31st May

ho ho we went to the Mystery spot this morning, where everything is out of kilter. Seems as if there's a serious gravity thing going on there. Explain about it later but for now we are at the airport hotel, waiting for our flight in the morning. So, this is Angela Elliott saying see you in England.

30th May

The holiday is almost over. Boo hoo. Had a blast but will be good to get back to my own bed and see Jacob again. Lots to tell and lots more photos to share with those who can bear it.

Today we back-tracked a bit and went to Monterey Aquarium. Christine and Ron are members and so gave us guest passes, and due to Santa Cruz's proximity to Monterey it was easy to drive down there and spend a day looking at fish. Fantastic afternoon, especially enjoyed the seahorses. Some are spectacular!Jellyfish
Amazing 'leafy' sea horses.

And these, looking like something out of AvatarWe are home now. Ron is cooking and the others are drinking Manhattan's. Joni Mitchell is on the hifi and we're very laid back and Californian!

Things are going to be different when I get back that's for sure. I need to get my 'shit together man' and sort the novels out. Wow, what an inspiration all this is! Too much lingering in the backwaters of your life is not good for you. Just Do It.

29th May

Santa Cruz man.... it's the most happening place on the planet.... we went to see Hair last night at the UCSC. It was a student production but it was good. The singing wasn't so hot but they put some energy into it and we had a blast - man.Santa Cruz has it all - wonderful inland scenery with the forest and hills. Fantastic oceanside action - surfing, views, a pier, tourist stuff and cool laid back surfer dude stuff on the cliff walk. Old 'Victorian' houses with lovely verandas and views of the sea. We even went to a Victorian barn sale.Late afternoon we took a picnic up to the University, which is on a hill overlooking the ocean and then went in to see the show after we'd eaten. We were accompanying by one of Christine's friends - she the very tiny one in the pic. Seems I've grown!

28th May

Bright and sunny outside, if a little chilly (not too chilly though!) and we went to the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park for a long, long walk up to Lookout Point, where, in the far distance we could see Monterey and the sea.
It has been decided that we aren't going to Yosemite, due to the length of drive and the time we have left, but the Redwood State Park is just magnificent and some of the trees are almost 2,000 years old.There is no end to the fabulous wilderness here. I'm just knocked out by it all. I can't say the same for the towns although we went into Santa Cruz in the afternoon and it is a lovely little town with a proper town feel to it. Unlike almost every other 'town' we've been too. It's also very 'hippy' still. More so I think that San Francisco, although I didn't really spend enought time there to tell for sure.

27th May

This morning we had the most torrential downpour, but inbetween cloudbursts I donned wet weather gear and went for a walk. I took photos of all the multimillion dollar houses and lots of gates because I became fascinated with the way in which people entice you in, or keep you out of their homes.Diablo is basically an estate of very individual, very exclusive homes that were mostly all built in the early years of the 20th century, save for a few such as Hap's brother's. There just used to be a country club here and people would drive their horse and buggy out from San Francisco for a nice trip, a day at the races and to rest up in the club house. Eventually these rich folks started to build in the environs and so Diablo was born at the foot of Mount Diablo (see earlier post, where we went up Mount Diablo).Christine came to pick us up in the afternoon and then drive us back to Scotts Valley near Santa Cruz, where we are going to spend the next few days. The house is beautiful in a different way to the Diablo houses, surrounded by redwood forest and with a lovely garden on which Christine is lavishing love and care. There are four Abyssinian cats here - all very beautiful and friendly. More tomorrow, when we've explored a bit.

25th and 26th May

Two days when we've chilled out. Even so we seem to have fitted in a lot of shopping, eating and walking. No photos from yesterday because we didn't do a whole lot other than go to this restaurant called the Cheesecake Factory. It looks like a huge Eygptian temple and apparently is part of a chain right across the country.

Today we drove around Danville and Walnut Creek, two 'exclusive' little towns just outside San Francisco and close to Diablo. Danville is very old and has some nice individual shops and a kind of 'stage coach' feel to it. Walnut Creek has a Macy's and every other shop you can imagine and we very carefully avoided spending any money.
It was also Erin's birthday today (Hap's niece). She is 12 today. We went out for pasta at her favourite Italian pasta house and then home for Lemon birthday cake and she opened her presents.We take off for Santa Cruz at lunchtime and then, hopefully, Yosemite over the weekend. We have tickets to a show on Friday night. Not sure what because Christine, our hostess in Santa Cruz, bought them but I will report accordingly when I know.


Love to all. Soon be home again - flying back next Tuesday, so not long now. Hoping Jacob has managed to do the washing up!

24th May

Drove into San Francisco today to see the sights. These derricks were the inspiration for George Lucas's monster walking robots things in Star Wars. As you can see the weather was ovecast on the drive in, but it cleared up over the course of the day and it ended up warm and sunny.

We headed straight for the Golden Gate Bridge and parked at Cressy field, the site of the old airport. It's right next to the bridge and there's a lovely walk through wild flowers planted here as representative of the wild flowers in the area.We walked up onto the bridge and absolutely everyone we encountered there was beaming big smiles. It is a magical bridge with fabulous views of the whole bay and Alcatraz.Afterwards we drove through the streets of San Francisco, up and down some seriously big hills, where you have to think whether the brakes will actually hold you or not, to Chinatown. Not that impressed with Chinatown. It's not as nice as London's Chinatown. But it is colourful.
We delivered the car back to the car hire company and then caught the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) out to Walnut Creek, where Hap's brother picked us up and drove us the few miles back to Diablo.