We've had a busy drive round central California, catching some of the major sights and generally having a fab time. Continue reading for more info!
Lake Tahoe is the third deepest lake in North America and is the subject of a song by a band called A which has been repeating in my head pretty much non stop! But anyway, it is huge (22 miles long) and is very clear. After a lovely meal at a restaurant on the beach where we saw racoons and had great surf and turf :D, the next day we decided to go for a bit of a paddle. It was amazing, as although it got pretty deep quickly, we could see all the way to the bottom with its sand ripples. When loading the boats, a guy told us that it was very unusual to be that calm out there – within an hour or so, we saw what he meant when a storm rolled in making a dramatic change to the view. It was at a great view point that we got to see most of this since Macy had a bit of a temper tantrum, overheated and cried. That wouldn't have been too bad if we had any idea what the fluids she was crying were… So we called the AAA and got a lift to Reno.
Our next intended port of call was Reno, and luckily the garage let us take Macy out to sleep somewhere that night, but we ended up spending a little more time and money in the garage than we had hoped. However now Macy has four new tyres, a cam shaft, tracking sorted and no shudder! It seems to have been worthwhile so far and the guy there was lovely so fingers crossed, thats the last time we spend in the garage with Macy…
The people in Reno decided to make a bit of whitewater recreation area right in the middle of the city and it was awesome. It seemed everyone was down there enjoying the sunshine, swimming around or tubing down the features. These were four or so wave/holes which were a little more retentive than they looked – it kind of reminded me of the Barble Bar but warmer, sunnier and well not that like it at all in fact.
From Reno, we finally made it to San Francisco but didn't find any flowers on the way for our hair. What I hadn't realised about SF is the fact the fogs are quite famous there. So although I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, I didn't actually see that much of it! Nevermind. We also drove parts of the 49mile scenic drive which has blue and white sea gulls signs that disappear at pretty much all the crucial points, and one of the highlights is the view from the Twin Peaks which for us, was rather damp and very foggy, and well pretty hard to see anything from. However it did lift and we had a great time wondering around the city, taking a ride of one of the big hills on the cable car, seeing the impressive frescoes in Coit Tower and the amzingly twisty Lombard Street Hill. We also headed to Pier 39, and found that we weren't too late to see the sea lions which entertained me for quite a while. Heading slightly out of the city, we found a cinema and watched the third Pirates of the Carribean which was a great evening – its definitely worth watching!
Now we're sat in a village very near the San Andreas fault, and are heading up north to catch the last of the Californian snow melt rivers before the snow has all melted – we'll definitely have to come back in a non drought year! Its all going great, sorry for the delay in updates and thanks to all those who have emailed, its lovely to hear how everyone's doing.