I meant to say something about the Presidential Debates ("It ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it") and the enormous helpings in any restaurant (yesterday's calamari starter was far bigger than any main course serving in the UK), but space and time are against me. So a bit about the last couple of days. Monterey - much more historical than I had expected and somewhere I liked, although Cannery Row was touristy and better left to Steinbeck's imaginati...

Some you win... and some you doubly lose. Only 3 hours or so the fast way from Sebastopol, in the Sonoma Valley (think wine), to Monterey - so why not turn right immediately south of the Golden Gate Bridge and follow the scenic, coastal route? Reason 1: the unadvertised, until you hit the road barrier, SF Nike Women's Marathon. Nice to watch the very slow tail enders going past you, but it does get a bit boring after an hour. Time to abort, head inland and rejoin...

The end of our third and last day in SF brought two miracles. The first was rain (we hadn't seen any since we landed four weeks ago) and the second was an improbable 3-2 victory for the Giants in baseball, winning three games on the road in Cincinatti after two heavy defeats at home in SF. Miracles aside, we have enjoyed three very different days here. On Day 1 brother Peter took us to a friend's house across the Bay, where we spent a very extended lunch time di...

A brief update before we head south tomorrow, to San Fransisco; we are likely to be out of wi-if range then until Saturday, so be prepared for a few days delay before the next update. Ashland is chic and liberal, full of people trying to be trendy. It boasts a nine months a year Shakespeare Festival and a British pub selling (local to Darlington) beer. We ducked both, but did manage a couple of local hikes amongst the family visiting. What Ashland lacks is on...

I guess I was expecting Portland to be a brash, young city, but it is not at all like that. Like any city it has its traffic jams and roadworks and, this being the USA, it has its high-rise downtown, but it is far more than this. Portland, "the City of Roses" doesn't hit you in the solar plexus; rather it gently massages the senses into submission. Each block adds a little to the experience, without any one thing grabbing you. And you leave feeling you have only ...