San Francisco and Monterey

From one extreme to another. We arrived at our lovely boutique hotel in San Francisco looking slightly worse for wear after our hike through the woods. The ground in the forest had been very sandy and it had kicked up so all our clothes had a thin layer of greying sand. Thankfully a mere twenty minutes after arriving we had spruced ourselves up enough to make our way down to the dining room where there was a complimentary cheese and wine evening.

The hotel was the first this holiday to acknowledge the fact that we are on our honeymoon. They had provided us with a chilled bottle of some sparkling wine from a local vineyard, which was really delicious. Before we popped it open though we went out to explore a bit of the city.

We knew San Francisco was hilly but the shots of the city in films do not prepare you for just how steep the hills are, and there are so many. It was quite fun negotiating our way down to the bay. We had a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was going down as we made our way down to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Attempting to get back to the hotel though was very tiring, and the temperature had dropped as 

the sun went down. We gave in to the inevitable and hailed a taxi to help us on our way.

The following morning we woke up to the infamous San Francisco fog. The hotel provided a courtesy car to take us in to Union Square in the heart of the city. We stumbled upon a Macy’s and couldn’t resist a look. I managed to get a dress that had been discounted three times in the sale. Not a bad find at all.

We bought a ticket for the trams and spent a long time waiting for one to arrive that had enough space on it for us to hop on. Not a very efficient mode of transport. We realised these must only be used by tourists. 

We took the tram as far as Lombard street (apparently a very famous street which I have never heard of, but which was very picturesque). The street is so steep it has a series of hairpins bends built in to it, all surrounded by flower beds. I wouldn’t fancy driving down it.

We just had time for another stroll down the further end of Fisherman’s wharf before racing back to our hotel before check out time. As we had left it quite late we got another taxi and had a great driver who pulled over to show us the house where Mrs Doubtfire was filmed, as we drove past it. The front doorstep of this house was again covered in floral tributes for Robin Williams.

We then began our next part of the road trip with a comparatively short drive down to Montery Bay, our home for the night.

Once at Montery Bay we got back in the car (it felt like we never left it at times!) so we could complete the scenic Seventeen Mile Drive round Pebble Beach Golf Course. We were presented with a map on our way in with a list of twenty two places of interest on the drive, the most iconic being the Lone Cypress tree, which sits on a rock just off the coast, and it the symbol of Pebble Beach. 

In the evening we strolled down towards the pier, indulged in some fish and chips from one of the many, many fish restaurants, and then came across a small shop/bar offering wine tastings from a local vineyard.

We were amongst only six customers in the bar (and later discovered that two were friends with the owner). The girl running the bar was very friendly and explained a lot about the wines on the tasting menus. We both tried a different menu so we could sample as many as possible. The vineyard owner was there for a while as well and told us how he had got started. The chardonnay may have been the nicest wine we had ever tasted. We were very disappointed that the shipping they offer is only within the United States. Chatting to the others in the bar it turns out that one of the friends used to live in London, and knew Camden very well indeed. We made him promise to bring a bottle of the Chardonnay over if he’s ever visiting again!

Road trip: San Francisco via Glacier Point & Mariposa Grove

When we went to bed it was a warm 30 degrees but during the night it dipped to 7! We were frozen when we woke up and shivered into the communal showers at 7am.

We were packed up pretty quickly and ready to hit the road. Our trip would take us first to Glacier point which overlooks the Yosemite Valley, then south east to Mariposa Grove with the giant redwoods before heading north to San Francisco.

On the way up to Yosemite Valley we stopped at Tunnel View for our first stunning picture of the day.

Just after Tunnel View there was literally a long tunnel. Much to Fiona’s displeasure I revved Bobo and wow it sounded great!

We reached the turn for Glacier Point fairly promptly but were shocked to see it was a 16mile drive. Lesson of the day Google maps makes everything look closer than reality. Undeterred we drove up and it was actually a fun drive and surprisingly not too twisty. The best bit about it was that we saw a bear. I actually spotted it before it bounded towards the car in between the trees, and as we drove past it we were able to see it cross the road behind us. It was quite small, possibly even a cub.

High on adrenaline from our bear encounter it felt like seconds later and we were at the top. I’ll let this panorama do the talking:

After taking hundreds of photos we drove back down (no bears unfortunately) and onwards to Mariposa Grove where the giant redwoods reside.

When we arrived at Mariposa Grove we again discovered that a walk around the redwoods would be far longer than originally thought. We were hiking for 1hr 20 ascending 1000 ft without really the equipment for it. And it was hot. Despite this seeing the trees were amazing. We were ants in comparison.

