This is definitely the last posting before we return home to the UK.
From San Diego we drove through the Jacinto Valley into the Desert Area in which Palm Springs is located. We went there for a final dose of warm weather, and we were not dissapointed; it was a very bright and veryt toasty 75/85 degrees...goodness knows what its like in the summer.
We got some very reasonable accommodation in Palm Springs which had a great pool. We did some very short rides in the area but big chunks of the cycle paths are part of big urban duel carriageways so that was not much fun. We headed off to Yucca Valley for the final few days because it was nearer the Joshua Tree National Park. YV is in the high desert and is therefore a bit cooler...its a very distinctive landscape; loads of barren schisty mountains and plains baking in the sun but with snow on their peaks. The dusk skies were spectacular. Our final bike ride in America this time around was a very respectable 70km in and out of the national park - we say a road runner (beep beep) and a gopher. Before we started we sat in a park drinking water and were visited by a humming bird which was really delightful. On the final stretch of our ride back to the Super 8 Motel (v. reasonable rates) we had our scariests encounter with an auto our whole trip; guy driving a big pick up truck clearly did not see us and had to hit his brakes to avoid us...first we heard was the squeal of his tyres etc behind us.
We have driven from Yucca Valley west along the IS 10. On coming into LA we narrowly avoided driving into a car that was made invisible by the smoke it made from being on fire - it was parked up in an underpass and was impossible to see ahead (although a squint into the rear view mirror showed flames beginning to sprout up from the front of the car. We are posting this final blog from our hotel in LA. With a bit of luck we will drop of the hire car tomorrow without incident and catch our 10 hour flight back to Heathrow. We will then stay a night with nephew Richard in Stamford, head up to North Yorks for a few days and then head for Anglesey for several weeks and sort out our return to the Red House in Ashby.
Love to all and bye for now.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Sunday, 6 March 2011
San Diego - the end?
It is Sunday 6th March and we have been in San Diego for nearly a week. We are staying in the area north of San Diego. We had a few days in La Jolla (pronounced La hoya) and we are now in Solano beach. Apart from the wide busy roads the area is lovely (are there any quiet winding scenic roads in CA?). The coastline is stunning and La Jolla cove is home to huge colonies of seals and pelicans. We are using the time here to do some miles on the bike - we have cycled from Lo Jolla to Leucadia (a 30 mile round trip). The day after we cycled the loop around Mission Bay (20miles) and yesterday we cycled up to Oceanside and back which was a total of about 50 miles. Our minds are beginning to turn to coming home...and we are filled with strong feelings - sad that our adventure is coming to an end but excited and nervous about what our return home will hold for us. Our final 10 days will probably involve a trip to Palm Springs and a few days in LA checking out some of the obvious sights there.
This may well be our final blog from abroad so thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in our escapades and/or who has been helpful or kind to us. Your interest and kindness has meant a great deal so smooth sailing to you all and godbless. Much love Mark and Caroline xxxx
This may well be our final blog from abroad so thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in our escapades and/or who has been helpful or kind to us. Your interest and kindness has meant a great deal so smooth sailing to you all and godbless. Much love Mark and Caroline xxxx
Au revoir mon ami
We had two more days in Folsom/El Dorado. It was lovely to return there which also involved saying a very fond farewall to the Watson household - Mike, Stacey, Max, Vince and of course Winnie and Bentley. We were offered fab, warm hospitality. We are really appreciative of the warm open welcome and would do our best to return the complement - although we cannot stretch to a hot tub and a swimming pool we could offer you a hose down on the decking in Ashby!
Often on returning to the house Max would ask us if we had done a big bike ride and up until now we had had to say no! On our final visit to Folsom we cycled the American river trail into Sacramento - this is a fabulous bike track; traffic free and relatively flat (in the paper the next day the trail was reviewed and described as possibly the best trail in North America) We did 30 miles or so on it and visited the state capitol building where up until recently we might have spotted Governor Arnie going about his business. The security guards must be sick of people telling them "I'll be back" when they leave. We also had a glimpse of the other side of American life - we passed a Salvation Army centre which was surrounded by people who looked like they had fallen on hard times. Sad and a little bit scary, but no one bothered us as we cycled by the queue and the huddles. We got the light rail back to Folsom and had our only iffy experience so far with an American - a drunk and verbally aggressive guy got into our carriage with his bike and filled the air with a bad smell and foul language, but thankfully that was as far as it went.
So after sorting out our laundry, checking in on American Idol, watching several more episodes of Brother's and Sisters, swapping some more tales of yore, and scoffing some marvellous Thai take away we bid our friends a very fond adieu and hit the road for San Diego via a none night stop at Paso Robles. We headed south because we wanted the best chance of getting some warm weather before we head back to Blighty.
