California

Friday 3 May

Despite the late night we wake up relatively early and ready to get going.  First stop is the supermarket, and it’s a vegetarian’s dream.  I’m swooning over the fresh produce section, overflowing with local peaches, apricots, strawberries – and lots of mangoes from Mexico.  (I can’t resist the mangoes and end up eating them as I did when I was a child: ripping the skin off with my fingers and letting the juice run down my chin).

We’re driving south to do a hike in Big Basin Redwood State Park.  It’s a beautiful drive on slow, winding roads through hills and towering redwood forest.  I’m deep in a daydream, finding perfect spots to build my house and plant my vegetable garden.

We find the park and set off walking through the forest.  The giant trees tower up over us and the ground is lined with gentle, green ferns.  It’s wonderfully quiet and the air hangs heavy, but soft. 

We stop for lunch at the picturesque Berry Creek Falls. 

Pushing on we pass more falls before briefing breaking through the trees for some lovely views.  The last few miles are back through the forest and for these last few miles I am enduring the wrath of Nick.  I’ve picked the hike and it’s possibly not the best way to ease us in - it is about 11 miles long and not entirely easy going. 

We stay the night in Santa Cruz, and once we get checked into our motel we head out for a walk.  We’ve stayed in Santa Cruz once before about 7 years ago.  Our impressions this time are not entirely favourable.  There are lots of drop-out types playing drums and far too many street performers for our liking.  Nevertheless, we find a good brewpub for a few beers and tasty burgers.

Saturday 4 May

We give Santa Cruz a 2^nd chance this morning and it doesn’t let us down.  Yes, the beachfront boardwalk is very tacky, but the beach is gorgeous and echoing with the barks of the local sea lions, which provide hours of entertainment.

We’re heading over to Yosemite, but we’ve got all day to get there, so we take the drive slowly, stopping off for some shopping along the way.

We hit Oakhurst later in the afternoon and take care of the boring stuff (Laundromat to do some washing; supermarket to get some food).

Janet adds: just found out that the weird fruit trees I was admiring in Belize are in fact cashew nut trees.  Did I mention that it was pretty easy to buy property out there?

Sunday 5 May

It takes us an hour and a half to make the drive into Yosemite today.  Yosemite has a strange, larger than life kind of beauty to it.  Everything is over the top and doesn’t quite look real.

Instead of tackling something sensible, I persuade Nick to, once again, bite off just about more than we can chew.  We start off with the 4-mile trail.  As the name suggests, this trail takes 4 and a bit miles to climb from the valley floor to the valley rim, 3200 feet above, offering some gob-smacking views of Yosemite Valley along the way.

Glacier Point is our destination, and we stop here for more astounding views and some lunch. 

Taking the short way down would be too easy – instead, we decide to take the 8.5-mile Panorama trail back down to the valley floor.  All of this would be a heck of a lot more manageable if our legs weren’t already shot from Friday’s hike.  Still, it’s another spectacular hike, taking in 3 thundering waterfalls along the way.

By the time we make it (limping) back to the car, we’ve covered near enough 15 miles and our shattered legs are feeling it.  We’ll be crashing out early tonight.

Janet adds: Happy birthday Bronwen!  Wish I could celebrate with you.

Monday 6 May

We’re not too sure what we fancy doing today, especially as our legs are feeling it from yesterday.  We start off by heading back to Yosemite, this time to check out the giant Sequoias at Mariposa Grove.  The lower grove is crowded with people and while the trees are big, they’re not a scratch on the Sequoia giants.  Luckily, for those willing to put in a little more legwork, the upper grove offers solitude and some really big trees. 

The air echoes with the noise of woodpeckers and we even manage to get a glimpse of one (but we’re not quick enough for a picture).

We spend a lovely couple of hours with the big trees and then head back to the interstate.

We’ve decided that while we’re here, we may as well check out some wine-country.  We head north, arriving in Napa late afternoon.  It’s a lovely little city, with a charming main street running along the river.  We find a good brewpub for some drinks (drinking beer in wine country, I know…) and then an excellent Mexican.  

