Greetings from San Francisco! Wow, this city is amazing!

Ok, so I'll begin where I left off before - our final night in New York. Much fun had, spent the evening chatting with our German and English room mates, talking about all things Pompey and how good our team are!! Up early the next morning to catch our flight to San Francisco, took the subway in the wrong direction so big panic to get to the airport in time. Seriously so scared we'd miss the flight, managed to check bags in and head through security with literally 10 minutes to spare - joke! So anyway, easy enough flight with the American guy next to me reading my 'Heat' magazine! Arrived to be greeted by Maureen and then taken to her parents house in Manteca for the night. Looked after so well, her parents Tom and Pat are amazing (I know they'll be reading this!!), we had awesome food, lovely showers and a comfy bed. Woke to the smell of bacon and a nice morning feast! Yum.

Sunday saw us drive up to Sacramento where we were to have the day floating on rafts down the American River. Really good fun, beer and sun are a good combination, cool group of people and was nice to meet some of Maureens friends. Nearly got lost in the woods on the way back in the dark, pretty scary when we saw a sign to watch out for the Mountain Lions, but all tuned out well in the end!! Back to Maureens flat that night, with the most incredible views of San Francisco as we drove through.

So yesterday was spent looking round Alcotraz (the old prison), so so interesting with amazing views from the island. Had clam chowder for lunch (a popular fish soup) in Fisherman's Wharf, again a really beautiful place. Walked a bit and ended up in Ghiradelli Square, had a chocolate sunday and then back to the flat to get ready for dinner. Headed to 'The Stinking Rose', an amazing garlic restaurant in town, everthing is smothered in the stuff and so today we all smell BAD (I have literally just smelt my own breath)!! Drove down Lombard Street (the famous steep road) which was fun and had a movie moment, in which I believe everything I could see had been in some film or another!

Todays plans include heading to the Golden Gate bridge, cheap shopping later and tonight we're off to see the San Francisco Giants play baseball. Corndog indeed!! So loving this city, San Francisco is so beautiful and fun. Again, Gary, I can't wait for you to bring me here again!!!! hehe.

So, that's all for now then I suppose. I'm about to upload some photos so you can see some of the trip!! Exciting stuff. Oh and thank you for all the messages, I can't reply to them on here, but just so you know - I do read them and cry!!! Not really, they're lovely!

Hope you're all well, missing ya'll (get it!)! Oh, they love our accents here - we're so cool!!

Love love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

www.statravelblogs.com/carlyd- Carly's blog if you fancy checking it out.