California

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Ahhh, paradise, not a cloud in the sky, no care in the world except for the 2 small dogs trying to drown me. Such is life in the sunshine state.

San Francisco
Beautiful city, full of nutters so it suited me. Got to play on the cable car, hanging off the side as it careers down unnatuarally steep slopes. Loved it. Spent 3 days there wandering the streets and enormous parks. Pier 39 is "San Franciso's #1 attraction. Large pier full of the cheesiest shops you can imagine, including one wonderful chocolate shop. Sadly none of the chocolate survived the next bus journey otherwise I'd be bringing a pile home for you all.
Alcatraz was pretty cool. Old prison on an Island in San Fransico Bay. Felt a bit like a movie set. Having seen it so many times in films, hard to imagine it as a real prison. Got superb audio guide throughout the prison detailing where people had tried to escape. Got to see inside the cells and left for a few minutes to contemplate life in solitary. Wierd atmosphere. Interesting though.
Golden Gate Bridge was suitably impressive, though still have soft spot for Sydney Harbour Bridge. Location of the latter being that bit more impressive. (not the opera house or the harbour, I mean the army of bats nesting nearby 😊 ) Golden Gate Park rather good. Huge, but packed full of people on a boiling hot Saturday so wonderful atmosphere.

Lake Tahoe
Stayed with my room mate from Bolivia and Brazil, Kelly. I really landed on my feet meeting her. Really sweet woman, well travelled and chatty if slightly sarcastic on occasion. (slightly older American version of me) We got on well. Seemed natural to take detour down to California to see one of her 2 homes. This one happened to be by Lake Tahoe near the Nevada border. Stunning scenery, crystal blue lake surrounded by huge mountains, many crowned with snow. They even have their own monster. Tahoe Tessie. Didn't get to meet him though. As elusive as our own Nessie.
Stayed in luxury accomodation for 4 days, (her spare room) given a tour of the area in her convertible, plus a ride on her Seadoo (big jet ski). When it came my turn to drive, she panicked. Probably shouldn't have told her I tried to kill myself on a quad bike. Pure paranoia. Managed not to dunk her in the freezing lake so I was allowed to go and play alone. Great fun. I feel the need, the need for speed!
Also got to play in the canoe, with and without the 2 dogs. Paddled Kelly's sister, Linda, and their 2 mutts out onto the lake. Much safer when the dogs were a long way away as the larger 18 pound fluff ball kept looking for its mummy and tipping the boat. Pain in the ass. Got my revenge my repeatedly soaking it with lake water off the paddle. Good little swimmer, tried to jump out the boat a few times so needed reminding it was cold.
Spent few days on the beach. First day just with Kelly and Sid (the adorable dog/bear cub). Sid spent his time winding up every dog on the beach, most of whom were twice his size. He ran back to us to hide if they ever barked back at him. Very funny. He met his match in a British Bull Dog who didn't take kindly to being yapped at. Poor little Sid eventually had to swim for it. Bull Dog couldn't swim but patrolled the shore stopping Sid coming back in. Sid has legs about 10 inches long and fat fluffy body. Can swim well but not for long. We walked out into the cold lake to rescue him. Wet and cold he was very heavy, still cute though. Looked like a bit drowned rat. Had a tendancy to stick his head in the sand to dry himself (not the most intelligent dog in the world) so had to carry him back to shore to be dried out. You have to love the smell of wet dog.
Nearly split sides laughing later in the week. We went out to see her sisters' latest project, a huge house they're building up in the woods above the lake. Left the dogs to wander the woods and wind up the bears and coyotes. At some point Linda's dog, Woody had to poop. Found a nice spot in the woods. Sensible creature. When he'd finished, Woody came bounding over and jumps over the wall to where Kelly and I are sitting watching the action. Unfortunately, Woody's coat is a bit long so a bit of his poop remained on his coat, transferring very nicely to Kelly's white shirt. She jumped up squealing. While I keel over laughing at them, Kelly and Linda clean off Kelly and Woody, spraying his "poopy butt" and Kelly's shirt with cold water out of a hose. The dog was not pleased and dragged his butt in the dirt for the next 15 minutes trying to dry it off. Kelly thankfully saw the funny side, otherwise I may have been walking home.

(Photo's will come eventually - this computer only has floppy disk drive so stuck for now)
Keep messages coming, loving hearing from you all.

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Comments

[Ian]

Ah, cute animals - always a staple of the Lizzie Blog :) I had a look at some pictures of Lake Tahoe the other day (or some bits of it anyway), it looks positively heavenly. Envious!

[Jane]

What do you mean clear blue sky, we had that day here about 3 weeks ago!!!! Jane