San Francisco

We are at the moment staying with 2 ladies we meet Whale watching on the coast, the people in America are so lovely their hospitality is awesome.All take care, enjoy the coming springsend your news

SAN FRANCISCO

20th March 2008

Arrive San Francisco late morning; we had booked a camp site. We drove over Golden Gate Bridge WOW did I ever think I would do that!!

I was very disappointed with SF, I was hoping to be able to see the Ballet, Opera or at least some theatre all were dark L Alcatraz was fully booked until well after we had leftL I then found a very interesting walking tour to a Victorian Area which included an inside visit to a Queen Ann B/B, because it was Saturday there was only a skeleton service on the ferry which made the time very tight, ofcourse we missed the tour by 5 minsL We also failed to arrive in time for St Patrick’s Day we did think we would miss it by a couple of weeks in the end by a few days, but we cannot see and do everything. We also missed the antiwar march, quite pleased about that we may have been arrested which would not have done our immigration any good, I heard on the radio the police blocked whole streets off and arrested everyone!

However we did get to ride on a cable car, I rode outsideJ, and we did get to see Fisherman Wharf, China Town, and lots of other very interesting spots I also had Clam Chowder lots!! Some of the old buildings are beautiful, the old Del Monte Canning plant is red brick very spectacular also an old chocolate and ice cream factory near by is built of red brick very different from most of SF.
We also found a plaque in the pavement which said “The Barbary Coast Trail” both Margaret and I were puzzled as we thought that the Barbary Coast is in Africa, but on our map there was a marked trail in the town and along the water front. Which we followed for a while. When I got back to the truck I checked just where the Barbary Coast is, well the Barbary Coast in SF is named after the Barbary Coast in Africa , this is what I found on its web site:-

"The Barbary Coast is the haunt of the low and the vile of every kind. The petty thief, the house burglar, the tramp, the whoremonger, lewd women, cutthroats, murderers, all are found here. Dance-halls and concert-saloons, where blear-eyed men and faded women drink vile liquor, smoke offensive tobacco, engage in vulgar conduct, sing obscene songs and say and do everything to heap upon themselves more degradation, are numerous. Low gambling houses, thronged with riot-loving rowdies, in all stages of intoxication, are there. Opium dens, where heathen Chinese and God-forsaken men and women are sprawled in miscellaneous confusion, disgustingly drowsy or completely overcome, are there. Licentiousness, debauchery, pollution, loathsome disease, insanity from dissipation, misery, poverty, wealth, profanity, blasphemy, and death, are there. And Hell, yawning to receive the putrid mass, is there also."[1]


I promise you girls it is not like that now I was quite safe and enjoyed our stroll along the water front to Fisherman’s Wharf this was very busy lots of tourists, lots of fish restaurants. The fish is landed at 4am so we missed that as well!!
When in China Town we went to a Chinese Museum which tells the story of the Chinese in SF, surprisingly they were amongst the very first immigrants; they first came as fisherman some in Chinese Junks most left their wife’s and families in China it was therefore a very male area. I guess I thought they had come as fairly new immigrants as they have in England. China Town SF is the first.
The ones in England are very new really.

23rd March 2008

Today we continued our coastal journey North, the weather is lovely we have seen Seal’s with their babies suckling, with the odd sea gull try to push in, mum did not allow it!
We stopped for our afternoon tea at Bodoga Bay some of Hitchcock’s “Birds” filmed here, the Church in Bodoga town is the Church in the film. We are parked for the night at the very edge of the water and have seen an Osprey it did not dive! the other sea birds are amazing . Les is in heaven...........................

California Coast

Sorry this is very late, I have not had email cover for ages, when we did I was having my solar panels repaired. I hope you enjoy this, I hope you are all well and enjoying what ever you are doing, we are having great weather at the moment are in San Francisco.
Pat and Peter who I meet at the wine tasting I hope you enjoy xx
26th February 2008

Back in the good ol’ USA we headed to the coast of California, Encinitas when I broke down in the Rockies, a very nice lady came to speak to me about the trucks as they had a very old Mercedes truck as a camper van, Shelly’s husband is a mechanic, running a European car company, both he (Charlie) and Shelly were able to tell me what was wrong also not to drive my truck. We chatted to them for about 10 minutes, they invited us to visit on our way up the coast of California, they were also kind enough to allow us to use their address for our vehicle insurance and to have a parcel delivered, very kind. So, this is were we are heading we drove a very scenic route very beautiful, flowers, birds and wonderful trees some amazing old towns very picturesque quant lovely mostly wooden houses with a porch AND a swing seat!
Shelly and Charlie actually life in the next village to Encinitas where their garage is this village is called “Cardiff-by-the-Sea” they had told us of a campsite on the state beach but we could only stay for the Friday night after that we were able to park on their property at the back of the information in the village. Shelly and Charlie walked down to see us in the trucks for the evening we ordered 5 pizzas to be delivered, my English friend’s can you imagine how much pizza that is, we did not. Les and Margaret put the boxes in the oven, the top box set on fire but we managed to safe the pizza ha!ha! as if we needed it 3 would have been ampleJ any way we had a lovely evening and were invited to their home the following night for dinner.
Charlie picked us up from our new campsite on his parking lot! And took us to their house, which is beautiful in the most wonderful setting, a small canyon, the trees were terrific we had oranges picked from the tree but the most amazing thing we saw a nesting humming bird, we had also seen one flying, can you imaging how tiny the nest is, about the size of half a chickens egg with this tiny bird sat in it so proudly she sat a little while allow us a very good view then flew I wish I was taller and could have seen inside the nest how big are the eggs they must be minute.
Other friends had been invited, we spent a wonderful evening with some great people hearing lots about America and of course us telling lots about England and our travels, the food was to die for as was the wine we certainly had a lovely time. One of their friends Jack and his wife Glenda invited us to their home the following evening.
Sunday Charlie came and took us for a lovely walk around the town showing us all the places of interest and tell us about life in a fairly small American town, very interesting he left us at the Botanical Gardens around lunch time coming back for us after a couple of hours, the gardens were just beautiful we had a lovely time.
Shelly came to pick us up from our trucks and take us to Jack and Glenda’s for the evening they life on the other side of the same canyon, they have built their house up having a flat underneath so that they have a wonderful view of the ocean we watched an amazing sunset, had another great evening with great people, wonderful food and wine terrific conversation it is really lovely to be invited into homes and hear from ordinary Americans comparing our lives which are so different yet so similar, very interesting we are all 3 enjoying the election which is going on at the moment between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Monday 3rd March
Well after such a wonderful weekend I for one am feeling very alcoholic! Les is having some work done today on his truck so for me a very quiet morning, we were also able to sort out our vehicle insurance with the help of Shelly and Charlie’s fax machine and their address, I bet they never speak to English travellers for 10 minutes again!! I jest, they made us so welcome I hope they enjoyed our company as much as I enjoyed theirs!!
Wonderful!

We now really have begun our journey north more or less up the California coast on Highway 1 popping inland as and when there is some thing we want to see; we are following the California Missions there are 21 in all.
These 21 missions were built along the El Camino Real between 1769 – 1823 they reflect the simple tastes of the Franciscan Monks who founded them, they are built of stone and adobe and finished inside and out with white washed mud plaster the roof was made of thick timber and covered with red tiles the purpose of the missions was to convert the Indian population to Catholicism but after the secularization around 1833 the missions began to fall into disrepair and earthquakes took there toll, but now they have and are being restored most have a very active church and play a large part in the local community they all have very interesting museums, we have not seen them all but have very much enjoyed what we have seen.

