The last few days we set aside to relax and just unwind after all the driving around so we didn't do much so I'll just go over the highlights.

The next day we had to do washing though when we got there we found the change machine was out of order. We scraped together all the coins we had and found we just barely enough coins for one wash between us. So we washed enough stuff for the rest of the trip. With the wash issue sorted out we grabbed some food and drinks.

The next day we went to a book shop bought a load of books and discussed American revolutionary history as taught in English schools with a book store employee who looked a bit like a thin Kevin Smith. We did a lot of reading on our veranda enjoying a selection of adult beverages. Finished 3 books in the time. Found the aircon really was not working well and sitting out on the veranda was the only way to remain cool it got quite hot at nights since there were no windows that could be opened.

On our last day we spent some time out photographing the sunset due to having to book our seats on the internet we were just a touch late for it and barely caught the sun as it was going down. Still got some nice shots of it. After that we went to the Stinking Rose a garlic restaurant that had been recommended to us by Debbie at Rich's surprise 30th a few months earlier. We had a pitcher of Fat Tire beer between us and various garlic themed food. On the table there was a jar of garlic to spread on the bread we made moderate use of it. I had Garlic and potato soup to start and for the main course I had “The Silence of the lamb shank” a lamb shank with some fava beans and a chianti glaze and of course garlic.

It was excellent the lamb very succulent and just falling off the bone it was also quite garlicky.

For pudding we had Gilroy's famous garlic ice cream with some sort of caramel sauce. We had already experienced Gilroy itself as we drove through it earlier in the trip and parts of it are loaded with garlic such that you can smell it for several miles.

The ice cream was quite interesting … powerful stuff. Unfortunately you can't just tell someone what garlic ice cream is like … you have to experience it for yourself.

Everything still tastes of garlic.

Next morning was flying back day, we sorted out the room and checked out leaving our bags with the hotel we wandered off and got some breakfast. Once we were fed we did a bit of shopping picked up some postcards and bits then headed back to the hotel to wait till it was time to go to the airport.

We collected our bags and were looking to sort out a taxi the guy on the bags desk suggested a shuttle which since we were not in any hurry and it was cheaper we went with. A short wait later the shuttle turned up it was one of these slightly stretched vans with room for maybe 8 people. The driver immediately engaged us in conversation about Cliff Richard, then asked us if the Shadows were still alive (they are and are about to start their 50th anniversary tour or so says wikipedia), then quized us on who the guy on the radio was (Phil Collins). After that either pleased with our responses or disgusted by them he lapsed into silence for the rest of the trip.

He flung the van through the streets of San Francisco with wild abandon beeping the horn semi randomly and weaving like a pro. We picked up one more passenger then were off to the airport.

We arrived in pretty good time and so got on with the business of checking in, dropping the bags, and passing security. Byrnie was selected for extra security screening and got a pat down search and had the wand thing waved over him but they didn't ship him off to gitmo so all was well.

Then there was a few hours of waiting and then onto a plane for yet more waiting. I read another book and watched a few films even managing to doze a bit. Saw “The Hangover” which was pretty good better than I had expected from the trailers, “Terminator Salvation” which was meh, the excellent “Hudsucker Proxy”, and most of the Simpsons Movie.

We landed about lunch time UK time and once we collected our luggage and got through passport control and customs it was coming up for 2. The rail air whisked us back to Reading and then we grabbed a sandwich at the subway in Reading station to get some real food.

At this point we went our separate ways me on a train home byrnie on foot since he was already homeish. Looking back it's been a pretty good trip some highs some lows but all in all a very good time. It's back to work tomorrow and it'll all seem like a distant memory in no time.

So next year is Vancouver … probably :D

Today we head back to San Francisco for the last few days of our trip. We planned a fairly direct route but due to SF but by a series of mishaps and poor directions we managed to take the more scenic route along the coast. It was the first time our implausibly large and yet detail light map of California actually came in handy in plotting a route across to the airport. This thing is roughly a3 size about a centimetre thick and covers the whole of California just not in very useful detail. This time since we only needed major roads it was able to point us in the right direction, in the past it's been too low resolution to be any good.

We got to the airport more or less on time had a little trouble finding a petrol station to fill the thing up having to double back before we could find anywhere. Byrnie was getting a little annoyed with the whole setup by this point. I've discovered that nothing seems to annoy him more than driving in the US, and if he's doing so with no breakfast his already short fuse is practically non existent.

