10th Feb - An early start today to collect the car from its on-street parking space, which would cost us money after 10am, to move it to another car park near the pier where we are getting the ferry to Alcatraz.The ferry only took about 20 minutes to get us across to the island, as it's a lot closer to the mainland than you would think.A retired SFPD officer was the volunteer ranger who welcomed us to the National Park Service run former penitentiary and gave us a few entertaining anecdotes about escapees from 'The Rock'. The views of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco itself are probably best seen from here as a path runs all the way around Alcatraz Island and allow beautiful panoramic views. I guess we are very lucky as well because, by all accounts, SF Bay is usually covered in fog and the past two days have been sunny and clear. After a few gawps and photos we headed into the prison for our free audio tour that lets you wander around the cell blocks and administration buildings with headphones on that inform you of the history and gives eyewitness accounts from former guards and inmates. We heard stories about Al Capone, Robert "The Birdman" Stroud, and that bloke that Clint Eastwood played in 'Escape from Alcatraz' - honestly, I don't know why I do any tours, I never remember a thing! The prison was smaller than I thought it would be but the tour and the island itself are a real experience I would recommend to anyone - one of the highlights of the trip really. Kirsty bought a book from the gift shop about Robert 'The Birdman' Stroud and the author was actually there so she managed to get the book signed. An English couple heard Kirsty talking and the author sat there looking a little uncomfortable as the topic of conversation turned to Barnsley giving both Liverpool and Chelsea a shoeing in the FA Cup and then to travels around the US. The author just sat there in silence and waited for us to finish chatting, not exactly what she was there for!After taking the ferry back to the mainland we took a long and arduous walk up hill/downhill/uphill to Union Square where the main shopping chains surround a granite Square testament to a Spanish War and the end of the cable car lines, where the conductors spin the carriages around on a turntable to go back in the opposite direction. As we were queuing for cable car tickets to head back, an English couple gave us an all day ticket they no longer needed - result - so we're not just scamming the parking, we swizzed the cable cars today as well! Mind you, the money we're spending on fudge brownies and Cadbury's chocolate is horrendous!

11th - Today was broken into two days really. Day 1 - I got up at 3.45am and left Kirsty sleeping to go to the car and move it to a rare free spot outside the hotel (I found that they sweep the roads at 4am on Tuesdays and everyone has to move their cars from the area to allow for this). I can now leave the car there without paying a bean until we leave - result! We've beaten the system! We have saved $210 in parking, which is just as well because skiing in Lake Tahoe next week is going to be damned expensive. I then went back to bed for a few hours. I know it's insane! Day 2 - we both got up and caught the streetcar (which is only $1.50 each and will carry you up all those hills to the other end of the city, a real gem) to Pier 1 on the bayfront where there was a farmers market. We love farmers markets here. Because of all the crap we are eating, its nice to get some fresh produce occasionally.Every stall also gives you free samples of their products - even the ones selling vegetables, so by the end of a trip around a farmers market you have usually had a free meal! Kirsty did manage to get into an argument here with a rather rude woman who was using a pushchair purposely as an anti-ankle weapon. What this woman didn't know was that an argument with Kirsty is an argument you're going to lose (I'll be kind to Kirsty and put it down to her being a lawyer). The woman lost and was standing looking like a guppy-fish, when Kirsty threw in a parting volley of "You know, I've never met a rude American, until now." Americans are rather touchy about their international image and are not used to losing an argument so that was great fun to watch! We then took a walk through the financial district, where there are lots of nice delicatessens and bistros, to see the TransAmerica Pyramid. This is the tower that looms over everything in San Francisco and is visible on any photo of the SF skyline. The building had a rather nifty tourist information video about the tower and how it was built etc. on a TV on the outside wall.We moved on to the Wells Fargo bank in the Financial District has a museum about the goldrush, its part in taking gold for cash during the 1870s, and its roles in numerous films and tv series. Kirsty got to sit in a stagecoach and take the reins, but other than that it was quite a dull museum designed to glorify the bank.Leaving there we then took a look around San Francisco City Hall, which is big and ornate enough to be a State Capitol (California's capital is in Sacramento - it's curious that most states have their capitals in small anonymous cities) and ducked into a posh bistro to have authentic gyros (Greek kebabs) - gorgeous. More hills awaited us as we made our way to a region called Castro, which is SF's gay district. Although most of SF is very nice, a good walk around the city will take you through a few areas where homeless people wander aimlessly and the unemployed sit in corners stoned and oblivious; not that there is anywhere in this city that we have not felt completely safe, it's just a limited few areas have a vague whiff of eau-d'urine. Castro was not like this, as Kirsty says, a gay district is going to be the safest place in any city and it was very vibrant, colourful and interesting, with a cinema that plays old classics and has an audience with Gene Wilder next week (I would have liked to have gone to that, but we will be moving on before then), bagel shops and trams and streetcars. Speaking of streetcars, $3 seemed a small price to pay to save us a four-mile hilly trek back to the hotel. Our feet ache and we will probably have fallen asleep before I finish typing thi... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

12th - We took the four mile hike today from the hotel to the Golden Gate Bridge, because our blisters were starting to heal and we can't let that happen. The 2 mile-long, northbound Golden Gate Bridge is always visible in San Francisco on the waterfront or up on the hills but is no more spectacular than the Bay Bridge, which takes five lanes of traffic each way, to and from the east of the city. The walk from Fisherman's Wharf along the marinas, where hundreds of yachts are moored, over (yet another hill) where an old bay fort, called Fort Mason, is and along a sand lined - but very windy - promenade brings the huge bridge closer and closer. It's possible to drive, walk or cycle over the bridge but the best view is from an area underneath, called Fort Point. After taking a few pictures and gawping for a few minutes we started heading back and, at about the half-way point, we decided to spare the blisters anymore agony and got the streetcar to Chinatown for a meal at a restaurant we had been meaning to go to since we arrived, called House of Nanking, where the menu is limited, the staff are rude and the food is average!

