And I'm back! Incase you all didn't realise, I edited my previous blog about the TrekAmerica trip, so I finished that off! I'm starting this one on my first day in San Francisco!! Just to clear that up before everybody asks wot happened to the end of the trip! Lol!!

Monday 28th July

After the tour there was laundry to be done, so I did that and caught up ion tinternet stuff! Once the laundry was finished I headed down to Union Square and had a look around there... a 7, yes seven, storey shopping mall... wot craziness!!! It took me the whole afternoon just looking around the shops! Ridiculous!! I escaped the temptations of shopping to meet up with Maja and we discussed our options for the next few days! Then we headed to Lefty O'Douls, another Irish pub, for some dinner! Then we just headed back to our seperate hostels... not much else to report on so I'll leave it there!!

Tuesday 29th July

Maja and I got a Hop on Hop off sightseeing bus today, and we saw our first glimpse of San Fran blue sky!! We were very lucky coz the fog cleared up and we saw the Golden Gate Bridge in all its glory!! It was fantastic!! San Fran is a beautiful city and has a huge park almost rivalling Central Park, NY in size! We ended up in Fishermans Wharf, I loved it there! It was quite touristy and really kitch but fun! We had an all you can eat pizza buffet lunch which was amazing and needless to say we both stuffed ourselves!! We then walked to the end of the pier where we got spectacual views of Alcatraz and the Golder Gate Bride, which had finally managed to get a blue sky behind it!! We then walked round to Pier 59 and saw all the wild sea lions lying about there! It was pretty cool I must admit! Me liking animals and all that!! We also found a Musee Mechanique which had the really old arcade games and attractions which were pretty cool! Then I just headed back to the hostel to pack up... off to Monterey 2moro!!

Wednesday 30th July - Monterey Bay

It was a much longer bus journey than I had expected to get to Monterey but I finally got there and checked into my motel (the one and only hostel was booked out!!) and I was worried that this would be a repeat of Phoenix! But the area around the motel didn't seem to be as seedy, and there were no locals warning me off so I considered myself safe! So I went for a walk to explore the area... nothing but motels and auto garages! Fun... so I spent my first night in Monterey pulling a Phoenix... ordering in pizza and watching movies on TV! Tomorrow will be better, I'm meeting up with Maja again!

Thursday 31st July

I got up and out pretty early and caught the bus into Monterey. It dropped me off at the Transit Plaza and I caught the free town trolley that took you between all the major sights! So my first stop was Old Fishermans Wharf to see about the whale watching and the aquarium! I went to the boat company and found out that the next trip wasn't until mid afternoon, which sucked coz that meant I couldn't do both the whale watching and the aquarium! so it was decision time and I paced back and forth for god knows how long before deciding to go for the whale watching and trying to extend my stay! So I walked up to the hostel to see if they had rooms and it wasn't open until 5 so back down to the whard I went, visiting Cannery Row along the way which was pretty cool! I went on the whale watching excursion and it was great! We saw humpback whales which was cool and then something called a sunfish... a very weird looking fish! No orca's tho, maybe in Seattle!! So I went back up to the hostel and managed to extend my stay for another night which meant I could go to the aquarium 2moro! Woohoo! So I waited there for Maja and when we met up she told me she had met a woman on the bus and she had invited us to her house for dinner! So away we went, Patty was brilliant! A lot of fun, and her next door neighbour Allison came over too, she's a marine biologist! So we all sat about and had a few drinks then Allison took me back to the motel! Pretty fun night!

Friday 1st August

I got up this morning and moved to the hostel, which was a lovely hostel by the way! I went and sorted out my epic journey for 2moro... my 24 hour bus journey... wont that be an exciting installment for you all to read! So once we got sorted we went to Patty's where we got her and went to the aquarium! Patty got us in for free to which was brilliant coz it was $25 otherwise!! Patty gave us a whistle stop tour of the aquarium then her and Maja headed off to explore Carmel-By-The-Sea leaving me to my devices! I thought the aquarium was brilliant, full of interesting facts about the animals and huge tanks and things. They even incorporated the habitats outside which is cool! I went to a couple of free talks as well, so a really geeky day for me! It took me all afternoon to walk around it. Once I had finished I met up with Maja again and we went out with Patty and Allison for dinner to a Lebonese restaurant which was really amazing!! I've fallen in love with babaganoush!! We all said goodbye after that and Maja and I went back to the hostel and relaxed before hitting the sack!

Saturday 2nd August

Bus day!! Maja made me a farewell breakfast of pancakes which was great of her!! I didn't wanna say goodbye to her and if it hadn't have been so expensive to fly from LA to Seattle I would've joined her in her little road trip! Oh well, I'm sure we'll meet again! So began my 24 hour trip to Seattle!! We had about 4 transfers which wasn't bad and I saw a really hot Kanye West look-a-like so was talking to him for a while too!! It wasn't the most pleasant of days, between fat sweaty stinking men and p**** who managed to hit my head or pull my hair every time they moved in the seat, and stinking toilets!! But sure, one day outta how many?? I can't really complain! It wasn't really all that bad, I had Kanye West sitting opposite me for most of it, that kept me happy!!

Sunday 3rd August

I was woken in Salem, OR to be told we would be transferring again in Portland. Great! I slept most of the way to Seattle and found it pretty hard to wake up until I caught a glimpse of the Space Needle and that woke me right up!! Next step will be seeing mum and dad!!! Woohoo!!! I got done for a taxi to Fauntelroy which is where I got the ferry to Vashon Island, where my hostel was! After waiting for about 45 mins on a bus I went and asked where they were... they didnt run on a Sunday!! So I had to call the hostel and get someone to come pick me up! I waited about 20 mins for that to happen too!! I wasn't in the mood after such a long bus journey but I finally got to the hostel and fell in love with the place!! I was staying in a converted barn surrounded by trees! Gorgeous! I crashed for a couple of hours then got up and made myself some dinner, bring on Instant Noodles!! I went upstairs after dinner to watch a few movies with Hannah, a girl that works at the hostel. They were pretty weird movies, and the 2 Dutch girls in my dorm came up to join us! Very bizaare indeed... but interesting all the same!!

Monday 4th August

I woke up pretty late this morning, I must have needed the sleep!! I made myself some pancakes for breakfast and sat outside and ate them. I talked to Laura, a girl working on Vashon for a while. then got myself ready for a very busy day... sewing patches on to my bag, and doing laundry, and lots of other fun stuff!! I was talking to Sannah and Robine from my room (The Dutchies) and we decided to go into Seattle 2moro! An early start tho coz the passenger ferries to Seattle ran very early in the morning!! After dinner we watched another movie... a sane one this time... Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon in it. It was pretty good! Then Sannah and I played a game of Battleships before we all crashed pretty early!