The Big Sur... prise!

It's Au Revoir California! Here's me taking yet another photo (!) at Bixby bridge on the Big Sur this morning... a long but fabulous drive South from Monterey to LA. We also managed to spot a seal colony who were hanging out waiting to shed their coats. They were soooooooo smelly! Apparently it takes about a month to do this, they move further up the beach as more fur sheds... then hang out in the water until it's warm enough to move on! We were able to touch some fur that had been shed. It was like a wire brush!

We also saw some zebras about 2 miles down the road from these seals! Very bizarre. Pic on my camera so will follow! Ta ta for now x x x

A Sterling time...

2 blogs in one day! Tomorrow we fly to Fiji, and those idyllic little islands just aren't going to have wifi! (such a hard life!)

We're currently stopped at Monterey on the famous highway 1. Tomorrow we head south to LA along the Big Sur back to LAX... our flight is late, about 11:30pm and somewhere over the Pacific we will lose the 29th May as we cross the date line!

We have had the most fabulous few days staying with Jordan, Patrick and their littles ones McKenzie and Benjamin in Cameron Park, and also with Jenna and Ben in Davis. We've been thoroughly spoilt and looked after!

After Yosemite we headed to Jordan's via the Tioga Pass, which was absolutely stunning...

...bit chilly too!

We hung out in Old Sacramento, eating far too much Salt Water Taffy, and took in some local architecture and politics all in one go at the State House...

We had picnics in the sunshine and a tour of Davis...

...and of course, the obligatory Napa Valley wine tour! (Big thank you to Zoe & Greg, and Nick & Maxine!). We started off at the Sterling winery, set up by a Brit no less! We were swung ever so slightly by the cable car which you had to take to get to the winery!

Alex wore his 'wine tasting jacket' especially for the trip, no posing required ;)

It was a really lovely winery, superb views over the valley and 5 tasty wines to sample over a spot of lunch... fab!

Although, perhaps Jenna had one too many...

After Sterling, we hit Krug for some tasty Reserves, they also gave us chocolate here so we knew we were onto a winner! Then our last stop was Beringer, for 4 more samples, with food. The woman at the desk won us over with the promise of a large sausage roll. What she actually meant was hot dog, but it was rather tasty.

By this point it would be fair to say all the wines were starting to taste rather similar, long gone were the moments of expertly sticking our noses in the glasses plucking out notes of Oak smoked, cherry and cinnamon. At least we had a designated driver to get us home...

Hehe! All in all, a very good day out! Hurray! Here's Alex and I outside our Napa Mansion ;)

So, it's onwards along Highway 1 to LA tomorrow and a sad Au Revoir to our chums in California! Thank you for having us! Much love x x x

S'more please...

After landing in LA we headed for Yosemite in the smallest car America has ever seen, stopping overnight in Bakersfield to sample America's finest In and Out burgers, a Vagabond Inn, and Walmart for some essential camping equipment...

I also became the best wife in the world upon discovery of Cherry Garcia ice cream at a garage...

Yosemite here we come!

It's definitely true that Yosemite is at its best at this time of year, we are only a week into it's season and the snow is still melting on the mountains so the waterfalls are absolutely stunning... here's very appropriately named Bridal Falls...

Our little pitch at Upper Pines was just perfect, complete with fire pit, picnic table and bear safe storage lockers!

A little afternoon hike beckoned on arrival to Mirror Lake, for those who don't know, last time I was here with Ciarán, this was the hike which culminated in us realising far too late that as it was August the lake had probably dried up... we ended up hiking twice as far as we should have done! So Ciarán, this one's for you... X

We spent the evening discovering the delights of S'mores (thank you to John and Margaret!) over our fire pit... Yum!

The next day my husband made his best effort to kill me on an 11 hour, 15 mile hike! We woke early, so by 7am we were off on the trails... from the valley floor we hiked a long and zig zaggy uphill climb...

...to Glacier Point, where we were rewarded with a stunning view across to Half Dome over the valley and waterfalls... 

...note the snow on the mountains in the distance! You can see Vernal Falls (right) and Nevada Falls, which is where we were headed next...

On the way back down (what I actually mean is down, then up, then down, then up... every time I thought we'd be getting closer to the Valley Floor again, we kept going back up hill!) we joined up with the 'Mist Trail', so named due to the waterfalls you pass and they spray they create. Well, perhaps later in the year they might be a mist, definitely more of a 'soaking' at the mo I would say!!!

However, this is such a beautiful place! We really did love our time here, Alex has his eyes on Half Dome for the next trip!

Here's our highlight, which we spotted just as we were leaving...

...luckily ( for us! ) Mummy Bear was nowhere in sight :)

Much love, more soon! x x x

Au revoir Bequia...

It's all passed so quickly here in Paradise... we shall miss our little pink house (thank you to Margaret), cocktails on the beach, the dog who follows us everywhere, the sun sets, the 'dollar van' with the pumping tunes at 6:30am (well maybe not...). Everyone has been so friendly...

The food here has been ahhhhhhmazing with fresh fish at every corner, but wait... what... no Tiramisu?! Don't panic, we had delicious ice cream tonight, so Alex was content ;) We've had two fabulous 'wedding pressie' dinners (thank you to Phil & Pippa, and Paul & Jan!) at two of the islands top 3 restaurants...highlight might be tonight's Goat Water Soup at Fernando's Hideaway, which actually was surprisingly good. Well, you have to try these things right?

So, sadly, it's our last night here... Au revoir Bequia... We love you! X

Happy Birthday Emma!

Special post for a special chum x x x