The story from vegas..... Unfortunately Yosemite National park is closed at this time of year due to the weather, nonetheless Lake Tahoe was still accesible so we travelled up through Death Valley and onto this beautiful location.

As we arrived we received a little shock...... over 4 feet of snow fell that night ! They hadn't had much snow at all this winter but seems that as we missed it back in the UK Lake Tahoe treated us to a good covering ! The car was buried and we even had to buy some snow chains ! Luckily for us in a mountain location full of ski resorts the snow was very welcomed though and it was an amazing Winter Wonderland to enjoy. As we had no gear to hit the slopes (and it was a pretty penny for just one day) we had to miss that out unfortunately but instead we donned our skates and went iceskating at the Olympic mountain top in Squaw Valley - comedy value!

Lake Tahoe is certainly a place we would like to visit again and recommend to all. Great resorts, scenery, chalets, cafe's, log fires, drives.... and of course amazing mountains!

Leaving the snow behind we travelled West onto Nappa Valley before settling in San Fran.... rant begins ;) ....

What can we say, In the hunter valley Australia we were plied with copious amounts of delicious free booze and snacks all day and were met by freindly and genuine wine fans. In the Napa valley we were greeted by pompous snobs who seem to think that it was the Americans who discovered wine ! Not only do you have to book to taste thier overpriced offerings but have to pay for the priveledge too ! $15 on average for a few splashes of vino ! deplorable ! We bought 5 litres of chablis from Safeways for $9.50 so where they get the idea people are going to pay $20 + for their wine we don't know !

We were very dissapointed. :-( They were very difficult to find and we then discovered in Napa town itself you can taste wines for 10 cents a glass ! Overall, Don't bother !

Anyway, after this we stayed at the best Motel ever ! The napa redwood inn provided free internet free drinks & a brilliant breakfast assortment restoring our waning faith in the area. From here we travelled onto Fairfield to see the world famous Jelly belly bean factory who put on a free tour to show you how the beans are made, all very interesting and nice when they give you a free bag at the end too. all worth wearing the ridiculous hat for.

Onto San Fran now where we have a great hostel right near China Town & the hub of the city, which is huge ! We have a tour booked to see Alcatraz tomorrow so will get to see the rock before we get ready to depart back for England. Only a few days left now so we're off to explore this very cool & chilled out city.

Speak soon. XXX