After Mariposa Grove the rest of the drive was uneventful apart from the slightly scary end of navigating the Bay Bridge (5 lanes wide and full of traffic) and driving into San Francisco but we made it safe and sound.

Miles: 279.8. Time: 6 hrs 22 minutes. MPG: 24.7

Road trip: Yosemite

Up bright an early for the longest road trip of our honeymoon:  Vegas to Yosemite village. The route I had planned was to go west to a small town called Pahrump, through Death Valley and then north to Yosemite.

The drive to Pahrump was straightforward and we stopped to fuel up and get breakfast in the Walmart. Ironically this shopping trip cost more than Ceasar’s buffet! Once we were fuelled up we drove west and into Death Valley.

The further west we went the hotter it got, peaking at about 44 degrees. It was a long, windy road passing sand dunes, bare cliffs and several lookout points. The gradient change was awesome descending as low as -100ft below to 5000 ft above sea level. The end of this stretch of road was the best part with lots of sharp bends followed by long straights. Bobo was in his element. (Fiona was not).

When we reached the top of Death Valley we got our first glimpse of the granite mountains that border Yosemite. For 150 miles we travelled northward through Lone Pine, then Big Pine (which was ironically smaller than Lone Pine) before reaching one of the few entry points into Yosemite at Tioga Pass.

Tioga pass could not have been more different to Death Valley with lots of vegetation, beautiful lakes and more cars. There is safety in numbers! The road snaked up and down in between the trees for about an hour before we reached our destination in the centre of Yosemite: Yosemite village.

Our accommodation in Yosemite was the complete opposite of Bellagio. Firstly we had only one solid brick wall, the rest of our “room” being surrounded with canvas curtains. We had no running water, one electricity point and no bedding (later rented for $2.50). We also did not have a door and instead had a flap where anyone (including bears!) could enter. To “prevent” the threat of a bear entering the tent we had to put all smelly things in a locker next. Unfortunately Fiona could not fit.

I honestly would love to see a bear. The ones in Yosemite do not attack humans and are actually conditioned to be afraid of us. In fact the instructions if we see one were:

1. If in camp, make yourself big as possible, make noise and scare it away. Stand your ground
2. If hiking in woods, stop. Walk around. If charged stand your ground as it will be bluffing.

With everything locked away in the locker we headed to get some food. Pizza in the nearby Curry village (false advertising as there was no curry available). Curry village itself pretty much consisted of a patio with tables with a small shop, the pizza stall and a bar, and another campsite just beyond.

After food we had a hike back to camp where we crashed out, and managed to avoid any creepy crawlies.

Drive time:  8 hours: Milage: 440 miles: MPG: 24.8

Vegas Buffet

On our last day we decided to engage in the well-known Vegas tradition of the buffet. After some extensive research by Gerard on the subject we settled on the Bucchanal at Ceasar’s Palace, with the reputation as the best buffet restaurant in the city. We managed to create a whole new meal concept – Brunchinner. We starved ourselves beforehand and then, having eaten more than should be humanly possible, we vowed not to touch another bite for the rest of the day – though we did partake of the complimentary champagne in the casino later that night.

Counting up everything I had tasted I had tried a total of 21 different dishes. 4 days on Gerard has challenged me to try to remember what they all were (Unfortunately I don’t remember the names of them all but I’ll do my best):

• Kung Po chicken
• Beef noodles
• Chicken lo mein
• Special fried rice
• Shrimp pasta
• Meatball
• Mussels
• Prawns
• Crab claw
• Paella
• Quesadilla
• Parmesan fries
• Sautéed green beans
• 2 different types of ice cream with hot chocolate sauce
• Chocolate lava cake
• Chocolate and raspberry tart
• Hazelnut praline bar
• Fresh berries

I swear – these were all tiny portions each! (Gerard:Lies)

Gerard’s dishes:

• Parmesan Fries
• Maple bacon
• Red Velvet pancakes
• Melon platter
• Mussels
• Pulled pork slider
• Meat lovers pizza slice
• Meatball
• Crème pesto pasta
• Beef taco
• Chicken taco
• Salsa with Tortilla chips
• Lava cake
• Salted Caramel bun
• Chocolate and raspberry tart
• Chocolate praline
• Vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce

To give you an idea of the scale of the buffet here is a video of the dessert counter:

The rest of the day we explored the north end of the strip and enjoyed some more time at the pool before heading out to the Mirage and the Venetian in the evening. We had known for a long time about the dancing fountains outside of the Bellagio, but were very surprised to see an exploding volcano outside the Mirage. It went off every half hour in the evening and you could feel the heat from the pyrotechnics from across the street. 