We dropped the car and then took a taxi back into the city. This time we were staying at the Sheraton which was pretty close to the previous hotel just a few blocks over which we must have walked past many times but for some reason never spotted, this might be because it looks like an apartment building from the outside.

The room was a pretty good the air-con was a bit weak and the room was quite hot but we had a veranda with two comfy chairs overlooking the pool which compensated a little.

We bought some drinks then retired to the hotel room for a rest watching NCIS on the tv which for some reason always has bright red skin tones making all the cast look like tomatoes. This must be deliberate because no other program on the same channels on the same tv has the same problems.

We hadn't have time for breakfast or lunch so we were feeling a bit hungry we decided a good steak was the order of the day so we headed out to Houston's a place we had been to last time. I had a Caesar salad to start then the special Rib Eye rounding the meal off with a slice of key lime pie. The food was excellent we washed it down with a few Martinis.

We wandered back feeling pretty full and tired.

Today we headed down to Big Sur just down the coast from Monterey. It's a very pretty part of the coastline of California where highway 1 runs.

I drove and initially the signs were not good dark cloudy and not very picturesque. The cloud was in low banks hovering just above the ground making it cooler and overcast. It reminded me a bit of the cloud we saw in New Zealand but not quite as low. We got to the coast fairly quickly and stopped to take a look. The clouds or fog blanketed everything at this point.

From various sources we had heard that there was a very picturesque bridge called Bixby bridge (not sure if it's named after Bill Bixby the guy who played Dr Banner in the incredible hulk but I doubt it) we were expecting something memorable like a fancy suspension bridge or some wrought iron construction. We passed a fairly nondescript reinforced concrete bridge with an arch to it without even realising it was Bixby Bridge. As it is it's an unremarkable concrete bridge, we didn't stop to take photos of it.

We paused a bit further down now that the fog/cloud was clearing a bit and saw some of the coast as well as some large birds of prey circling around using the thermals.

In order to counter the extreme disappointment of Bixby bridge we went round past Big Sur itself and into Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where there is the McWay waterfall. Named for Christopher McWay a pioneer from New York. We first had to pay for parking using a system of posting a ten dollar bill into a small box in an envelope which had massive amounts of questions and tick boxes on it which you had to answer. We also discovered the local trails bar the waterfall look out were closed due to fire … our subconscious pyrokinetic powers strike again just thinking of visiting a place is enough to have it burn.

I also found a display on local birds which listed the birds I had seen circling above as Turkey Buzzards. We had a walk down to the falls it was a nice easy flat walk and at this point on the coast line the fog and mist was gone so it was completely clear and the view was spectacular.

The falls were set into a very pretty bay with deep green water. There were also lots of large patches of seaweed or kelp as a lot of the coastline of Big Sur seemed to have. The falls were not very high, and I could find no world height ranking for them which makes comparison with the falls in Yosemite impossible. I would say they were probably smaller than the bridalveil falls but without a world ranking I can't say definitively.

We walked up to the observation point further up from the falls lookout and took in some more view of the coastline then walked along the cliff a bit to see further up. The views were pretty good the deep green of the coast with the bright blue sea and sky was very picturesque.

We headed back to the car pausing to take in the high point of the stop … the pelton wheel.

A while back the McWay creek had been used as a hydroelectric plant using the water to turn a pelton wheel (An impulse turbine one of the most efficient forms of water wheel using newtons second law to extract energy from a jet of fluid) interestingly the one-piece cast impulse turbine was invented by Samuel Knight of Sutter Creek (where we visited the gold mine earlier in the trip) but this chap Pelton made it more efficient.

The hydroelectric plant no longer operates and now all that remains is a little hut with a Pelton wheel inside. This was pretty underwhelming, it's more interesting now from having looked it up on Wikipedia to find out some details on what the thing actually is beyond just a water wheel.

After the Pelton wheel we knew nothing else was going to compare so we headed back to the hotel. As we passed Big Sur and towards Monterey the fog/cloud rolled in again, this time seeming more intense than the last time a small corridor of visibility just above the road.

We got back had some beers and watched a James Bond Marathon. Rounding the evening off with late night nachos and for me quesadillas name after a band I've never heard of.

Tomorrow we head back to San Francisco for the last few days of our trip, while it's not over yet it's starting to wind up.

