Today we begin our journey back to the UK. Our alarm is set for 3.15am as we need to take the car back to National and check in at the airport around 5am. Turns out the car drop off is extremely quick and we could have had at least another hour in bed. We have an American Airlines flight to JFK, New York and once on board the pilot gives details of the route he will be flying. I am amazed to learn that the route is exactly the same as the one that we have just travelled by car on our road trip. Difference being that the plane will take five and a half hours to travel the same distance which took us almost three weeks!
Once at JFK we have a six hour wait for our next flight back to Heathrow, London with British Airways.
Wednesday 5 November 2014
Friday 20 September 2013
DAY 23 - GOLDEN GATE
The weather here today in San Fran is... rather foggy!
We did not bother with the free hotel breakfast as it was so bad yesterday, instead setting off for the BART station again for our second day in downtown San Francisco. We need to get a bus as well today which drops us off on the edge of the Golden Gate Park. From here, we grab a cheap breakfast of coffee and a pastry from a garage and set off to exploring the park. The park is very beautiful, though with lots of rotating sprinklers that threaten to shoot across the path and soak you at any minute! It turns out that to see inside most of the things in the park you have to pay individually, but we do get to see some nice park areas with fountains and plants, along with a 'temple of music', a kind of roman style stage for performances. We picked the Japanese Tea Garden as our one thing to visit, and it was a good choice! Filled with beautiful Japanese plants and decorations, we saw many rivers and prettily shaped trees...
... a very high pagoda...
We did not bother with the free hotel breakfast as it was so bad yesterday, instead setting off for the BART station again for our second day in downtown San Francisco. We need to get a bus as well today which drops us off on the edge of the Golden Gate Park. From here, we grab a cheap breakfast of coffee and a pastry from a garage and set off to exploring the park. The park is very beautiful, though with lots of rotating sprinklers that threaten to shoot across the path and soak you at any minute! It turns out that to see inside most of the things in the park you have to pay individually, but we do get to see some nice park areas with fountains and plants, along with a 'temple of music', a kind of roman style stage for performances. We picked the Japanese Tea Garden as our one thing to visit, and it was a good choice! Filled with beautiful Japanese plants and decorations, we saw many rivers and prettily shaped trees...
... Koi carp...
... a very high pagoda...
... and fun stepping stones! It was a very interesting place to explore with lots of twists and turns and new pathways to discover. The golden gate park is very long and hence we only got to see about half of it as we needed to head to the bridge!
A little confusingly, the golden gate park is nowhere near the golden gate bridge. We knew it would be a long walk from one to the other, so we stopped at the 'bagel house' along the way for bagels with sun-dried tomato cream cheese and cucumber and pastries. We reached the edge of the park leading to the golden gate bridge already pretty tired from all the walking, and then realised the park was a little more of a forest than we were expecting and we didn't know how to get through!
Stumbling upon a map, we took what we hoped would be a path taking us to the bridge, although it was 2.7 miles long and labelled as not made yet! Despite our doubts and a little bit of walking along a road with no sidewalk, we did end up at the bridge, and with some great viewpoints along the way!
Stumbling upon a map, we took what we hoped would be a path taking us to the bridge, although it was 2.7 miles long and labelled as not made yet! Despite our doubts and a little bit of walking along a road with no sidewalk, we did end up at the bridge, and with some great viewpoints along the way!
The fog had mostly lifted over the city by this point, and it had gotten nice and warm but a little fog remained over the bridge giving a cool spooky aura! Apparently fog is a regular thing at the bridge in summer due to the differing water temperatures of the pacific and the bay.
We headed to the start of the bridge, determined to walk the 4 mile journey across and back! Walking across, we got great views of San Fran behind us and the hills ahead on the other side.
We headed to the start of the bridge, determined to walk the 4 mile journey across and back! Walking across, we got great views of San Fran behind us and the hills ahead on the other side.
Making it to the other side, we looked back celebratorily on the bridge and city behind us!
Although by this point we had pretty achy feet and considered trying to hitchhike back across, we decided to toughen up and do the return walk. It didn't seem so bad in the end luckily and we returned to the city feeling victorious! From here, we grabbed the bus and BART back to the hotel area where we topped the car up with petrol to return in the morning, tidied and packed, grabbed some Thai food for dinner and are, as we speak, getting ready for a short few hours sleep before we wake up at 3.30am to go catch our first flight!