Gerard had a final go at Roulette and managed to claw back some of his money from the night before. Then we were up bright and very early the next day for a long, long drive onto our next adventure.

O The Grand Canyon

Busy day today. We woke up at 6.30 ready for a 7am pickup for a helicopter trip to the grand canyon. I will be honest and admit to being a little nervous but I need not have been. Taking off from McCarran airport the pilot hovered a few feet above the ground and guided it aground the terminal to a short runway where we then tilted forward slightly and sped up to take off. It was very loud and can totally appreciate the headphones but as we ascended we were both amazed how smooth it was.

We proceeded East across Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. As we flew the pilot provided some information about what we could see. Interestingly Lake Mead is a man made lake (largest in the world). Hoover Dam is of course in loads of films none more famous than Transformers 2.

Flying past Lake Mead we  ascended above the Colorado Plateu and dived into the grand canyon. It was brilliant snaking through the twists and turns.

After landing in the canyon we had our Champagne breakfast and took some photo's of the surroundings and the helicopter.

We also got to swap seats for the return trip. I was up for going in the front and surprisingly so was Fiona. What a sensation taking off! Video:

We briefly made another stop for fuel slightly south west of the Canyon before proceeding back to Las Vegas via the Valley of Fire. A rugged terrain which was bright red from all the iron yet to be dug up.

The final part of the journey was above the Las Vegas Strip. Very cool. The pilot told us that there are more hotel rooms in Vegas than all the hotels in Europe. 100000+ in Vegas. Struggle to believe that is true but still a ridiculous number of rooms. Double the number of people in Livingston though! and 5x the number of people in Galashiels. Pic and video of strip:

There and back again by 11am. High on Adreneline and now slightly hungry we headed to the Mirage burger bar BLT as recommended on trip advisor. Pretty good. The fries (we are american now) were awesome. While in the Mirage we grabbed a couple of photos, another pretty swish casino, before heading over to Venice and Saint Marks Square. Only in Vegas can you visit New York, climb the Eiffel Tower and get a gondola ride in Venice in the same day (not that we actually bothered).

After this we headed back to the Bellagio for a few hours to relax by the pool. As a surprise for Fiona I bought tickets to see the Cirque de Soliel. Hand over to Fiona to describe the evenings events:

All dressed up in our best glamorous Vegas outfits we headed down to spend time in the Bellagio's casino for the evening. We tried our hand at Roulette and Black Jack, without much luck, and stood at a Craps table trying to work out what on earth was going on, eventually giving up on it. 

We had about an hour before the show, and having hit our nightly limit we headed to one of the bars within the casino for a drink before the show. We had to be assigned a table by the staff as some were reserved. About fifteen minutes before we had to head off a few people arrived at one of the reserved tables, then a couple more arrived too. We heard one of the first people say jokingly, "Ah here's my bodyguard" and recognised the voice as Jack Nicholson! We checked with the waitress to be sure, and she not only confirmed it but pointed out that the person next to him was Robert De Niro. Once he started talking it was undeniably him, but from the back (which was the only terribly blurry picture we could get) you would never know because he seemed to have dyed his hair. As I rushed to post to facebook Gerard noticed that the other man in the party was, a slightly leaner looking, John Goodman. If there's a movie with these three that comes out in the next year or so I wouldn't be surprised. 

We couldn't hang around for long speculating though because our show was starting at 10 pm. Cirque du Soleil was amazing. Such a unique show and full of mind-boggling stunts. I loved my surprise present. When it finished we were understandably rather exhausted. What a day! Loving Vegas. 

Road Trip: Destination Vegas

We both woke up at 5am clearly still jet lagged and decided to head to Vegas early. Although it was before 7am the hotel still provided us with pastries to take with us which were tasty although I am slightly concerned the crumbs will attract the bears in Yosemite but will cross that bridge when we come to it.

After filling the Mustang up at a gas station we set off and joined the nearby Freeway. Even at 6.30 it was very busy. So busy in fact that we joined and ended up accidentally getting off the next junction as we could not move into the lane. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it was so busy and loud having the roof down it simply made no sense. Once roof up we rejoined the freeway and this time we managed to stay on it. Our route took us through the center of LA and then North East to interstate 15. 

We did not rely on Google maps for directions. I had decided to buy a sat nav from amazon and collect it in an Amazon locker. Cheaper than renting one from Hertz and navigating the streets was a lot easier with it. One of my better ideas.

