Sunny but cold San Fran

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Good evening all! Currently typing this from a internet cafe in San Fran! Only got about 4 days to write about so not too bad for once!

19th August - San Simeon, - We left our LA hotel at around 8.30 after meeting the new girl who was joining our group - she seems pretty cool and should be able to handle us guys for the next few weeks! After driving up through the Hollywood hills to get a closer look at the hollywood sign we hit highway number 1 which is one of the most scenic drives you will ever take! After stopping off in Santa Barbara (the old hollywood) we continued on our long journey to San Simeon picking up some hitchhikers on route which was quite random! The guy we picked up was in a band called 'SoSo Close'who are starting a US tour soon and apparently the clash inspired them so could be worth checking out on myspace - the girl with him seemed like a bit of a freespirit and had hairy legs and armpits - luverly!! Anyway we pitched up our tents on arrival and headed for the beach which turned out to be very British like with a freezing ocean and a hanging mist which made it seem overcast. When the sun went down we saw a noticable drop in the temperature compared to what we had been used to - we kept warm by hanging around the bbq and fire!

20th August - Yosemite, - We carried on Highway 1 and the scenery on this route was awesome with the crystal blue pacific ocean always to your left as you wound up and down cliffs and mountains. It took us a long time to get to our destination so the day was pretty much a writeoff and we ended up just chilling by the pool and knocking back a few bevvies! The next day was a hiking day so you know what this means - an early start (up @ 5am!) and we hit the trek at 7 on what proved to be a hike equally as tough as the grand canyon one! We walked to a rock called the half dome and the total distance of the trek was about 17 miles. The scenery was beautiful though with secluded lakes and waterfulls in abundance- one really cool bit was a river that ran into one of these lakes that you could slide down - great fun! The hike was made even tougher by the fact that we ran out of water just after the half way point after abseiling down this rock face- so with us stumbling and bumbling onwards for about 3 miles knocking on heavens door we found a kind guy with a water purifying kit so we headed to the nearest lake to bring us back to life! Despite this it was such an amazing hike and I loved it! It was then generally a chilled eveningwith a few drinking games thrown in!

21st and 22nd August - San Fran.. So as for today and yesterday we have been enjoying the sites of San Fran.. Although we woke up yesterday morning to the news that a bear had been spotted rumaging around outside my tent the night before which was sooo scary! Glad I didnt bump into him on my toilet run 😊 Anyway yesterday when we arrived in San Fran we did a tour of San Fran which included walking over the Golden gate Bridge which was cool and checking out the famous winding Lombard Street. We finished the night off by attending another baseball game which featured the San Fransisco Giants Vs Chicago Cubs - we got to see the record holder for home runs bat here - Barry Bonds - although we yet again didnt see a home run (like in the other game we saw!) - Gosh!! lol. And today we went to Alcatraz - yay! I was extremely excited and the place did not dissapoint - was so intriguing wandering around this prison which lies surprisingly close to San Fran (just a mile and 1/4 away!)- we heard about the stories of ex cons and officers and it was such a good visit! Although I got caught on camera sat on the loo in one of the cells!! :P Since then we pretty much just wandered around the city - the place it pretty small so you can walk everywhere and this evening we are heading out to check out some drinking holes which should be fun.. Off to Redwoods NP tommorrow!

So there you are all up to date.. I hate everytime I have to write in here as it means the end is drawing nearer and nearer - oh well ! 😊

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