At the Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey...some seals chilling in the sun. They can't really be bothered to acknowledge all the excited humans taking photographs. Understandably.

This is wine country ... and we got tasting vouchers for 3 different wineries! So of course we HAVE to go... Let me tell you what I learned: 1) I still think I prefer European wines - although I really didn't exactly MIND tasting the Californian ones... :) 2) Californian wine is expensive! 3) 3 wine tastings with about 6-8 different wines for each winery will ruin you for the rest of the day! The things we do for learning something new ;)

And that's how we came to eat grapefruit for breakfast every day for ... 10 days! And they were surprisingly delicious.

One of America's oldest amusement parks on the Santa Cruz boardwalk ... and even though the wooden roller coaster was old and therefore probably relatively tame, it made me scream my lungs out :)

Late night arrival on the mainland After 5 weeks in Australia and one week on Oahu, Hawaii, we are finally on the road again! Arriving at San José airport in California, we take a cab to a close-by inn we found on airb'n'b ... and what a pleasant surprise! Not only is our room really charming, but a hot tub, a caraffe of port and some homemade chocolate chip cookies await us! Not a bad way to start our time in California. Tomorrow we'll pick up our camper van ...