Blogs from California, United States, North America - page 1147

From: fran the man Sent: Friday, 15 April 2005 To: everyone Subject: Yosemite Yes I am still alive! Have been in Yosemite since Monday and am in love it’s just amazing! Haven’t seen any bears yet but there are plenty of squirrels - one put a hole in the front of my day pack on Tuesday when I was up a 6 pitch climb called the Nut cracker - very nice and easy 5.8. Am stuck seconding as I’m too shit scared to lead on Pro. Hahahaa the time will come one day though. The rock is amazing just super sticky granite and nice Cracks. Have been for a couple of little hikes out to see some waterfalls and the bottom of half dome. Half dome’s soooo pretty and very photogenic. It’s freezing! There’s still snow ... read more

Oops, here's an express entry..... San Fran, lots of homeless people in the downtown area but an otherwise beautiful city on the bay. Museum of Modern Art was utterly amazing... did the obligatory ride on the up and down tram car which takes you to the extremely touristy tacky Fisherman's Wharf. Had only one more day there and decided to ignore the torrential rain and took mysel;f off to the Golden Gate Bridge PK, which happens to be about 5 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh der. Soaked through but perservered through the park, which surprisingly enough .... is a park!! Full of beautiful trails and lake areas, playgrounds, the botanic gardens and a few other nice features. Managed to dry out around 2pm while hiking through the Presidio National Park. Fantastic views across the ... read more

Between the sales rep and I, we purchased twelve (12) tickets to the LB Gran Prix to entertain customers. Our seats were in the Grand Stand area, right by the finish line. This was my first time to a Gran Prix race. I brought my digital video camera, my digital camera, binoculars, sun block, but I forgot to take some darn ear plugs! Once the race started, the roar of the cars was unbearably high....... read more

this is practice for our trip to South America- will add a picture as soon as I can. Monterey was beautiful and easy to travel in by foot. They have trolleys that go to all the tourist destinations-- Fisherman's wharf, Aquarium, plaza, etc. Gary and I are busy getting things ready to leave on April 28th. House sitter fell through, so we're working on plan B. maybe plan c. We're shopping today for 'thinsulate' clothing to wear under the other stuff. Hard for me to imagine packing lite, but after pulling around the suitcases in Monterey, I got a taste of what I'm in for. ... read more

From: fran the man Sent: Thursday, 7 April 2005 To: everyone Subject: San Fran Well I made it to Lafayette, despite arriving an hour and a half late - nice one Amtrak! I spent yesterday hanging out with barb, who managed to get hold of me on my mobile half an hour before I jumped on my train. Picked myself up some new tramping boots as mine are still lost in the all the moving I’ve done in the last 5 months. Am going into town today to do some exploration like, must go and book my Alcatraz tickets! My Train ride up was pretty cool Amtrak has these big 2 story trains with heaps of space and a dining car where I sat and ate lunch and dinner with 2 separate retired couples. The train ... read more