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Published: August 21st 2006
South Beach, Miami
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We spent 4 days in Miami. We stayed in South Beach, the Latin Quarter in a hotel where they shot (the original) Miami Vice. It was pretty cool lying in bed watching CSI Miami in Miami!
It was also great to be back in an English speaking country where people drive normally and you can flush your toilet paper instead of putting it in the bin next to the toilet - very refreshing after being in South America for a few months!
San Francisco
We splurged a bit on a hotel here as it was Dave's 30th birthday. We enjoyed biking across the Golden Gate bridge and riding the Cable Car Trams up & down the unbelieveably steep hills.
We hired a car in San Fran. and began our road trip up the West coast. It was so great to have our own transport again and not have to rely on buses & trains to get around.
Road Trip
The highlights of our road trip were
* The Redwood forests in northern California, the age and size of these trees make you feel like you've travelled back in time a few thousand years.
* We saw 2
Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco's famous landmark bears on different occasions which was very exciting.
* Lassen Volcanic National Park. We got to this park in mid July and were amazed to find huge snow drifts of nearly 20 ft deep - a few of the roads were still closed because of the snow.
* The Columbia River Gorge. This is a famous windsurfing spot that Dave had always wanted to visit. We stayed in Hood River a cool little town - every car had windsurfers on the roof and there was a great vibe in this permanently windy place, we hired some windsurfing equipment for 2 days and tackled the huge swells that form on this river.
* Crater Lake. This is the deepest lake in the USA and formed inside a volcanic crater. The water is an amazing deep blue colour. No rivers run into or out of this lake which is quite unusual.
* Seattle. We enjoyed visiting the worlds 1st Starbucks at the Pikes Place market and taking a trip up the Space Needle.
Los Angeles
This place is crazy!! We stayed in Venice beach which is still stuck in the 60's! Old hippies playing guitars and selling all sorts of junk
San Francisco Cable Car
The classic cable car going down one of the unbelievably steep hills here.
That's Alcatraz in the background. on the beachfront promenade. We visited Hollywood for a day - definately not as glamorous as it's made out to be - it could definately do with a face lift. We took a stroll through Bellair, did some window shopping on Rodeo drive and enjoyed the beach at Santa Monica.
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