Here it is - the post you've all been waiting for - or something like that. This is part five of my travel blog posts - so get your sweet arse to the previous four if you haven't already.
Last weekend, a crowd gathered. A crowd of like-minded, well meaning individuals. Their mission? To find wineries. And taste wine. And be merry. Did we achieve said mission? Let's find out...
This post features the following stellar cast: Our gracious hosts, @alltwiedup (Charla) and @theppmonster (Tom); Pennsylvania sweetheart @dangrdafne (Sharon), our fabulous and charming designated driver (A million times thank you, Sharon!); The common law couple @jaymes805 (Jamie) and @amandakmelby (yes that's her full name); and the fabulous @norcaltwitard (Kate).
L-R: Tom, Amanda, Charla, Kate, me, Sharon, Jamie
We stayed at Charla and Tom's in Vacaville, CA. It was great that they were happy for us to take over their house, and their plumbing. I don't think too much more needs to be said about that, huh Tom?
snake jokes R us
On Saturday, we piled in the van, with Sharon at the helm, and headed to Napa. I think I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story. There's also a nice little vid at the end for your viewing pleasure. You're welcome.
Winery number one
Mocha gets a taste
Kiwi Ed has discerning taste
He also has fun with bottles
Charla gets her groove on.
Sorry Amanda I couldn't resist!
Yeah, that's right. I posted that shit. Never mind 'what goes on tour, stays on tour'....
TwipolarWife sent us a box of goodies (girls not included)
The real star of the weekend, Miss Bella Hicks
Goodbye time with my favourite couple
Not long after leaving Napa, it was time for me and Kiwi Ed to leave California for the Pacific North West. My 100 Monkeys experience.... coming soon!
Laters, baby.
For anyone wondering about the 'ma na ma na' in the heading... I'll be requiring the reply in the comments, thanks.
Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying playing along at home. Go read my last three posts if you haven't already.
As I made my way further north I stopped in San Francisco. A really close family friend from home lives in Berkeley so I was able to stay with him and spent a few days doing touristy things in the city. I was fortunate to have more great weather (and a little fog!) and really enjoyed just wandering around absorbing the city.
Here are a few highlights.
Alamo Square. Famous for lots of movies - but to me, they'll always be the 'Full House' houses!
This was as much as I ever saw of the Golden Gate bridge. And driving over it in an open-topped tourist bus = FREEZING COLD!
The carousel at Pier 39. This place is rather tacky tourist heaven. Meaning that it is chock-full of souviner shops and anything you could possibly imagine with 'San Francisco' printed on it! I embraced my inner geek and had lunch at Bubba Gump's. Been there, got the t-shirt.
San Fran has some pretty funky architecture! Makes for great photography. (yes, I do say so myself).
Then I was off to Alcatraz. I've been a bad, bad girl. Kidding. If you ever get a chance to do a night tour of the prison island, I HIGHLY recommend it. You need to book well in advance as it sells out, and I can see why. The tour lasted for over three hours, and was fascinating.
There is a comprehensive audio tour, spoken by former inmates and guards. It really takes you back, and combined with being there in the evening, it was just a little spooky to say the least!
I also came across a particularly spooky prisoner. He's very lucky he didn't get left behind. Good thing he's impossibly fast and strong, he just made it to the ferry on time.
A few days later (after Napa - post coming soon) I had one more day in the Bay Area. I decided to take a ferry to Sausilito for some relaxed tourism!
I'm really sad to hear there's snow in New Zealand right now...
San Francisco city with Alcatraz in foreground.
Another partial view of Golden Gate!
Sausilito is a lovely spot. There are some really nice shops (I bought some rather slightly expensive earrings) and lovely park areas. I may or may not have fallen asleep on the grass in the sun. It's a hard life.
Here we are for part three of my travel fun. If you haven't read parts one and two, go there first (please)!
So, the further I get behind in these posts, the shorter the text is going to be and the more photos... this chapter covers a couple of days last week as I wandered my way north from San Diego towards San Francisco.