We had to drive through LA on the 405 and the 5 during rush hour and in the pouring rain on a Friday evening. Quite scary. The drive from Folsom to San Diego was the best part of 500 miles.
Often on returning to the house Max would ask us if we had done a big bike ride and up until now we had had to say no! On our final visit to Folsom we cycled the American river trail into Sacramento - this is a fabulous bike track; traffic free and relatively flat (in the paper the next day the trail was reviewed and described as possibly the best trail in North America) We did 30 miles or so on it and visited the state capitol building where up until recently we might have spotted Governor Arnie going about his business. The security guards must be sick of people telling them "I'll be back" when they leave. We also had a glimpse of the other side of American life - we passed a Salvation Army centre which was surrounded by people who looked like they had fallen on hard times. Sad and a little bit scary, but no one bothered us as we cycled by the queue and the huddles. We got the light rail back to Folsom and had our only iffy experience so far with an American - a drunk and verbally aggressive guy got into our carriage with his bike and filled the air with a bad smell and foul language, but thankfully that was as far as it went.
So after sorting out our laundry, checking in on American Idol, watching several more episodes of Brother's and Sisters, swapping some more tales of yore, and scoffing some marvellous Thai take away we bid our friends a very fond adieu and hit the road for San Diego via a none night stop at Paso Robles. We headed south because we wanted the best chance of getting some warm weather before we head back to Blighty.
We had to drive through LA on the 405 and the 5 during rush hour and in the pouring rain on a Friday evening. Quite scary. The drive from Folsom to San Diego was the best part of 500 miles.
Yes we are going to San Francisco
But first, some wine..
As Mike and Stacey were reluctant to sign our tenancy agreement we decided that we should explore some more of California....so we headed for San Francisco via Napa Valley and Sonoma County. We had done some basic research and this suggested that there are some good cycling routes in the areas mentioned. It was a shame however that we had to set off in the rain, and it poured down solidly for several days. We stayed in the Discovery Inn at Napa for one night and managed to have a mooch around both Napa and Sonoma, and they are really lovely places especially Sonoma. The country side is of course emerging from Winter so the fields and hills are relatively bare and the vines at just dark brown stumps - miles and miles of them, but one can imagine how impressive the views will be once everything springs back into life. We hope to come at another time when everything will be showing (bet it gets really heaving with tourists too). The weather was so bad that we opted not to get on the bikes in wine country.
From Napa we headed for San Francisco. Quite a few Americans that we have met through Mike and Stacey (and also people that we have chatted to in bike shops) advised us to sample the cycling around the North Bay area of San Francisco. This includes places in Marin County, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Muirwoods and Tiburon. So we booked into a Travelodge in Mill Valley. Mike and Stacey advised us to check out Angelino's an old school italian restaurant in Sausalito and near to the Francisco Ferry landing. We got quite lucky because we worked out that a couple of blocks over from our motel there was a bike path that runs through Sausalito and across the golden gate bridge into San Fran. So we took that, stopped off to book a table in Angelino's and then headed for Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco. The weather had improved by this stage. It was presidents weekend - a national holiday in the US so the path was swarming with pedestrians and cyclists. The path itself was really good the only problem was that lots of the cyclists were lyrca clad posers speeding along and racing each other and others, shouting things like 'left, left, left' as they overtook (on the left). The 15 mph bike speed limit was consistently ignore. We reckoned that any half decent competitive cyclists would be out hammering up hills in some remoter area rather than terrorising pedestrians and leisure cyclists on this trail. However thanks to a kind and knowledgeable Welsh guy who is a regular visitor to San Francisco we manage to cycle through the Presidio area and on to the Waterfront - called Fishermans wharf. We had to pretty much turn around straight away as the light was fading. Still it was a reasonable ride totalling about 45 miles all told. It also left us wanting to return to San Francisco and Marin County - from what we saw they are lovely, fascintating areas to explore. We also took the opportunity to go to the cinema to see Kings Speech before it swept the board at the Oscars. Wonderful film - made us proud to be British! We left singing "theres only one Bertie Windsor.." Things went slightly down hill after that though: we cruised the area very slowly looking for a takeaway only to be pulled over by a patrolman. He sourly asked Mark "do you know what to do at a Stop sign sir?". Thankfully Mark resisted the temptation to be a smart ass and replied with a straight bat "yes I do officer". The officer then informed him that he had run a stop sign. The street lighting was non existent and the sign had been partly hidden by a tree.Also the fact that Mark had not had anything to drink and was English meant that he was only given a warning - phew!
The next day we cycled into Sausalito for our meal at Angelino's which was wonderful.
Whilst on our way back to stay a final couple of days with the Watsons we followed the recommendation of a couple who we chatted to on a chair lift on the slopes. They advised us to check out Stinson Beach near Mill Valley. Its a lovely little seaside village - a bit of a hipsters and motorcyclists hang out in the Summer. Signage on the beach advised us to be watchful for sharks as a great white had recently attacked someone in six feet of water!
We then had an uneventful drive back 'home' to Folsom and as ever a warm welcome from the Watsons.
As Mike and Stacey were reluctant to sign our tenancy agreement we decided that we should explore some more of California....so we headed for San Francisco via Napa Valley and Sonoma County. We had done some basic research and this suggested that there are some good cycling routes in the areas mentioned. It was a shame however that we had to set off in the rain, and it poured down solidly for several days. We stayed in the Discovery Inn at Napa for one night and managed to have a mooch around both Napa and Sonoma, and they are really lovely places especially Sonoma. The country side is of course emerging from Winter so the fields and hills are relatively bare and the vines at just dark brown stumps - miles and miles of them, but one can imagine how impressive the views will be once everything springs back into life. We hope to come at another time when everything will be showing (bet it gets really heaving with tourists too). The weather was so bad that we opted not to get on the bikes in wine country.
From Napa we headed for San Francisco. Quite a few Americans that we have met through Mike and Stacey (and also people that we have chatted to in bike shops) advised us to sample the cycling around the North Bay area of San Francisco. This includes places in Marin County, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Muirwoods and Tiburon. So we booked into a Travelodge in Mill Valley. Mike and Stacey advised us to check out Angelino's an old school italian restaurant in Sausalito and near to the Francisco Ferry landing. We got quite lucky because we worked out that a couple of blocks over from our motel there was a bike path that runs through Sausalito and across the golden gate bridge into San Fran. So we took that, stopped off to book a table in Angelino's and then headed for Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco. The weather had improved by this stage. It was presidents weekend - a national holiday in the US so the path was swarming with pedestrians and cyclists. The path itself was really good the only problem was that lots of the cyclists were lyrca clad posers speeding along and racing each other and others, shouting things like 'left, left, left' as they overtook (on the left). The 15 mph bike speed limit was consistently ignore. We reckoned that any half decent competitive cyclists would be out hammering up hills in some remoter area rather than terrorising pedestrians and leisure cyclists on this trail. However thanks to a kind and knowledgeable Welsh guy who is a regular visitor to San Francisco we manage to cycle through the Presidio area and on to the Waterfront - called Fishermans wharf. We had to pretty much turn around straight away as the light was fading. Still it was a reasonable ride totalling about 45 miles all told. It also left us wanting to return to San Francisco and Marin County - from what we saw they are lovely, fascintating areas to explore. We also took the opportunity to go to the cinema to see Kings Speech before it swept the board at the Oscars. Wonderful film - made us proud to be British! We left singing "theres only one Bertie Windsor.." Things went slightly down hill after that though: we cruised the area very slowly looking for a takeaway only to be pulled over by a patrolman. He sourly asked Mark "do you know what to do at a Stop sign sir?". Thankfully Mark resisted the temptation to be a smart ass and replied with a straight bat "yes I do officer". The officer then informed him that he had run a stop sign. The street lighting was non existent and the sign had been partly hidden by a tree.Also the fact that Mark had not had anything to drink and was English meant that he was only given a warning - phew!
The next day we cycled into Sausalito for our meal at Angelino's which was wonderful.
Whilst on our way back to stay a final couple of days with the Watsons we followed the recommendation of a couple who we chatted to on a chair lift on the slopes. They advised us to check out Stinson Beach near Mill Valley. Its a lovely little seaside village - a bit of a hipsters and motorcyclists hang out in the Summer. Signage on the beach advised us to be watchful for sharks as a great white had recently attacked someone in six feet of water!
We then had an uneventful drive back 'home' to Folsom and as ever a warm welcome from the Watsons.
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Our thighs hurt!
The next couple of days were a mixture of chilling out and putting the bikes back together after they had been boxed up for the flight from NZ. The trusty Surly bikes (which have now done getting on for 2500km since we started), seemed to have survived the flight okay but taking them apart seems to mess up the gear and brake cabling so we took the assembled bikes down to the bike shop in Folsom for a professional check up and retune. The shop was brilliant and the bikes are currently riding better than ever - really smooth and trustworthy gear changes; makes such a difference.