DAY 22 - JANE & JESS ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ
We begin the morning with a pretty lousy breakfast at the Days Inn. Then we drive to the local BART Station to get the train to downtown San Francisco. We get off at 16th & Mission and our first sight is of lots of homeless people. We make a hasty retreat from this area to The Castro. This is the gay area of town where Harvey Milk used to live. We see the Castro Theatre and get some breakfast from a nearby cafe. We then got a street car to Union Square and walked to China Town and to the City Lights Book Shop where Jessica bought a copy of Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouak.
We carried on our walk up some very steep San Francisco hills to The Coit Tower (which has great murals inside) and then back down some very steep steps to the Piers. There are a load of sea lions at pier 39 that apparently arrived after the earth quake of 1989. Initially the authorities wanted to get rid of them because boats used to dock at this pier but in the end they just let the sea lions stay and the boats had to leave.
We then moved on to Fishermans Wharf for lunch at Cioppinos. Owned by an Italian Family this restaurant is one of the best on Fishermans Wharf. Jessica had a pasta dish and I had the local crab and shrimp salad with delicious sour dough bread.
We carry on our walking tour of the eastern side of San Francisco to the park area surrounding Fort Mason. There is a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge from here. We spend some time resting in the park after our long walk.
By 5pm it is time for our walk back to Pier 33 for our Alcatraz Cruise. We board the boat at 6.30pm for our night time tour. We manage to get the top deck of the boat but it is pretty crowded so cannot get the best seats. It is also getting very cold and windy!
As a special night-tour-treat, the boat circles the island before docking for some good views and photo opportunities of both the island and the cities around it on shore. Arriving back on the solid ground of the rock, we are split into groups for a guided tour up to the cell house. Along the way, we learn about the islands past as a military fort, plus numerous repetitive health and safety rules!
Entering the cell block via the main doors which prisoners would have used, we were provided with the best audio guides I have ever had. As we followed a path around the block, we listened to old guards and prisoners from the Alcatraz jail days telling tales of life in the prison, and the numerous escape attempts from it! It was really cool being here as night fell since the prison took on a dark and spooky atmosphere, especially as it was not that crowded.
We saw the classic 3 storey high cells, the dining room, the warden's room, the office and solitary confinement amongst others. We even got to go inside a solitary cell which was very creepy! There were also great views of the city at night from an outside area we visited. As a special treat for night time tour-ers, we got to visit the hospital wing which is normally closed for visitors. Like something out of a horror movie, we walked down corridors of cracked paint into the old operating room with foreboding metal operating table in the middle lit by a single lantern. Scary! One of the rangers tells us the story of an inmate who escaped in 1962. He managed to cut through some window bars in the store room where he works and escapes over the roof of the prison. When he gets to the sea, he has 30 odd pairs of rubber gloves which he inflates and puts inside a shirt to use as an inflatable device. He makes it to The Golden Gate Bridge despite nearly being swept away by the cold currents of the water. Unfortunately he crawls ashore right by a military base and immediately gets arrested and sent right back to Alcatraz (suffering from severe hypothermia - he has to spend some time in the prison hospital).
After walking back down to the dock in the dark, getting to see the burned down officers rec room and old schoolhouse, we catch the last boat of the night back to shore. Only us and a hardy other 5 or 6 people braved the top deck this time! It was freezing and very windy, but we resolutely enjoyed the view!
Back in San Fran, we caught the BART (their metro system) back, got a Taco Bell drive through on the way back from the station and ate it in our hotel room like true white trash! It was pretty late, so we went to bed to be well rested for our final day...
We then moved on to Fishermans Wharf for lunch at Cioppinos. Owned by an Italian Family this restaurant is one of the best on Fishermans Wharf. Jessica had a pasta dish and I had the local crab and shrimp salad with delicious sour dough bread.
We carry on our walking tour of the eastern side of San Francisco to the park area surrounding Fort Mason. There is a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge from here. We spend some time resting in the park after our long walk.
As a special night-tour-treat, the boat circles the island before docking for some good views and photo opportunities of both the island and the cities around it on shore. Arriving back on the solid ground of the rock, we are split into groups for a guided tour up to the cell house. Along the way, we learn about the islands past as a military fort, plus numerous repetitive health and safety rules!
Entering the cell block via the main doors which prisoners would have used, we were provided with the best audio guides I have ever had. As we followed a path around the block, we listened to old guards and prisoners from the Alcatraz jail days telling tales of life in the prison, and the numerous escape attempts from it! It was really cool being here as night fell since the prison took on a dark and spooky atmosphere, especially as it was not that crowded.
