Lake Tahoe to San Francisco

Well our time away is almost done but not without a few more days in the Escargo and a visit to lake Tahoe.
On our way there we passed through Angel Camp and stopped for lunch at Sue's Cafe. There does appear to be a literacy issue in some places. Needless to say we avoided the soup!



We arrived at Lake Tahoe and stayed at Zephyr Cove where we had a nice sunset to enjoy.



It's a very nice place and I imagine really gets busy in the ski season.
We also made friends with the chipmunks. I want one!!



Finally it was time to say goodby to the van and head into San Francisco. We have been enjoying shopping and we went to the baseball.
See if you can spot the ball in the photo.



Great seats but Sue was hoping to catch a ball. No luck there but a great atmosphere and Giants won the game.


Roasted peanuts anyone?

Today I decided to photograph the city in black and white.





Tomorrow we are off to the Castro so we can finally feel in the majority then it's fishermen's wharf and Alcatraz. Then home. We will be flying while the Grand Final is being played. We have also been putting place stickers on the uke case as we have been traveling so I'll photograph it at the end.
Be seeing you all again real soon.

Uke complete me!

Location:San Francisco

Yosemite!

For years now I have dreamed of Yosemite. I've watched countless climbing films on it,looked at it in photos and dreamed that one day I would see it for myself. To actually stand under El Capitan and half Dome. Susie has shared my dream and watched many of the films along side me,so she was just as excited to see the place for herself.

That dream has finally become reality and has for filled a long standing desire to see probably the worlds best climbing destination.

The drive in is a long one but very beautiful with pine forests and flowing rivers.



Then you pass into the park.



The first views down into. Yosemite valley are worth pulling over for a photo.



And then when you least expect it there is the 7000plus high wall of El Capitan.



And further into the valley you get to see Half Dome.



How's that for a sunset photo?

What an amazing place.

We managed to get two nights accommodation at a place called Housekeeping. Basically a solid tent with a camp fire set up. All food had to be removed from your car and placed in solid steel lockers so the bears don't get too it. It's a huge fine if you don't do it and your car is towed.
They warn you about the bears but failed to mention the raccoons. One of which I found swinging off the rubbish bag before I'd had a chance to take it to the dumpster. The same raccoon then shot past Sue coming back from the toilets, scaring a few years off her.

I booked a guide for a day and went climbing in Yosemite in the shadow of El Capitan. Amazing rock to climb on.



This is one of the routes I climbed,all about the hand,finger and foot jam. I did a 5 pitch multi pitch which took a few hours and then a few single pitches. Unfortunately the rock got very hot and I'm now nursing heat blisters on my fingers.



We walked to Vernal falls. A very steep climb and we both did a great job getting to the top. It was a long steep climb then the stairs started!








This is from the top looking back down the valley,that's the trail to the left of the river.
On the way down we were even given a rainbow.



After we got back down we then walked to mirror lake and I got a cool shot.



We finished off the day with a few photos,including this one of me and uke under half dome.



The famous midnight lighting boulder.



And a closer view of El Capitan.






All in all well worth the visit and to stand under El Capitan and watch big wall climbers was a real treat. I do intend on coming back one day to climb half dome, I'm sure sue will be sporting binoculars to watch that one.
Uke complete me!

Location:Near Yosemite

One horse towns

It's been a little while between blogs as once again we have been in a wonderful national park. This time it was Yosemite and what a place it is. I will be doing a separate blog about Yosemite as I've lots of photos and stories.

Before then I have to fill you in on our travel to Yosemite.
After we left the grand canyon we knew it was a few days travel so we decided to split it up with a few overnight stops.

We looked at the map and our RV camp guide and decided on Indian Creek. sounds good doesn't it? Well....Indian Creek is located near a large prison and an even larger military base and nuclear testing site! We pulled into and straight back out of the hotel car park. And watched a drone plane landing. weird! We were very near area 51!

Back on the highway and after one more sketchy town we settled on Beatty.
A serious one horse town with tumbleweed rolling down the street.



We found out the only place to eat was the stagecoach casino!
Off we went and found it a little way down the highway and what a place it was. 24 hour casino and attached diner.
The meals were amazing. $10 got you a huge meal,endless coffee or soft drink a true American diner experience.
And the casino wouldn't let us leave. We were there for four hours and came out on top.
We even went back for breakfast and I had biscuits and gravy with my eggs over easy.
Next stop was June Lake. A little known place not on the tourist circuit so just great and the sunset was a ripper.






The woman at the RV park warned me that bears walk through so secure all food. I thought she was joking.....she wasn't,however we didn't see the bear.
We met some great people at this place and had drinks with them around their fire. A great place to come fishing and no tourists.

Next stop Yosemite.

Uke complete me!

Location:Near Yosemite

Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon

Well it's been a while between blogs and there is a reason for that. I've been having too much fun and no power or Internet where we have been.