With the bikes sorted we turned to our next experience - skiing in the Mountains by Lake Tahoe. Mike and Pete are very good skiers and Loeki is pretty good too, so we all headed off to the slopes on a Wednesday (or was it Tuesday...?). The Sierra resort is a one and a half hour drive from Folsom on the Interstate 80. Snow-falls across the US have been really heavy (except in most of CA and Florida) and the conditions were night on perfect - cool, sunny, quiet. Pete is a very good skier and has taken a range of advanced courses and was able to give us some simple but really useful tips to improve our skiing. A couple of changes to the way we do things has enabled us to take a step forward which was great. All the facilities were really good - Caroline was particularly chuffed with the gentleness and relative calm of the chair lifts. We returned back to Watson Towers tired but happy with no major ski incidents to report.
The next couple of days involved more chilling out and catching up. We did about 20km of cycling around the Folsom Lake and American River. The traffic free track is a dream to cycle and we agreed to do more after we had returned from further skiing adventures.
For the forthcoming weekend the Mike and Stacey had rented a big Cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe and a short distance from the North Star resort that we were going to use. Terry and Erin arrived from Washington and Zach a friend of Vince's and Max joined us to complete the party. The only fly in the ointment was that Mike had been struck down with severe back pain and was unable to do any skiing! This was a real shame as the weekend had been planned for a while and we know he was really looking forward to it and we missed him on the slopes. But even though North Star was really busy the skiing was great and we managed 4 full days of constant skiing and with further help from Pete we continued to improve. Caroline did not fall once...Mark at least twice a day, mainly from standing still!
On one evening we lit the big log fire and all sat down to watch the Full Monty, and it was great to re-connect with a slice of England albeit a hyper real slice. It did not inspire any male stripping in our party, though. For another night we all went to a great restaurant called Spindleshanks. The views and environment around Lake Tahoe are really fine and we had a front row view of it all so we will be forever appreciative of Mike and Stacey's kindness in setting up the weekend. All of the party had to leave on the Sunday and so we got a night in the Cabin to ourselves; while we missed everyone else it was good to have the place to ourselves. We were intrigued to read about the arrangements for the trash when we were preparing to leave; they are subject to all sorts of security because we were advised that there were "bears in the area".
The drive back to Folsom was a bit nerve wracking as the snow started to fall heavily. We just escaped the worst of it which would have required us to put chains on the car wheels.....also we had sandwiches in the car and were a bit concerned about the bears! The route also took us through Donner Pass which in the old wild west days was the scene of a cannibal survival story involving the Donner family wagon train which got stuck in the snow in the pass...ho hum.
We spent another couple of lovely days chilling and chatting in Watson towers, taking it in turns to cook meals and going to watch Max and Vince play indoor soccer games.
With the bikes sorted we turned to our next experience - skiing in the Mountains by Lake Tahoe. Mike and Pete are very good skiers and Loeki is pretty good too, so we all headed off to the slopes on a Wednesday (or was it Tuesday...?). The Sierra resort is a one and a half hour drive from Folsom on the Interstate 80. Snow-falls across the US have been really heavy (except in most of CA and Florida) and the conditions were night on perfect - cool, sunny, quiet. Pete is a very good skier and has taken a range of advanced courses and was able to give us some simple but really useful tips to improve our skiing. A couple of changes to the way we do things has enabled us to take a step forward which was great. All the facilities were really good - Caroline was particularly chuffed with the gentleness and relative calm of the chair lifts. We returned back to Watson Towers tired but happy with no major ski incidents to report.
The next couple of days involved more chilling out and catching up. We did about 20km of cycling around the Folsom Lake and American River. The traffic free track is a dream to cycle and we agreed to do more after we had returned from further skiing adventures.
For the forthcoming weekend the Mike and Stacey had rented a big Cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe and a short distance from the North Star resort that we were going to use. Terry and Erin arrived from Washington and Zach a friend of Vince's and Max joined us to complete the party. The only fly in the ointment was that Mike had been struck down with severe back pain and was unable to do any skiing! This was a real shame as the weekend had been planned for a while and we know he was really looking forward to it and we missed him on the slopes. But even though North Star was really busy the skiing was great and we managed 4 full days of constant skiing and with further help from Pete we continued to improve. Caroline did not fall once...Mark at least twice a day, mainly from standing still!
On one evening we lit the big log fire and all sat down to watch the Full Monty, and it was great to re-connect with a slice of England albeit a hyper real slice. It did not inspire any male stripping in our party, though. For another night we all went to a great restaurant called Spindleshanks. The views and environment around Lake Tahoe are really fine and we had a front row view of it all so we will be forever appreciative of Mike and Stacey's kindness in setting up the weekend. All of the party had to leave on the Sunday and so we got a night in the Cabin to ourselves; while we missed everyone else it was good to have the place to ourselves. We were intrigued to read about the arrangements for the trash when we were preparing to leave; they are subject to all sorts of security because we were advised that there were "bears in the area".
