Finally arriving at Yosemite- and hitting cold, the like we had not encountered for 6 months!! Brrr! Photos will bear witness to the cold with frozen lakes and snow. After the heat of deserts this was a fabulous contrast and very picturesque! Owen was duly sat down and read the info on what to do if a bear or mountain lion came into camp and the van was thoroughly cleaned of crumbs owing to photos in the park of bears tearing car doors off for one sweetie left behind. Jinkies, as Velma would say (This is for Owen who is currently very keen on Scooby Doo!)

Yosemite valley is the most visited part of the national park and it was easy to see why. A steep sided glacial valley with awesome waterfalls, green forestsand a raging river - perfect but for the intense number of people - we were unable to get a campsite space and had to book a motel for the night ( but saw Pretty Woman for the millionth time!). Owen completed his last junior ranger badge here and now his backpack sports 5 shiny ranger badges. (he may be a scout yet!).

On leaving the park we spotted a brown bear in a nearby meadow - a fine departure gift! As always there was one prat who had to be hollered at by the ranger… ' get back from the bear sir!!'How she managed to say Sir instead of a number of other choice words is a mystery!!

Next stop San Francisco.Again, as we've said before, owing to many movies you feel like you've seen it, but the number of bonkers steep hills that people actually live on is still surprising. We wager a bet that San Franciscoites have good calf muscles!! We loved this city which has a unique feel- a very uncity city if that is possible to say?? San Fran also brought out the rage at the demise of the routemaster in London owing to stupid H&S rules. Trams screech their way down crazy hills with passengers able to stand on the open edge! At one point our tram cornered the same time as one coming the opposite way and the standing passengers were inches from each other! As you can imagine O loved watching the brakesmen at work and sitting outside with no rails!!

As city lovers we wallowed in meandering through various districts, taking in the quirky shops and cafes and lunched in the very very gay Castro. This is one time when the RV was a pain as we had to stay outside the city, however the journey by ferry to and from the city with the Golden gate bridge and Alcatraz made it less annoying!

Next part of the journey took in the twisty highway 1 all the way to Los Angeles - "TheBig Sur" - 400 miles or so- a big part of which is the most breathtaking coastal scenery. Imagine a road literally hugging the cliffs of Cornwall or Pembrokeshireand you have our 2/3 day journey. We stopped one night near Carmel - known for the fact that Clint Eastwood was once the mayor! (irrelevant fact??). For once we completely agree with the lonely planet review which basically said 'look then leave - fast'. It was a sickly perfect collection of manicured stepford wife houses, one aptly called 'hansel and gretels' hmmm. The fact we drove around this very wealthy town in our beaten up van with 'cheapacampa'emblazoned across it was not lost on us.

Basically the rest of the drive involved lots of tea and pee stops in stunning car parks and a few little walks, including one with a gorgeous waterfall cascading onto the beach!!. Even an elephant sea lion colony made its home conveniently on a beach by the side of the road. Very handy.

Santa Barbara was our next overnight and saw in a purchase that truly signaled the end of the adventure - a suitcase!! We feel that adventure is now over - the van goes back tomorrow and then we head back to Palm Springs for 10 days of resort hotel . Owen is already ecstatic at the thought of a kids club, J is delighted that the forecast for the week is 100+ and very dry!!! And H is just pleased to have walls and be out of campsites (This blog is written at a site under the La airport flight path, by two power stations and a highway!!!) We had considered adding in somewhere in Central America but really do feel that we are teetering on the edge of turning Owen into a hater of all things related to travel. Hopefully a pool for ten days will cure that!!

So, next blog will be from New York where we spend the last 8 days of our trip.