Yesterday Jim & Wendy took me on another sightseeing tour of San Francisco via the coastal scenic route via Half Moon Bay. The weather was glorious, blue sky and a nice warm sun. I managed to get some great photos of the Golden Gate Bridge glowing a nice red with the clear blue sky behind – very happy about that as the previous photos were a bit hazy…a brisk sea wind had blown all the haze and smoke away, resulting in blue skies and great photo opportunities. I also managed to get some decent photos of San Francisco itself from the Twin Peaks viewing area (no, not THE Twin Peaks!).

Later we decided to go back to Twin Peaks with a picnic to watch the sunset, but unfortunately the famous San Francisco fog started rolling in, so we ended up having the picnic at home instead…I was amazed at how quickly the fog came in, and also how thick it was. So thick in fact, that it was still over the city the whole of today as well. It looked like a typical British sky (ie. grey!), but as Wendy said, at least here you can drive 10 minutes down the road and be in glorious sunshine again!!Â

Today I spent most of the day down in San Francisco, walking around taking photos and getting to know the city. I got plenty of exercise as the famous San Francisco hills helped me work up a sweat! I don’t know how half the cars make it up some of those hills!! I walked around most of the city, through ChinaTown and back down to the waterfront. Even with the fog overhead, it was a nice day and the streets were packed with people, locals & tourists. I missed out a few of the sights due to lack of time, but I will get them next time.My flight leaves at 1pm California time tomorrow (9pm UK time), and I arrive back in the UK just after 7am on Tuesday morning. Really sad to be leaving as San Francisco is such a brilliant place – sun, sea and sand!! But I will be back again next year!!

So, to end off, here are a few photos of the very picturesque Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco and the fog…enjoy!

Jim took me on the scenic route into San Francisco, via nearby hills with great vantage points over the city and the bridge. San Francisco itself does not look that hilly till you actually go down to it, and you can see from the photos below how hilly it is! One of the steepest roads is Leavenworth Road, and in the photos you can see what it is like! However, photos do not do it justice! You just pray your brakes are going to work as you make your way down…!! Yikes!!

Another famous street is Lombard Street. This street winds down in a zig zag, but is amazingly landscaped with bushes and flowers. Something amazing to experience and to see…see the photos below to see what I mean!

We saw quite a few of the trolley buses and trams that San Francisco is famous for, including the cable cars that go up the steepest hills. I’ll hopefully be able to go on one sometime this weekend just to say I have done it…

We then went down to Fisherman’s Wharf, full of restaurants and shops. This is also home to the famous Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant, named after the characters from the film Forest Gump.

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant, and I sampled an excellent clam chowder in a bowl made from hollowed out sourdough bread…delicious!

Unfortunately we did not have time to go on a boat trip out into the bay, and it is not even worth trying to book to go to Alcatraz…that is normally booked out weeks in advance!!

I’m going to be doing a bit more sightseeing this weekend, although the weather is going to get a bit colder with more fog…but what is San Francisco without its fog!!!Â

Right, here are the photos:

We were lucky enough to see about 7 trains within an hour, including 4 going up hill and 3 going down – doesn’t sound like much fun to most of you, but it is something impressive to see visually…

The scenery around there is amazing, with golden hills and winding roads. From the photos below you can see why California is called the ‘Golden State’.

Here are the photos:

On Tuesday we drove past Edwards Airforce Base, where the Space Shuttle sometimes lands. Unfortunately we could not get too close, so could not see much. This base is absolutely massive, spreading out for miles through the desert…

We drove on to Mojave, where we managed to get a tour of the airport. This airport of one of many where airlines send their planes to either be stored for later use or to be broken up, so we saw quite a few older jets in various states of disrepair, including a South African Airways 747. We were also lucky enough to just catch a glimpse of the mother ship for SpaceShipOne. If you remember this was the first private space ship to reach the edge of space, winning the race among various companies. This mother ship carries SpaceShipOne to a high altitude, then releases it to make its way up to outer space. It was just being wheeled back into its hanger when we drove past, so we just caught sight of it. Very impressive!

Mojave airport is also home to the Test Pilot School, where mad people learn to fly planes to find out if they will crash or not!!

Above Mojave is a massive wind farm, with various sizes and ages of wind turbines on view. If you look at the photos below you will see the scale of this farm! And bear in mind these turbines were on the other side of the hill as well!!

We then proceeded on to Tehachapi, home of the famous Tehachapi Loop, where trains loop over themselves in order to climb up the hill – very impressive to see. Photos of that will be in the next update.

Here are some photos from this day:

Yesterday (Saturday) we spent a few hours at the National Train Show in Anaheim, then went to one of the local train yards to see what was happening down there…

Graham finally arrived at about 8.15pm, so we picked him up from the airport and went off to have some nice steaks at the Outback Steakhouse in Burbank (near Hollywood).

Today (Sunday) we had an early start and drove down from LA to Victorville, via Cajon Pass. We took a leisurely drive down, stopping quite a few times to take photos. We drove down Route 66 part of the way, and are going to be on it most of tomorrow – last time I was on Route 66 was at Kingman in Arizona in 2005, so it is nice to see the other end of it down here in California!

