SUNDAY

Had to be waiting outside the hotel at 6.45am for our trip to Yosemite National Park and we were duly picked up by a small van which we thought would be a shuttle to a coach. Oh Oh!! Wrong! This was our transport!! The tour information said small groups but we thought it might at least have been a bit more luxurious. We 13 of us were squashed into it and the 4 of us were jammed into the back row. The steam was coming out of my ears by the time we had gone 5 miles as I was sitting sideways and hit my head on the window over every bump. By the time we made a stop for breakfast we were not in the best of tempers - I gave the driver a bit of a serve - and we re-arranged the sitting, putting Jasmin in the front and giving us a little more room in the rear.
It is a long drive out to the Park - over 200 miles - and it was NOT a good way to start the day. We passed through the outer suburbs of San Francisco and then climbed over a set of hills which were covered with wind turbines. California is a very green state and they have put 5,000 of these turbines on the hills to harness the stong winds that always blow there. They were much smaller than the ones in Albany or Esperance but there are so many they produce a lot of electricity.
Once over the hills we encountered the first of many large farming areas - the "food bowl of the USA"- which are located on the flat areas and are irrigated from large dams in the Sierra Nevada mountains about 100 miles away. The land is all laser graded and they were growing any sort of fruit, vegie or nut you could think of - as well as many acres of crops for the large dairy and beef farms. It was a very interesting part of the drive and we also saw many new towns being built - California has very strict rules on limiting the size of the cities and so people are encouraged to live a distance out a commute in to SF to work. Some apparently spend up to 4 hours a day in cars and trains!
The funny part about these new towns is that they are all built to the same design and have the same houses and same shops and outlets. This is what Americans ask for because they hate to be out of their comfort zone. The only problem is that all the take-out places and gas stations etc are in one area and so they all have to drive to get their stuff and so use extra gas!!!
By the time we had reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains the temperature had risen steadily from the 12C in SF and the further we climbed the hotter it got and it was nearly 30C when we stopped for our first look at Yosemite National Park. The Yosemite Valley is the remains of an old glacier and is about miles ? long and has vertical sides over 500 metres high, with the Merced River running through it. The views from up above were sensational and we drove on down to the valley floor and stopped at Bridalveil Falls. The water levels in all the rivers in the region are very low because all the snow has melted, but there was still enough to make a great sight at the Falls.
From there it was on to Yosemite village itself. About 2.5 million people visit the park each year and reckon half that number where there today!!!! (really only about 120,000). All the camp sites were bulging at the seams and there were hikers and campers all over. We caught a shuttle bus (yep! That's right - a shuttle bus service in a National Park) and had a good look around getting some photos of the river and also the other waterfalls. We had about 3 hours to wander about before we got back into the van and drove back to SF, not getting home until after 9pm.
It was a long day but the sights in the park were fantastic and although we didn't see any bears we saw a few deer. It was amazing to see all the farms and infrastructure that supports them - Agriculture is the main industry outside of SF and it employs many thousands of Latino workers of which many are illegal's. They get paid very little and live in shanty towns, but America needs the food they produce so much it tolerates the way they are treated. There were huge trucking firms to carry the produce as well as many rail lines. We saw one trucking yard that had over 500 special trailers for carting tomatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! About 65% of the nation's food comes out of California and the farmers are allowed to irrigate to their hearts content.
Tomorrow we fly to LA to get our flight to Honolulu and the last stop of our trip.

MONDAY

Our flight to LA was delayed by fog for nearly an hour this morning after we had rushed like hell to get the train to the airport early!! Just as well we had plenty of time before our connecting flight to Honolulu left. Had a bit of hassle at the check in for the Honolulu flight because I had been unable to get seat allocations online or on the phone. Apparently, Qanats and American Airlines (who codeshare with each other) have different flight and booking numbers and so no matter what I tried I couldn't access the system... American were not interested when I rang and so when we checked in our seats were all over the plane even though we booked them back in October! No amount of sweeting talking would work this time because the plane was full, but once on board we managed to get a couple of people to swap so that at least we were in pairs.
The 6 hour flight was pretty uneventful - just as well we had got some snacks as AA is now a cut price airline with no inflight service - and it was nearly 7pm by the time we got to our hotel. Our room has a balcony and a glimpse of Waikikki Beach and we unpacked our things and then went for a walk to suss the place out a bit.
                                                   

Honolulu is a pretty place with glorious gardens everywhere and many, many tourists of which a fair percentage are Aussies... Quite strange to hear all the f....ing etc after being in the States where cussing is not heard so much!
Had a beer and a bite to eat before turning in, we have 2 full days to explore a bit of the place with Pearl Harbour being on top of the list!