Janet adds: Gutted our timing is out and we're going to miss the Bottle Rock festival.

Tuesday 7 May

We’re having a lazy today and so take it slow this morning.  We start with another wander around Napa.  It’s just as charming this morning as it was last night.

Then we head up scenic highway 12 through Napa Valley.  Our first stop is Yountsville – a sleepy, scenic town with some good shopping.  We treat ourselves to a fancy chocolate from Kollars (http://www.kollarchocolates.com/Photo_Gallery.php) – it looks like a jewel and comes in it’s own fancy box. 

Next up comes St Helena, were we stop at a lovely café for more delicious Mexican food.  In the afternoon we pull into Krug wineries (not that Krug) for some wine-tasting.  On the whole I find the wine a little fruity for my liking, but Art, our charming assistant, provides good conversation and a few sneaky tastes of some ‘proper’ wines.

Our last stop is a quick walk around Calistoga, before heading down to Santa Rosa, where we’re spending the night.  Once again, it’s a great town and we find not 1 but 2 brewpubs. 

Add that to good weather and beautiful scenery – what more could you ask for?

Janet adds: we found out today that a man died in Yosemite on Sunday on the trail we were hiking back down L Looks like he slipped into a waterfall.

Wednesday 8 May

We’re on our way to San Francisco today, but first we drive over to the coast to do a bit of hiking.  We’ve picked a fairly gentle hike that winds its way along the cliff-tops, through some wooded areas and passed some lakes.  The last section is a bit of a scramble down an eroded cliff to reach the beach.  There we’re rewarded with views of the Alamere Falls cascading down on to the beach itself.

We’ve got the place to ourselves, and we spend a bit of time taking in the views, eating our lunch and watching a curious sea lion.

Once we feel rested we reverse the 4 miles or so back to the car.  The drive down to San Francisco is beautiful – sometimes following the water’s edge and sometimes winding it’s way far up above. 

To top it all, we enter the city by the Golden Gate Bridge.

We’re staying in a (relatively) city-centre motel.  It’s nothing fancy, but will do the job.  We’re pretty fed up with Mexican food (never thought I’d say that) and burgers, but Nick has found an Indian with a good reputation within walking distance.  It doesn’t disappoint.

Thursday 9 April

We start the day with a walk over to Fisherman’s Wharf.  We’ve decided to take the ferry out to Angel Island – it is, as the name suggests, an island that has been preserved as a state park.  It sits behind Alcatraz and the cruise out there is wonderfully scenic, taking in views of the Golden Gate Bridge,

the city

Alcatraz

and Angel Island itself.

Once on the island, we hire a couple of bikes for an hour.  There’s a 5-mile trail around the island, which offers more outstanding views.  Once we’ve dropped off our bikes we buy an early lunch and wander off a mile or so in search of a good picnic spot.  It’s sunny today and gorgeous when you’re sheltered, but chilly in the breeze.

Our return cruise takes us even closer to Alcatraz before depositing us back in town.  We’re in our hiking gear, so walk back to the hotel to put on something a bit more civilized.

We spend the rest of the afternoon walking the hills of San Francisco and taking in the sights.  We take the historic cable car around the waterfront and then make our way to Cow Hollow for supremely yummy Thai food.

Friday 10 May

We don’t really have much planned for today.  We start with breakfast in a nearby diner and then take a drive to Haight-Ashbury.  It’s not the tastiest of neighbourhoods, so we don’t linger for too long.  Next we drive over to Berkley and spend a couple of hours wandering the streets.

We’re flying out of Oakland airport early tomorrow morning, so we’ve booked ourselves into a non-descript airport motel.  We get checked in early so that we can get ourselves a bit sorted.  Once we’ve taken care of a few odds and ends we take a walk to the nearby Holiday Inn – it’s got a sports bar and is showing the basketball playoffs.  A few beers and some sandwiches, then it’s time for bed.