We saw the classic 3 storey high cells, the dining room, the warden's room, the office and solitary confinement amongst others. We even got to go inside a solitary cell which was very creepy! There were also great views of the city at night from an outside area we visited. As a special treat for night time tour-ers, we got to visit the hospital wing which is normally closed for visitors. Like something out of a horror movie, we walked down corridors of cracked paint into the old operating room with foreboding metal operating table in the middle lit by a single lantern. Scary! One of the rangers tells us the story of an inmate who escaped in 1962. He managed to cut through some window bars in the store room where he works and escapes over the roof of the prison. When he gets to the sea, he has 30 odd pairs of rubber gloves which he inflates and puts inside a shirt to use as an inflatable device. He makes it to The Golden Gate Bridge despite nearly being swept away by the cold currents of the water. Unfortunately he crawls ashore right by a military base and immediately gets arrested and sent right back to Alcatraz (suffering from severe hypothermia - he has to spend some time in the prison hospital).
After walking back down to the dock in the dark, getting to see the burned down officers rec room and old schoolhouse, we catch the last boat of the night back to shore. Only us and a hardy other 5 or 6 people braved the top deck this time! It was freezing and very windy, but we resolutely enjoyed the view!
Back in San Fran, we caught the BART (their metro system) back, got a Taco Bell drive through on the way back from the station and ate it in our hotel room like true white trash! It was pretty late, so we went to bed to be well rested for our final day...
Wednesday 18 September 2013
DAY 21 - The Final Leg
It's the final drive! We awake in the beautiful Cayucos to our last journey of the trip: up to San Francisco.
After coffee/juice and a blueberry muffin from the 'Top Dog Cafe', plus some cookies for the road from a fab looking bakery, we head off on the 6 hour journey to San Fran. Along the way, we saw a distant Hearst Castle and then stopped at a vista supposedly good for seeing elephant seals. As soon as we pulled up the Car(l), we spied a seal in the ocean in front of us. Excited, we ran out to take pictures when a man said there would be a better view farther along. So after watching out first seal, we moved farther down the walkway where we discovered a few more seals playing in the ocean, very close to the shore. It was great to see them in the wild!
After we had had our fill of seal watching, we carried on up the pacific coast highway, past Big Sur for some unfortunately extortionately priced petrol but cool ocean-side views.
We stopped at one more beautiful beach along the way, and even though mum was being silly and refused to come onto the sand because it was windy, I had a great time paddling and watching the windsurfers!
We arrived in San Fran, or to be more specific San Bruno where we are staying close to the airport, for around 4pm. Checking in to our final hotel, we spent some time clearing out the car for it's return and planning our 2 days here in the city. After this, we headed down to the local supermarket to get treats to bring home, and headed to an amazing Japanese restaurant in San Bruno named Aji Ichi where we ate fabulous gyoza and beef teriyaki. 12 miles from San Francisco our milometer reaches the 5000 mile mark. More news from San Fran tomorrow!
After coffee/juice and a blueberry muffin from the 'Top Dog Cafe', plus some cookies for the road from a fab looking bakery, we head off on the 6 hour journey to San Fran. Along the way, we saw a distant Hearst Castle and then stopped at a vista supposedly good for seeing elephant seals. As soon as we pulled up the Car(l), we spied a seal in the ocean in front of us. Excited, we ran out to take pictures when a man said there would be a better view farther along. So after watching out first seal, we moved farther down the walkway where we discovered a few more seals playing in the ocean, very close to the shore. It was great to see them in the wild!
We then decided to follow the path a little further around, but only then did we truly discover the better view we had been told of, there was a whole beach of sunbathing seals!
The young males not yet old enough to head for Alaska, there had to be 100 seals just chilling in the sun, occasionally heading in for a swim or play fighting. We stood and watched them for ages, it was so exciting!
After we had had our fill of seal watching, we carried on up the pacific coast highway, past Big Sur for some unfortunately extortionately priced petrol but cool ocean-side views.
We stopped at a grocery store in Santa Cruz for lunch, having pumpkin soup out in the sunshine, and then more coastal driving. We passed Monterrey and Carmel, which is the town where Clint Eastwood lives and was previously Mayor! Unfortunately we did not see Mr Eastwood to tell him that we named our sat nav after him...
We stopped at one more beautiful beach along the way, and even though mum was being silly and refused to come onto the sand because it was windy, I had a great time paddling and watching the windsurfers!
We arrived in San Fran, or to be more specific San Bruno where we are staying close to the airport, for around 4pm. Checking in to our final hotel, we spent some time clearing out the car for it's return and planning our 2 days here in the city. After this, we headed down to the local supermarket to get treats to bring home, and headed to an amazing Japanese restaurant in San Bruno named Aji Ichi where we ate fabulous gyoza and beef teriyaki. 12 miles from San Francisco our milometer reaches the 5000 mile mark. More news from San Fran tomorrow!
Tuesday 17 September 2013
DAY 20 - SUNFLOWER SURPRISE
We leave our motel fairly early and pick up an "on the go" breakfast from the local 7/11 store. We then drive down to Venice Beach. It is a misty start and too cold to swim but we paddle a bit and watch the surfers who are braver than us but wearing wet suits. We then commence our drive up the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Unfortunately, Clint (our SatNav man) keeps sending us on the 101 instead of the 1 so we end up back in Hollywood. After an hour of driving in the wrong direction in the usual manic traffic of LA we manage to get on the right route. We are hoping to find a nice beach for lunch but after Jane misses a left hand turn off for the beach Jessica has picked out (because Jane thought it was a right hand turn and therefore cannot get across the four lanes of traffic in time) we end up sitting in a dusty windswept layby eating our left overs from yesterdays dinner.
After lunch we press on with our journey and by 3.30pm we arrive in Cayucos. This is a classic California beach town and it is a real peach of a place.We are staying in the fabulous Seaside Motel http://www.seasidemotel.com . The rooms are all themed - we are in the sunflower surprise room and we got a free upgrade so Jessica has her own little room. It is a family run motel and they have a wonderful garden which our rooms back on to.
After lunch we press on with our journey and by 3.30pm we arrive in Cayucos. This is a classic California beach town and it is a real peach of a place.We are staying in the fabulous Seaside Motel http://www.seasidemotel.com . The rooms are all themed - we are in the sunflower surprise room and we got a free upgrade so Jessica has her own little room. It is a family run motel and they have a wonderful garden which our rooms back on to.
After settling into our room, we decide to go to the Laundromat up the road because we havn't done any washing since The Battle of Little Bighorn. We drive up to the laundromat even though it is only a little way up the road (like true Americans). However, we find the machine supplying detergent is empty so we have to go to a nearby supermarket and purchase a whole large container. We get our washing machine going and then go to give the left over detergent to a local man who is doing his washing (as we won't be needing it any more and we can't fit it in our suitcase. The man's name is Greg and he is so thankful for the gift of detergent that he offers to take us to his local coffee shop up the road for afternoon tea/coffee. Greg tells us that he has lived in Cayucos since 1991 and previously lived north of San Francisco. We chat about our road trip for a while before venturing back to the Laudromat to dry our clothes.
We then take a walk to the beach but the water is too cold for us to swim so we just paddle about and look at all the wildlife. There are pelicans, some wading birds with long beaks and then we see a seal basking in the sea. Another local man is walking his dog and he tells us that there were some dolphins in the sea just off the pier. We get a few fleeting glimpses of them but they are too far out for a good view.
For dinner we go to Schooners Wharf which is just a short walk from our Motel for some sea food http://www.schoonerswharf.com
On the way back to our room we go to yet another restaurant to pick up some Coconut Pie for dessert later (does it seem like we are always eating?)
DAY 19 - LA Women
Day 19: we awoke and quickly packed our things ready to head to our final stage of the trip. Leaving Vegas for good, we head out on the long road to California.
Along the way, we stopped in the town of Primm for some breakfast at 'Whiskey Pete's Stateline Store'. I was extremely excited as Primm is a location in the game Fallout New Vegas which I have played a lot, and it really had a rollercoaster! Driving on, we decided to take a more interesting route to LA than the boring interstate, so took a detour through the Mohave desert. This involved lots of empty, bumpy roads sided by cacti and water-starved bushes. At most times we could see no other cars on the road - it felt very adventurous! The drive was a little boring, it is a desert after all, but got more exciting when we saw tumbleweed and an old train!
After leaving the desert, we followed the interstate on to LA, and boy was there bad traffic! For about the last 2 and a half hours of the journey I (notice mum made me do all the city driving again, huh!) was driving down super busy 4 or 5 lane roads, a bit different from the UK! We arrived to the Venice Beach area without incident however and settled in to the Encore Motel for the night, which although I had worried might not be great was perfectly nice.
