I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO

I never expected too but Tony Bennett was right, this is one heck of a city.  It is really rich and diverse with so much to see and do, a long weekend was just not enough.
Everywhere you went there were fantastic street musicians playing all kinds of different music from blues to boogie, blue grass and even assorted drummers wonderful.

We were 23 floors up in our hotel and had the most wonderful view of the Bay Bridge from our balcony which could be seen peeking out between the sky scrapers.

Our friends joined us for the last part of our trip and we spent the afternoon in the roof terrace at Macy's at the Cheesecake Factory.  Oh my goodness I have never seen so many cheesecakes in one place, so much choice, where does a girl begin to choose.

This was our final choiceyummy.

The portions were so huge that we all shared, I would not mind but we had a small lunch there as well which was a big as a large one here.  My goodness the Americans sure know how to eat.

Finally we returned using the cable car - you can just make out theBay Bridge at the bottom of the hill.

As I say a wonderful vibrant city and one we will definately return to.

Now we are back in good old Blighty and if I can just get over this jet lag!!!

YOSEMITE - THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SKY

Yosemite has to be seen to be believed, it is just beautiful, the scenery is breathtaking and blows you away.

Playing in the snow in shorts and sandals now that has to be a first.  Hubby built his own little snowman.

The giant Redwood trees in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park.  They are huge and not even the biggest ones in the area.

Well that is all for now - our next stop is San Francisco and we might not have internet access whilst we are there so will say goodbye for now from the good old US of A.

Mind you we don't actually have a date to fly home as British Airways originally cancelled our Sunday flight due to the strike which is now off.  We are not sure when we are going to get home as we rebooked on the Monday flight and now they are saying that we might not be able to have that one as the industrial action will start again on that day and that our original Sunday flight is booked up.  Oh well one thing  I am sure of is that they won't let us stay forever..

CLOUDY IN CARMEL AND NO SIGN OF CLINT

Nobody told me it would be be bloody freezing in California...my friend said just bring shorts and tee shirts so unlike me that usually packs for England I did as I was told.  Just as welll I bought that jacket as it was the only thing between me and frost bite - I exaggerate slightly but it was darn cold.Apparantly Carmel has a foggy season which happens to be May.  The fog rolls off the sea and sits on the mountain behind and cannot  go anywhere and does not burn off. 

On the way through to the town we paid a visit to the Carmel Mission which has been lovingly restored and is well worth a visit.

The gardens to the mission were very peaceful and we sat for a while just taking in the tranquility of it all.

As for Carmel after an hour of wandering around what is a very qaint smalll town that is filled with tourist shops - very expensive tourist shops I might add - we decided that the car would be a warmer option and we hopped back in and drove up the coast line to the Big Sur.  We will come back later we thought, hopefully by then it might be warmer.....

As well as being foggy it was extremmely windy and I risked being blown over the top every time I got out to take a photo, I risked life and limb to have this photo taken, back a bit, back a bit....

Hubby sat inside ther car for most of the journey, well he is the driver, heater on full blow,  not for him the bitter cold - his little knobbly knees had only just warmed up.  I must say the views were worth it with the crashing waves and sea mists making for an atmospheric journey and when we got to the Big Sur the sun came out which meant we could stop and have a coffee in the sun and warm up properly.

As for Carmel we waved at it  on our return through the fog as we drove by - never even got to see Clint!!!!

Looking at the weather forecast  itis not warming up any time soon and as we have a cabin waiting for us in Yosemite which is in the 80's we have decided to head on up there a day early, will see you there.

IF ITS MONDAY IT MUST BE MONTEREY

We are now on the coast at Santa Cruz and today took a trip up the shore line to Monterey.

We visited all the tourist spots, Cannery Row, made famous by the author John Steinbeck which no longer cans sardines but cans the tourist instead with shops and eateries.

After stopping off there we decided to take a walk around the coastline to Fishermans Wharf, again this was rather touristy (what do I expect it is a tourist destination after all)....

Round by the wharf this gull was tucking into a roll that was nearly as big as he was.  You can almost see the glint in his eye daring you to come and get it at your peril.

The walk around to the Wharf was quite a way but it was well worth it as we suddenly heard a very loud honking noise, we looked over to the sea and this is what we saw.

There were hundreds of seals basking on the rocks.  Apparantly they are Harbour Seals and they were taking in the spring sun,

Room for one more..... There were actually four of them sunning themselves on this tiny little rock.  I don't know what you think but sometimes nature beats man made hands down.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

Now then I am sure you are thinking to yourselves what the heck that does not look much like good old blighty and you would be right I have flown across the Atlantic, across the USA and we are in Northern California.

We are going to be travelling around a bit and I will try and show you some pictures and let you know what I am doing and what finds I come across, so welcome to my holiday trip, join me if you want.

Our first port of call is a little old town called San Juan Bautista. It sits slap bang on the San Andreas fault line but we were fine and did not feel even a hint of a tremor. It has the oldest mission in California and is a very quaint place plus it is filled with the kind of shops I just love.  If you follow me through the door I will take you on a small tour of the town.

San Juan Mission

The gardens of a wonderful Mexican restaurant The Plaza Hotel where the ladies of the night would stand on the balcony.

I had to laugh when I saw these two chickens - reminds me of the joke "Why did the chicken cross the road".  This pair were obviously playing chicken with the cars that were going up and down the road.

How is this for a jacket, I just could not resist it, it was in a second hand shop for $12.00 and fitted me a treat so that was buy number one and then I came across a wonderful set of floral shaped bead necklace with matching earrings which I will put in the shop on my return.

FARAWAY IN FARTHINGSTONE

I had a lovely day today Ann & I had a stall at the Bay Tree Cottage Open Day in Farthingstone, the sun shone and the venue was one of the nicest we have attended.

I am leaving the blogging of our fair to Ann but am going to give you a sneek preview of part of our stall...

Ann knows the village very well as most of her mothers family orignate from there but I had never been before and as it was such a nice day I was very crafty and left Ann to man the stall while I had a walk around the village with my sister who had come over.

I have to admit to peeking over the wall to see this wonderful garden

The local pub which Ann advises is like being in someones front room - they even have a three peice suite to sit on.

I know the next two photo's are a little strange but I loved the graveyard of the local church it was so well kept.

There was a demonstration of whicker basket making in the gardens and the man who was making them Bert agreed to pose with a sweet pea willow trainer that he was making - and guess who's garden that is going in....yes you guessed correctly.

If you look behind him the display is of vegetables and flowers in quirky containers, they have used a chest of drawers which was fully planted up - now that gives me an idea.....