The drive back to Folsom was a bit nerve wracking as the snow started to fall heavily. We just escaped the worst of it which would have required us to put chains on the car wheels.....also we had sandwiches in the car and were a bit concerned about the bears! The route also took us through Donner Pass which in the old wild west days was the scene of a cannibal survival story involving the Donner family wagon train which got stuck in the snow in the pass...ho hum.
We spent another couple of lovely days chilling and chatting in Watson towers, taking it in turns to cook meals and going to watch Max and Vince play indoor soccer games.
Friday, 4 March 2011
California Dreaming..in Watson Towers
Los Angeles
Since we did our 'Goats' blog over a month ago this is the 3rd new segment to be added - check out the previous two if the last one you read was entitled Goats.
Our flight to the US passed off without incident. The plane was not full so we had a bit of space to stretch out a bit. We sniffed and examnined the new 777 plane as advised by our hispanic greeter (see previous posting)...we thought the older planes that we had flown on before were more comfortable with a tiny bit more space...still no complaints Air NZ a really good carrier.
US customs were fine. It was a bit odd to be fingerprinted but on the up side our bikes and luggage passed through without a hitch. We found a cheap shuttle to take us to the Hyatt in Orange County (near Anaheim/Disneyland). The hotel was pretty good; we got upgraded so we had a room that was bigger than our old flat in Newquay. We were not particularly jet lagged so we used the time to contact Mike (Wink) Watson an old school friend of Mark's who has built a great life for himself and his family in Sacramento. We hunted around for info on cycling in California but there is no one comprehensive publication that can function like our Lonely Planet Guide to NZ. Internet access in the US without a lap top or smart phone is often extortionate eg 8 dollars for first 10 minutes then 50 cents for every minute after that. So using the internet was not really an easy option to do our research.
We also used the time to score a car rental. We are currently driving a Chevy Cobalt which we got a good deal on. We had forgotten that most cars in US are automatics. Mark caused deep concern at the Enterprise garage when he was spotted kangarooing around the car park (in the car, not on his own!) - so the oppo's advised him to use only his right foot to work both the brake and accelerator and refused to brief him about all options on the gear box advising him to stick to just park, drive, reverse and neutral. He kangaroo'd off down the boulevard much to the consternation of the worried looking rental staff who all came out of the office to watch him 'drive' away.
As urban myth suggests hardly anyone walks in LA/OC. We walked 5 miles to the nearest big mall/bookshop and stopped for directions occasionally and at one point managed to command the attention and concern of a full Starbucks.
After having got our bearings and our wheels we headed north toward Sacramento. Its a big drive so we stopped in the Paso Robles area - heart of wine country in between LA and San Francisco. This allowed us to get off Highway 5 which is such a boring road. A lot of CA roads are not in good condition either. We had a look at nearby San Luis Obispo and Avilla Beach. Its the end of winter here so everything a bit quiet and bare but you can still see how lovely these areas will be the rest of the year. We then finished the journey to Sacramento. The width, volume and speed of traffic of the roads in urban areas takes some getting used to. Still the weather was pretty good and we arrived at Watson Towers in El Dorado county just outside Folsom as dusk fell. Mike/Wink has done really well in CA, his success in building IT service businesses has allowed him and Stacey to build a dream home which sits hacienda like atop a quiet community overlooking Lake Folsom. Very impressive. Its over 6 years since we last saw one another and longer since we saw Stacey and the kids - Max and Vince - so it was great to see everyone. Caroline's ears pricked up when she heard some woofing - and was delighted to find that the Watsons have two fabulous hounds called Winston and Bentley. All was well. The Watsons also had some other guests - Peter and Loeki Maddra and their son Gregory - and it was lovely to meet them and spend time with them. The short term plan was to set up for the Super Bowl Party the next day, drink some wine, plan some skiing by the mountains in near Lake Tahoe, drink some wine and then drink some more wine...
The House is large enough to have a space that is modeled on a lounge in an english pub. As this was fitted out with a beer keg and massive TV screen along with the kitchen it became the focii of the super bowl party the next day. Lots of the Watson;s family friends appeared who were incredibly friendly. An added bonus was that several of them knew of good cycling routes in the area. Instructions were scribbled on coasters only to be indecipherable the next day. In the super bowl game the Green Bay Packers won a tight game against the Steelers who made a strong come back in the second half. We met quite a lot of people at the party and cannot remember everyone's names, but thanks all the same to them for their friendliness. The night ended with several games of 'name that tune and artist' using streamed music over the house wide-system - Mark won the final game by recognising a song by the Pointers sisters. A bit of good natured joshing and competitiveness was involved (Caroline remarking that all that useless music trivia had at last come in useful!).
Since we did our 'Goats' blog over a month ago this is the 3rd new segment to be added - check out the previous two if the last one you read was entitled Goats.
