Big Sur

We were thinking to drive  back south from San Francisco and seeing the Mojave desert before dropping my father back off in LAX. Little did we know that the drive on highway 101 along the West Coast was going to be that spectacular! We'd read that it was beautiful but we hadn't counted on stopping every ten minutes to take pictures of those mysterious cliffs, covered in mist, ingeniously constructed bridges connecting the hills and those funny elephant seals sunbathing on the beach. When we realized that going to Mojave was too ambitious for the time left, we had no problem to change the itinerary and enjoy the coast to the max. We found some great camping spots and for some reason camping on the coast seemed a little less tiring than camping in the woods. Well, temperatures up to 25 degrees do help of course. Is this what they call 'Indian' summer? Then I just love it!

Because we didn't want to exhaust my father too much before sending him back to my mum, we took it a little more easy during those days. We went for long beach walks and took even longer coffee breaks on sunny terraces. 

Halloween preparations are in full swing here in the US and it's really funny to walk in the many pumpkin fields and watch the locals carefully choosing their pumpkins so they can carve the perfect Jack-o'-lantern. For the kids, going to the field seems a whole event as lots of them are already disguised and lots of family photos are being taken here. Looking forward to experience the real Halloween craziness next week!

San Francisco

After a week in the woods, we decided it was time for the comforts of the city. No more camping and sleeping in a car for 3 entire days! We booked a motel in a quiet suburb and gave our Jucy some time off.

My little brother had visited San Francisco three weeks earlier and he told me it was 'dirty, boring and full of crazy people'. Say what??! I loooooved San Francisco, so did Benoit and so did my father. And let me tell you that my father usually  dislikes cities, noise, traffic....I think my brother is such a hater sometimes! 

We were incredibly lucky with the weather because San Francisco is known for its cloudy and foggy climate but we spent three very sunny days discovering downtown, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful Victorian neighborhoods. Also food needed some attention as there are more  restaurants here than in any other American city. Never had more seafood in my life and the best part is that it's surprisingly inexpensive.

Okay, there are 'crazy' people and the public transport is a real pain, I've never seen such a slow and old fashioned metro and bus system but this certainly didn't take away the fun we had hopping on and off the world famous cable cars!  

UCLA and Stanford's brass bands were battling it out at Fisherman's Wharf, they were just incredible!

 Alcatraz

 San Francisco's Bay Bridge

 Could look at them all day; sea lions at pier 39

 This is what happens when you're taking too many pictures: the cable car doesn't wait!

 Clam Chowder is what you eat at Fisherman's Wharf; it's a kind of fish soup in a bread bowl, quite yummy!

Mandatory posing with Golden Gate Bridge 

 Oysters at Hog Island Oyster Company ( happy hour on Monday and Thursdays!)

In the US with a special guest!

We have arrived to the last part of our trip! 8 weeks of touring in the US, starting in Los Angeles and finishing it all of in the concrete jungle of New York end of November! But let's not think about that yet, please! 

The first two weeks will be extra special because we are joined by...my father! He will be discovering the West Coast together with us, several national parks and San Francisco! In the mean time, we've got the first week behind us and my dad is still alive and well, haha, although he's been very cold (one night), hungry (several times) and amazed by our 'basic' way of traveling, as he keeps calling it. I guess we're so used to sleeping in a car, eating outside, having days without shower (but never more than two, don't worry) that we just don't realize anymore this way of living is a little absurd to others. But so far, my father is adapting quite well and we're having a lot of fun together! Here are some pictures of our first week in and around three national parks. Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite.

Oh...and my father likes posing, so expect to see a lot of him in the next posts! :--)

    First hamburger in the US!

 Oh! And second! Mom, he's not really paying attention to his cholesterol ;-)

 Our house for 22 days! Dad is sleeping in the car, we are up in 'The Penthouse'. It's actually the most comfy van we've rented so far!

 According to the Americans this is the largest tree in the world, in terms of wood volume...Hmmmm, we're not quite sure; General Sherman is big but not that big. Anyway, it's in Sequoia NP.

Vernon Fall, Yosemite NP

 Kings Canyon NP

Absolutely forbidden to feed wildlife in the NP's, but how can you see no to these cuties? 

The raccoon didn't get anything though because he stole our bag of bread and left us without breakfast the next morning.

Posing with El Capitan in Yosemite

He wasn't the only one

Nevada Fall in Yosemite NP

Can it get more American than this? Rodeo! For girls, how cool!

My dad didn't really have this in mind when he was preparing his 'holiday' in the US

 But he likes making fire, so he wasn't too disappointed...