Even managed to catch a rainbow
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Bridge
Al and I get on best when there is something we both want to look at, he tolerates botanical gardens and art in the same way I tolerate racetracks and car museums, the trip to Nova Scotia was ideal because it had stuff we both wanted to see... ships, rugged coastline, old buildings. Luckily one of the things we both like looking at is bridges and San Fransisco has its fair share of those, one in particular you are all wondering if we have seen yet, well, yes, we took a trip up the hill to get the best view and the sun came out to greet us.
Even managed to catch a rainbow
Even managed to catch a rainbow
Washed Away
It wasnt looking good from the moment we woke up, more rain, we were hoping for better weather like there seems to be at home at the moment but, what the heck we are on holiday, make the best of it!
The drive back was quite pretty when it stopped raining for a moment or two, lots of sweeping curves round mountains and valleys. Dunc wouldnt have minded the rain like I do, its never been my best driving conditions but I manned up and kept driving
The Sonoma valley we drove through is wine country, I dont like wine, its a waste of a clean glass and the US drinking age is 21 so there wasnt any point in stopping apart from to see the neat rows of vines growing. Then it dawned on me.............grapes need water and water comes from ....RAIN so at least the grapes were happy, and probably the ducks too but I didnt see any!.
One of the problems with American wildlife is that you dont recognise it when its run over beside the road.... there were a couple of big "somethings" but no idea what!
wine country... happy grapes!
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Drive Thru
California Redwoods grow all the way up the coast but the biggest ones are up north, way up north it turns out ...400 miles up North to be precise!
Dunc wouldnt have baulked at the drive, I have to admit to being just a teeny bit apprehensive considering I had only a days practice at driving the monster.
Anyway after nearly 400 miles of this........
we came across this.................
No, I didnt attempt to take the monster through, it has a reversing camera but it would have needed cameras all round to convince me to take large car through a hole in a tree !
Old trees and ferns have this sort of primeval feeling about them, they are 2000 odd years old but not back to the epoch they remind you of . You kind of feel sorry for the tree, 2000 years old and someone decides to turn it into a tourist attraction for people to drive though, Thats America for you, drive through McDonalds, drive thru banks, drive thru trees............
Giants
The Avenue of the giants is a drive through the Redwood trees, some were really massive and even made the big car look small, it started to rain as we were driving through but there was so much canopy that it didnt really get wet until we rejoined the main road.
Dunc wouldnt have baulked at the drive, I have to admit to being just a teeny bit apprehensive considering I had only a days practice at driving the monster.
Anyway after nearly 400 miles of this........
we came across this.................
No, I didnt attempt to take the monster through, it has a reversing camera but it would have needed cameras all round to convince me to take large car through a hole in a tree !
Old trees and ferns have this sort of primeval feeling about them, they are 2000 odd years old but not back to the epoch they remind you of . You kind of feel sorry for the tree, 2000 years old and someone decides to turn it into a tourist attraction for people to drive though, Thats America for you, drive through McDonalds, drive thru banks, drive thru trees............
Giants
The Avenue of the giants is a drive through the Redwood trees, some were really massive and even made the big car look small, it started to rain as we were driving through but there was so much canopy that it didnt really get wet until we rejoined the main road.
Laguna Seca
part of our family travels has been calling in and random race circuits throughout the country, usually I managed to avoid most of them it was a Dunc and Al thing!Anyway it falls to me to continue the tradition so heading down the coast we tracked off to visit Laguna Seca
Every teenage boy in the country has driven this track numerous times, in some racing game or other Al, knew the track well, we headed uphill to the "corkscrew" and watched cars on a track day taking the famous corner at speed..........one of them was the same car as Al's new car....oh dear, he really has bought a fast car at the age of 20
The thing I liked best was seeing Al happy and interested, he did try to explain some of the features but .....well you try explaining the content of your degree to your mum!
Every teenage boy in the country has driven this track numerous times, in some racing game or other Al, knew the track well, we headed uphill to the "corkscrew" and watched cars on a track day taking the famous corner at speed..........one of them was the same car as Al's new car....oh dear, he really has bought a fast car at the age of 20
The thing I liked best was seeing Al happy and interested, he did try to explain some of the features but .....well you try explaining the content of your degree to your mum!
Monday, April 6, 2015
Massive
Not just the plane, we didnt get a good look at it from the outside but we already know its massive, the view from the wings is of a massive engine and a massive wing, the angle of the windows stops you seeing very much outside unless the plane is banking steeply.
The bathroom at the front was massive, you could have held a party in it, the Purser said she got 12 people in it on her training course, and another of the crew said they got 20 in it on his training course, glad they enjoyed it.
The car is massive, I booked a mid size SUV to practice driving one for Alaska in the summer, I am going to have to sleep in it in Alaska because I am too scared to camp in a tent in bear country, I could book hotels and bed and breakfasts but thinking back to the trip Dunc and I took to Washington state, it was far more fun to camp!
The car takes some getting used to, its high and huge, goodness knows how Lis manages to drive one every day, I suppose she has grown up with them but for me its like driving a tank, it has a reversing camera so I can at least reverse it even if its with a great deal of trepidation.
The Howard Johnson in San Bruno............hmm imagine your room opening out on the breakfast area of a hotel, people eating their breakfast while you wash your feet....atctually the hojo is at the lower end of the scale in hotels but San Fransisco over the Easter weekend was never going to be cheap so no point wasting money on somewhere we arent going to notice much after a marathon 11 hour flight.
Big Sur
Driving down the pacific coast highway it was well.... coastal , there is an area called Big Sur which is the best part apparently, it was winding and a few good views over the side, I think I have been spoiled by previous travels, it doesnt have the craggyness of Nova Scotia or the Scenic appeal of Hawaii but it was scenic enough without having any wow moments.