We spent a night in Vegas. It's not a place I would be racing to go back too. Take the Casino,add in King Street and the seedy end of St Kilda, mix with some bits of Thailand, cover it with huge neon lights and you get the general drift.
We walked the strip, visited a couple of famous casinos. Watched the fountain at the Bellagio, lost a little money and left.

Next stop the Grand Canyon.

Actually we made a quick stop at the Hoover Dam. We had to go through security searching of our vehicle before entering but it was cool to see it.




The Grand Canyon....wow! It sure is grand, and pretty big too.


We even took a helicopter flight over it. You really need to come see it for yourself. Sue and I sat on a ledge and just stared at it. It is so far down that we both had trembling legs.






We spent two days at the canyon in a very cool campground where we had a campfire at night and again enjoyed s'mores.
We then drove around to the north rim just to complete the visit. Our camp ground came complete with elk grazing nearby and squirrels caching pine cones for winter. All very cool.

Uke complete me!

Location:June Lake

Joshua Tree

Only one word is needed to describe Joshua Tree National Park....awesome!
It's an amazing place full of Joshua Trees, vibrant wildlife and mountains of rock.



It is known in the climbing world as a destination and I can see why. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of what it's like.



This is a Joshua Tree. Basically a yucca on steroids. And the rock was a very course granite.



We stayed the night in the National park. This place is the home of the road runner and the coyote. We didn't manage to spot either of them but we did manage to see a meteorite. Like a shooting star but 50 times brighter and just hurtling across the sky.
What a peaceful night although I did disturb the quiet for a little while with some uke playing.



Sue and I went for a number of shorter walks to see some rock formations among other things. We were amused by this sign and couldn't resist.



After the quietest night so far it was back on the road to Las Vegas. We pulled over at Amboy to reset the GPS and these people were taking a photo of themselves in the road. Odd! Till I looked at the road itself.



So we then took pictures of ourselves in the road.
All along the highway there are banks of letterboxes that I found interesting. Note that I also discovered my camera does black and white.



Now we are in the bright lights of Vegas. My highlight was tipping a busker playing ukulele. Tomorrow we head for the Grand Canyon.

Uke complete me!

Location:Las Vegas

The wonders of Disneyland

We had a nice night at Newport after failing to stay at Laguna beach, our GPS decided we wanted a crazy route and it got late. Our campsite was among the best air stream trailers. Can you spot our RV.



How cool are they?

We finally made it safely to Anaheim. That after about 8 hours driving and a number of wrong turns.
Unfortunately for us our GPS decided to live up to my pet name, 'The Mole!' We were trying to skirt around Los Angeles via the coast road, the mole had other plans for us and took us right through the middle. This included every six lane freeway she could find. Then she would tell us to go straight but on her map show the exit! What THA! I think she was more confused then us most of the time. We missed our exit twice and did a complete turnaround as well as twenty minutes going completely in the wrong direction!
We eventually got here and I'll give you one guess where we are.


Do we look like the biggest pair of mouseketeers you've ever seen?
And YES we have our names on the back of them. And yes that is a ukulele hawaiian shirt I am wearing.
We went to California Adventure park on the first afternoon then Disneyland itself all day today.
Sue went on the scary rides and I held the bags.



If you look closely in this photo, bottom left. That is Sue,on the tower of terror and yes her eyes are closed and that is terror on her face. Some crazy elevator ride where it plummets to the ground.

Today at Disneyland the rides are a bit tamer and we went together on them. Some are just amazing and are good fun.

I did a bit of ukulele spotting today, there obviously very popular in, 'it's a small world', here are a couple for you.






There is just too much to show you and so many photos. The wonderful world of color show was great as was the parade at Disneyland. We are all theme parked out but glad we did it.
Tomorrow it's on to Joshua Tree National park and hopefully some climbing. Let's hope the roads are nicer and the sooner we get clear of the city the better, I need some open air.


No sue you can't take Jessie home with us.

Uke complete me!

Location:Anaheim

Pacific highway one

We are on the road in our RV. We collected it in San Francisco and drove south. Fortunately we got a GPS unit and she was able to get us onto the open road with the minimum of fuss.
We stopped to take some photos of the spectacular coast.



And bridges, this is not the famous Bixby bridge but instead the other one,that tricks tourists who stop and photograph it, thinking it's the Bixby! And it would appear we too followed with that tradition!...



And of course our van. We have called it Escargo.(said with Mexican accent)



Our first stop was Big Sur. A forest area close to the coast. Here we set up our van under some huge trees right next to a lovely little river. We made s'mores on an open fire,a lovely camp ground.






Today we continued south past a elephant seal colony and some more spectacular scenery.


Tonight we are at Pismo beach and staying at the dunes ranch RV park. A simple park but the dunes are wonderful and Sue and I spent a great afternoon running down the dunes.



The day ended with a wonderful sunset and I enjoyed sitting watching it and playing my uke.

Uke complete me!

Location:Pismo beach