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Time to leave San Fran..
We've had a really interesting time and ticked some big fat tourist boxes. The city itself is pretty and unusual as far as cities go. It's most unique freature is probably the cable trams, operated by levers that grab on to and let go of a cable that continuously runs underneath the road. They're very picturesque and - for a country that goes to great lengths to warn you that there may be "uneven surface" - pretty white-knucklingly exciting too
Had a lovely day trip to Alcatraz on our first day with the wonderful ClaireBrittain who came to join us from her tough ecology research counting bees in sunny californian almond fields. For somewhere that had only ever been a working prison for 30 years there was loads to see and you got a good feeling of what it might have been like to live/be imprisoned there
Alcatraz was also the place where we were warned about uneven surfaces - it was pretty funny. Even funnier (and we're talking couldn't breathe for laughing here) was the description of how to use a signpost:
"You see the signs with the words prison tour? Yeah, well one end of those signs is red and comes to a point. You just wanna walk in the direction of that point and that will lead you in the right direction".
We've also experienced the less-fun aspects of US living. I (Bethan) was ravaged by bedbugs on the second night at our hostel. The downside is that my arms are covered in massive itchy sores and that I can't sleep much. The upside is... ummm.. hopefully it won't happen again! At least I have some idea of what to do if it ever happens again (wash and hoover everything, stick plug-in insect repellent to "genocide" setting).
But back to the good stuff! Yesterday we hired a tandem and cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge to go and look at Giant Redwoods in Muir park. Cycling a tandem is a challanging experience, especially if you're a control freak and you're sitting in the back. After some testing we decided that Simon is the greater and strongest control freak and so he sat in the front and I might have shouted helpful suggestions at him from the back seat. The Jurassic Park trees and sense of enormous achievement totally made it worthwhile.
And now we're off, literally leaving to catch the plane to Honolulu in the next ten minutes or so. If anyone has any suggestions of how to enjoy turbulece then please pass them on. I (Bethan) am not quite zen with flying yet.
- comments
Tits McGee ahh ClaireBrittain! sounds awesome guys! Harris, did you explain to the bed bugs that you were vegetarian and it was really unfair of them to bite you?!
menai Wiilliams Da ni ddim yn jelous really !!!! siwrna saff sounds aweson !! xx
John So is it true that they have signs at the top of ladders saying 'stop'? Glad to hear you're enjoying yourselves - good luck in Hawaii.
Kate Bush Was sooo good to see you - t*** McGee you will have to come see me in Germany when I get back. Hope the lava gets a move on for you xxxx
Bethan t***. If I could have communicated with the bedbugs I would have pleaded a really strong "I won't eat you if you don't eat me" case. But the little b*****s just dived right in without asking questions. Si killed a lot of them though, so maybe that got the point across!
Bethan Hi Kate - if you and your dashing Spaniard are still trying to decide whether to go to Hawaii, then the answer is YES! It's a beautiful tropical paradise :-)
Bethan Dad - I didn't see any top-of-ladder signs, but given what we've seen I wouldn't totally rule it out! Menai - hiya! Gobeithio da'ch chi'n iawn. Having a whale of a time :-)