Blogs from California, United States, North America - page 10

Well, how life changes in an instant. So we had lots of plans, lots of trips in the various stages of planning, but alas all have changed. I worked out of town until just recently so that made any kind of travel difficult. Then last fall our oldest granddaughter came to live with us making any travel outside of school breaks virtually impossible. We’d planned to do Santa Fe and go to the cooking school last Thanksgiving. Alas, not only was I working but our daughter-in-law couldn’t travel at that time. So now we thought that we’d go to Santa Fe during spring break and take our granddaughter and oldest grandson. We have made our reservations at the Santa Fe School of Cooking and paid for 3 classes: Chili Rellenos, hands on class, Contemporary Southwest and ... read more

Well it has officially happened - first sunburn of the trip! I am rocking a very attractive sunglasses tan, and Brenden as usual just a tan :( LA has been relaxing! this morning we walked to Noahs New York Bagels for breaky - nothing beats a bagel with cream cheese! Then we had to try the 'Famous Hot Wings' beachside! Am looking forward to a tin of soup in the hostel for dinner tonight! Venice beach is officially the best place for people watching, were you can see a circus act, a skate show or someone dressed as a penguin being asked to be an extra on a low budget film! all whislt sitting at a beach side cafe, listening to the homeless play a very impressive old piano - occasionally stopping to either yell at ... read more

So! Entry number one, day one! Impressive! Time:4.15pm Place:Venice Beach Plans:Universal Studios, Santa Monica Peir, Shopping Next Stop: Lima (Peru) - Monday the 2th Additional Stats: Tears: 0 Dramas 0 Stabbings: 0 Starbucks consumption: 1 So far - a good start! The 15 our flight went pretty quick - I had every intention to do some reading but somehow between such inspiring, educational TV such as the Kardashians, and the endless love stories portrayed by Ashton Kuthcher, they became a waste of space in the seat pocket quickly! And from the laughter that was coming from Brendens seat over such classics as "Here Comes the Boom', Refreshing our spanish, definatly did not happen! There was a brief moment where the Ipad had some use for "Stick Man Cliff Diving' and the 4Pics1Word - which was short ... read more

It was a great day for a 6-mile hike in the Mojave National preserve. Getting there was something of an adventure too, since I managed to miss my first exit and assumed all roads would eventually lead to Rome. Following the signs from Baker, Califnornia, I drove on a rutted dirt road for miles and miles and miles. It seemed to take forever, although I could only reasonably manage 10-15 miles per hour. It was a very scenic drive though, and one I might not have been inclined to take otherwise. Nearing the visitors center, there was snow lightly blanketing the landscape. I wondered how much now the desert got in the peak of winter. The visitors center was a little ranch building in the middle of nowhere and was still closed when I arrived. The ... read more

THE BASICS From Morro Bay, we drove to the Monarch Grove near Pismo Beach and saw a lot of butterflies. We also took a cliffside walk at Montana de Oro State Park and wandered around San Luis Obispo on a sunny day. On Tuesday, we drove to Ocean Mesa campground just west of Santa Barbara and spent three lovely days there. We left reluctantly on Friday and drove to Lake Casitas, near Ojai, where we will spend a few nights. We have had gorgeous weather all week - though cool overnight, it has been sunny and warm during the daytimes, even into the 70's. THE FLUFF John had been to the Monarch Grove near Pismo Beach many years ago, and he was disappointed that there were only about 16,000 butterflies there this day. Apparently there have ... read more

Although really day two of the trip, or is it three? the whole date line thing is a bit like breaching the time space continuum, anyway that aside, today feels a little like the start of the holiday. The jet lag may have something to say about it later but five am seems like an almost reasonable time to be getting up. it is minus 5 outside, there is snow on the ground and not a cloud in the sky. Today will be one for the bluebirds. Naturally everyone else is asleep, all of them chemically assisted no doubt. I had a little assistance from acouple of glasses of Mammoth Paranoid Pale Ale which seemed apposite, went to bed at about 9 pm and had a dream that involved work. I wonder if more or less ... read more

Day 2 in San Francisco really was a “where do we start?” type of day, despite having an itinerary we didn’t want to stick to it for some reason, instead walking past various cute places and popping in despite the fact we wanted to be at a museum over an hour ago. And this continued until we finally arrived at the Golden Gate Park, several hours behind schedule and no way to fit everything we wanted to in during the afternoon. (Has anyone actually made a plan and not ended up totally overwhelmed and actually stuck to it?!) So, we’ve made a list of everything that we really need to see despite the inability to stick to a plan, I think we would be truly disappointed if we didn’t somehow fit all of this in. The ... read more

So, (three days ago) I arrived off the almost 19 hour plane journey from Edinburgh, Scotland, not the most thrilling of ways to spend 19 hours I have to admit. Jetlagged myself and travel partner Sarah made our way to our hotel for the next week, The Omni San Francisco Hotel a 30 minute trip which had great views over the San Fran bay then through the city. As a first time visitor to the grand USA so far it was everything I had imagined! One thing that did surprise me was the trams (cable cars) I was kind of expecting something a little more retro, not entirely sure why! So excited to explore further, we have an intinery but even through the quick evening walk around the area and drive to the hotel we had ... read more

While putting together a few things for the trip this morning I was going over our itinerary in my mind. We leave next Tuesday, February 19th and will be on the first flight for 16 hours, arriving in Taipei on Thursday, February 21st. 16 hours on a plane has been a daunting thought, although I have plans to sleep a signifcant portion of that time. It was not until today that I thought of this in another, slightly disturbing light. I will never live on February 20, 2013. That day will just disappear. Ok, well not really. We'll be on a plane, but for all practical purposes, this day is gone. I am sure frequent world travelers are used to this idea, but it seems odd to me. Of course, this idea can be comforted that ... read more