Today we head over to Monterey it's about a 178 mile trip. We were running late and didn't get going till around 11am with checkout at noon. So it was a bit of rush to get ready packed and get out. We ended up checking out while we were still in the room moving stuff out. It was only by a few minutes so no big problem really.

We headed to the car and hit the road. It was pretty easy going once we got a little out of the hills it was pretty flat and straight. We've gone from twisty up and down hair pin bend roads over cliffs back to flat as a pancake straight as an arrow stretching into the distance.

We stopped for some lunch at a McDonald's and changed drivers then off we went again. As we were going we noticed a big plume of smoke on the horizon. As it got bigger it became clearer we were headed straight for it. It turned out to be a pretty big fire blazing across the hillsides. We could see planes and helicopters dumping water on the blaze. It turned out to be right next to the highway possibly initiated by a burnt out car we could see.

The whole area round here is dry as a bone and the fire risk in the whole area is very high. Any source of ignition will set off quite a blaze. The traffic inched past the fire in a single lane and we could see the firemen working the fire.

We headed past the fire and towards Gilroy that had a lot of various vegetable and fruit growing and regular stores selling stuff. There was also an incredible smell of garlic so I guess they grow that around the area too.

Pretty soon we arrived at Monterey and our hotel Casa Munras. We had a few issues finding the place but with some GPS magic we located it in the end.

Interestingly the place has no air-conditioning only windows, considering earlier in the day it was 106 degrees Fahrenheit of 41.1 C this seemed a little odd but I guess on the coast with the sea air it's cool enough for only windows. It also seems to be full of noisy teenagers and since to keep the temperature good the windows are open this is something of an issue.

Tomorrow we plan on driving around Big Sur and maybe taking in the aquarium should be good fun.

Today we spent most of the morning sorting out the tire. With some negotiation with Avis they recommended we get the tire patched locally and then they would reimburse us for the cost. We found a local tire place (literally across from the hotel) who repaired and refitted the rear tire in half an hour or so for 15 bucks.

Now with a functional car with all wheels and no need to drive at low speed we went for a celebratory sandwich. Once we had eaten we sort out our gear and headed into Yosemite.

It was pretty late in the day so we headed straight in as quickly as the crazy roads would safely allow. We thought about heading up to Mariposa Grove where a load of really old redwoods were but the car park was full and time was short so we went straight into the park. We first headed up to Glacier point which is a lookout over the whole of the Yosemite valley. On the way up we stopped a bit before the peak to check out the views.

There were some really spectacular views of the mountains and we spent a while taking photos. We also saw a deer which came out of the woods. Once that had toddled off we went on to Glacier point. There was a nice walk up to the high point which looked over the whole valley. The views were pretty good if a little obscured by smoke. There were some pretty bad fires in the area that were blanketing the valley in smoke. We took some more photos then headed into the valley.

On the way down we got a look at the fires across the valley that had caused our detour yesterday. A lot of area was burning and you could see the helicopter dumping water on the fire. It was filling the valley with smoke and was obviously covering a huge area of the forest. This was apparently a planned fire that got out of hand, the forests Sequoia trees need fire as part of their life cycle so the forestry people did manage burns to maintain the forest. This one just got a little out of control.

We headed into the valley as the sun was beginning to get low in the sky. We stopped at the bridalveil falls one of the many water falls in the valley. It was a short walk into the forest to see this very impressively tall water fall plummeting from the high points of the valley some 188 meters. It's apparently rated 431 in term of height in the world ... amazing what you can discover on wikipedia.

We took regular stops on the one way loop through the park looking at the impressive geography. What was not so nice was the number of small flies that would swarm around us when ever we stopped. As the sun set we stopped in the valley which had some great views. It also had a herd of deer who had settled into a meadow for the evening just their heads and antlers poking out over the grasses. As it got dark we took some more pictures then got in the car and headed back out of the now dark valley.

As we drove up out of the valley we could see the fires now that it was dark we stopped to take some pictures of the forest ablaze. In the dark you could see the area that was on fire which was quite large.

It was getting a bit late by then so we headed out of the park, some driving around later we were out of the park and stopping at the local supermarket for some supplies.

We had some beers some lasagne and some crisps all while watching the new rambo film probably the most unnecessary gratuitous film I've seen. All the enemies appeared to be not people but actually very light thin gelatine bags filled with jam. So a single shot from a gun caused them to fly across the room and spray jam everywhere.

Tomorrow we head over to Monterey so naturally we stayed up late.