Was a bit of a shock coming back to a big city - funny how quickly you get used to less populated areas!San Fran is a nice city. It feels a bit like Brighton - with it's arty types; liberal-minded peeps; flamboyant gays; and of course, the homeless (of which there seemed to be a lot) - but bigger. It's certainly got bigger bloody hills - which are a great way of getting fit (and a way of limiting the damage caused by weeks of eating out in America)!Plus it doesn'...

It was hard to believe that in the space of a few hours drive, we had gone from unbearably hot, dry desert.....to cool, lush green, mountains (with small pockets of snow)!What a beautiful place this is! It's also so easy (if a little slow), to get to all the main attractions. You don't even have to walk anywhere if you don't want to.....in true American style, you can simply drive everywhere!It's also pretty busy this time of year, but thankfully there are fewer ...

What can one say about Death Valley other than it's HOT! DAMN HOT! According to the temp gauge in our car, it peaked at 122°F (that's 50°C)!!(It is officially the hottest place I have ever been to, ladies and gentlemen! So there)!It is also rather windy, but instead of cooling things down, the wind simply makes things worse!The only way to escape the heat (other than stay in your air-conditioned room or car) is to go up. So we did, to Dante's View where you can...

The place that so inspired U2, they named their 1st album after it!A bleak but beautiful landscape - a world apart from LA even though we are only a few hours drive away. It's also pretty hot - why you would chose to live out here I don't know.We also learnt during our time here, that nearby Palm Springs has over 100 golf courses!!! One hundred!!! Why do they need so many? Think of how much water they consume - it's unthinkable (especially when you think that pla...