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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“Hey, I missed you all” |
Hi there, how are you all doing?
Just when you were probably thinking (hoping) I had disappeared for good, here I am, like a bad smell, all over you again. There are 3 reasons for the lack of any blogs for the past few weeks.
1) I actually spent nearly 4 hours at the Grand Canyon bringing things up to date then lost ALL the info 15 minutes before I posted it (OH, HOW I LAUGHED!)
2) Actually I am bored already with this so, on with the story................
I will break this up into bite size chunks.
Orick to San Francisco
Previously on "Paul goes Travelling" we were in a bar in Orick. Normally I would begin with "so the next morning we set off" but this time I feel I have to tell you about "Hawg Wild".
When we drove through Orick our immediate reaction was to keep going REALLY FAST and do not stop for at least 100 miles. It is NOT the prettiest town I have seen. The Bar itself was a wooden shack with its name and several other expletives spray-painted on the outside. Anyway I am always keen to sample the "local" way of life (have you been to the Blue Bell at Ingleby, for Blue Bell read "Slaughtered Lamb"). So, after much pleading, and "Deliverance" type stories from Chad, we entered. What a revelation! Our Host Mark (No 1 Good Guy), had dedicated the past year of his life turning the inside of the Bar into a shrine to Harley Davidsons. We stayed all night, drank 8.7 per cent beer (how do you you do "per cent" on a computer???? From now on I will use "~" oooh I like that, actually does % mean per cent??? I guess so but I prefer "~" and yes!, I have been drinking!!!!!).
At closing time, after 6x32oz beers (about 8/9 pints) and a huge white crab sandwich each plus free pool and juke box we got our bill, of $26 (£13, or £6.50 each) Now that's value!
The end of this story gets a bit messy. Mark invited us back to his house where he proceeded to extend his, already Legendary, hospitality even further (a hospitality we enjoyed immensly over the next 2 weeks, sorry but you will have to make up your own story here). He even allowed us to park overnight in his pub car park. It was a lovely warm night so I decided to sleep on the roof of the car. Unfortunately, at about 2.00am a Harley Davidson ROARED by. The shock of the masive bark of the bikes engine shook me, violently, from my slumber and, in my confusion I missed my grip on the roof and promptly slid, very eloquently under the cicumstances, into a heap on the ground. Thinking things could not get any worse I resorted to sleeping on a grassed area a few metres from the car. That was peachy until the water sprinklers came on 1/2 an hour later. I moved into the car. To finish the story somehow, next morning, the car had rolled 50 meters into a neighbouring garden ALL ON ITS OWN. Mark woke us at 7.30am to bring me back my computer, which I had left in the Bar, and to ask us to move the car over slightly as it was parked on the neighbours cat and was blocking his front door. It was a good night, all told.
From Orick we drove to Santa Rosa, an hour North of San Francisco. Chad met up with a friend of his, Allie, so I took off in PG.
I spent a couple of days in the Napa Valley, sampling all the free wine I could, which was pretty amazing. Then I drove to Yosemite Park, which is a bit like Pallister Park but full of hairy, neanderthal beasts you could not hope to reason with......wait a minute???? (My apologies to PP here). Actually Yo! Semite (see what I did there kids?), would make an awesome name for a kosher fast food restaurant (my apologies to the whole Jewish nation here). It was stunning (ok, I am running out of adjectives here, please send your ideas on a stamped addressed envelope to......).
You have to stay in either of 2, first come, first served, campsites. I was last, so no tent for me. You are not allowed to stay anywhere else so I had to park PG well off the road in the woods behind a huge boulder. I swear the squirrels of Yosemite spent the whole night playing with their nuts ( the dirty beggars!) and throwing them at my car. I was terrified, and spent the night cowering in the back with my back-pack on my face and armed with a spoon, it was all I could find in the dark.
Next morning, having survived the vicious, pre-meditated "attack" of the night before, I investigated Yosemite. It is a valley some 6000 feet above sea level surrounded by vertical mountains and huge waterfalls (5th biggest in the World). I walked 6 miles up to Glacier View, from where you look down over the whole valley. The biggest mountains have names like El Capitan and The Half Dome ( the Full Dome was on his holidays) It was truly............(insert your own adjective here, I am full out..... but let's go with "dead good". See I could soooo do this for a living????).
I returned to Santa Rosa, picked up Chad, and we headed for San Francisco.
The entrance to San Fran. is over a bridge, a bit like Yarm. It was bloody cold, windy and cloudy, a bit like Yarm.......We headed straight for Fishermans Wharf. Initial reaction was uber tacky, lots of cheap souvenir shops out-numbered by hundreds of identical shops selling electronic goods. Further investigation, however, revealed a cool under-belly. The Clam Chowder in a Sour-dough Bowl, at under $7 was delicious.
We parked, as you do, on a street with a 70~ (oh sorry that was per cent wasn't it?.......actuallly no, change of plan "~" is now degrees and "%" is as it should be). ARE THESE THE RAMBLINGS OF A MADMAN????????
We went out, into the North Beach area, drank lots of beer and fell asleep in PG. Unfortunately, due to the acute angle of the car I woke up on the dashboard, with windscreen face.
We went to Alcatraz Island on the Saturday morning. I loved it. As part of the admission you were given headphones and an audio tour detailing the History of the Island. It was a fantastic, thoroughly entertaining and informative day.
That night 3 of Chads friends, who we had met in Santa Rosa, came through so we splashed out on a collective Hotel room. At least the bed was horizontal. We went to a really cool Sushi bar and the crazy kids I was with got Saki bombs to start with. After 3 pitchers of beer and 5 jugs of Saki we were all rolling. Still we made it to a really good bar area around Union Street and proceeded to drink our body weight (A LOT IN MY CASE) in alcomohol. A great night was had by all (mention to Mario, Allie and her friend, I am thinking Claire).
Next morning we drove PG up to Haight Street and Ashbury (where Charles Manson started his fun time, and where the hippy movement reportedly originated). The Annual Haight Street Market was on. We bought some "mushroom"?? flavoured cup cakes, and strange tasting chocolate brownies, from a nice lady with dreadlocks, on the street. They were really tasty but made my tummy feel funny and everything became brightly coloured, and a bit surreal.
A couple of hours/days/weeks? later we to a San Fran. Tram over to the other side of the City, then walked back through Chinatown and then drove over to the Park by the Bridge. All in all just about the best day yet!
Next morning we set off on the Interstate 1 to L.A..................... ................
previous travel blog entry
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