Blogs from California, United States, North America - page 1142

Well well well, We have had a couple of days to reflect on our time in America, 12 days overall as we moved our flights forward. 5 great things we wanted to share with you lovely people. 1. I hate customs officers (some people might know that already) but now I am worse. They now take retina scans and TWO finger prints on entry! Even, we heard if you are just on a refuelling stop. Divs 2. Theres a new trend of GOD BLESS AMERICA bumper stickers. These are in the shape of AIDS ribbon. Well lets hope someone is blessing them! 3. After filling up with gas near the Grand canyon we were greeted with the message of "Support our troops in Iraq". We presume this was because they might be forced to pay more ... read more

Both us (real) and you (cyber) have stopped travelling east and now are back on the West Coast and beginning the trip home. In summary since the last blog we've finished with NY, done Boston and started on San Francisco, so we have a lot to catch you up on. Over the last days in NY we spent time with Trisha and Len at their small but lovely apartment with its great roofgarden near Central Park. Trisha, Col and I spent the last day in Queens at Noguchi's sculpture garden and gallery before we loaded our gear and went by subway and Amtrack to Boston. Our friends (who we had found on the Yangtze in 2003), Doug, Hong and Alli met us and we explored the waterfront and the markets. Saw a moving Holocaust Memorial with ... read more

After much rain, we finally got a week-end of some fine weather and decided to take a short drive along Highway 49 and the very scenic South Yuba River Canyon. This day we made two stops, first at the old Highway 49 bridge. The old Highway 49 bridge (1921) an outstanding example of the concrete Rainbow arch-style construction which was very common in the 1920's. After over 70 years of use, the bridge was closed to automobile traffic in 1993. The old bridge is now used for foot traffic and for viewing the spectacular river canyon, it is a good spot to river-watch and access to the water. During the summer after the winter rains and the spring snow melt, the turquoise water slows down and turns crystal clear making for a great swimming hole. Our ... read more

San francisco is 1 of my favorite places in the US. I had gone to SF for a weekend with my parents, for none of us had really been there before. (except for my dad, who had passed through many years ago when he was a teenager) it is so BEAUTIFUL. Not all the cities in the world have a great combination of being urban but yet so close to great nature. There are several beautiful beaches in and around the SF area, some with great views of the city and the golden gate bridge. also just north of the city is a national park with gigantic redwood trees. we also went to a nearby town named sausalito, just north of the golden gate bridge, which was also beautiful. we had taken a couple tours while ... read more

Kevin and I woke up really early this morning and drove up to Sylmar to meet up with Keston, Sally, Erika, Rocio, Rick, and the 3 kids. We met everybody at a Mcdonalds in Sylmar off the Interstate 5. After having breakfast, we all set off in our 2 vehicles for the 4 hour drive up to Yosemite. Just before arriving at Yosemite, we stopped in the town of Oakhurst to pick up alcohol, food, and supplies. We finally arrived at Yosemite around midday and stopped at a scenic vantage point overlooking the entire Yosemite Valley. With one of the best views in the entire park, the viewpoint was crowded with visitors making a quick stop to take their obligatory photos and soak in the scenery. Continuing our drive into Yosemite Valley, we made a ... read more