Our flight to the US passed off without incident. The plane was not full so we had a bit of space to stretch out a bit. We sniffed and examnined the new 777 plane as advised by our hispanic greeter (see previous posting)...we thought the older planes that we had flown on before were more comfortable with a tiny bit more space...still no complaints Air NZ a really good carrier.
US customs were fine. It was a bit odd to be fingerprinted but on the up side our bikes and luggage passed through without a hitch. We found a cheap shuttle to take us to the Hyatt in Orange County (near Anaheim/Disneyland). The hotel was pretty good; we got upgraded so we had a room that was bigger than our old flat in Newquay. We were not particularly jet lagged so we used the time to contact Mike (Wink) Watson an old school friend of Mark's who has built a great life for himself and his family in Sacramento. We hunted around for info on cycling in California but there is no one comprehensive publication that can function like our Lonely Planet Guide to NZ. Internet access in the US without a lap top or smart phone is often extortionate eg 8 dollars for first 10 minutes then 50 cents for every minute after that. So using the internet was not really an easy option to do our research.
We also used the time to score a car rental. We are currently driving a Chevy Cobalt which we got a good deal on. We had forgotten that most cars in US are automatics. Mark caused deep concern at the Enterprise garage when he was spotted kangarooing around the car park (in the car, not on his own!) - so the oppo's advised him to use only his right foot to work both the brake and accelerator and refused to brief him about all options on the gear box advising him to stick to just park, drive, reverse and neutral. He kangaroo'd off down the boulevard much to the consternation of the worried looking rental staff who all came out of the office to watch him 'drive' away.
As urban myth suggests hardly anyone walks in LA/OC. We walked 5 miles to the nearest big mall/bookshop and stopped for directions occasionally and at one point managed to command the attention and concern of a full Starbucks.
After having got our bearings and our wheels we headed north toward Sacramento. Its a big drive so we stopped in the Paso Robles area - heart of wine country in between LA and San Francisco. This allowed us to get off Highway 5 which is such a boring road. A lot of CA roads are not in good condition either. We had a look at nearby San Luis Obispo and Avilla Beach. Its the end of winter here so everything a bit quiet and bare but you can still see how lovely these areas will be the rest of the year. We then finished the journey to Sacramento. The width, volume and speed of traffic of the roads in urban areas takes some getting used to. Still the weather was pretty good and we arrived at Watson Towers in El Dorado county just outside Folsom as dusk fell. Mike/Wink has done really well in CA, his success in building IT service businesses has allowed him and Stacey to build a dream home which sits hacienda like atop a quiet community overlooking Lake Folsom. Very impressive. Its over 6 years since we last saw one another and longer since we saw Stacey and the kids - Max and Vince - so it was great to see everyone. Caroline's ears pricked up when she heard some woofing - and was delighted to find that the Watsons have two fabulous hounds called Winston and Bentley. All was well. The Watsons also had some other guests - Peter and Loeki Maddra and their son Gregory - and it was lovely to meet them and spend time with them. The short term plan was to set up for the Super Bowl Party the next day, drink some wine, plan some skiing by the mountains in near Lake Tahoe, drink some wine and then drink some more wine...
The House is large enough to have a space that is modeled on a lounge in an english pub. As this was fitted out with a beer keg and massive TV screen along with the kitchen it became the focii of the super bowl party the next day. Lots of the Watson;s family friends appeared who were incredibly friendly. An added bonus was that several of them knew of good cycling routes in the area. Instructions were scribbled on coasters only to be indecipherable the next day. In the super bowl game the Green Bay Packers won a tight game against the Steelers who made a strong come back in the second half. We met quite a lot of people at the party and cannot remember everyone's names, but thanks all the same to them for their friendliness. The night ended with several games of 'name that tune and artist' using streamed music over the house wide-system - Mark won the final game by recognising a song by the Pointers sisters. A bit of good natured joshing and competitiveness was involved (Caroline remarking that all that useless music trivia had at last come in useful!).
Thursday, 3 March 2011
So Long Summit
Two months in NZ...must be Queenstown
Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ - if you raise your eyes to roof level or up to the skyline you can usually see a kiwi at altitude - often secured to a bungy chord, parachute or sometimes with no attachment whatsoever. Mostly they are preparing to chuck themselves off, but sometimes they just seem to like the height!
We liked Queenstown a lot, despite its trendiness - the setting is stunning; its a combination of Keswick and Fort William with a bit of South Kensington stirred in. We say its definitely one of the places we would head back to if we return to NZ at any point (along with Kerikeri, Devonport, Coromandel, Wellington coast line, Kaikoura and Akoroa) and wished we had had more than 4 nights there. We were able to find a really fine noodle bar and a first rate chippy (ah the simple pleasures).
