"SIDE EFFECTS CAN INCLUDE DEATH" DAY 14: On the road; Oakhurst to Barstow We'd never planned today to be an eventful day as it was more about putting some serious miles on the clock. We were heading south from Oakhurst though Bakersfield then East to Barstow, about a five to six hour drive. This meant we'd only be a couple hours outside Las Vegas for our drive in the morning. We had a delightful, largely cake-based breakfast in our room consisting of waffles...

ADMIRATION FOR MONOLITH GIANTS DAY 13: Yosemite National Park We rose fairly early with a bear-free night's sleep and had a DIY breakfast in our tent before heading out to see the natural wonders that surrounded us. To maximise our viewing pleasure we decided not to hike the 10 mile round trip to Glacier Point but to drive instead on account of our limited time and lack of walking gear. Our first stop was Yosemite Falls where we climbed over boulders, rocks...

YOSE-MIGHTY VIEWS DAY 12: San Francisco to Yosemite National Park Before we embarked on our 4-5 hour journey from San Fran to Yosemite we decided to visit the Golden Gate Park, similar in size to Central Park in New York. Our main purpose was to visit the Japanese Tea Garden but when we go there although it looked lovely it was a little overpriced. Instead we opted for a Peet's (like Starbucks) so we stopped in Castro on the way out of the city. What sod's l...

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ DAY 11: Alcatraz, San Francisco No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a trip to Alcatraz - 'The Rock'. This was home to some of America's most wanted (Al Capone and 'Machine Gun' Kelly) until 1963 when the US Government realised it was cheaper to put them up in the Waldorf. Not sure how the guests would have felt about that. The audio tour around the prison sounds tacky but it's really enlightening and gives you a real flavo...

BIKING THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE DAY 10: San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito After a good breakfast at the hostel we headed out in the morning heat to find our bikes for the day as we'd decided to 'ride the bridge'. After a short route briefing from the bike rental man (not sure either of us were listening) we were on our way. We decided to take a route that would carry us over the bridge and down into a small town called Sausalito, across the bay from...