Our trip in numbers...

 We have been on the road for 6 weeks in the US:

•   travelled 5127 miles, (8250 km)

•   been in 3 US states – California, Arizona, Nevada

•   explored 5 National Parks - Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Golden Gate Alcatraz

•   visited 6 State Parks - Big Sur, Salton Sea, San Jacinto Mountain, Hearst Castle, Red Rock, Red Rock Canyon

•   National Forests; 2 Sequoia, Sierra

•   slept in 12 beds; 3 hotels, 4 motels and 4 timeshare units, 1 private home (make it 18 with Bahamas)

•   ate Ben & Jerry ice-cream, 4, Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, Triple Caramel Chunk, New York Super Fudge Chunk

•   added 34 birds to my US bird list which is now 198 and my world list is 1481, top bird Roadrunner

•   popped into 3 museums, Palm Springs Art, Cable Car (SF), De Young (SF)

•   farmers markets 2 ; Oakhurst, Ferry Building (SF)

•   decaprio 3 movie catch-up, Aviator, Gatsby and Departed

•   Oscar 3 movie catch-up, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, August: Osage County

•   relished organic extra virgin olive oil, 3 farms 

•   walked 135 miles; beach, mountain trails, coastal meadow, high altitude lake, golf courses, climbing red rocks, canyon rim, valley trail, desert paths, Las Vegas Strip, mountain hikes, many city blocks

•   walking well ahead of schedule, 30 miles credit, (for each 50 miles driven we want to walk 1 mile)

•   longest hike 10 miles on Four Mile Trail with 3200’ climb on steep switchbacks

•   watched 7 episodes of Game of Thrones, season 4

•   lowest driving elevation, 214’ below sea-level at Furnace Creek Golf Course, Death Valley

•   highest driving elevation, 9945’ Tioga Pass, Tioga Road, Yosemite

•   got cold at the lowest temperature below 40 degrees F in Tehachapi (3 degrees C)

•   was hot at the highest temperature of 115 degrees F while walking in Death Valley (46 degrees C). Car registered 125 degrees F at one point – over 50 degrees C

•   wine tasting, 2 at Tablas Winery, Paso Robles and Souza Family Vineyard

•   modes of transport, 6, helicopter over the Grand Canyon, ferry to Alcatraz, cable car, bus, metro, streetcar

•   shows/events, 3, in Las Vegas, O Cirque du Soleil; in San Francisco, Beach Blanket Babylon; SF Giants baseball, San Francisco

'Summer of Love'. The 1960's  famous Haight and Ashbury corner in San Francisco, the street is still psychedelic with stoned looking folks

My fav! and they have prime position on the Haight/Ashbury corner.

Need to work on this list, lagging….

San Francisco: among the SF Giants fans

Among the SF Giants fans on the baseball pitch

Fred on the pitcher's mound.

Fred also picked up tickets for the annual fans event on the pitch, popcorn, bad hot dogs and lots of super excited kids batting and pitching.

The dugout

The fan - orange pants, orange lipstick and I am even wearing the cap!

SF Giants: All Together, Stronger Together

San Francisco Giants vs Colorado Rockies.
Saturday 14 June 2014
AT & T Park
San Francisco.

We bought tickets about midway through the game from punters on the street and had members seats in a perfect position to see all the plays.

Home runs, strikes, balls, bases, batters, pitchers, catcher, fielders, runs, outs…. Fred was a pro after an innings.

Such a fun way to spend an afternoon among 42000 fans all in some form of orange SF Giants attire.

prime seats!

Beauty of form

San Francisco: Streetcars along Market Street

Saturday morning shopping and strolling in downtown San Francisco, we had to jump on and off the streetcars, the fabulous F line. They are a visual fest of pastel color and form, from the mid 1920's from as far afield as Milan (boxy orange streetcar). The sleek PCC Streetcar is the most successful type of streetcar in American history, they are painted in tribute liveries to the cities that operated them - we rode the Washington DC, the turquoise/blue car! 

My favorite Market Street window display was from Anthropologie,  thousands of paper Monarch Butterflies, just gorgeous.