Mono lake and its wierd limestone Tufas. Eerie.

It's a ghost town. Called Bodie. Am now looking for Doyle.

Not only does Tom have a place (see below), but he has a mountain all to himself too.

Tom has his own place (not in Yosemite). Apparently, he's too lazy to write the letter 'W'. (or, maybe he missed off a leading apostrophe and is trying to point out that it isn't a park)

Some big trees, in Yosemite.

A big drop, in Yosemite

Sunny snow, in Yosemite

Some big rocks and a big waterfall, in Yosemite.

Another big waterfall, in Yosemite.

A big rock, in Yosemite.

A big waterfall, in Yosemite.

A verandah, suitable for drinking cocktails on, in Yosemite

Here lies Cutie

A Big Bridge, which I walked across

A Travesty

Dirty, Cheating Southern Wankers.

Normal service will be resumed, after I've had some sleep.

Wild West Hotel - Mendocino CA

It's a tree. You can drive through it. (I did). It's the Drive-Thru Tree.

Just gotta dig them Monkeys

You Knows It

Oregon Pacific Coastline

Heceta Head Lighthouse and B&B. through the morning mists

Pretty, shiny. bright building - in Seattle

And now, a picture with Hello

Playing with Hello

Wednesday 18th May - Bandon to Mendocino

Woke up early, a little worse for wear, to bright sunshine. It didn't last.

Another excellent breakfast (thanks, Shirley). Was introduced to Stumpy and Baby (two pampered Seagulls). Fellow breakfasters were:

• A couple on their honeymoon (ahhh)
  
• A couple: him cycling from Arcadia to San Francisco - her driving the Pick-up with his stuff in it.
  

Saw a mole-type animal scurrying across the road.

Visited and drove through the Drive Thru Tree. I have a recollection of a picture of this tree in one of my Ladybird books. Will need to check when I get home.

CA Route 1 is even more spectacular than the Route 101 I took through Oregon. It's really pretty. Not sure how nice it would be in high-season though. Saw a deer whilst wending up and down the hill at the start.

Picked up a hitch-hiker and took him about 30 miles, as far as Mendocino. Dropped him off on the highway and went to the Mendocino Hotel. It was just like a John Wayne film.

Had some "Scrimshaw" beer (from Fort Bragg - 15 miles back up the coast. "Storybook town" was my passenger's comment as we passed through.)

Had a rather frustrating conversation with an Amercian woman who seemed to believe the IRA as freedom-fighters shit they get fed over here. Eventually agreed to disagree, her other half seemed to understand what was going on though. Still too annoyed to think about that conversation just now.

Tuesday 17th May - Heceta Head to Bandon

At 8:30 propmt, breakfast was started. 7 courses. What can I remember?

• Fresh Fruit
  
• Crabcake
  
• Sorbet
  
• Spinach and cheese quiche thing (and sausage)
  
• Almond Cake thing
  
• Apple, cheese and Pancetta
  

All in all, pretty fantastic. It took 1 1/2 hours and the food, company and conversation were superb.

More spectacular coast-line. Shame that the sun was still hiding.

After a tip-off by breakfast companions - did a slight side-tour in Reedport to see Elk grazing on the wetlands. Which was cool.

Arrived in Bandon, seemed pleasant enough, so booked into another B&B.

Found WiFi in a Coffee Shop (Sunday's entry was posted from the Palm Pilot in the shop - Caffeine O/D)

stopped in a pub for a quiet half. Left 5 hours later after:

• Playing Keno (once)
  
• Drinking "Red ~ Beer" (Bud and Tomato Juice) - a local delicacy
  
• Losing at pool
  
• Chatting to some Caddies from the new Golf Course.
  

Rolled back to the B&B and fell sound asleep. Apparently it was very windy.

Monday 16th May - Seaside to Heceta Head

Did alot of driving along a pretty spectacular coast.

Arrived at Heceta lighthouse at about 2:30 and was shown to a lovely room with an amazing view over the Pacific ocean.

Went up to the lighthouse, tour was actually quite poor. I knew more about lighthouses than the guide. But, I guess I have been to the National lighthouse museum in Cornwall, and I've been on a yacht, plying a night passage past the Needles.

A pleasant chat in the Evening and, to bed.

Sunday 15th May 2005- Seattle to Seaside

Picked up the hire car in Seattle. It's a V6 monster. Headed south towards Oregon but got side-tracked into a Fry's.
Did the scenic Mt Ranier and Mt St Helens bit. Clouds are not all that picturesque.
Headed over the Columbia river near Astoria and hit the 101 down the coast. Stopped in a regulation Motel in "Seaside".

Saturday 14th May - Seattle - Evening

More wine tasting. Stayed off the Red this time.

Wander towards the ball-park (another game on tonight) visiting empty, cavernous pubs which were all about to be filled to the gunnels with Baseball fans, apparently.

Retired early - again.

PSP - first impressions

Just got a PSP (they're tricky to track down). Bought one game with it - Lumines. First impressions:

• It looks much much nicer than the DS
  
• It has _lots_ of buttons, knobs and lights.
  
• The screen is lovely
  
• The analogue controller looks a bit fiddly to me
  
• Why the white iPod-esque ear buds. Is white the international colour for "Mug me please?"
  