The first couple of days after I got back from Las Vegas were spent chilling in San Diego. On Saturday I wandered around the waterfront area, which is gorgeous:
Amazing scultpures along the waterfront
Amazing statue of a returning soldier and his WWII girlfriend
It was such a gorgeous, warm sunny day. One of those days that, when you're on holiday, you can just chill out and revel in the fact that you have nowhere to be and no time pressures. A girl could get used to this!
That night, after @Jaymes805 took FOREVER to arrive, we had a hot date! We had a lovely dinner at a beachfront rooftop restaurant with @TwiredJen & @Elusive_S (Jen & Sarah).
Sarah, Jamie and Jen get their smile on
Kiwi Ed was feeling left out. Sarah was quite enamoured by him (I think he 'glamoured' her). But, she was clearly wearing vervein, because she was unaffected. Wait, am I getting my vampires confused? She took her revenge like this:
"Take that, Sparkle Boy"
Apparently she HAD to lick him clean.
We headed down to the beach for an impromptu photo session. Clearly Jen was taking it seriously.
I hope she sorts that face out before her wedding
Next morning, Jamie and I headed north, but not before breakfast with @LuvsmesumEdward and Short Stack:
Cutest. Kid. Ever!
Then we were off on our roadtrip to Jamie and Amanda's house in Shell Beach. After about a billion bathroom stops (I finally found someone with a weaker bladder than me! Hoorah!) Eduardo greeted me at the door:
Amanda also fell under Kiwi Ed's spell, Jamie just hid behind her computer. I think she was skerred.
I had my first In N Out experience. Oh. My. God. I WILL be going back there.
The next morning, Kiwi Ed and I embarked on our second driving adventure, north to San Francisco, via a night in Monterey. We drove up Highway One along the coast, beautiful. Looks quite similar to home (hint hint, come to New Zealand!).
Reliable navigator. And Kiwi Ed.
San Simeon
Elephant Seals north of San Simeon
"It doesn't say 'Do not feed ON the wildlife"
Carmel Basilica
Stay tuned for episode five, San Francisco...
*excuse the fucked up spacing in this post. I hate Blogger.*
WARNING: Loooooong post ahead! (Oh, and if you haven't read Part One, go there first please).
On Tuesday morning, @TwiredJen dropped me at Avis for my biggest challenge yet - DRIVING. In America. On the other side of the road. On the other side of the car. I'm not going to dwell on this except to say it was fucking scary as hell and I am UBER proud of myself for driving from San Diego to Las Vegas and back without killing myself. Or anyone else.
The first point I need to make is that it is FUCKING HOT in the desert. Seriously. 106 degrees? Firstly I had to remind myself that we're talking Farenheit here and that, although it felt like it, it wasn't actually six degrees above boiling point. For those playing at home, 106oF equals 41oC. I know, right? MELTING. Right. I've got that out of my system now...
So this post is a mish-mash of two days that were JAM PACKED with touristing. I'm basically just gonna post a whole bunch of pics and try and give you a run down... try to stay awake.
The Las Vegas sign is nowhere near as large as it looks in the movies. Camera trickery has clearly been used many, many times because that bad boy is comparitively tiny! The first thing I did in Vegas was go and see Mystere by Cirque du Soliel at Treasure Island. What a great show! Highly recommend.
As for Vegas itself - one word sums it up. INSANE. Seriously. No wonder people stay inside, it's so hot, but also, what a fascinating place to just sit back and absorb. I love to watch people and the crazy shit they do, and Vegas is just the place for some prime people-watching. Brides and grooms walking around, drunkeness on a massive scale, and people just glued to slot machines, at all hours. I walked through the MGM Grand gaming floor at 7.00am and could not believe the number of people there.
I don't know how to describe how I felt in Vegas. Maybe it was because gambling and partying weren't on the agenda for me, or because I was travelling alone, but I just felt... overwhelmed. And a little sad. I can't really explain it apart from to say that I'm glad I went there, so I know what people are talking about, and what the place feels like, but I will not be sad if I never go back there again. Unless of course it is to see the fabulous @Rikki_DD again, but more on that later. It's not a coincidence that I don't have a billion photos of the strip - I really didn't spend much time there.