5th March 2008

We are going into Los Angles to try and see the daughter of a close friend of Les and Margaret who now lives in Hollywood we have agreed and hope to be able to meet her in some where in Santa Monica, I remember the pier very well from my visit 30+ years ago when I had clam chowder for the first time ever and it was so delicious I have never forgotten it, I am hoping for a repeat. We had a very nice lunch in a nice local pub food was good, the pier was nothing as I remember all very “Blackpool” (a grotty seaside town in the north of England) now with NO clam chowder, however we were able to meet up with Les and Margaret’s friend in a supermarket car park, who then allowed us to stay the night, we are always happy to get a free sleep over supermarkets are good because we have the use of the toilet, they are flat, they have fresh bread in the morning and are usually quiet, this one however was very busy.
The journey up to San Francisco has been sooo beautiful the road for most of the time is very close to the sea with the mountains on our right some times the road seems to be clinging on to the mountain, there are wonderful white beaches, little coves, beautiful rocks with the sea pounding lots of surfers, for most of the way we have had whale spouts sometimes to many to count, we have seen Elephant seals and Harbour seals, Les has seen sea birds some have been endangered, Snow Plover for one (I am not good at remembering their names) it is fun when Les points out what he has seen and I can find it! When we got to Santa Barbara I had a problem with my solar panel, they were not working I was lucky enough with the help of the tourist information to find a guy who would and could fix it for me. We had to wait 3 days for his to be able to fit me in to his schedule so we took a little detour into the mountains lovely, the big problem I had was that this guy only took cash or cheque (which ofcourse would have to be an American cheque) I have 2 bank cards which I can use at the ATM but the bank for one of them must have increased their security because it would not give me any cash which meant I had to go to the bank everyday to get cash out what a bind!! Then I was worried I would not have enough, so L&M got some out as well to lend me, but thanks to our good exchange rate I was able to manage, solar panels fixed and working great. We had been told of a Farmers Market at San Luis Obispo (also there is a Mission) so off we went, our first Californian Farmers Market, found a supermarket to park in (but not to sleep) we would have to move later, whilst getting ready to go out 2 guys came looking my window was open so I spoke to them, they were so nice very interested in what we were doing, then offered us a tiny no through road to sleep in just 2 blocks away, when were returned from the market Eric had been back and left a map on Les’s windscreen, how kind is that!
This meant we had a very short drive knew were we were going and a good sleep. The Market was very good we were going to have our supper there, they had Clam Chowder which was wonderful just as I remembered Les enjoyed as well.

14th March 2008

Eric came to invite us for breakfast we had already eaten so went to his house for a coffee/tea instead he was also going to show us an interesting and beautiful route to take. Another amazing American house the floors upstairs and down stairs also the stairs were made from sustainable mahogany can you imagine that, awesome, his house was from reclaimed old houses all original fixtures and fittings I loved it. The entrance hall was a library the shelves went to the ceiling with a library ladder, very “Enry iggings” we spent a couple of hours with Eric and his wife Cynthia who is a painter her pictures were very good for me very likeable, it was such a lovely time again with lovely people showing us their way of life talking about their country, great.
Now we go inland again to the wine area were we hope to taste some good Californian wine, I know nothing about this wine area or the wine I hope to change this! Now we head for Paso Robles the drive through vine yards was lovely with all the tree’s in blossom and flowers out, we had a job to find a campsite ended up outside a church which was ok no toiletJ but flat which is the most important.

15th March 2008

Today we find a vineyard for the sampling of their wines. It is all very busy lots of people about, we stopped a couple but were not very impressed, did not really feel very comfortable we then wound up at “OPOLO” vineyard which again was very busy but had a great atmosphere so paid our 10$ which included lunch and as many samples as you could drink!! Before we started drinking Les asked one of the owners if we could stay the night in the car park, he said yes so no driving, great! The reason for the crowds it was a festival weekend at all vineyards the “Zest Fest” we had a great time lots of folk to chat with, met a lovely couple and their 2 friend from Vermont, we have promised to visit when we are on the East Coast, I hope to be able to keep that promise
It was a lovely relaxing day my favourite was a “Petite Verdot” 2005 I hope to be able to get this at home, very enjoyable.
The following morning was -6 with a very thick frost!!

16th March 2008

We paid a visit to Heast Castle, this was the home of newspaper publisher William Randolph Heast very rich very famous, the film “Citizen Kane” was based on his life story, the house is now a museum full of antiques mostly from Europe purchased after the 1st world war, it is by far the most over the top, ostentatious house I have ever seen, but I imagine it is a portrait 0f the time, it was a great and fun visit we did only see a small part of the house and 1 guest house also a film, this was enough for us.

17th March 2008

We drove the Monterey Peninsula which is stunning, spectacular, amazing. Or just plain beautiful! There is a 17 mile scenic drive which really takes your breath away, the charming village of Carmel (Clint Eastwood was major, I was told Doris Day lives there) we did not see them but we did see seals, see birds and whale spouts along with the most awesome scenery.
From there we did a little inland detour (trying to hit San Francisco at the right time, we have a camp site booked) driving through the mountains and a red wood forest the trees are huge, magnificent, we camped in Half Moon Bay ready to hit SF tomorrow……….

