16th October 2009 Temperatures in the 90s and a cloudless blue sky - a perfect day for riding roller coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain. We started with X2, not really knowing what to expect. Wow! Intense! We seemed to have started with the most radical one, you start lying on your back with your feet in the air and gradually move to a sitting position as you climb up to the first drop, which you go over head first! Definitely really scary. ...
15th October 2009 The sun has reappeared and we’re finally having to use our sunglasses again. We headed down to the wharf at Pismo Beach and spent a pleasant half hour in the sun watching the surfers catching the big waves rolling into the shore. Then we re-joined highway 101 and headed south, making a detour across a lot of agricultural land to the Guardalupe Nipomo Dunes. These are the largest coastal dunes in the United States. Lots and lots of sand with pounding surf crashing onto the beach. We also saw these long billed, long legged birds, which we think were long billed curlews (after some Googling). ...
14th October 2009 A brighter morning today, and one of the first days recently where it has been warm enough to be out in just a t-shirt. Since we couldn’t explore Monterey Bay yesterday when we arrived, we headed down to the wharf this morning to at least get a look at where we were staying. On the one side of the wharf a lovely long stretch of sand and on the other a marina packed with boats. It seems like a really nice town. ...
12th October 2009 Twin Peaks was our first destination today having had recommendations from several people about the views over the city. We certainly weren’t disapointed, from here we were able to see the whole of San Francisco Bay from the Golden Gate right round to the Bay Bridge. After taking in the views we headed off to Golden Gate Park which was the first city park of its kind in the USA, much bigger than Central Park in New York. We made a few stops in the park which the 49 mile drive passes through. ...
13th October 2009 Watching the weather last night we were warned that the west coast was in for a soaking as a result of the tail end of tropical typhoon Melor which hit Japan a few weeks ago. We hadn’t quite appreciated how much rain and wind this meant we would get. When we opened the door this morning, this is what we saw!! ...
3rd & 4th October 2009 One final drive through the Ponderosa Pines, Cedar Pines and Sequoias of Yosemite before leaving the park through the north west exit and heading for Sacramento. We followed scenic highway 49 through many small towns set up during the gold rush including Sonora where we stopped for a lovely sandwich followed by a massive cinnamon bun (between us!). We headed off again, passing through a tiny settlement with just a camp site and garage and surprisingly flying the Welsh flag - of course we had to stop for a photo :). ...
2nd October 2009 A day for superlative views. This morning we headed out to Glacier Point which afforded us stupendous views of Yosemite Valley, putting us almost level with Half Dome, 3000 foot above the valley and about 7000 foot above sea level. We even managed to pick out some of the people who had hiked the 17 mile round trip to Half Dome. ...
1st October 2009 Today we decided to take two ranger led walks in Yosemite Valley. The rangers here have loads of information about the park and are really keen to pass it on, along with their passion for Yosemite. These walks are totally free of charge and a fantastic way to learn more about our surroundings. On leaving the car park, we encountered our first big wildlife (there are masses of squirels and chipmunks about), deer who were using the bushes in the carpark as a fine breakfast. ...
29th & 30th September 2009 Simply the only word to describe the scenary of Yosemite National Park. Yesterday we had travelled from Mammouth Lakes via Mono Lake and the Tioga Pass to Yosemite National Park. It was also the first day that we hadn’t had wall to wall sunshine, and the first day we had to dig our jumpers out of the bag (typically at the bottom!). ...
27th & 28th September 2009 Yesterday we drove from Death Valley up to Mammouth Lakes through some stunning scenary. Various mountain ranges formed many millions of years ago through volcanic activity and shaped by subsequent ice ages. We arrived at our lodge in Mammouth Lakes, basic, but clean and with its own cooking facilities (well a microwave, fridge and sink) but enough to cook for ourselves for a few nights and have some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast. ...