Dan and Al in Cal

Looking back at our trip (5)

2009-07-01T21:55:00.005+01:00

Sunday looked promising in Mariposa, clear blue skies. But we knew we had an hour's journey back up into the mountains to Yosemite - it might still be raining there! Luckily we had great weather all day. We decided we'd do a video of our day in Yosemite so Dan shot the trip back up the Merced valley including the "geological exhibit" (landslide) about halfway up.
With perfect weather Yosemite looked even better. We had great views of El Capitan, Yosemite Falls (above), Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls from the valley floor.

From Glacier Point the view was even grander (above). The view to Half Dome, Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls was crystal clear and we also had good views of Clouds Rest and Yosemite Falls.

Back in the valley we took a few more shots of El Capitan and Bridalveil Falls then headed back to Mariposa for another pizza

Looking back at our trip (4)

2009-06-30T23:57:00.004+01:00

Saturday was quieter in San Francisco so we had an early breakfast in Johnny Rockets then left for Yosemite. We crossed the bay bridge to Oakland, but we were on the lower level so the view was not good. We stopped at the Raiders stadium (above) in Oakland for a few snaps and then back on the bumpiest freeway in California IS 880. After that it was a steady drive across the central valley and into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. We pretty much kept on all the way to Yosemite and it started raining just as we got there.

We had a quick look around in the valley floor, but we could see the cloud closing in so we headed to Glacier Point before it disappeared into the mist. We had time for a quick look around and took some shots of Half Dome in the clouds. Then the clouds really closed in, it started to rain in earnest so we headed back to the valley floor. On the way back down the visibility was zero in places - scary since we saw some of the drops on the way up! It was the poor weather that clinched the "stay another day in Yosemite" option. So we headed off to Mariposa, a good hour drive, for the night. Nice pizza restaurant in Mariposa - good grub!

Looking back at our trip (3)

2009-06-30T23:29:00.004+01:00

We spent Friday in San Francisco. We planned to have an early breakfast in Johnny Rockets (fondly remembered from our Dublin trips), but it was packed out so we had a stroll along the waterfront, saw some brave souls swimming in the bay, and took a few photos. This one shows Hyde street, which runs from Hyde Street Pier up to Russian Hill

Then we A quick visit to the airport to change the car and an even quicker visit to Candlestick Park and then over the Golden Gate bridge to take some photos. We stopped at the eastern view point just over the bridge on the north side of the bay. The view was good, but there were lots of people in the way of a good photo! Dan spotted a better "Vista Point" on the other side of the highway, so we drove north towards Sausalito then turned off and headed back. The western vista point is at a higher elevation and was much quieter. We had some great views of the bridge and San Francisco.

After returning across the bridge we made our way out to the Pacific coast at Lands End (Point Lobos). We had a walk around and took some photos - did I already say that?!

Looking back at our trip (2)

2009-06-28T12:32:00.000+01:00

We really enjoyed the drive up the coast at Big Sur. The road was reasonably quiet - a change from LA! We had the top down all day and with the sun shining it was a great way to take in the views.

We arrived at Pebble Beach about lunch time and then did 17 mile drive to Monterey. I think it would be worth an overnight stop at Monterey if we did this again, but we had to press on to San Francisco so we didn't spend much time here.

Looking back at our trip (1)

2009-06-25T15:16:00.000+01:00

Ok, maybe I was a bit harsh on LA! It was just getting off a 11 hr flight then having to wait another 2 hrs before thay let me in. The bit we saw (Manhattan Beach) was straight off Baywatch and the area around the beach looked very nice.

Santa Barbara is somewhere we'd go back for a longer look. Weather was a bit off when we were there. And it was the first day on the road so we weren't sure how long we could stay. Lots of pelicans though!

Gaviota beach is where we stopped for a dip in the ocean. Huge railway bridge runs right across the small cove. A loco, heading north, pulling panoramic coaches trundled over the bridge just after we pulled into the car park

Home at last

2009-06-13T18:15:00.000+01:00

We're back in blighty! A bit of a marathon journey coming home, we left Vegas at 9 am on Thursday and drove back to LA. Stopped at San Bernadino for a bit of lunch and then got to LA about 2 pm. We were at the airport early & hoped to get the 5:25pm flight back to London, but they couldn't guarantee us a place and we could only get a standby. With both flights full we decided to wait or for our flight - do some shopping in duty free. No chance- nothing for sale worth having. Cheaper booze in Tesco & ASDA and the only other things for sale were perfume & tobacco. LA airport is the pits!

Decent flight back though and we're looking forward to the next one!

See again - Yosemite, Big Sur & San Francisco

Other places we'd like to see - Grand Canyon South, Meteor Crater, Canyons in Utah......

Probably not - Death Valley - unless it's on the route.

No thanks - Las Vegas

Not even if you paid me - Los Angeles

On our way home

2009-06-11T03:37:00.000+01:00

Our last night in Vegas. We plan to go to Caesar's Palace, maybe Tom will be there! A bit of shopping maybe if I can drag Dan around! Should be easy, I've been taking lessons from an expert shopper for the best part of 38 years!!

Update: Not our type of shops I'm afraid - all designer outlets - just like an indoor McArthur Glen. And Tom wasn't playing - Bette Midler instead - not quite the same although I bet she belts out a good Delilah if she feels like.

Then we're off back to LA tomorrow morning for our flight home.

We take off at 9:15pm Thursday and land at 3:30pm on Friday - maybe we're going the long way around?!

Grand Canyon & Hoover Dam

2009-06-11T03:21:00.000+01:00

Made a later start today (we're knackered!) and drove over the Hoover Dam into Arizona and then to Grand Canyon West. Maybe its because we only spent $20 for a 7 day pass in Yosemite, but $30 each to stand on the Skywalk seemed too "steep", especially as you can't take a camera to photograph the view! So we skipped the Skywalk (it still costs $43 to get in to GC West!) and took some photos at Eagle Point and Guano Point. Apparently in the '50s & '60s they used to haul bat guano up from the valley floor and use it for nitrate fertilizer, explosives and women's makeup! Big queues for the helicopter trips and time was getting on so we headed back

The "highlight" of the trip was a 14 mile drive on the Diamond Bar unpaved road. It's the only access road to the GC West so everyone has to use it. It's just like a wide forestry road and quite bumpy. Nice to subject our Sebring to some bumps instead of the other way around!

Back to Hoover Dam quite late, took some photos, but we didn't feel like taking the tour (another $30 each). Do we sound like a miserable pair of bu**ers?

Vegas at Night

2009-06-11T03:07:00.000+01:00

Did a quick tour of Vegas last night, just to take a few photos. We took the Monorail from the Convention Centre to the MGM Grand. There is no obvious exit to the street. They really, really want you in the casino! We sneaked out of an exit and then worked our way around the block to the main strip. We took some photos of the Luxor, Excalibur, New York, New York (pic) and the MGM Grand. Then we tried to get back on the monorail at Bally's/Paris and there was no way in except through the casino! Well we did find an entry, a door without a handle that you had to pull to get into the station! Luckily there was a sign "Beware of the Leopard" so that was a dead giveaway. Then we took a quick trip to take some photos of the Stratoshphere then back to the hotel for some beer & watch the ice hockey.

Death Valley - Beep Beep

2009-06-09T23:35:00.000+01:00

Left Furnace Creek in Death Valley this morning. We did a couple of detours around Zabriskie Point (pic) and Artists Drive. Then on to Badwater, the lowest point in the West, and then out of Death Valley to Shoshone, over the state line to Pahrump in Nevada then down (shakily) to Las Vegas

Hardly any traffic today until we hit the outskirts of Vegas.

At Furnace Creek a Roadrunner bird ran across the road ( what else would you expect it to do!?). On the way down to Badwater we met a coyote trotting up the road towards us. He was playing chicken and wouldn't move - we had to move over to avoid him. I'm not joking it's true! Now meeting a coyote and a roadrunner within a couple of miles of each other! I expected Bugs Bunny or Sylvester to make an appearance, maybe later tonight after a couple of beers?

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We're back online!

2009-06-09T23:20:00.000+01:00

Did you miss us? Did anyone notice?!

No Internet access in Death Valley, so we were offline for a day. Never mind we spent the time well - in the bar.

So, yesterday we left Mariposa, drove back to Yosemite and then over the Tioga (that's Tie Oga) Pass to Mono Lake, Owen's Valley and then on to Death Valley. It seems our silver Sebring shares a family trait with our old friend Stephen. It shakes like hell when the brakes are on and we go down hill. And we did go down a lot of hills yesterday. Tioga Pass 9,900 ft down to Mono Lake at ~7000 ft. Then a steady downhill drive to Lone Pine at ~4000ft. Then over a mountain range to the Panamint valley and another 4000ft drop to the valley floor. Then over the Panamint range to Death Valley - another 4000ft and we're shaking like blancmanges.

Don't ever hire a Chrysler Sebring!

The picture is a view of Half Dome from Olmstead Point on the Tioga Pass road

Yosemite Dan

2009-06-08T05:39:00.000+01:00

What a day! We walked for miles & miles & miles....

Weather was perfect today and we took a zillion photos of everything in Yosemite valley. The falls were awesome - literally! You could hear Yosemite fall right across the valley. We parked on the south side, walked across the meadow right up to the base of the fall. We also walked to Mirror lake - double misnomer! Not a lake & certainly not a mirror, good views of half dome though. Then we drove to Glacier Point for views across the valley and of Vernal and Nevada falls, back to tunnel view (photo above) and then up to Bridal Veil falls. No bears or mountain lions, but we did see & video a deer(antelope?) and a lots of squirrels (Pesky varmints!)

And that was a quick 12 hours!

Two Queens!

2009-06-08T03:45:00.000+01:00

Well, I was mortified this morning I can tell you. We were at reception, confirming our reservation for tonight. The girl on the desk (mutton dressed as lamb dear) said thats ok Room 316, two queens. I mean!, there were other guests there in the lobby and she just blurted it out. I was so upset I'm not posting a picture. It was only when Dan said she meant queen beds that I calmed down. Quite enough excitement for one day!

A modern-day Mack Sennett?

2009-06-07T05:05:00.000+01:00

A long drive from SF today, not much to see on the way, but we did stop at the Oakland Raiders stadium for a couple of pics. When we arrived at Yosemite it started to rain. Typical! Nevermind we had a good view of the waterfalls - they are very impressive. As you can see, Dan has everything the cameraman needs to take great photos - a good camera and lens, a tripod and a SF 49'ers hat on back to front!

We got to Glacier Point just as the clouds closed in, just enough time to get one or two good shots, then it rained and rained.

On the way out of Yosemite we followed the Merced river downstream. It's like a combination of a big Ystradfellte and the Afan Valley! Granite boulders in the river the size of houses, rapids and a disused railway track the other side of the valley that is briefly used to aviod a huge landslide.

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow, we're staying here another day in the hope of seeing Yosemite and blue skies.

Two Handsome Fellows and a Rusty Bridge

2009-06-06T00:56:00.000+01:00

After Candlestick, we carried on Hwy 101 and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped at a couple of Vista Points on the northern side and had some great views of SF and the bay as the clouds rolled away. We then had our last look at the Pacific at Point Lobos. Back to Fisherman's Wharf for a Subway then we're off to Pier 39 this evening.

Farewell to Stephen

2009-06-06T00:39:00.000+01:00

We've said goodbye to one of our small party. Stephen the blue Chrysler Sebring complained all the way from Big Sur to SF that he wanted an oil change. He also developed a bad case of the shakes (hence the name) when braking. An as yet unnamed silver replacement was acquired at SF airport this morning.

Our other travelling companion, Martha the Satnav, was a bit miffed and wouldn't speak to us on the return journey. Martha seems to have a very direct and straight to the point personality. She'll tell us the quickest route even if it means we spend an hour in traffic, while slight detour would mean we get there sooner. While driving from LA to Santa Barbara, Martha wanted us to use the quickest route, Highway 101, which is inland. We wanted the coastal Highway 1 and every time we diverged from her chosen path back to Hwy 101 Martha would say "Recalculating". I swear that after 2 hours her tone had changed to "RECALCULATING!!!"

Anyway, on the way back from the airport we stopped at Candlestick Park - home of the 49'ers

Red Snapper supper

2009-06-05T06:19:00.000+01:00

I have been a busy little blogger today!

Just been to Pier 39 on San Francisco's waterfront. Had some Red Snapper and a good local Pinot Grigio for dinner. Just about found our way home.

We're planning to go to Johnny Rockets for breakfast - Ben will remember it from Dublin (well he might not remember 'cos he was only half sober for most of our Ireland trip) :-)

Pebble Beach, Monterey and San Francisco

2009-06-05T03:55:00.000+01:00

After Big Sur we did 17 mile drive around the Monterey peninsula. Very Nice! We stopped at the Pebble Beach Lodge for a pee and a quick glance at the "estate agent" saw house prices vary from a very basic $1.7m to a much more desirable $35m!! The sea has been very calm today and there was an amazing "blue" to the light as we drove around the golf courses.

Stopped in Monterey for lunch - chicken burgers with Jack cheese. Then up to SF. Bit of a drag aas we hit the city at rush hour so we crawled the last 5 miles or so.

We're off to Pier 39 for dinner!

Big Sur

2009-06-05T03:48:00.000+01:00

Fabulous weather for us today as we drove up Big Sur. On the way we saw elephant seals basking on the beach and sea lions singing a chorus at Morro Bay.

Swimming in the Pacific

2009-06-04T01:12:00.000+01:00

Went for a dip in the ocean today at Gaviota Beach. We'd just watched a school of dolphins swimming past (and jumping!). Earlier, we had brunch on Santa Barbara pier. The Moby Dick is recommended - very friendly and a couple of good omelets enjoyed by the pair of us.

There was a young sea lion swimming around the pier and a flight of pelicans in formation.

The weather was quite overcast in LA, it rained in Oxnard and was still cloudy in Santa Barbara. By the time we got to Gaviota the cloud had gone and it was quite warm. So a quick dip in the Pacific and then the roof down for the rest of the trip. With the roof down the sun got to Dan, well half of him anyway! He's sunburnt on one side ha ha!!

Do I look like a terrorist!!

2009-06-03T04:52:00.000+01:00

For crying out loud! How can they confuse a David John, with a Welsh accent with a David John (terrorist) from Trinidad and Tobago!! Two hours they kept me in immigration while they sorted it out. And the immigration officer spent 10 years in Barry, so he knew how to pronounce Llwynypia!!! Beggars belief I say.

And Avis only had Chrysler Sebrings, no Mustangs, I'll use Hertz next time. Next time! Don't know if I'll ever come back, my friend from Barry says I'll get stopped every time. Hey man, wasn't even wearing my Antigua T-shirt and the man still hit on me.

Still we had a quite hour by the Pacific on Manhattan pier. Off to San Luis Obispo tomorrow.

Watering Holes

2009-05-16T20:08:00.000+01:00

At last we have a list of hotels from Thomas Cook - no addresses though!!

So, we're staying at

The Hacienda Hotel, LA Airport;
Best Western Royal Oak, San Luis Obispo;
Holiday Inn, Fishermans Wharf, SF for 2 nights;
Best Western Yosemite Way Station, Mariposa;
Holiday Inn, Visalia;
Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley;
Best Western Mardi Gras, Las Vegas, 2 nights.

Merthyr Mawr (Medium Sized Sur)

2009-04-12T21:58:00.000+01:00

In anticipation of the visit to California's "Big Sur" we paid a visit to the UK's tallest sand dunes at Merthyr Mawr. A warm sunny day to celebrate Dan's birthday, but a cool breeze to greet us on the beach. No rabbits on show today but we did see a cormorant sunning himself in the middle of the river Ogmore.

Dan took a load more photos, I think we're going to need a bigger Internet!

Music to play in California

2009-04-02T23:00:00.000+01:00

Anything by the Beach Boys (California Girls?)

California - Phantom Planet
California Dreamin' - Mamas & Papas
California Man - The Move
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Hotel California - The Eagles
California Here I Come - Al Jolson

Ocean Drive - Lighthouse Family
Ventura Highway - America
Santa Monica - Savage Garden
San Francisco - Scott McKenzie

Not Quite Yosemite - Waterfall Country, Wales

2009-03-29T21:10:00.000+01:00

A comprehensive test of imaging equipment was undertaken by Dan, Al and Nick today in Waterfall Country, Ystradfellte.

A six mile hike around the waterfalls on the river Mellte gave the lads a grand day out, but there were also lessons learned. Take more water, a Stella for Nick, any lager for Dan and a can of Guinness for the old man.

A suggestion for the National Park (from Nick who spent almost as much energy talking as he did walking!)

- put a chair lift at Sqwd yr Eira!

Dan is getting ready to snap!

2009-03-27T22:19:00.000Z

Photographs that is...

With his new Canon 450, Manfrotto monopod, backpack, extra lenses and filters he is ready for anything!

Dan and Al go to California

2009-03-27T22:16:00.000Z

This is where we will record anything remotely interesting on our visit to California in June