I have to say this part of our journey has been mind blowing, we have meet some amazing and wonderful people, the coast is magnificently beautiful those 2 alone are enough but, add to that the flora and fauna an amazing ocean, mountains and ……..

The Desert in Bloom.........

This will give you the idea that I love flowers, I do! I have tried to tell you how wonderful our journey so far has been, I do go on a bit, sorry.I hope you are all ok and enjoying what ever you are doing, we are just outside San Diego at the moment.I will try and send some photostake care with much love

Tuesday 12th February 2008

Well here we are in Mexico, Baja California. The scenery is amazing; these America’s are astonishing so much variation, rocks, trees, and cactus and flowers.
Back in the US the trip from Death Valley took us through the “Mojave National Preserve” The area has, like every where such a changing scene, as we drive through, we have sand dunes and because we are here in the early spring flowers in abundance, both on the ground and flowering cactus, we drive through Pinyon-Juniper trees and because we are in Mojave country Joshua Trees these trees can grow to 50ft!! they are however not trees but Yucca, in this preserve they grow very close together, making amazing weird and wonderful shapes in the desert ones imagination can run riot, we pass cactus – yucca scrub with cactus of every shape and size.
We also found a restored two story mission style building “kelso Depot” which was the rail road depot for the Union Pacific, very interesting, in the middle of the desert, a small town (we would call it a village) grew up around the depot this very small town had 2 post offices, 1 for black people, 1 for white people these folk lived side by side and depended on each other in all the problems life would have thrown at you in such a small desert town, to an English person this is very weird and uncomfortable even now, the weather here is very hot. We also went to the “the hole in the wall” (those Mormons again cutting the rock by hand to get their wagons through) had a nice walk here until things got a bit of a scramble over rocks (I am terrified of braking something) found a free camp for the night, tomorrow we head for the Joshua Tree National Park

Wednesday 13th February

On route to the Joshua Tree N.P. we drove some of route 66, this was so sad, all the glory days gone, most of the houses, motels, truck stops, have all been left to fall into disrepair, (unlike in Arizona where everything has been revived) a long the side of the road on a sandy rocky ridge 100’s of people have planted their names with rocks, there was also a tree covered with shoes 100’s of pairs, all that was left of this road that once was so full of life and fun.
We parked up for lunch, Les, Margaret and myself thought we heard people walking on the roof of the trucks, did not know how they got up there, it was however guns/bombs we had parked next to “Twenty-nine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Centre” whom I guess were having some kind a drill !!!! We ate our lunch without being blown up I am pleased to be able to tell youJ
Once in the park we went for a walk to see the Desert Fan Palm which is a native of California, in this hot and sparse environment a palm oases makes wonderful shade and in the pioneer days must have been a blessed respite, there are only 158 oases left in the whole of North America 4 of these are in Joshua Tree N.P.
We drove and walked round the upper area of the park which is the Mojave Desert to see the Joshua Trees, none grow in the southern area which is the Colorado Desert, These trees are totally amazing every one is a different size and shape they are twisted and spiky and I guess prickly but I did not check that out! Some of the shapes are grotesque; the tallest tree in the park today is 40ft high and is estimated to be 300 years old. Another truly wonderful day.

Thursday 14th February 2008

It is a cold cold day. We are still in the Joshua Tree N.P going south into the Colorado Desert which this time of year is famous for flowers, but there is no sun so all the flowers are closed up, sad, we went for a walk around the Cholla Cactus Garden the top of these cactus appear to have soft silver bristles these account for the common name “Teddy Bear Cactus” or “Jumping Cholla” they do not jump but will if you brush against them stick into you and brake away from the main plaint, this apparently is very painful and removing the spines from your body is even more painful. The main cactus drops this small ball, which looks very pretty onto the ground from this a new cactus will grow, I touched one with the toe of my shoe and it stuck into my shoe (much laughter) it was very hard to dislodge, dare not touch it, then I had all these whiskers sticking out from the toe of my shoe which I had to scrap along the ground to get out, didn’t do the shoe much goodJ it was a wonderful little walk with a leaflet tell about what we were looking at. The most widespread plant is the “Creosote Bush” which really does smell just like creosote. We even saw several “Desert Wood Rat” nest’s, an empty nest is never vacant for long, as another Wood Rat will take up residents adding more debris to the pile, Nests have been found that are over 10,000 years old, complete with ancient plant remains buried in the centre.
I have never seen a desert in this season it is so beautiful, the flowers were amazing some so tiny, some so bright in colour, it was a shame they were not open but the colour and the amount was terrific.

