I Left My Heart In San Francisco

---

Welcome to America dudes!

Here we are in the land of the free and the brave. The land of big portions and cheap food. The land where 80% of the population are on the web, but they have no internet cafes. So, after many requests from friends and family we have finally taken time out from our busy schedule to get out of the heat and let you all catch up on our American adventure.

Firstly after an excessively long day where we passed the international date line and re-lived half of Sat 14th, we landed in LA and picked up our hire car. Going up in the world as this time we got to choose, and went for a Chrysler PT Cruiser - the funny looking one. Very nice car, very roomy except that as well as having to contend with left hand drive and driving on the wrong side it was also automatic. Thankfully I had my chauffeur on hand to whisk me away without me having to get stressed at all. We listened to all the Yanks we had met already and instead of spending the next few days in LA, we got out. They all reckoned San Diego is a much better place to visit but we will see. The first evening was basically just cruising up the coast towards San Francisco and we spent the night in a cheap motel in San Louis Opisbo. We found out later that this is supposed to be a good ol' American town to visit but instead after our first taste of American fast food (Taco Bell - very nice) we hit the sack exhausted.

Driving to San Fran from LA means you get to drive along the world famous Big Sur to Santa Cruz (I was singing The Thrills the whole way!) along Highway 1. This can take hours without actually reaching the Big Sur so we cheated a little, went inland for a bit then headed out to the coast for the good bits further up. Here we got to see a huge colony of Elephant Seals that come back to molt every year. Very elephant looking, hence the name I guess, and big brutes. You wouldn't want to mess with one of these. We joined the hundreds of other tourists in their huge RV's to gaze for a while before jumping back in and setting off again. Lots of windey roads, overlooking the ocean with beautiful views - as long as the fog stayed away that was.

Then Santa Cruz, no you're not that far, for the remainder of the afternoon. We visited the Boardwalk, home of the Big Dipper, a big old wooden rollercoaster that was the rollercoaster double used in many American films such as The Lost Boys and Dangerous Minds. We had a go then I was introduced to an American delicacy (apparantly) a Corn Dog. A hotdog in a crispy corn coating. Hmmm not totally convinced but judging by the hoards around us I was the only one that thought that. Off to the wharf and more seals, then into town to try out some of the town's pubs. In the end we only saw the one, but as it contributed to Daves challenge very impressively its hardly surprising. "99 bottles of beer" had as you would imagine 99 different types of beer brewed both in the states and abroad. As long as we stayed well away from Budweiser Dave was happy. We got chatting to another fellow Brit - Hi Col, and a local - Hi Mark, who were both also tackling the challenge to complete the list. As we had a few days with nothing much planned other than reaching San Fran, Mark invited the three of us over to his the following day to show us the sights in the Santa Cruz moutain region. Or more importantly, take us around some local wineries, with a BBQ after. How could we refuse!! We swopped numbers, names, emails, times to meet etc.. then rolled off home.

Next morning we had agreed to meet Col outside the scene of the night before, and turned up with a back up plan in case we'd been stood up. He had the same back up plan but was there munching breakfast, so we joined him and sorted out our plan of action. Having no phone we were reliant on garbled messages from last night and a destination of Felton (in the middle of nowhere) to reach then phone Mark. Luckily it all came together and before we knew it we were cruising around the wine area sampling some local wines and then back to Marks for a lovely BBQ. Very enjoyable day as the area is beautiful, it was very hot and we all got on well.

The next day after a quick wander around some giant Redwoods, one that was taller than the Statue of Liberty, we headed to San Fran. We had booked our tour to Alcatraz already, as I didn't want to miss out on this like last time, so headed straight there. We had already tried to book our motel for the night but after paying about $50 a night we weren't too impressed that the whole of San Fran city was either full or had hiked their prices to $300 because there was a conference in town - on semiconductors?!, so decided to have a think and hope for a miracle later.

Alcatraz was really cool. We got the guided tour around the cells and got to see where Al Capone, Machine-Gun Kelly and The Bird Man were incarcerated, the bullet holes from the bloodiest escape attempt and it had great views of the mainland. There were of course great views of the Golden Gate bridge to be had too, but there was a little fog that day, so you couldn't see any of it. Undeterred we wandered round Fishermans wharf still looking for the bridge, then walked towards China Town for tea. I really like San Fran - a very cool city, and not as big and busy as others.

In the end we stayed out towards the airport, about 8 miles south of the city where we got a motel for a much more reasonable $60. The owner was aghast that others were charging so much, or perhaps he wished he'd thought of it first.

Overnight it rained. A lot. Apparently it was the first time since records began that San Fran had had rain on that day (in the middle of July) and it caused a lot of disruption. No flooding of dams or putting people out of their homes but half of east San Fran across the river lost all power, and there were monster traffic jams on the highways into the city. Crazy. Comforting at least to know it isn't just England that is crippled with a downpour.

Back into San Fran for our full day of sightseeing. Chocolate at Ghiradelli square (delicious!), travelled on the cable car across the city, attempted to do some shopping (that will have to wait till NY and I know what my budget is), visted the crookedest street in the world (it looked beautiful with all the flowers following the road), and walked back across the city which is huge. Undeterred in our quest for more culture and photo taking, and not content with just aching feet we hired bikes and cycled the 10 miles across the bridge and back. This was brilliant. And, just for us, the fog had finally shifted and we could see the bridge in all its glory from both banks, and we have hundreds of photos to prove it. Limbs weary we got our bikes back to base and decided to head straight to a pub where we had arranged to meet Col. The Gordon Biersh brewery where we had a few drinks and big ol' American tea and a catch up. San Fran was too brief but fab. A great city.

Mr and Mrs Deane xx

P.S in true "American family trying to keep the kids amused" fashion we have been doing the licence plate game and so far are up to spotting about 40 out of a possible 50. Not bad going but it makes my eyes go funny.

Beer 157: Prohibition Ale, USA, Draught, 6.1%, 8.0, An excellent start at the 99 Beers bar

Beer 158: Double Daddy IPA, USA, Bottle, 9.5%, 7.0, Good if a little strong for an afternoon drink

Beer 159: Downtown Brown, USA, Bottle, 5.4%, 7.5, A little better - went down well

Beer 160: Red Tail Ale, USA, Draught, 6.0%, 7.0, I think it was good but the evening was a little hazy

Beer 161: Anchor Porter, USA, Bottle, 5.6%, 7.5, I think it was good but the evening was a little hazy

Beer 162: Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout, USA, Draught, 5.7%, 8.0, I think it was good but the evening was a little hazy

Beer 163: Red Nectar Ale, USA, Draught, 5.5%, 7.5, I think it was good but the evening was a little hazy

Beer 164: Gordon Biersch Marzen, USA, Bottle, 5.7%, 8.0, An excellent beer for a bbq

Beer 165: Gordon Biersch Sommerfest, USA, Draught, ?%, 8.0, A very good number. I think I like Gordon's beers

Beer 166: Gordon Biersch Blonde Bock, USA, Draught, 7.0%, 7.0, A very potent little number

Beer 167: Gordon Biersch Pilsner, USA, Draught, 5.3%, 6.0, Kind of what I was expecting from an american lager. A bit watery

---