So where did we get to????
Had another lovely walk in Zion before we left on thursdy morning. Walked from the end of the scenic drive long the river into the narrows where,during the summer, you can actually walk up the river as the canyon closes in on you narrowing to around 20 ft!!.
We headed out across the desert to vegas through the most incredible winds again-don't think I have ever been in such strong winds in a car we were getting blown all over. Fortunately we were only on the 7th floor in the Vegas hotel as I think much higher and we would have felt the building rocking!!
We had a quick walk along the strip before catching a bus to downtown las Vegas and the Fremont experience. Pretty cool but v noisy! Boys loved all the lights though especially the huge bottle of coke and the giant m and ms packet!!
Dad babysat for a little while so jase and I hit the casino but ended up playing electronic poker sat at the bar - a very addictive game it is too!!
Mum and dad left at 4am so was just us again and a mammoth 8 hour journey to Fresno. Very boring and very tiresome with 3 emotional and v tired little boys!!
Still Saturday we made it to yosemite and had a little time to drive into the park. WOW !!!! was incredible !. loads of snow on the ground still and a couple of blizzards while we were there despite the forecast saying sunny!
We had a long full day in the park on
Sunday. Is absolutely beautiful. But quite disorganised and dated in the amenities and services. We were very lucky as all the waterfalls in full flow from the snowmelt. Has been record snowfall in the sierra nevadas this year with a cumulative fall of 50 ft in some places!!
Yosemite has the 5th and 7th highest waterfalls in the world and the tallest in N America . And it is beautiful particularly with the water falling into a cavern of snow- stunning!!!
Yosemite also has the largest single slab of granite in the world which takes your breath way as you turn the corner and see El Capitan ( still not as beautiful as the granite in my kitchen tho ;-) ). The other famous landmark is the half dome just fab. We did some walking and some playing in the snow. The boys had a great time hiding in the granite caves and fallen rocks. Rockfalls a big part of life in yosemite and is sobering to drive past the big one on highway 140 which took out a huge chunk of the road .
The drive in and out of yosemite was beautiful too the steeper mountains give way to the rolling hills and there were the prettiest purple flowered trees everywhere lining the banks of the river Merced as we followed it back out.
Monday we headed west again into warmer weather and into San Francisco over the. 7 mile long bay bridge. We found our hotel very easily with no stress!! Even though it was right in downtown!
We loved San fran!! Was fantastic for shopping although couldn't even afford to look in the windows of shops on union square -all serious designer gear!! We did manage to spend quite a bit of time in abercrombie and fitch!!!
Felt a very safe city even though there were more homeless people than we have seen anywhere. The cable cars were v cool although v expensive! Eating and drinking was cheap enough and we found great place for breakfast -lefty o'doulls. Brilliant!
Tuesday we did the touristy thing and took an open top bus tour. Was great we had a very entertaining and strangely attractive tour guide and picked up loads of useless information about the city! We stopped at fishermans wharf and did more touristy stuff, stopping at the original sourdough bakery for a snack of turtle and bunny shaped sourdough bread! Then onto the infamous pier 39 to watch and listen to the noisy sea lions and get great views of Alcatraz and the two famous bridges.
Wednesday we and most of the rest of the British tourists in SF headed to the exploratorium, a fantastic hands- on science museum in the grounds of the beautiful fine arts palace. This is in a beautiful part of SF. The architecture is stunning.
Boys had fantastic time at museum
As did we!! My favourite bits being the magnetic black sand and the floating water droplet! Everything was interactive - it was really brilliant.
Thursday we had to reluctantly leave SF ( after a little more shopping!!) and headed over the famous golden gate bridge- very cool:-). This leads into the exclusive Marin county with all the huge mansions v nice!! Then we headed up to napa valley and wine country - hurrah!!!
Vineyards and winery's on a huge scale here with some beautiful buildings housing the winery's even a castle!
We had a stop over in napa then Friday we had a little treat and visited jelly belly bean factory to watch all the little jelly beans being made!!! Very very cool. Had huge sugar rush from purchases in the factory shop!!! Jase tried the pencil sharpenings flavour jelly bean but declined the dog food and centipede flavours!!
Drove to Sonoma which is the prettiest little town set around an historic square plaza. Lots of lovely boutiques and cafes and stuff shops around which would have been great to browse - without three kids!! Napa valley is similar to hunter valley in oz - a place for city dwellers to head out to on a weekend for rest relaxation wine and luxury- hence pretty pricey.
We then nervously headed to our accommodation for the next two nights!- a hippyish sounding retreat in the hills!!!! Was actually very sweet and a beautiful setting in a tree covered canyon off Petrified Forest Road!!! We had a cottage complete with wood burner. Kids loved it with goats and
Mules to feed and sticks to collect for the fire they were in heaven!!
After great breakfast on Saturday we decided to be energetic and hired bikes to tour the area and wineries around calistoga. Was great fun with twins in a trailer - they loved it!!! Was nice and flat but very hot day! After one session of wine tasting we were both unsure of being in charge of a bike!! Was great way to see the countryside though and something a little different. The boys thought they deserved an ice cream after all their hard work (!) so we had a wander around Calistoga. Yet another very pretty quaint wine country town. So many amazing properties around the town- seems fab place to live.
So that brings us here to foggy bodega bay. Back on the coast proper - all the way to Seattle now. Had a walk around the headlands this afternoon but as fog descended we couldn't see a thing other than the plethora of wild flowers and hairy caterpillars - was just like being in cornwall!!!
No plans now really as long as we in Seattle for 25th we can meander as we wish up highway 1 and 101!!