After a long couple of days driving from Vancouver, after a big night out (in which we saw Shane from the real desperate housewives, for those of you who follow it) we entered wine country in the valleys of central California.Sonoma was our valley of choice as Napa vineyards charge $30 a head for tastings (too rich for our blood).Seven vineyards and 50 tastings later, we headed back to camp where we sipped on a bottle of Viognier to complement our Caribbean Jerk chicken kabobs.Not yet having our fill we left the crème de la crème for the following day - Gloria Ferrar Vineyards specializing in champagne where we enjoyed cheese and cracker pairing with our champagne overlooking the rows and rows of grapevines in the glorious sunshine (how romantic - not quite what you'd expect out of a couple of backpackers, hey?).

Next on the agenda was the foggy city of San Francisco.We spent most of the day wandering around the steep streets in the city, eating some fresh seafood along the wharf and doing a touch of shopping, while getting very burnt in the deceivingly strong sun.For future reference - I wouldn't recommend staying in the "Tenderloin" section of any city, especially San Francisco - take our word for it.

Heading south out of the city was a complete change of scenery as we got our first glimpse of the famed Route 1 following the cliffs and beach lines of the California coast.We arrived at our hostel, which is part of a lighthouse on a sheer cliff overlooking the crashing waves, with it's own private beach; it is breathtaking!We are staying in the watch room with a window view of the Pacific Ocean, it is so good to be on the beach again.We just took in our first amazing sunset over the distant ocean horizon with plenty of photos to show for it.Next we head inland about 4 hours to Yosemite National Park where we'll conquer Half Dome and take in some awesome views from Glacier Point.  After the brief stint in the wilderness we'll be heading back down the coast along Big Sur and eventually down to San Diego where we'll be celebrating Jo's birthday in style.