Blogs from United States, North America - page 5966

Stop Two - San Francisco! Well after an initial frightening experience at San Francisco on my first day - walked the wrong way after getting off the train from the airport, and found myself in a not so good neighborhood, I finally made it to my hotel - Hotel Whitcomb. I am unfortunately in what feels like the Bronx end of town - homeless beggars EVERYWHERE (and no surprises that they see blonde tourist and think Yeah Baby - Jackpot! On day two I toured around the city and had the best time. After the tour guy commented on how dangerous Market Street was (where my hotel is) I had a bit of a laugh and realized there was so much more to San Francisco that I hadn’t seen on the first day. It really ... read more

After farewells to Jess and Brian, we hit the windy road up towards Russian Gulch State Park, enjoying the coastal scenery along the way. We picked out what seemed like a good site at the campground, but didn’t factor in the acoustic nature of the gulch, which allowed us to hear every detail of every conversation around us, drowned out only by the literally screaming young girl, who kept it up for about eight hours of the day and night. Very relaxing. We put the kayaks in the water for a quick float around the ocean waves and amongst the big seaweeds and caves the next day. The waves didn’t sit well with Shane’s landlubber belly, but after some lunch he decided he’d live. Headed into the small coastal town of Mendocino in the evening ... read more

We’re doing the Columbia River Historic Scenic Highway today, a round trip, commencing at Hood River, driving towards Troutdale on Interstate 84, then moving on to the Scenic Highway and returning to Hood River. We stopped at Cascade Locks for breakfast and looked around. Now to the Columbia River Fish Hatchery at Bonneville, which we hadn’t planned, where they are trying to ensure the existence of Columbia River Sturgeon, plus, we think, salmon and trout. We wonder if the Russians have a similar project for their sturgeon as their stocks are supposed to be almost wiped out. Didn’t realise how big they are, and so graceful. The school holidays must be near as hordes of pupils scream all over the place. It spoilt the visit a little so we cleared off. We move, via Springdale and ... read more

What a long few days - I'm sitting here at 6am after having the best sleep ever - a solid 8 hours. I was in bed last night going through some photos after dinner and a shower (1st since Monday night) and I almost dropped the camera on my face I was so tired... I've had only had about 10hrs sleep over 4 days. At the orientation meeting I thought the hotel was moving but it was just me... in the 18hrs of travel time from Melb-Auckland-LA I had about 1hr sleep - I watched 5 movies on the plane! After the meeting a group of 8 of us went out to Hermosa beach after leaving the mall at 9:30pm (when it closed at 9pm). One of the girls had her birthday at Sharkey's last ... read more

Went strawberry picking this morning with Matt, Tammi and Alex out at a local farm. It is the end of the season and slim pickin’s! The farmer did not charge us for the bucket (about 2 lbs worth) as he said it was nice to see three generations doing things together. We also bought some fresh blueberries and peaches. Fresh fruit is one thing we can't get much of on the trail. We toured the area of the Enterprise, AL tornado strike. The tornado that hit the high school was in the city where our son's family lives. The school is across the street from their church. Our son was two of the boys who died there’s Sunday School teacher. The selectiveness of this type of storm is baffling. We saw one house that used to ... read more