Our plan was to finish our stay in the very South of New Zealand with at least one really big climb on the bike. We had our eye on two possible climbs ie into Milford Sound and/or over Crown Range. As we only had 3 full days in Queenstown we chose the biggest climb over the highest sealed road in NZ - Crown Range. We climbed to over 1000 metres it was a long hot day in the saddle but we managed it after a few stops for oxygen and CPR. There are of course much bigger climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees (not to mention the Andes, Rockies and Himalaya's) but we could not have gone higher in NZ on a sealed road. We were well chuffed. We were the only cyclists on the moutain that day. On our out and back ride stopped briefly at a little place called Arrowtown (in gold rush country). This is a really charming little place and again we said we would have liked to spend more time there.
While in Queenstown we stayed at another Top Ten site; on our second day there we spotted the German couple that we had met on a hill top in Wanganui. They looked terrifically fit. Apart from Mark calling out
"4-1, Geof Hurst and long live sterling" from behind bushes, we avoided any contact with them. Seriously if they had cycled the length of the South Island they had done really, really well - very impressive.
We used our last full day in Queenstown to go and have a look at Milford Sound, a fabled vista and area in Fjiordland on the South West Corner of NZ. We think the area was heavily featured in Lord of the Rings movies. We decided to fly their and take a day cruise as to drive would have been over 10 hours in the car. We booked a place on a small charter plane, only to be advised later on in the day that because of weather coming in we would not have time to do the cruise. This put most other people off and the we were the only two people who turned up. Hank the boss man paired us up with Rupert the pilot - who looked about 16 - and we strapped ourselves in to a well worn Cesna prop plane.Rupert was great. Everything was going well until after about 20 minutes into the flight the horizon darkened notably and turbulence hit us big time and Hank came on the radio saying that we had to come back . The weather had deteriortated markedly and it was impossible to proceed. Sad. Still we got a full refund which was great and we got to fly over the Queenstown area and had a good luck for orks and hobbits.
From Queenstown we drove the long west coast route back to Blenhiem; it was a massive drive in terrible weather. We took that route because we wanted to see the glaciers on the West coast. We stopped briefly at Fox's glacier. We had a quick lick to see if it was minty and scouted for urbane Polar Bears but it was too cold and wet to stay long - it was an impressive apocalyptic site; very, very cold in surrounds of relentless mist and grey and white slabs of ice and rock.
We stayed in Blenheim and apart from one incident of spectacularly ugly bit of manouvering by a fellow driver off the ferry we had an uneventful crossing to Wellington the next day. We headed for New Plymouth to look at Mt Taranaki and possibly ride a route around it. The moutain is impressive, similar in profile to Mt Fuji or Kilimanjaro but not as high. The wind during our stay there was ferocious and at the visitor centre there were warnings for hurricane like blasts toward the summit. We mooched up to the viewing platform on foot but that was as far as we could go.
The site where we stayed was choc full of people with push bikes and we found out from our neighbour that the ride we had planned to do was the basis for a very big and organised public cycling event. We were tempted to enter but the roads were not closed to traffic and the wind was horrendous. We opted not to join in - our neighbour thought we made a good choice as he said that the riders - even the pro;s - said they had never cycled in anything like it.
We drove from New Plymouth to Devonport. On the way we took a detour to Raglan, the Newquay of NZ. We only stayed briefly as it was heaving but it seemed like a pretty chilled place.
We stayed a couple of nights with Gwenda and Pete at Ducks Crossing Cottage and met a range of fellow travellers - really good people. We took the bikes to bits (needed some help from the local bike shop to loosen the pedals) and packed them up. We dropped all our stuff off at the airport, took the hire car back (no damage or probs - hurrah!). Air New Zealand people were A1 giving us advice on how to adjust our packing and luggage to avoid extra costs. Whilst waiting to board the flight to LA we were addressed by a very excited hispanic NZ oppo who reminded us on several occassions that we were about to board a new 777 and how fab this was; on one occassion he invited us to "sniff" the plane !
Goodbye and thankyou NZ - you were good to us and your people were friendly and kind. Your country is beautiful and your weather was fab.(although we reckon that the UK can still give NZ a run for its money!). You health service was fab too. However we will not miss all your adverts on TV - Dick Smith, Noel Leeming, and co. - and your sandflies, and the price of your wine. Meer quibbles.
Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ - if you raise your eyes to roof level or up to the skyline you can usually see a kiwi at altitude - often secured to a bungy chord, parachute or sometimes with no attachment whatsoever. Mostly they are preparing to chuck themselves off, but sometimes they just seem to like the height!