Once out of LA the trip became enjoyable. The road was pretty quiet and the scenery was great. The further we went the hotter it got but the mustang kept growling away. I decided on the name and came up with Bobo. He's gonna get you.

We stopped at prim, a small town on the border of California and Nevada, to do some outlet shopping. I got some polo shirts and Fiona (who took a lot longer) got two tops at Calvin Clien for a bargain.

The last stretch of the journey went very quickly and we were soon in Vegas. The length of the strip and size of the hotels is unbelievable. Pulling up into the Bellagio in our mustang was great although bizarre feeling when willingly handing the car keys over for the valet parking. Not sure if I would do it if it was my own car. Journey statistics: Total miles: 273. Time Taken: 5.5 Hours. MPG 27.4

Although we arrived pretty early (12) our room was available and we were pleased to find that it overlooked the dancing fountains. We did not stay long in the room though as we were now hungry so decided to go get our first Chipotle of our trip. It was as big and delicious as the ones in NY. The walk to Chipotle cemented our disbelief at the size of the hotels and the heat. It is hot. Certainly on par with Egypt and Jordan.

Once night fell the fountain show started and it's great. Its smaller than the one in Dubai but much better songs. From our room we can watch them and listen to the song the water is dancing to by tuning into channel 22. Favourites so far are Viva Las Vegas and All that jazz.

We headed out of our hotel for a gamble in Caesars but could not resist a few more pictures.

Caesers was massive inside and we very quickly got lost. Fiona asserted that she knew where to go but it turned out that knowledge came from watching Friends episodes. Getting lost we discovered an indoor shopping mall and their version of the Trevi fountain. Not as good as the original but still pretty cool.

Eventually we found the Roulette table but unfortunately not our day at the tables. Tomorrow is another day though and we will try and get our money back after a wee trip to the Grand Canyon!

Hello Hollywood

A very long day of travelling (26 hours long to be exact) brought us all the way from Stockholm to Los Angeles. We crashed out and I woke up with a jolt at 2 am, thinking it must be at least 10 am by now (funny enough - given the 8 hour time difference that's what time it would have been in the UK). I thankfully managed to fall asleep again though until a more reasonable hour.

Our day started with a stroll along Hollywood Boulevard, only 2 streets away from our LA hotel. We had a nosey at the walk of fame - but only some of it because the street is miles long with stars on both sides - and we very easily found the Chinese theatre with all the hand and foot prints. Gerard was delighted to find that his hands (the subject of many jokes since his ring size is off the charts) were the same size as Robin Williams', and smaller than Schwarzenegger's. Not so unusual after all. On subject of Robin Williams his star on Hollywood Boulevard stood out as many people had left a tribute.

Just next to the Chinese theatre was the Dolby theatre, where the Oscars are held every year. Inside the walls are lined with dates, and the name of the Best Picture winner from each year. We also got a great view of the Hollywood sign - such a familiar sight, it was strange to see it in person.

Leading up to the viewpoint was a twisty red carpet with various anonymous short stories about how people made it in Holywood. This one in particular, apart from giving us a chuckle, highlighted how cut throat the place is.

Afterwards a trip to the beach was on the cards - something that was easier said than done. LA is vast. Unbelievably huge. With barely any public transport. On a tip from the hotel staff we both signed up to the Uber app and actually managed to get free Uber taxi trips to Santa Monica pier and back as new members (kerching). On the way the journey was half an hour, but with the traffic on the way back it took twice as long. The taxi trip was an eye opener as on the map both areas don't look that far.

Santa Monica was a really cool area. I have never seen a beach as long, or as wide, and all so clean.

The pier housed a Bubba Gump shrimp restaurant with a Forrest Gump tribute outside. Gerard has managed to capture the moment I realised just how hot the bench had become in the mid-day sun!

We walked for an hour along the boulevard towards Venice beach and back and then stopped at a Mexican restaurant/bar called Cabo Cantina for lunch where we forgot about the massive portion sizes and ordered starters and mains. Needless to say we didn't eat for the rest of the day.

The next adventure/mission was just around the corner.It was time for us to pick up the hired car and for Gerard to get to grips with driving on the other side of the road. We had ordered a convertible (when else will we get the chance eh?) and were given a Ford Mustang. This means much more to Gerard than me so I'll let him update about it in the next blog.

To give Gerard some time to practice we headed up to the Griffiths observatory just in time for sunset for some panoramic views of the city. There was an added bonus of having a chance to view Saturn through a telescope when it got dark.

All in all a fun and busy day in LA but we can't help but feel even more excited about tomorrow's destination. Vegas baby!