• Lumines is bizarre - not sure I'll be getting on too well with that one.
  
• Aaargh - more f****ing media. Memory Stick (spit) Duo (spit spit).
  

All in all, looks prettier that the DS, but the games will need to make me want to play it. WarioWare, Feel the Magic and BomberMan will be hard to beat. And by sticking to the bloody Memory Stick, they ensure it's highly unlikely I'll be using it as an MP3 or MPEG player. Ho Hum

Saturday 14th May - Seattle - Morning

Up early again. Wandered around a bit to see if I could find the Hertz Office. Seattle is hilly.

Appalling breakfast near the Hertz office, then a stroll down to the Pier to get a ferry across the Mersey^W Puget sound.

The sun came out for Bainbridge island and another good stroll was had. Arriving back at the ferry terminal, completely by accident, just as the ferry was leaving.

Bought another book. So far I've read

• Iain Banks - Dead Air (not one of his best IMHO)
  
• Ian Rankin - Rebus #15 (These are getting worse, which is a shame)
  

So, I bought "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell - let's see how I get on with that.

Back to the hotel via Chinatown (or, The International Quarter, as is appears to be dubbed now) to try and find a PSP shop. Duly Found. Back to the hotel (the hilly way - again) clutching the new purchase in my sticky mitts.

Friday 13th (oops) May - Seattle - Planning

I've booked a room here for Monday night. It looks really cool. I want to know what a seven course Gourmet Breakfast is.

Time will tell.

Friday 13th (oops) May - Seattle - Afternoon/Evening

Back to the hotel for a siesta.

One of the books I bought earlier was a Dictionary of Symbols, which is fascinating, if a little biased to certain types of symbols.

In this hotel, they organise wine tasting for an hour each day from 5 to 6. I turned up in the, rather compact, lobby to find a couple of well dressed folks handing out small glasses of wine. I tried one white and four reds. I don't drink red wine as a rule and found it quite hard telling the difference between them. Ensconsed in a corner, however, it was a perfect spot for some serious people-watching.

A visit to the front desk to enquire where it was safe to wander around in town told me that Pioneer Square was not so good, as it was full of 'Young People' who like to party, and some homeless folks. As that's right next to the stadium, where the local team were playing the Red Sox (baseball), I duly went anyway.

Busy bars, lots of folks walking with a single purpose towards the stadium. Some down-n-outs in the square itself. All pretty standard stuff.

Eschewing the many sports bars, I went back to the hotel for dinner and an early night. I know I promised; but the Sweet Potato Gnocchi was really worth a mention.

Friday 13th (oops) May - Seattle - Morning

Grrr, bugger. Post lost by Blogger UI.

Summary:

• Bookshop
  
• Walk
  
• Space Needle
  
• Ride the Duck
  
• EMP
  
• Monorail
  
• Microbrewery
  

Friday 13th (oops) May - Seattle - Breakfast

Woke at 5:30am. Which is really 1:30pm, which is late - even for me. Went downstairs for tea (which I was promised at check-in: "Free tea and coffee in the lobby from 5:30").

Now, usually I've got my head around the fact that I'm never going to get a good cup of tea once I've got on a plane, until I'm back at home again (actually, that's not true: there's a great place for tea in Boston (Chez Tim) - but you get the picture). So, why oh why did I think to myself as I got in the lift (I've given up looking for the stairs in American hotels) "Ooh goody - I could really do with a nice cup of tea".

• A flask of Hot (whatever use that might be) water.
  
• Assorted novelty tea bags (most of which weren't even tea. The bloody S.Africans seem to be doing a pretty good job of trying to export that Roibos (?sp) muck to anywhere without taste buds.)
  
• Cream - no milk.
  

I was crushed.

Went around the corner for a "Full Breakfast" with orange juice.

(I promise this will not turn into a John-style "What I ate across America" blog - probably)

Thursday 12th May (ick) - Travelling Day

Taxi was a bit late, but that's no problem, I'd left plenty of time for it to be so. Pleasant enough trip to BHX. No near chunders and no long stories of speeding fines from the taxi driver.

He did feel the need to try to engage me in conversation. The highlight of which was his joke. I repeat it here solely for historical record:

2 dyslexics having a conversation:
1st dyslexic: "Can you smell gas?"
2nd dyslexic: "I can't even smell my own name"

Oh, how I chortled.

Birmingham to Newark was uneventful, if a bit bumpy towards the end. It's always nice to have three seats on a long trip.

In Newark Airport I was chatting to a chap from Hasbro who had something to do with Magic: The Gathering. No freebies though - sorry Gary.

The flight from Newark to Seattle was rammed full. Not the most comfortable place in the world - never mind. Taxi to Seattle centre and straight to bed at the hotel

Important things first

First thing to do on Wednesday evening was to finish Paper Mario 2.

Then I started to pack. I am not capable of travelling light. When your minimum requirements include a Bose Sounddock for the iPod, you can see where this is headed.

Anyway, due to the need to pack a Dinner Jacket (the Hotel we are going to in Yosemite serves cocktails on the verandah) I have two bags. Packing is easier with more space. Carrying them isn't.

Finally got to bed at 4am (also had a need to get as up to date as possible on TiVO shows I might come across in the US).