So anyway, onto one of the single greatest things I have ever done in my entire life: visiting the Grand Canyon. There's a reason this is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, people. If it's even remotely possible for you, sometime in your life, GO THERE! Here are some pics of my adventure.
I was picked up at 7.30 in the morning (hence my wandering through the casino) outside the MGM Grand. I was on a small tour, only ten people and a guide, Randy. Once I got over the fact that he was called Randy *giggles* I found out he was an awesome guy, a musician who does tours on the side. So there's me, Randy, a single, somewhat repulsive dude from New York state named David, and a family of eight from New Jersey. All I can say is that if I ever meet @SnarkierThanYou and @JennyJerkface, I shall love them before I judge them by their accents. Cos ten hours with this family of eight was.... trying.
First stop was the Hoover Dam, on the Nevada/Arizona border. That big ol' line you can see above the water level is where the water used to be. Apparently there's a danger it'll be dry altogether in another 20-30 years. This is not good. But it is pretty.
Those pillars on the left are in Arizona. The ones on the right are in Nevada. In the background you can see the new freeway bridge that just opened to divert traffic from crossing the damn.
About an hour later, we pulled into Bumfuck Nowhere, Arizona. They had a gas station with air conditioning and cold water, and that was about it. Oh, and Charlie was there. Apparently he fixed up Bella's truck and gave it a new paintjob.
Gorgeous scenery, huh? These are Joshua trees. Who knew they were a real tree? Thanks, Bono. Get this. They grow 1/4 inch every year. That's real slowly. And there's your useless trivia fact #1 for this post.
@NixHaw - this shot reminds me of the mountains in the north of South Africa, I can't remember what they're called, but I thought of you.
So to the canyon itself. Wow. Just wow. I went on the Skywalk, that big platform you can see sticking out. It is made of strengthened glass. Now, I don't know if it's because I've done loads of 'adventurous' things before in my life, or if I'm just not easily pleased, but I didn't find this to be anything special. I found that standing on the edge of the canyon (where I took this photo from) much scarier, especially since there's no barrier rail. My advice to you is not to bother spending the extra $$ to go on this 'adventure'. Besides, you can't take your camera up there.
Eagle Point, Grand Canyon West. A. Maze. Balls. (can you see the eagle?)
Sadly, we lost Randy.
Kidding! There was a ledge famed for fake 'oh no!' photos. Here's Randy taking a pic of David. I was NOT going down there myself.
Kiwi Ed, on the other hand, is a daredevil. He is very lucky to still be with us.
He was muttering something about Spidermonkeys when I took this shot. No idea....
This is a stuffed mountain lion, mounted in the lodge where we had lunch. Annnd it all comes back to Twilight. I had to keep Kiwi Ed restrained at this point.
By this stage I was absolutely exhausted and slept most of the 2.5 hour drive back to Vegas.
After a quick freshen up, it was time to meet @Rikki_DD! Rikki is the coolest chick! She is a Vegas local and picked me up in her Cullen Car - tinted windows, Carlisle style. Soooo cool:
After squeeing and hugging, we were off to Madame Tussauds wax museum. Our goal? Find Rob and molest him. Sadly, he wasn't there. We were not happy. Instead we (and Kiwi Ed) took to leaning on, groping, and generally invading the personal spaces of as many celebrity waxworks as we could.
Weirdly, blogger is being an a-hole today and won't let me upload pics from Madame Tussauds, mostly because they're all portrait rather than landscape. So, I'll leave you with this pic of me and Rikki, and one day when I am back home I'll sort out the other pics and do a post then. I can't be bothered right now, and here in the San Diego sunshine I'd rather be outside than fiddling with my computer!
Cheers! Episode Three will follow in a few days - San Diego to Monterey. Laters, baby.
UPDATE: I finally managed to upload my Grand Canyon video to YouTube:
