Dave was really knowledgeable, if a little 'loud' and kept us entertained as we negotiated the route.
We swapped travel tales with the others, particularly the girls from Oz and time went really quickly. We spotted shy long-horn sheep, big turkey vultures, graceful blue herons and lots of fish. Back on dry land, and into the minibus some five hours later and one of the Aussies struck up conversation with a guy from Utah. He asked her where she was from. She answered, 'Australia.' He nodded at her then said, 'Do you need a passport to come here?'
Back in Boulder City we had a great night in a wine bar with fab food. The following day saw us in the car for just over 5 monotonous hours driving through the Mojave desert, the roads are long, straight and full of massive SUVs. Everywhere is brown, brown or brown.
We had an overnight stop in Bakersfield, not the prettiest place we've seen. Having asked the receptionist if he could recommend somewhere for a snack, we found ourselves in a Mexican restaurant, far better than any we'd eaten in whilst in San Diego. A huge huevos rancheros later and our 'snack' took the place of lunch and dinner! The next day - more of the same. Another five hours and finally we were stuck in a traffic jam going over the Bay Bridge. Hooray, San Francisco at last.
Breaking the rule again, to not revisit places, the reason we are in San Francisco is to take a trip to Alcatraz, we felt we missed out on that last time and both Liam and Alex have been so, not to be outdone we were going too!
Lovely, lovely San Francisco, we rode the cable car, shopped til we dropped - I bought a gorgeous bargain pair of boots in Macy's sale, 75% off - photographed the painted ladies, ogled at the 'ladies' in bondage gear posing for tourist photos with tattooed bums and boobs exposed, walked over the Golden Gate bridge...
feasted on clam chowder in sourdough bowls in Boudins at Pier 39 and Dungeness crab at Fisherman's Wharf. Phew, to do list done.
Today it was pouring down and freezing. Tragically it meant we had to wear jeans, through the day! That's the first time since last September! We set off to walk to Pier 33, twenty minutes later I had the most enormous blister you have ever seen, and then it burst!!! Ow. Damn you, new boots! Jim left me loitering on the street corner for half an hour whilst he walked back to the hotel and picked up the car. Having picked me up we bought blister plasters, big normal plasters and tape, then parked on a $17.75 car park. Damn you, bargain boots!
Anyway, onto the ferry, in the rain, to Alcatraz. What a brilliant trip, we got the guided audio thingys and followed the nice man's instructions. It was very well done. Loved it. It was a bit thought provoking, the cells are tiny and packed tight.
We're back in our hotel now, the gorgeous, quirky Queen Anne which is furnished with glamorous Victorian furniture and artefacts. Brollies are in the bath, sodden jeans are hung over the doors and my blister is exposed to the air, just like my mum taught me.
Having adored the gorgeous coffee in New Zealand we have been searching for a decent cup of coffee here, I know, it's extremely tricky. As James pointed out, Starbucks 'searched the whole of Italy to source the best coffee beans' ......brought them back to America, and ruined them. Today, we discovered Peets, a double shot espresso hit the spot. Not as good as in the southern hemisphere, but a massive improvement on the usual dish water.
We've decided to take a brief holiday before we head back to the UK, tomorrow we're going to Monterey for a week. We've never been there before, hopefully the rain won't follow us.
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