well the two stools at the end of the bar a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/New-Orleans/blog-229677.html I think this blog is fast becoming a bit of a cuisine critique of Louisianahellip AA Gill eat your heart out Last night we went to the Alpine and dined on a splendid feast of smoked duck and spicy barbecue ribs sorry mum but the photorsquos just didnrsquot do it justice our young server seemed rather new to the job and kept apologising every two minutes in a wonderful country southern dr http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/New-Orleans/blog-229406.html Last night was warm and balmy and very pleasant as we headed out for supper steak for Andy and salmon for me served with dirty rice and mixed squashes and sauted vegetables the food tasted good but we did have to wait a while. We decided to plump for cocktails this evening Andy choosing a spicy Louisiana bloody Mary a rainforest in a glass as described by our server and a pink lemonade for me http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/New-Orleans/blog-229158.html