It was a bit hotter today, around 82F (27C), but it looks like tomorrow is going to be a lot hotter, around 39C in Barstow, our next destination!!!

An early night for all tonight – Jim is trying to get some work finished, so he will be up late, and will spend most of tomorrow sitting in the back of the car on his laptop, trying to get a contract finished, in-between conference calls! Not much fun for him, but it has got to be done by tomorrow evening…however, he has been to the places we are going to tomorrow, so at least he won’t be missing much…

Right, I’m off to bed…I did the driving again today and am knackered, and have to be up at 6am tomorrow (it is 11.34pm now)…I’ll upload some photos from Friday’s trip down to LA – look for them in the blog post for that day – http://www.idroppedmycamera.com/2008/07/18/the-journey-begins/

12 lanes of slow-moving traffic at 8.30pm!! And that was the tail-end of the rush hour!! Luckily we arrived down in LA just at the end of rush hour, but I still got a taster of what the traffic is like here!  I won’t ever complain about the M25 ever again!!!

Jim & I had a nice drive down from San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway (Wendy decided to stay at home…) – fog a lot of the way, but it cleared enough for us to see the mighty Pacific Ocean and the amazing coastline! Very rocky, but with little coves with sandy beaches. In the end it took us about 12 hours to get down here, but we took a leisurely drive down…no need to rush  I drove the first half, then Jim took us the rest of the way down into LA – I decided he should have the privilege of driving in LA!! Well, he’s done it before and I chickened out! Ha ha!

We stopped off at a few places on the way down, including one called Mystery Spot, just outside Santa Cruz. Absolutely amazing place! It is quite hard to describe it, but it is a place where gravity does weird things…! It is easier if you just look at the website …the photos will tell it all! This is something to be experienced! It defies logic and is just plain weird…but amazing! Amazing how the eye can deceive you…

We also stopped off at an elephant seal colony. We were driving along when we saw a car park and lots of people pointing cameras at something. Jim’s beady eye suddenly caught sight of seals, so we pulled off the road and went to have a look. A beach full of massive elephant seals, all having a nice sleep! I didn’t realise they were quite so big! I’ll post photos later on…

We must have seen over 60 Mustangs on the way down – not sure if there was an event somewhere, but there was a steady stream of them coming up past us from LA. We were also passed by a convoy of about 10 black Porsche 911′s (and one silver one)…interesting sight! There was also a huge amount of motorbikes on the road, heading up to the MotoGP at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey. Must say, the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) is a perfect road for bikes – winding roads around the coastline, perfect biking territory! It reminded me of Chapman’s Peak in South Africa…steep drops down into the sea on one side, and mountains on the other side.

We got into LA at about 9pm and met up with Robin & his friend at the hotel.  We took a drive down to Disneyland and had a blast on the rides…only kidding! We drove down to a restaurant opposite Disneyland and had some dinner and a few well-earned beers

Today we are going to the NMRA’s Trainshow here in LA. Graham is hopefully joining us later on, if he managed to get on his flight from London!!

Tomorrow we are off to Victorville, then on Monday down to Barstow – current temperature 25deg C (it is 6.30am at the moment!), and heading up to the high 30′s! Tan here I come!Â

Here are a few photos from the trip down:

Haven’t seen much of San Francisco yet as the fog is still covering it, but plenty of time for that when we get back next Wednesday.

Hopefully a longer update tonight with some photos!

Today I went up to Laramie and then from there to a place called Centennial, population 100…! This is the gateway to the Snowy Mountains…and those mountains are spectacular!! All I can say that in Cheyenne it was 77F (25C), and at the top of the Snowy Mountains (10,800 feet) it was 50F (10C)…not that bad, I know (I was in T-shirt & shorts, and was very comfortable…not at all cold). However, what I saw I there was not quite what I was expecting!

I think I am just going to let you look at the photos to see what I mean…!!

Tomorrow I’m driving back to Denver to do a bit of shopping, then am going to drop the car off and head for the airport. I fly at 8.20pm local time Wednesday (3.20am your time, Thursday) and get in to Heathrow sometime after 12pm Thursday.

I had a great time and will definitely be back here again!! Of the 10 or so US States I have seen so far, Colorado & Wyoming are still my favourites!

Anyway, here are the photos…enjoy, and see you soon!!

This morning I got up early, checked out of the hotel and headed north up to Palmers Lake to take some photos with the morning light. I then headed north through Denver and up into Wyoming, eventually arriving in Cheyenne at about lunchtime.

I didn’t do much this afternoon…just drove around Cheyenne a bit, to parts I hadn’t been to before. Tonight I went to have a nice meal at the Outback steakhouse, which is just a short stumble across from the hotel (meaning more than one beer allowed!!). Nothing better than a nice fresh steak and a cold frosty beer!

Tomorrow I head west to Laramie, back into the mountains. Cheyenne is surrounded by rolling hills, nice cattle country, but not the most photogenic area. I did take some photos on the way up of the local wildlife…a bit random, the animals found here! Some Llama, camels (!!) and a bison or two. I’ll probably see a hippo and a Tibetan Yak tomorrow!!!

There is also the most beautiful cat downstairs in the hotel lobby…I will try get a photo of him tomorrow if he is hanging around…seems to be the resident cat here!

Right, here are today’s photos…enjoy