July 28th 2009 What a stink! Yellowstone is America’s first national park, and seemingly a source of pride for the country. It is a fascinating place, but it stinks. Yellowstone is actually the site of an active volcano, with hot springs, geysers (disappointingly pronounced ‘guy-ser’ rather ‘geezer’!) and fumaroles spewing hot water and steam into the air. Along with all this water and air comes a lot of sulphuric gas. Oh yes, the delightful stench of rotten eggs perfumes the air of the entire park. I can’t say I was enamoured. The other main draw of the park is the animals. Anyone who knows me is well aware I’m not the animal kingdom’s greatest fan. Even less so when the sight of a bison (otherwise known as buffalo) herd causes a traffic jam. One such animal ... read more

July 17th 2009 Border guards 101 After a few peaceful days on the artists’ colony that is Salt Spring Island, Auntie Holly and I toddled on back home to Tacoma, Wa. Whilst disappointingly routine - obviously in comparison with our entry into Canada - coming back across the border still required us to explain where we had been and how we knew the people we had visited. I bit my tongue hard before saying something sarcastic which would land me in ho water, but really, is this how countries protect their borders? Does this method really catch out drug runners, traffickers or terrorists? Surely if you were doing something illegal you would come up with and practise a plausible story? Anyway, more importantly, they let us back in the country. A couple more days of shopping ... read more

July 5th 2009 Punished by poor planning After a quick dash through Yosemite (I will definitely be back for a longer visit one day), Alex and I wended our way down out of the mountains, through the peach orchards of central California and pushed on into San Francisco. Coming over the Bay Bridge was quite spectacular, even with the city being shrouded in the inevitable mist. Ethereal. We headed straight to the waterfront to check out tickets for trips to Alcatraz. In a shocking display of planning oversight (Alex and I are both keen planners), it turns out we missed the boat: there weren’t any tickets available for the next two days. As consolation we found a cute bar (Alex, name?) on the water and ordered a couple of beers. But not before we dropped off ... read more

June 25th 2009 Where not to find a celebrity There are so many places in L.A. where celebrities don't go. Alex and I found many of them. Despite the best laid plans, a map of celebrities homes, tips from locals, a whole day in L.A. produced not one celebrity. Oh, well, PJ Harvey who is, or at least was, a celebrity of the minor rankings. We did, though, see the gates to lots of famous people's homes: the Beckhams (after accidentally taking a photo of their neighbours' house, which was ungated hence very un-Beckham), Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, the Playboy Mansion (which is located on Charing Cross Road!), Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez and the guy she is married to. Simon Cowell's house is right on the road so we got to see ... read more

June 20th 2009 Soaking up the sun California has some pretty nice weather and some pretty stunning beaches to go with it. Such a combination has made sunbathing an inevitable priority for the past few days. Having ditched the idea of wearing a nun's habit - my original answer to foolproof sunscreen - I opted for SPF 30 and a skimpy new swimsuit. On my quest for a regular bikini it quickly became apparent that Californians go in for shockingly tiny swimwear; my regular underwear is bigger than most of the suits I found! Lying on the beach in my new attire, feeling the breeze come in off the ocean and listening to the waves crash against the shore has been just delightful. And necessary. You see, earlier this week in Santa Barbara I hired a ... read more