Friday 12 August 2011

Stage 3: America, @#%$ yeah!!

Hello dear friends and family.

Yes it has been a whole week since our last post and, wow, what a week! We are at the moment sitting the well designed and aesthetically balanced  living room (mum you would love this place) of an Oakland abode, owned by the soundest American we have met thus far. This is the result of some spectacularly bad planning on our part and some ill-chosen couchsurfing hosts and it must have been by sheer luck that we managed to find this guy (on AirBnb - like couchsurfing except you pay a modest amount; highly recommend it if you're in a pinch), who has been the most accommodating and hospitable fellow to a pair of weary travelers. After some airline ineptitude (LAN airlines lost Elsje's bag, so we had to wait in Santa Barbara longer than we intended), a few thousand kilometres and some colourful, overpriced, yet interesting motels (all run by Indians - from India, not the native ones - funnily enough).

Ok, so we're in the Bay area, just outside of San Francisco. We have sorted out our plans, booked camping places and have confirmed with couchsurfers for the next leg of our journey. Lesson learned! And thank the gods for GPS.

Today we took a drive (in our silver Dodge Avenger which we have dubbed "Draco the Silver Dream," although "Gas-guzzler" would be more apt) out to Muir Woods in Marin county, just north of San Fran to see the ancient and huge Redwood trees. It was awesome. To get there we drove across the impressive Golden Gate bridge. It was a bit fogged over, but cool all the same. 


Draco








Our drive-by view of "the hill"


Golden Gate in the Famous Fog























Yes, we traveled thousands of kilometres to look at rocks and trees, ok!



1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the kind words about your stay at my home guys. Glad you enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to talk to you about life in S. Africa and your travels. You are on a journey you will never forget nor regret. I'll look forward to visiting you in NZ sometime soon.

    Aaron

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