Friday 15th February 2008


To day we head for the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, this proved to be very similar to the Joshua Tree N P with Octillo which is a tall spindly plant whose leaves sprout from its straight spindly, well I would call them twigs they are not branches, stems? may be sticks! On the very top of the sticks their flowers are bright red, they look like candles as each bush had a number of sticks the desert looked full of candelabras! There were more Cholla and flowers, today the sun is shining they are just beautiful. We took a walk to an Oasis with over 100 Desert Fan Palms that was lovely.
We could wild camp here in this park we found a nice spot, flat ect Les went of birding watching Margaret and I were having a cup of tea, a very nice young man came to tell us we had parked in the middle of the YMCA weekend boys camp there were going to be over 100 children with their dads, I think he was more concerned about the noise the dads might make at night then the children, any way we decided to stop we leave at 8 o clock every morning, much to our surprise the night was very peaceful.J

Saturday 16th February 2008

Well today we arrive in Mexico, the boarder was very easy infact we just drove straight into Mexico no barrier, nothing, we got some money then walked back to get our passport stamped with an entree visa, this caused a little problem because we did not get an exit visa stamp when we left!!!
We then thought we should at least try and get an exit visa from the USA, going back to the gate we then got stop by a soldier with a gun!! He just laughed and told us to go to the entrée into the USA, this caused quite a stir, with us being told to go back to the stop sign and wait!! The out come was that a stamp to leave the US was not required, we hope that is correctJ
Back into Mexico! With its loud music crowds of people, broken cars, speed bumps (hate them) bad drivers and the most delicious fish for lunch in Ensenada.
We spent the next 3 days driving to Nuerroro Negro through the mountains and high desert, this drive is awesome flowers, cactus, wonderful very tall trees with no branches, just leaves growing out of the tree all the way to the top, and on the very top red flowers or leaves, making some looked like Christmas trees with a fairy on the top! It was such an enjoyable drive, arriving at Nuerroro Negro we stopped on a campsite for a couple of days because tomorrow we will go Whale watching!!!! Which I have already written about.

Friday 22nd February 2008

Today we drove to San Ignacio this is a lovely little town with one of the finest Churches in this part of Mexico, started by the Jesuits in the early 1700’s and finished by the Dominican’s in 1786 the church is a fine example of a Spanish building of that time, we walk around the very small village, The first Dominican bishop had also planted a large number of date palm’s which are still there today we were able to buy a very enjoyable date flan. After a very nice lunch at the “Rice and Beans” restaurant we turn around to start our journey north into Canada and Alaska.

Monday 25th February 2008

Tomorrow we will be back in the US.
The journey through this part of the country has been magnificent so very beautiful, “The Desert in Bloom” when parking in the desert each morning there is a carpet of colour flowers everywhere so many it is impossible to walk without treading on them, everywhere you look there are carpets of flowers, yellows and purples seem to be the most common but sometimes a mix of the two in amongst there are whites and orange, ofcourse green so many different shades each corner we go around has been a surprise and a joy to see, with cactus standing high, or clinging to rocks and little tiny ones so many shapes and sizes. We have been in this wonderland for a week, travelling some 1108 miles I have never seen so many wild flowers any where in the world, we have been so luck to have come at this time of year, it does not seem possible that in a couple of months the sun will have turned all this brown and barren I have so enjoyed this trip to Baja, also diesel is only 25p Litre! BonusJ I have just read all that I have written and I guess you know by now that the flowers and the desert are beautiful, I have gone on a bit!!

Sprayed by Whales..........

hI Guys,
I have just had the most amazing day. to protect my breakfast I did not take any photos but Les will let me havecopies of his sooooo photos later!just share the joy of my day


FEBRUARY 21ST 2008

WOW! WOW! WOW!

