California Dreamin'

Hey folks. Safely arrived in San Francisco and dropped off our faithful car so it's back to Shank's Pony and public transport from here on in.

What a great time Phileas has been having the past days with Matt and Chris. Sorry there's no photos to show at the moment but be sure that as soon as a USB port is located in this hostel, there will be sights to see.

So, where have we been in the quiet time? Made our way via Zion National Park to Las Vegas after a sunrise at Bryce National Park. Sunrise was pants but the rest of the day was particularly....long and fulfilling. Zion made for one of the best drives possible and we all revelled in Matt's relentless attack on the Bellagio which was nearly brought to its knees with his $70 windfall.

We had a swift visit to Death Valley where we unfortunately missed the sunset but were able to capture some other, more unexpected images of fun on the dunes.

Yosemite National Park beckoned. Spent a night in a canvas perma-tent. One of our party spent a good deal of time on bear duty after our neighbours informed us that one had wandered past camp 15 mins before our stroll back from dinner. But there was no big surprise for us in the woods tonight and no evidence of a picnic since we were good campers and had locked all our food in the bear lockers. Are you Bear Aware?

Sampled a great walk upstream and in the hills, getting soaked in the process. One of our party is feeling the posterior effects! Apart from the excellent scenery we did happen across some extraordinary wildlife - Tim Henman, having a leisurely stroll. As with all wildlife, we didn't feed him, make loud noises nor approach but let him be and watched from a distance. And we did the same with the bears too.

WAHOO! Bears!! A sleepy mother and two playful cubs attracted a lot of attention but we had another all to ourselves as it grazed in the field. That was a very fateful detour. And it didn't even rip off our scalps (as Al and Janey's book suggested might happen) so we were very pleased!

So, here we are in Frisco. Golden Gate today, Alcatraz tomorrow and Thursday a sorrowful farewell to our travelling twinnies. Better to have laughed and lost than never to have laughed at all. Only two more friends to meet and then we'll have to start talking to strangers again.

See us soon,

P. Grizzly (thanks for the support and the votes of confidence!) and Phileas