The bathroom at the front was massive, you could have held a party in it, the Purser said she got 12 people in it on her training course, and another of the crew said they got 20 in it on his training course, glad they enjoyed it.
The car is massive, I booked a mid size SUV to practice driving one for Alaska in the summer, I am going to have to sleep in it in Alaska because I am too scared to camp in a tent in bear country, I could book hotels and bed and breakfasts but thinking back to the trip Dunc and I took to Washington state, it was far more fun to camp!
The car takes some getting used to, its high and huge, goodness knows how Lis manages to drive one every day, I suppose she has grown up with them but for me its like driving a tank, it has a reversing camera so I can at least reverse it even if its with a great deal of trepidation.
The Howard Johnson in San Bruno............hmm imagine your room opening out on the breakfast area of a hotel, people eating their breakfast while you wash your feet....atctually the hojo is at the lower end of the scale in hotels but San Fransisco over the Easter weekend was never going to be cheap so no point wasting money on somewhere we arent going to notice much after a marathon 11 hour flight.
Big Sur
Driving down the pacific coast highway it was well.... coastal , there is an area called Big Sur which is the best part apparently, it was winding and a few good views over the side, I think I have been spoiled by previous travels, it doesnt have the craggyness of Nova Scotia or the Scenic appeal of Hawaii but it was scenic enough without having any wow moments.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
A380
The BA fleet of A380s is expanding and having missed the flight trials because of Dunc being unable to fly, I have never been on one, well never been on a BA one, there was this trip with Air France in 20101 who needed the practice in taking off and landing so they ran their A380 between Heathrow and Paris CDG at the weekends in normal service, just like normal service, the fare was only £40 odd so we spent a day in Paris and had a bus tour just to make a trip of it.
I remember we were upstairs and Al was sat behind us, even 5 years ago he was holding his own in conversation with a fellow plane geek......I have to admit to being proud of him, I think the highlight for him was asking for and getting a can of Heineken on the trip out!
The really cool thing about the Air France version was the tail camera so you could see what was going on outside
I dont know if the BA one has it too- something to check out.
We had a great time in Paris for the day, loads of sights, loads of photos, hard to pick my favourites but here are some I took
I remember we were upstairs and Al was sat behind us, even 5 years ago he was holding his own in conversation with a fellow plane geek......I have to admit to being proud of him, I think the highlight for him was asking for and getting a can of Heineken on the trip out!
The really cool thing about the Air France version was the tail camera so you could see what was going on outside
I dont know if the BA one has it too- something to check out.
We had a great time in Paris for the day, loads of sights, loads of photos, hard to pick my favourites but here are some I took
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Where was I again?
End of term and another of the school landmarks crossed off the list, a very short term as it turns out 4 weeks and 4 days of teaching, well actually 8 weeks work crammed into 4 weeks and 4 days..... that's why its still March and I am on another holiday.
News update
The poor cruiser had been making a load of noise from the front end for a couple of months, eventually with the noise becoming deafening and the ABS and Traction control lights on, the airbag light on,
The maxim "well the worst it can do is stop going" was uppermost in my mind when it occurred to me that it was actually stopping going. Luckily Al and his mate brought his Alfa down from Hatfield for me to drive, its not a rocket but at least it moves and stops unlilke mine! I will have to get a new car before the end of May when the tax and insurance run out on the Alfa especially as its least endearing feature is that the heating is stuck on hot and with no back windows to open, its like a sauna in the summer.
2 weeks and the plan is
More compost
I have no idea where it goes, I had 5 bags of compost and topsoil delivered last year and it went nowhere, not just small bags either, cubic yard bags, digging was one of the things that helped me last year, Steve took me out into the garden the day after Dunc died and declared that we were going to tidy it, I spent months out there getting on with the plans we had made for the garden, not quite how Dunc would have wanted it, (he wanted to knock the shed down) I painted the shed and left it standing, built up some of the floor and put up some shelves for the collection of tools and junk that we had amassed over the 6 years here.
The Alfa has limited room for compost, Al's new Toyota has no room for more than one passenger, let alone any compost and the cruiser can comfortably fit half a dozen 125l bags, something to add to the criteria for a new car...must fit 6 bags of compost
News update
The poor cruiser had been making a load of noise from the front end for a couple of months, eventually with the noise becoming deafening and the ABS and Traction control lights on, the airbag light on,
The maxim "well the worst it can do is stop going" was uppermost in my mind when it occurred to me that it was actually stopping going. Luckily Al and his mate brought his Alfa down from Hatfield for me to drive, its not a rocket but at least it moves and stops unlilke mine! I will have to get a new car before the end of May when the tax and insurance run out on the Alfa especially as its least endearing feature is that the heating is stuck on hot and with no back windows to open, its like a sauna in the summer.
2 weeks and the plan is
- Gardening
- Tidying
- Trip to San Fransisco
More compost
I have no idea where it goes, I had 5 bags of compost and topsoil delivered last year and it went nowhere, not just small bags either, cubic yard bags, digging was one of the things that helped me last year, Steve took me out into the garden the day after Dunc died and declared that we were going to tidy it, I spent months out there getting on with the plans we had made for the garden, not quite how Dunc would have wanted it, (he wanted to knock the shed down) I painted the shed and left it standing, built up some of the floor and put up some shelves for the collection of tools and junk that we had amassed over the 6 years here.
The Alfa has limited room for compost, Al's new Toyota has no room for more than one passenger, let alone any compost and the cruiser can comfortably fit half a dozen 125l bags, something to add to the criteria for a new car...must fit 6 bags of compost
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