Category: Simon

So, a trip back to Yosemite, under the ruse of doing another walk to get a better look at some big rocks, but really to catch a glimpse of a big bear/other such dangerous wildlife. The first informaion sign was promising, warning of mountain lions, and how children should be kept close by, and if one attacks, attack back (We weren’t sure if that meant biting it, but we were prepared). Then turning the corner, crowd were all staring off to the side, it turned out to be a bear! Actually, it didn’t look that ferocious, it just ignored the people staring and just carried on foraging. The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful after that, no lions, just a lot of squirrels (frightening things making noises a lot like bears…), until the end where we saw another bear and cub. Interesting how they were all near the campsite we passed, glad I’m not camping there! Cat – does that beat your bear sightings? Yours seemed a bit closer though, not the bigfoot style picture we took!
Then to the Tioga pass, the back door to Yosemite. The 40 mile road is closed through the winter due to snow, hard to believe when you’re in the valley roasting at 90 degrees. It could be any other main road through a forest, but then you whizz past the sign that marks 9000 feet, that’s well over twice the height of Ben Nevis!
Andy – just had another Jack in the Box, mmm! 🙂

Where else better to write an update than sitting on the BART platform waiting for the ride home (there’s some crazy jazz playing to the left, and a sleepy Caroline to the right). Today was Alcatraz, island of the famous prison where no one has ever escaped, nearly. That should really read no one has escaped from, but some went “missing”, as 3 wily individuals spooned their way out, but were never found again, presumed drowned. Now correct me here, but if you escape from the country’s maximum security prison, you’re not likely to make yourself known to the first policeman you find. Nonetheless, an impressive place, even if I did wander round thinking of the film “The Rock”!
Next up was a great bar that only does draft beers, everything from the local (Miller *Genuine* Draft) to the exotic (well, Strongbow and Newcastle Brown on draft). Then as my eyes perused the labels for the next tipple, I was drawn like a simpleton to the comically named Moose’s Drool. After asking the bar keep about it, he claimed it was a brown ale, better than Newcastle’s (Dad, John, I put up a fair protest, but to be fair the drool has a malty tang, and doesn’t make you ill after 1 pint…)
P.S. Hats off to Cat who managed to religiously write something on her blog everyday, for us, these things are like buses, 2 coming along together…

The first full day of being a tourist! Spent most the day walking around the city (feet did not appreciate that!) Following the wise advice of guide books we got the cable car in town, avoiding the queues at the wharf. The ride was fun and quite smooth, even though the driver warned us to hang on everytime we set off, and there was only one of those classic San Franciscan hills as you’d expect from the movies.
The bus driver on the way home was a cheerful chap, and to prove the world is small, his dad lives in Glasgow, and he knows the captain of the ship taking us to our Fijian island. He also told us that we’d need to drink a bucket of Cava to get any effect, will have to remember that one! (Cava’s a mild narcotic Fijian drink)
Haight Street for dinner, where the hippy movement started off, although unless hippies have taken to talking to themselves and rummaging through bins, they were nowhere to be seen 🙂