We liked Queenstown a lot, despite its trendiness - the setting is stunning; its a combination of Keswick and Fort William with a bit of South Kensington stirred in. We say its definitely one of the places we would head back to if we return to NZ at any point (along with Kerikeri, Devonport, Coromandel, Wellington coast line, Kaikoura and Akoroa) and wished we had had more than 4 nights there. We were able to find a really fine noodle bar and a first rate chippy (ah the simple pleasures).
Our plan was to finish our stay in the very South of New Zealand with at least one really big climb on the bike. We had our eye on two possible climbs ie into Milford Sound and/or over Crown Range. As we only had 3 full days in Queenstown we chose the biggest climb over the highest sealed road in NZ - Crown Range. We climbed to over 1000 metres it was a long hot day in the saddle but we managed it after a few stops for oxygen and CPR. There are of course much bigger climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees (not to mention the Andes, Rockies and Himalaya's) but we could not have gone higher in NZ on a sealed road. We were well chuffed. We were the only cyclists on the moutain that day. On our out and back ride stopped briefly at a little place called Arrowtown (in gold rush country). This is a really charming little place and again we said we would have liked to spend more time there.
While in Queenstown we stayed at another Top Ten site; on our second day there we spotted the German couple that we had met on a hill top in Wanganui. They looked terrifically fit. Apart from Mark calling out
"4-1, Geof Hurst and long live sterling" from behind bushes, we avoided any contact with them. Seriously if they had cycled the length of the South Island they had done really, really well - very impressive.
We used our last full day in Queenstown to go and have a look at Milford Sound, a fabled vista and area in Fjiordland on the South West Corner of NZ. We think the area was heavily featured in Lord of the Rings movies. We decided to fly their and take a day cruise as to drive would have been over 10 hours in the car. We booked a place on a small charter plane, only to be advised later on in the day that because of weather coming in we would not have time to do the cruise. This put most other people off and the we were the only two people who turned up. Hank the boss man paired us up with Rupert the pilot - who looked about 16 - and we strapped ourselves in to a well worn Cesna prop plane.Rupert was great. Everything was going well until after about 20 minutes into the flight the horizon darkened notably and turbulence hit us big time and Hank came on the radio saying that we had to come back . The weather had deteriortated markedly and it was impossible to proceed. Sad. Still we got a full refund which was great and we got to fly over the Queenstown area and had a good luck for orks and hobbits.
From Queenstown we drove the long west coast route back to Blenhiem; it was a massive drive in terrible weather. We took that route because we wanted to see the glaciers on the West coast. We stopped briefly at Fox's glacier. We had a quick lick to see if it was minty and scouted for urbane Polar Bears but it was too cold and wet to stay long - it was an impressive apocalyptic site; very, very cold in surrounds of relentless mist and grey and white slabs of ice and rock.
We stayed in Blenheim and apart from one incident of spectacularly ugly bit of manouvering by a fellow driver off the ferry we had an uneventful crossing to Wellington the next day. We headed for New Plymouth to look at Mt Taranaki and possibly ride a route around it. The moutain is impressive, similar in profile to Mt Fuji or Kilimanjaro but not as high. The wind during our stay there was ferocious and at the visitor centre there were warnings for hurricane like blasts toward the summit. We mooched up to the viewing platform on foot but that was as far as we could go.
The site where we stayed was choc full of people with push bikes and we found out from our neighbour that the ride we had planned to do was the basis for a very big and organised public cycling event. We were tempted to enter but the roads were not closed to traffic and the wind was horrendous. We opted not to join in - our neighbour thought we made a good choice as he said that the riders - even the pro;s - said they had never cycled in anything like it.
We drove from New Plymouth to Devonport. On the way we took a detour to Raglan, the Newquay of NZ. We only stayed briefly as it was heaving but it seemed like a pretty chilled place.
We stayed a couple of nights with Gwenda and Pete at Ducks Crossing Cottage and met a range of fellow travellers - really good people. We took the bikes to bits (needed some help from the local bike shop to loosen the pedals) and packed them up. We dropped all our stuff off at the airport, took the hire car back (no damage or probs - hurrah!). Air New Zealand people were A1 giving us advice on how to adjust our packing and luggage to avoid extra costs. Whilst waiting to board the flight to LA we were addressed by a very excited hispanic NZ oppo who reminded us on several occassions that we were about to board a new 777 and how fab this was; on one occassion he invited us to "sniff" the plane !
Goodbye and thankyou NZ - you were good to us and your people were friendly and kind. Your country is beautiful and your weather was fab.(although we reckon that the UK can still give NZ a run for its money!). You health service was fab too. However we will not miss all your adverts on TV - Dick Smith, Noel Leeming, and co. - and your sandflies, and the price of your wine. Meer quibbles.
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