I have been sprayed by a California Gray Whale, I have touched several times a California Gray Whale, can you believe that, they were that close, there were Whales to left, Whales to the right, Whales in front and behind us AND underneath the boat. One word AWESOME!
The best of all I was NOT sick, I just enjoyed a wonderful 4 hours on a boat in the lagoon (Laguna Ojo de Liebre better known as Scammon’s Lagoon)
The Whales come here to spawn from Siberian and Alaskan waters some 10,000KM they slide majestically at some 5 – 7KM per hour before reaching the warm and protected waters of Baja, today the estimated number in the Lagoon is 800, 300 of these are babies.
Today I was lucky enough to be able to see them Mummies, Babies, and three whales mating! One female in the middle one male pushes up from underneath! So 3 Whales together splashing and rolling around this is what they are doing ….. So we were told.
We are in Guerrero Negro, Baja, Mexico. I have jumped days a little but was so excited I wanted to share, but will go back to Joshua Trees
If we do not start looking after our planet this wonderful sight will not happen. The northern seas will be so warm the Creel will not be there and the whales will die !

Death Valley

This is the largest National Park in the US outside Alaska; it is also one of the lowest places in the world 282feet below sea level it is also one of the hottest places in the world, summer temperatures reaching between 110f and 120f the highest recorded 134f !!!!! I am very pleased to say the winter temperatures are very pleasant making our visit very enjoyable. Summer time also brings thunderstorms which send flash floods tearing down narrow canyons the average rain fall is less the 2ins a year, we were lucky enough to see 3 different flowers in bloom, 2 yellow and 1 purple which I think was a “desert five spot”
The valley got its name from a group of pioneers and gold seekers who in 1849 decided to cut across the desert, this would save them 500 miles from their journey it took them over 3 months to complete their journey, only 2 man died in the valley but the journey had been so hard they gave it the name “Death Valley” There are mines all over the valley and many precious metals have been found, but the discovery of a mineral – Borax- initiated the exploration of the valley “The Borax company” built the roads and 20 mule teams drew wagons weighing 40 tons across and out of that desert, some of the wagons are still here also the remains of a The Harmony Borax Works and ofcourse the white Borax is still all over the ground.
As we have seen in the other parks the whole area is a wealth of geological phenomena, large sand dune formation, sculpted rocks, volcanic craters and isolated valleys and ofcourse the colours which change with the sun and are so very beautiful, none of the red we have seen in other parks but wonderful greys, browns, yellows, blacks and whites with strips of green, reds and orange thrown in, awesome, the shape, every where you look this is different sometimes smooth and round sometimes sharp and pointed a huge mishmash of shape and colour, wonderful just to drive and look!!

Les and Margaret broke down on the campsite in the valley, starter motor I had to give them a tow to start, and then we did that park on a hill with a roll start going back to “Pahrump” a largish town we had passed through just before Death Valley. There we were able to find a garage that can repair but a new starter is required which will not be here until Monday, why do we always brake down on a Friday?

Saturday we went for lunch at the casino a lovely buffet meal as many visits to the table as you want for the very princely sum of £3.50 it was very good even had a chocolat fountain. We also found great internet cover in the library

On Sunday Margaret and I went to Scotty’s Castle, this is amazing built in the 1920’s a wonderful Spanish Style Castle/House in the middle of the desert, this opulent home’s name is “Death Valley Ranch” having been built by a wealthy insurance guy from Chicago, whom Scotty a cowboy/miner/conartist had convinced to invest in a mythical gold mine, the two became firm live long friends but Scotty a conner to the end told every one it was his castle build with cash from his gold mine, it is a wonderful story you may be able to find more on the web he is known as “Death Valley Scotty”
The house now belongs to the country (I am not sure what this is in the US at home it would belong to the National Trust) The house now stand as is was in 1939 when the Johnson’s and Scotty lived/stayed here it contains all the beautiful furnishings and artwork also decorated in 1939 style, the ranger who gives a very good tour telling lots of “Scotty” stories is also dressed in 1939 clothes, it was a good fun visit, lovely to and very interesting to be able to view and walk around an American house from this period of time.