Trees, trees and more big trees

Took the long and windy road up to glacier point. Absolutely worth the hour long trip with views over most of the valley with all the iconic features and several waterfalls. Went down to the village

and had a quick look around. Nothing too exciting except for the views around us as we had lunch. Spotted some climbers on El Capitan. Lunatics.

A guest at the hotel says the record for

the climb is only 5 hours!

Off to Mariposa Grove to see some Sequoias. Contemplated walking the trail but decided to shell out for the tram trip given the time we had available. Soooo glad we did causes the trail is not only 6 km long but probably 6km straight up (well not really but it is pretty steep). Saw some amazing trees and learnt lots about the trees and the history of the park. Next day we headed off to Sequoia National Park. Stopped at the General Grant tree which is the 3rd biggest tree in the world (by volume and weight) and the largest sequoia by circumference. Fantastic tree and plenty of "lesser" trees around it. Indescribable really.

To the Wuksachi lodge to check in only to be told they had a propane gas failure which has killed the restaurant menu and any hot water. They had an alternative makeshift menu for dinner and they hoped the water would be back on that night. As the nearest accommodation was about 1 hour and 7000 ft down the mountain we took the risk. At dinner time they then had a fire alarm and all the restuarant guests were evacuated. All worked out in the end and we opted for a takeway selection from the buffet. As I walked back to our room in the darkness clutching a "take out box" of BBQ food I contemplated the Bear Aware form I signed which states that as bears were active looking for food I should remove all food from my car overnight.
Clearly I made it but it may have been a close thing...I will never know.

Went down the General Sherman Grove which contains the world's largest living object...ie the General Sherman sequoia. They didn't mention the 0.8 mile trail to the grove was pretty close to down the side of the cliff (again I exaggerated but it wasn't a stroll in the country). Worth checking out this photo full size.

That said it was very impressive (even compared to the Grant Tree). Where the tree is feels like a kind of natural cathedral with the Sherman tree in the centre and lots of lesser trees around with a full canopy above. My feelings must have been felt by others as everyone was speaking in hushed tones even though there was no real reason to do so.

Left Sequoia for death valley the next day in what is to be our marathon leg of the journey to Death Valley

Didn't leave my heart in San Francisco

Although it was very nice.

Caught the cable car to the cable car powerhouse. Fascinating. One of the cable loops has 4 miles of cable. The wooden brakes on the cable cars need to be replaced every 3 days or so. All so quaint Returned to the hotel and extracted the car from their ridiculously small garage. Drove down Lombard street (which claims to be the crookedest street but it isnt...a must do touristy thing anyway). Would hate to live there with endless rubbbernecking idiots like me driving past at all hours of the day and night. Then drove over the Golden Gate bridge (stopping at the vista point first) to Sausilito.

Lovely little place with great views of San Francisco, Alcatraz and the bridges. Had lunch by the bay and then drove back to the hotel and went down to the pier for the alcatraz night tour.


Great tour. The nightime adds an interesting dimension and the audio tour is really interesting. Returned in time to get some very ordinary vietnamese food and sleep.

Left earlyish to head for Yosemite which took us over the Bay Bridge. Bit of a contrast and a good deal longer than its famous brother. Stupid satnav took us the long way around into Yosemite but in the end it was interesting with some scenery we otherwise wouldn't have seen. Some great vistas of half dome, El capitan and the valley in general. As we were running late (stupid satnav) we went directly to the hotel. Built in 1879 it has a gone with the wind feel about it and I suspect the waiter at the restaurant is Clark Gable's father. Could also do with some maintenance here and there but overall is very nice. NO INTERNET OR TV OR FRIDGE. Ice can be acquired from the front desk and entertainment is the piano man called Tom in the lobby. Not sure I can survive. Actually I picked up a wireless connection but it is secured and the front desk deny its existence. Clearly not for guests. Doesn't matter as the scenery and keeping an eye out for mountain lions and bears is enough.
The hotel has close to a full quota of residents this weekend so despite the shortcomings it is still very popular.
Full day of touring the park tomorrow with the giant sequoias, glacier point, yosemite village and perhaps the tioga pass road if time permits. The most expensive "gas" we have come across so far is available next door (around 90c US per litre!!!). Unfortunately due to going the long way around I need to fill up. The yanks would scream if they had to pay our price for petrol.

Don't call it Frisco

Walked down to Fishermans Wharf to take the city tour with Mr Toad. We were in a 1924 White Yellowstone Bus although the engine is from the 1960's (need something for all those hills). Fantastic 3 hour tour with a 4th generation native San Franciscan as our guide so there were lots of local annecdotes (including where he went to school which we probably didn't need to know). He is an aspiring actor too so was keen to share various places used in movies like the famous car jump from Bullitt (in a Mustang no less - for those too yourg to remember see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-y1VUdnQXo for the whole chase) and various Dirty Harry locations.

We were going to take a harbour cruise but the fog rolled in (a very San Francisco thing apparently) so we checked out Pier 39 and all its touristy shops.

They do have sea lions though which were fascinating. They arrive towards winter and most disappear to breed in summer. Currently they reckon there are 1500 or so there.


Check out the webcam http://www.pier39.com/webcam.cfm












Wednesday our time dawned bright and sunny so a cruise was in order. Trip out under the Golden Gate bridge and then back past Alcatraz. Lovely weather and great scenery. What could be better than that?
Lots of shopping!!! :-(
Caught the cable car to Union Square, had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory at the top of Macys then shopped hard. Well perhaps not but some bags and stuff was bought. Ventured in to Neimann Marcus with all the fashion vendors (Prada, Dior, Dolce Gabbana,Louis Vuitton, Gucci etc) and then ventured out again. Nice entry area though.




I have become obsessed with the technology in the cable cars. Still working and working well after 140 years. Specialised job being a "gripman" who drive the cars and great to watch in action. Going to the Cable car museum tomorrow to check out how the cable system is powered.

Got some sour dough bread and canned clam chowder from Boudin's for dinner and caught the cable car back to the hotel in time for sunset.

Driving Lombard St (the "crookedest street") and across the Bridge to Sausilito tomorrow.

WOW

Sight for amazing sight Victoria's Great Ocean Road matches anything on the Cabrillo Highway but the latter has so many more of them. Impossible to describe and equally hard to photograph (but you knew I would have to have a go anyway)

Arrived at Monterey around lunch time and ended up at the very touristy Fishermans Wharf. Had the omni present clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. Wasn't disappointed. Moved on to Santa Cruz to see the Monarch Butterfly nesting but technology let me down (either there are duplicate street names in Santa Cruz or the Satnav is confused). However time was wasting so on to San Francisco. Managed to time that with a severe storm (1.5 inches of rain in about 20 mins). 5 lanes of cars travelling a stupid speed, road inches deep in water and nowhere to pull over was not a highlight!!

Got here in the end though. Nice hotel with views of Alcatraz and the Bay around to the Bay bridge. Golden Gate bridge not visible from the apartment but is from the rooftop deck one flight of stairs up.

Going on a tour of the city today to see what is here and what might be worth checking out in detail later

Nothing succeeds like excess

Fully refreshed (well nearly) we departed Venice Beach in a thick sea fog (unlike in the shot above taken then night before) and drove through Malibu on to San Luis Obispo. Not the most famous name in world but it does have bubblegum alley. Apparently some students many years ago stuck some gum on there and it has grown ever since. Some want to clean it up but if they did I (and others) probably wouldn't stop there. A cross between amazing and disgusting. Judge for yourself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubblegum_Alley

On to Hearst Castle. Apparently old man Hearst made a fortune when he discovered a silver deposit. He gave young William Randolph a newspaper company to play with and by the time the young fellow was 50 he was filthy rich too. When he inherited the 400 plus acres at San Simeon and all the dough from his dad he built like a madman for 30 odd years and money was no object. He once asked whether he could buy the contents of the Louvre to stock Casa Grande (the main building). WC Fields, who was a guest, was commenting on the size of the property saying it was great if you had children as you could send them out to play in the morning by the time they returned they were adults. Hearst was forever changing his mind and ripped out a rose garden to build a pool. He subsequently decided it wasn't big enough so enlarged it (twice!). The result is Neptunes Pool below. Excessive yes, amazing yes. Worth seeing? Absolutely.

Back to the hotel to watch the sunset from our balcony with a glass (or two) of some local wine.

Scenic Highway 1 (aka Cabrillo Highway) to San Franciso tomorrow.

We made it!.

Arrived in LA 4am Canberra time with little or no sleep and a range of pains for staying still that long. Got through customs etc pretty quickly and on to Hertz. The booking said convertible but I had to ask the question..is it a Mustang? He got the phone to someone and said "another mustang" then hung up and said to me "everyone wants a mustang". I thought "of course". So we have it, highly impractical (one case has to stay on the back seat because there is no room in the boot) but for cool factor it can't be beat. Drove the 12 miles or so to the Hotel and checked in. Had lunch and then took on the strangeness that is Venice Beach boardwalk. Longer than we thought (it took over 3 hours to walk to the other end and back) but just what we expected. Lots of colour, entertainment, hustlers and yes, weirdness. Photos soon because now I am going to have a quick dinner and then sleep as I have just past 30 hours without it.


Photo update (added 19/10 my time)

Our hotel is the small pink one at the centre of this photo


Venice Beach weirdness