Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2010
Edit Blog Post
We returned to California to do all that stuff we missed the first time we visited, and also redo some of the same stuff. Like find the BEST taco in a tiny Hispanic town, in a tiny store somewhere north of Santa Barbara. We travelled up the coastal road again from LA to San Francisco, spending as little amount of time in LA as possible and lots in San Fran. We spent a day trying to track down the Hollywood sign in the car. Apparantly there's no road that goes right up to it, and the view from hollywood boulevard itself is rubbish. It is a good way to see parts of LA though. We saw many many famous peoples front gates, all barracaded up like Fort Knox. Makes sense I guess, I feel sorry for the people who pay money for star tours only to see a post box and a huge steel door. In between our point A and point B, surf towns and dune-hugging villages dot the way. We avoided the temptation to stop every time a sign says "Beach this way" although they all look beautiful. Santa Babara, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz are all great
towns which we stopped in along the way.
Underneath San Fran, a bit to the right is Big Sur, redwood country clinging to the side of coastal cliffs. It's an awesome sight, and somewhere we missed the 1st time round because it was all on fire.
Monterey, the next town is also pretty nice. Tim took the oppurtunity to do one last dive, this time in freezing cold water. It requires head to toe wet suits. The cold water environment is different to coral reefs. Lots more Kelp and seaweed, and Monterey has a large colony of Harbour Seals who swim around you, inquisitive and nibble on your flippers. Like graceful underwater puppies.
Alcatraz!! We finally went to the Island of Alcatraz in San Francisco, possibly the main reason we returned. It's a great spectacle, and if you've ever seen the film "Escape from Alcatraz" (Like Tim has) It's even better. Although Emma didn't understand what all the fuss was about, the cells were larger than her first flat in Acton. And they got nice meals.
We made some last minute decisions to fly across to New York next, where we were greeted with humidity and a hot sun. The
Air conditioned Subway trains are nice, but the steaming hot platforms are not. We got in most of the sites in one day, from Times Square to the Statue of Liberty. You can walk it, but when it's hot its hard. So we refreshed ourselves with bagels and lemonade as much as we could. On day 2, we hid from the heat in the Natural History museum and tried to find the most boring exhibit. I think Soils of Northern America won, with apple farming techniques of the 1800's a close second. Our good pal Alex showed us some cool spots which we would have otherwise missed, Its always good to call on distant, loosely connected friends when travelling.
Our last week has been spent catching up with Tims American side of the family who collectively live in Pensylvania and Vermont. Tim helped his Uncle Ken destroy an acre of natural woodland in a big tractor, to clear a meadow for some local deer. Sounds nice, but its actually to make it easier for the local hunters. Emma helped Aunty Patti bake pies and cook dinner, it was very homely and they treated us so so well we haven't told
them we'll be back next year.
The cousins Yianni and Mickey live in Vermont, a gruelling and boring 8 hour car journey North through uneventful middle America. Yianni lives the good life for Burton Snowboards and Mickey lives the life of a struggling, but extremely good guitarist. Vermont is a lovely place, quite bohemian and a refuge for alot of hippy types, old and young. Its where Ben and Jerrys come from, and they have a factory, but we went to the Magic Hat beer brewery instead which is more our thing. If you ever see it in the shops - which you won't - pick up a Wacko beer.
Oh yeah, and we went to Canada for the day.
We're returning home this afternoon with mixed emotions of dread and delight, anticipation and deep deep reflection. It has of course been a great experience, and hopefully not once in a lifetime. If you've read this far then thankyou both of you!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.039s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0197s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb