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Friday 24th Feb
Another sunny day!
Today Tom and I went for a day trip down to Muir Woods, a Redwood forest situated in Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The road that lead to the forest was an adventure in itself, it snaked round the hill sometimes going back on itself nearly 180degrees. What was even more amazing was that we saw some guy in a huge RV (motor home) attempting the road too…with his jeep in tow…nutter.
The Woods themselves were fantastic, huge redwood trees stretching up into the sky. As you can see from some of my pics the light coming down through the canopy created a dazzling effect which I tried my best to capture.

From Muir Woods we made our way West to the coast in search of Muir Beach and the overlook point. Tom was expecting the overlook to be windy but it turned out it was the perfect day to be up there, there was hardly a breath of wind which is apparently quite a phenomenon - I overheard a few people comment on this. We ate our lunch overlooking the Pacific Ocean before driving back home via the Richmond Bridge.

Saturday 25th Feb
Today is the day I move down to the down-town area of Berkeley to stay with Eric and April. I’ll miss the views from T&T’s house but the advantage of moving is that it will allow me to be able to access the city a lot easier and not be so dependent on Tom driving me about - big thanks to both Tom and Tutten for putting me up for the past week, its been wonderful! and of course thanks to Eric and April for offering to take me on!

Anyway, before moving we all had time to take a day trip to Napa Valley, one of the major wine-producing regions of California. I have to say I was quite taken by how much land is taken by the vineyards which stretch for miles in every direction. I also noticed that many of the vineyards had huge fans, mounted on poles, placed in amongst the vines. Apparently they use these to circulate the air on cold days/nights thus preventing frost forming on the grapes, some even have heating elements in them - even the crops here get A* treatment!
The thing to do in Napa Valley is to stop at one of the winery’s and participate in a tasting session…which of course we did.

The winery we stopped at was one which Eric and April had been to before and recommended, Whitehall Lane. $10 bought you a glass and tasting of 5 wines, my favourites being their chardonnay and merlot - although they were all very nice.
Started feeling a little bit tipsy so just as well it was time for lunch!
Lunch was fantastic, a pizzeria just down the road near a town called St. Helena and I have to say they were probably the nicest pizza’s I have ever had, thin crust and stone-baked with fresh toppings and a fantastic sauce! - Of course all washed down with Sierra Nevada ale

In the evening Eric, April and I went for a meal at the Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley. Here I finally got the long-awaited American Burger, with swiss-cheese, bacon and BBQ sauce…heaven.
Upon returning home we watched a docu-film entitled “The Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hill” - its a local film about the parrots which live on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, these parrots escaped from private collections and formed their own colony, quite an amazing story and definately worth watching if you ever visit the area.

Sunday 26th Feb
A very funny day…
We were supposed to go downtown SF but the weather took a turn for the worse so we decided to drive to few spots around the area, or so we thought…We all got into the car only to find that the battery had gone flat, this was made all the more ironic by the fact that Eric and April’s car is a Toyota Prius hybrid car and has plenty of battery power - although the actual car battery is just the same as every other car and, like every other car, it can go flat. Anyway, the AAA man came out and jump-started the car and we were ready to go, although we decided that with the questionable battery it would be best if we borrowed Tom and Tutten’s BMW so we set off up there first.
As Eric reversed the BMW out of the garage, April commented on how the rain was a bad sign and probably meant we should be staying in today - this was then confirmed by Tutten banging on the bonnet of the BMW and shouting for Eric to stop….yup, a flat tyre! We couldn’t help but laugh and Eric and I swapped out the spare.
In the end we decided that a day-trip just wasnt meant to be so we went shopping, and had a good day too. I was very impressed with the Costco they have here, they do EVERYTHING from food and drink to computer consumables and car parts! Bought a 1Gb card for my camera for $60, thats about 40 quid. Then we went food shopping at Trader Joe’s, they have lots of cool foods from all round the world there. Also went and took a look at the Apple store in downtown Berkeley, bought myself the cable that links my iPod to the TV so I can watch the films I have on a big screen. We watched Ricky Gervais - Animals, very funny.

Oh, and dinner was courtesy of Tom and Tutten, Atlantic Salmon and Spinach in white sauce complimented by the wonderful chardonnay Eric and April bought from the winery yesterday.

Just to let you know I have uploaded most of the pics I have taken so far. Some are a bit boring or arty but i’m experimenting so be patient!
The pics of the forest and costal region were taken today, I haven’t written an entry yet but plan to later so all will be revealed then.

San Francisco 2006 Album

TTFN

Wednesday 22nd Feb
Yet again bright sunshine, perfect for viewing the Golden Gate in full glory - Note to Hels: You can actually SEE the bridge in my pic hehe!
There are two observation points, one at each end of the bridge and they both give contrasting views; the south side being a show of the huge, red, structure of the bridge and the north being a perfect place to take a pic looking through the bridge with the cars glistening in the sunshine.

After taking a few snaps we drove on to a little sprawling town called Tiburon. It was very picture-postcard, with immaculate houses and streets and a real sense of money in the area. It reminded me of a european haven such as St Tropez or Monaco, with houses and condo’s spattering the cliffs facing out accross the marina.
Here we stopped for some lunch at Sam’s Cafe - a great little restaurant which sits right down on the marina itself. One thing I found strange was that the waiters all seemed rather ‘jumpy’, I found out later that this was because seagulls often swoop in and make off with people’s food! Luckily there wasn’t a seagull in sight.
I had a fresh tuna salad sandwich with french fries, although it was lovley I was quite envious of Tom’s “Sam’s Burger” which looked delicious!
I am also developing a taste for Sierra Nevada beer, its kind of a pale ale and is great on sunny days!