13th - This was essentially a down day. As we have been really busy over the past couple of days pounding the streets of SF, we don't have anything more we want to see here, other than a celebrated club/restaurant (called AsiaSF) in which you are served quality Asian food by transsexuals (they call them "gender impersonators"), who also dance on the bar every half an hour. SF is a very cosmopolitan and 'modern' city and this place is probably the most 'tame' way to experience this side of San Francisco.We spent the day on webcam to our parents, on MSN with various friends, booking our flight home (22nd March arriving at Manchester Airport on 23rd March with a change at Chicago - shame they won't let us out for a look around!), booking hotels for the remainder of our stay etc.We finally set out and caught the electric street car to AsiaSF, right in the heart of San Francisco.When we arrived we were quite surprised as it was a really small place and the tables and seats were close to say the least.There is no stage but half of the bar is used for the "girls" performances.They sat us at the bar and we were so tight with our fellow diners that an indecent act could have been committed without having to move!The menu was great, lots of unusual options, all delicious.I had scallops on a bed of black squid ink pasta in black bean sauce followed by salmon on a bed of miso bean and tomato salad followed by warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream and fudge sauce.Ralph had shrimp, scallop and water chestnuts in a fine noodle roll with plum and soy dipping sauce, followed by spicy orange lamb with coconut jasmine rice and cucumber salad followed by the same desert - yummy!Its been a long time since we have been able to manage one course, never mind three, but it was a lovely meal.We were served by the bartender but all the actual tables were served by 3 transsexuals who, every 30 minutes or so, got up on the bar in turn and lip synched and danced to a song each.They were really good and one of the "girls" in particular was totally stunning, with an amazing body, making us female diners feel more than a little inadequate!After a lovely meal and great entertainment we left and walked back to our hotel (Ralph wasn't too keen on doing that but we had to try and walk some of that dinner off!) for our last evening in San Francisco.

14th - We got up, checked out of the hotel and headed to a British shop we had seen an advert for in a local newspaper.It was a really strange place, a very sparse shop with odd items with the Union Jack painted on them.The main thing we were there for though was the U.K. junk food!We bought Walkers crisps, Hoola Hoops, Lilt, Cadbury's chocolate etc.That should keep us going until we get back!We then drove 4 hours to Reno in the state of Nevada.We can tell we are back in Nevada as the casinos are back!We chose this place because its over the California state line and California is one of the most expensive states we have visited and it is close to our next and final U.S. destination, Lake Tahoe, where we are going to ski for four days.The next couple of days are down time for us to relax, watch t.v., etc. and we are looking forward to them!

15th - This was a day to check out the numerous ski resorts that line north Lake Tahoe. We have already booked the hotel at the north end of the lake as we just picked the nicest hotel we could find and figured we'd just choose the best of the local ski resorts when we got there, as there are tons on either end. We got up late because we'd been watching DVDs until the early hours and then made a shortlist of three ski resorts: Northstar, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley USA - all well-regarded. We made our way back along the I-80 from Reno, Nevada into California (see how easily the vernacular trips off the tongue now!) through the beautiful snow-capped mountains that were very similar to north New Mexico. Unlike north New Mexico, California has places you can actually call ski resorts and we interviewed Northstar first: 1 Free parking - check; 2 Good resort - check; 3 Affordable lifts and ski rental - check; 4 Good slopes - check; 5 F…..g cold - check. Next we headed to Alpine Meadows and were disappointed. Although Kirsty enjoyed walking through the car park kicking icicles off car wheel-arches (and hoping the car owners weren't returning at that point - in Europe, she likes liberating trees from the heavy burden of frost and snow on their branches with her ski poles), we took a look at the lift prices (expensive) and saw how few facilities they had - few restaurants and bars, no gondola etc - and headed straight back to the car. Squaw Valley USA was next and, after much debating - made difficult by Kirsty's new game of seeing if she could go all day without talking - the ultimate winner. It was a little more expensive than Northstar but the slopes look magnificent and it was the host of the 1960 Winter Olympics - complete with Olympic Flame at the main entrance - though the guys selling oven roasted corn on the cob in the Olympic village square might have sealed the deal! After that we had a rather mediocre Mexican meal back in Reno and headed back to type up the blog for tomorrow.

16th - Kirsty's talking again. She slipped up last night and inadvertently spoke. We took the same drive as yesterday, from Reno, Nevada to Kings Beach on the shores of Lake Tahoe, California. We got to the hotel too early to check in, so we wandered the ski shops to price up the gear we still need to buy before hitting the slopes tomorrow, and it paid off. We've got the cheapest gloves and socks around and found a place that hires skis, boots and poles for just £10 a day. We've got all our equipment now and just need to get the lift passes in Squaw Valley USA tomorrow morning. Luckily, these passes give us free night skiing (9am-9pm), so we'll get our money's worth, broken bones or, at the very least, sore legs and frost-bitten noses! Our next update could well be from Chicago Airport on our way home. We've had a lot of emails suggesting, rather suspiciously, that we are returning early just so we can get on the Easter Bunny's egg-list. All I can say is: okay, we've been rumbled. Kirsty has gone far too long without Cadbury's Twirls and proper tea; and ever since Janice said she'd make a Christmas dinner when we get back, I've been trying to manufacture a return!