hello hello!

that blues bar in san francisco was fab - the music was great and we met a couple of guys from ukraine who gave us some lavendar! had a great drive out of san fran over the golden gate.

wine country: went to sonoma and napa valley to visit the vineyards and tried some yummy wine.

lake tahoe: had a really scarey drive into the mountains, it was getting late and we were getting higher and higher and kept seeing more snow, until it was dark and snowing really heavily! had to get snow chains but the pace was so slow we had no idea how long it would take us to get to civalisation - very relieved when we saw a holiday inn sign! had 3.5 days skiing (em) and snowboarding (ben) was was fantastic - perfect skiing conditions, lots of sun and snow and hardly any people. went to squaw - site of winter olympics one year. met a nice guy from minasota who taught us different games of pool one evening.

yosemite: spent a couple of days in the national park - beautiful scenery, plus on a 3 hr walk to see the giant redwoods - awesome, 'giant grizzley' etc.

last few days in california: stayed in a place called Bakersfield - home of californian country music - had a fantastic night out with live country music and all these hillbillys in stetsons and checked shirts - giant guys dancing with the girls!

hope you are all enjoying the snow we hear is back home, get those toboggons out!!

em and ben xxx