Coastal Delights, Great Nights, Frightening Heights

Well, we've seen and done some amazing things since Andrew picked me up last Saturday from Cheryl and John's house in Redlands.

We headed to Laguna Beach for two nights which was great - we spent the days exploring the many beaches in the area, having a couple of picnics, wine and cheese, romantic dinners, and spending time recovering - me from the GSE , and Andrew from his week of rock climbing.

On Monday we had lunch with Tim and Julie (my GSE hosts from Temecula) as we will be staying at their house in Canada later this week. It was great to catch up with them again and fill them in on the various adventures.

We then headed up the coast - stopping at San Luis Opisbo where we found a great wine bar / restaurant - completely by accident! Next it was Highway 1 and the Big Sur and I have to say this is the most spectacular piece of coastline I have ever seen!! We stayed a night in Monterey, dining at Montrio, which had come very highly recommended from my Riverside hosts - the food was really great, except for the large piece of plastic I found in my meal - a little embarrassing for the high class establishment. We also went whale watching while we were there - spotting some beautiful humpbacks.

Then it was time to head to Yosemite National Park - which despite the masses of people (think thousands of people camped in one valley) was absolutely amazing. On the Thursday we did the gruelling 18 mile hike up Half Dome (about 9000 feet) in 100F (38C). The last few hundred metres required us to go straight up on cables which was a little frightening - especially since we read in the paper this morning that someone slipped on the cables and fell to their death two days after we were there. On Friday we were a little sore and hiked (well limped really) around the valley. Yosemite is a beautiful place and I hope we make it back some day.

We then headed to Lake Tahoe for the weekend where we had beautiful views of the Lake from our campsite. There we did more hiking and some kayaking and had a icy cold swim in the waters of the Lake.

On Sunday afternoon we visited Sacramento and then toured the Napa Valley - lunching and wine tasting, before buying some supplies from Dean and Deluca - we definitely need this store in Perth, and having a very gourmet camping dinner.

We are now in the wonderful city of San Francisco and plan to spend the day exploring the city over the next few days before flying out to Canada tomorrow night.

I hope everyone reading this is well and I'll post again from Canada - sorry for only a few photos - I'll post some more when we find a faster internet connection.