A little short on time, we headed right out in the car to Hollywood, driving through Beverly Hills on the way (with much singing of Weezer of course) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4iTyHItFwg).
A little short on time, we headed right out in the car to Hollywood, driving through Beverly Hills on the way (with much singing of Weezer of course) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4iTyHItFwg).
Finally finding our car park, we explored Hollywood Boulevard, seeing all the tourist sites! The Hollywood walk of fame...
(Julie Andrews is my hand twin!)
After seeing all our favourite stars' stars and matching our hands to the celebrities', we headed back to Venice for dinner. We headed to a great place down the street from us called 'Eddie's Italian', heralded as a big lover of garlic and boy were they! We were served free bread with massively delicious garlic oil and my food had about 20 whole garlic cloves in it! The place looked a little dive-y when we arrived, but true to the online review we didn't judge a book by it's cover and it turned out to be a real hidden gem. The portions were large enough we kept half for the next day's lunch!
Full and tired, we head back to the motel ready to travel up the Pacific Coast Highway the following morning...
... along with the Hollywood sign and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We even managed to catch a snippet of whatever musical guest was on Jimmy Kimmel Live by spying on the outside stage from across the street (apparently Laura Mvula?). Mum is a little annoyed that Bastille are playing the night after we have left!
After seeing all our favourite stars' stars and matching our hands to the celebrities', we headed back to Venice for dinner. We headed to a great place down the street from us called 'Eddie's Italian', heralded as a big lover of garlic and boy were they! We were served free bread with massively delicious garlic oil and my food had about 20 whole garlic cloves in it! The place looked a little dive-y when we arrived, but true to the online review we didn't judge a book by it's cover and it turned out to be a real hidden gem. The portions were large enough we kept half for the next day's lunch!
Full and tired, we head back to the motel ready to travel up the Pacific Coast Highway the following morning...
Monday 16 September 2013
DAY 18 - HOOVER DAM IT'S HOT
After a lengthy lie in until 11 am we had a lazy morning catching up with emails, blog etc and booked accommodation for our night between LA and San Fran. Mid afternoon we decided to take a trip out to the Hoover Dam which is only about a 40 minute drive from Vegas. We park up in the visitor car park and walk across the dam. Construction of the dam began in 1930 and it was completed in under 5 years. It is named after Herbert Hoover (America's 31st President). Upon completion it was the highest concrete dam in the western hemisphere standing 725 feet above the Colorado River. The purpose of the dam is to control floods, store water for irrigation, municipal and industrial use and to provide hydroelectric power. After leaving the Dam we take a quick look at Lake Mead. The temperature today is well over 100 degrees.
In the evening we dined at a Vietnamese restaurant in the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. We then take to the casino floor again for some gambling. We decide to try a new slot machine featuring Napoleon and Josephine. It is extremely boring and we can't quite figure out what we are supposed to be doing but at 1 cent a go it is cheap and we do get free drinks again. Just as the boredom is taking over the machine starts flashing and playing very loud music and says we have been awarded many free spins. We are laughing hysterically as the machine has taken over and all we have to do is sit there while the free spins roll and we begin to win dollars. Yet again we leave the casino with more money than we started with and 2 free drinks each as well. We thought we might get the jack pot of over $1000 but alas it was not to be. Jessica then wanted to play proper poker at one of the tables so we go up to one of the croupiers and he says he will teach us how to play. A couple of American girls also come over to join us as they don't know how to play either. Jess bets 5 dollars but loses this immediately on the first card draw so she decides to call it a day.
In the evening we dined at a Vietnamese restaurant in the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. We then take to the casino floor again for some gambling. We decide to try a new slot machine featuring Napoleon and Josephine. It is extremely boring and we can't quite figure out what we are supposed to be doing but at 1 cent a go it is cheap and we do get free drinks again. Just as the boredom is taking over the machine starts flashing and playing very loud music and says we have been awarded many free spins. We are laughing hysterically as the machine has taken over and all we have to do is sit there while the free spins roll and we begin to win dollars. Yet again we leave the casino with more money than we started with and 2 free drinks each as well. We thought we might get the jack pot of over $1000 but alas it was not to be. Jessica then wanted to play proper poker at one of the tables so we go up to one of the croupiers and he says he will teach us how to play. A couple of American girls also come over to join us as they don't know how to play either. Jess bets 5 dollars but loses this immediately on the first card draw so she decides to call it a day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)