After a stroll around the town we headed back round the point and accross yet another bridge, the Richmond, to Berkeley.

Spent the afternoon chilling out at the house before going for an evening meal with Eric and April, Eric is my first cousin once removed (I think I worked that out right) and April is his wife. This time it was a chinese restaurant in Berkely itself and we ordered a selection of dishes; won-ton soup, spring rolls, sweet and sour fish, stir-fried broad beans, prawns in honey and walnuts, and chicken with garlic…YUM!

Thursday 23rd Feb
Mooched about the house for most of the morning til Tutten dropped me off down at the University. I spent 3hours meandering my way through the various buildings and faculties of this amazing campus. Sorry Sheffield Hallam but you aint a patch on this place, this is a pic of one of the buildings there:

Had lunch at Subway and was pleased to find out that they are a lot less stingy with the fillings over here, I could hardly finish it……but I did

Today was a bit more of an observation day, I sat and watched the world go by and took in some strange sights:

The iPod Dance
I was sitting at Student Union and saw a couple of people dancing to their iPods, a bit weird I thought but each to his own. However, after 5 minutes or so, more and more people joined the group until it must have been about 20strong, so many infact that you could actually make out the music coming from the congregation of iPods! Some people just sort of bopped from side to side, where as others were full-blown mentalists, prancing about like the had electrodes on their parts.
There was some guy handing out leaflets so I asked him what was going on and apparently there is slot every day where they hold this dance so people can let themselves go and dance for a bit. Truely weird.
Of course I couldn’t resist taking a short video of the event.
– iPod Dance –

Tree Hugging Hippies
Yes, I saw a couple of people actually hugging trees. South Park was right!
Unfortunatley I wasn’t quick enough with my camera to get these little critters before they scurried away.

Mobile Phones
I thought England was bad for people being on mobiles but its a completely different story here. I am not joking when I say that every other person was on a mobile phone. What brain tumor?

The iPod Rules OK
I thought when I set off on my travels, I’m cool, I have an iPod…not so. Having an iPod is the same as having a mobile phone over here, the little white headphones shining proudly from every orifice. Not only that, people put their iPods on full display, not discretly hidden from view - if that was the case in England you would be begging for some CHAV to come and do you over.

Where Did All The Fat People Go?
Not a fat person in sight round these parts, slightly chunky maybe but no-where near the standards of the sights you see on TV. Berkely seems to be a bit more health concious, I have only seen ONE Mc Donalds so far!

I spent the afternoon doing some manual work. Helping Tom to clear out some of his garage - take note Granny.
Had ham and veg for tea and watched some of the Olympics.

Took off from Heathrow at bob-on 11am as promised and was carried smoothly accross the Atlantic by Cosmic Girl.
The 11.5hr flight was easily coped with thanks to the fantastic selection of films, there were about 30 to choose from so I watched: The Constant Gardener, Serenity, Wallice and Gromit, and 40yr Old Virgin (very funny). The Virgin stewardesses provide some entertainment for bored eyes too

Arrived in SF at 1.30pm their time, half an hour earlier than expected.
Felt like a true criminal as I was finger-printed and had my retina’s scanned - fortunately it wasn’t just me, every foreigner entering the US has to do it these days….phew.

Uncle Tom kindly met me at the airport and took me on a brief tour of Berkeley and the University Grounds, before taking me to his fantastic house on the hill. The weather was beautiful, 10degrees and very clear, I got a fairly good pic of the sunset over the bay.
Completed my 20hr day with a lovely beef stew (thanks Tutten!) and plenty of red wine to wash it down!…very sleepy after that!

This morning we took a drive and explored the local area a little more and I got some good, if a bit hazy, pics of the bay.
In the afternoon we went for a swim/hot-tub at the local Country Club and I managed to cram in 20mins sun-bathing. Its about 12-15 degrees today and bright sunshine.
This evening we went for a meal at, Spenger’s, one of the many fish restaurants down at the Berkeley Marina. Oh yeah, and I saw my first real-life racoon too!

TTFN

For my up-to-date ticket schedule, please see the Virtually There website. I have added a link in my Travel Links section on the right or click here.

Wow, time has certainly flown, its only one week til I go away! Eeeek!

Just to fill you all in on what i’ve been up to; I finished work at the end of January and have had a relaxing time since then, getting up late and sorting various things out for my trip. I have also had time to say goodbye to many of my friends (and i’m sorry to the ones who I haven’t).

It was a night round Buxton on Friday, thanks to Snip, Pooley, Ern, Mikey, Stu, Comp, Phil, Scotty, Fletch, Laura, Helen, Kim, Vez, (and anyone else who I might have missed) for coming out and making my last night out in the Buxton Town a great occasion.

On Saturday it was Manchester and thanks to Ed, Helen, Cat, Katie, and Kate for a fantastic night out on The Town. Oh and of course to Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton for posing in this funny pic

The pics from Saturday night can be found here.