California

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So! Here is our first entry.

Let’s just say the arrival into San Francisco was a little rocky. We were tired and flight-smelly, wandering the North Beach area with our rucksacks when we finally walked past a little door saying Europa Hotel sandwiched between several adult shops and topless bars… Upon entering the building the caretaker cheerfully told us that until recently the hotel had been a pension for old men (several of whom where still in residence there).

Well, after a good sleep and in the sunny light of the San Francisco morning it didn’t seem too dodgy and we set off for what would be 5 days of non-stop up hill walking along the never-ending streets of San Fran!

First stop Mama’s. We read about this breakfast place in the guidebook and it was just round the corner from our hotel so we thought why not? Well it turns out half of San Francisco had the same idea. Nevertheless we optimistically joined the queue, telling ourselves it must be good if there was a queue (or line if we are using the local term)! I can tell you that after an hour and a half queuing time nothing has ever tasted so good as a Mama’s breakfast. In fact it was so good that 3 days later we willingly queued again for more!!

I think our time in San Francisco was mostly a gastronomic tour, so sorry if all I talk about is food! We walked the sights and trekked out to the Golden Gate bridge. However, San Francisco is famous for its fog and unfortunately for us every day there was an annoying strip of fog just covering the bridge, so people who take those postcard pictures you see of the GG bridge are either very lucky or very persistent! Neither of which we are.

One night we went to a weekly food cart gathering called ‘Off The Grid’ and had an unreal rice bowl with bbq-ed chicken. I have to give it to the Americans; they really can stop chicken from being bland! For pudding we washed our tea down with an ice cream sundae in Mel’s Diner (open since the 1960s) for that all-American feeling.

Oh yeh and much to Matthew’s excitement we went to the original Benefit store!!

So by Tuesday we were ready to leave San Francisco, it is fairly quickly exhausted we found. And so off we went to pick up The Van and start our adventure.

First stop Lake Tahoe. We drove through the Sierra Nevada mountains up to about 8000ft I think it was and stopped for a couple of nights at Lake Tahoe, which is the 2^nd or 3^rd (we read several sources) deepest lake in the USA and one of the clearest, surrounded by pine forest and bear-filled mountains.

Well we loved it. We went for a hike one day, then came off the mountain all hot and cooled down in the incredibly clear and clean water of the lake. We loved it so much we decided to stay an extra night.

The only downside was how hideously expensive the campsites were. So after one night we decided to seek out the rumored ‘free campsite’ and just sneakily use the running water and flush toilets of the campsite down the road. The free campsite was an experience, I think Matthew was the only man there with short hair; Laura your dreds would have fitted in a treat. These people seemed pretty set up there, so I’m not sure if that was their home or if hippies go on holiday? Anyway we got in the spirit because after all we were getting pretty much the same facilities as the previous night only for free.

Looking sufficiently sunkissed we set off towards the sea. Stopping over in Gold Country to swim in the South Yuba river at a place I’d seen on msn or yahoo as one of the top places to wild swim. It was an epic swimming place! The water was sparkling with gold flakes, a couple of people were even panning for gold (I think they may have gone home disappointed though).

And Jesus was it HOT!! We’d been pleasantly surprised by the blue skies and comfortable temperatures of Lake Tahoe but as soon as we got closer to sea level it got hideously hot. We even saw a forest fire as we were driving along and a helicopter putting it out one bucket of water at a time. I am surprised they haven’t come up with a more efficient method, I can’t imagine the Scots took to Criffel with a bucket!

Our next big stop was Avenue of the Giants. I think the photos will show this better than words. Basically VERY BIG TREES. We got pretty snap happy, then carried on towards the sea.

One thing I can tell you is that the Pacific is very very cold. Even we wouldn’t swim in it! The coastline is unbelievably beautiful and rugged, even more so in Oregon (but that is for another day).

A small note on the van incase anyone is interested. It is very cosy and we have made it into such a nice little home. Oh yeh and also we are absolute beasts at camping cooking! We are making gourmet camping food e.g. Paella with honey/jalapeno prawns, French toast…

However, we can’t find any normal tea bags and the 3 we stole from the airport hotel have been used up!! ARGH!!!

Lots of Love Mel & Matt xxx

P.S. The campsites here have Wi-Fi! Yes I know, we have gathered that the Americans enjoy their comforts. So this means that we should be pretty contactable by email/Facebook if needs be. Phone signal is not so good, my mobile is nearly always switched off but Matthew seems to get better signal so his is a better bet if necessary.

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Comments

[Tink And Laura]

Benefit
For the benefit of Matty D - my advice on Neall women shopping. Leave the shop immediately, find somewhere nice outside, sit down and wait.