We had a manic Thursday. I think we felt we had to carry on the frenetic pace of the past couple of weeks. We didn't make it out of bed particularly early (we've covered a few time zones and we're definitely jet lagged!), but w staggered round to Perk Up for a latte and an almond croissant. We were then heading down to Potomac Mills as we needed a lamp and a pouffe from Ikea, and as we were down there then we could stop in and have a look round the shops...
Traffic was heavy, so it took us a while to get down there, but finally I was in outlet heaven trying to find a tote bag I could take on the next flight, and generally browsing. Stephen was getting restless (I'd only been about 45 minutes, but he has little patience unless we're shopping for him...). "What do you want to do? Stay here or go to Ikea?" This sounded like an either/or moment, so as we had originally gone there to go to Ikea, I opted for the giant blue and yellow store. Then, as we were parking, he informed me that I had 10 minutes to find a pouffe and a lamp as he had to be back in DC to watch the Rangers game. Talk about the pressure being on! And talk about grumpy!! He had omitted to mention that part!! I sometimes think that he has conversations with me in his head and then forgets that he hasn't actually verbalised it!!! Anyway, I managed to pick a pouffe and a lamp, pay for them and get them to the car, all in record time. I spent the afternoon doing the assembly. Every one's favourite part isn't it? It wasn't too horrendous - just 8 screw bolt thingies. The worst part was getting the cover onto the frame of the footstool... it must be like zipping someone into a couture dress. It's designed to fit perfectly, but there is doubt when you're trying to do up the zip... Actually, the very worst part was assembling the lampshade. It was one of those pleated numbers, and every pleat had to be clipped onto the metal frame at the top.... If I could have "outsourced" that job I would have done!! What a pain!
We crashed on Friday. We had a disturbed nights sleep as Stephen's cell phone went off during the night - someone texted him the football score at 3am our time, and he hadn't switched the damn thing off... (this was a recurring theme during the holiday - it happened a few times. Text messages are bad enough (one loud beep), but someone from the UK actually phoned us 2pm UK time which was 3AM in Hawaii and let it ring and ring and ring... then they tried the blackberry which was also on as we were using it as an alarm clock...). Anyway, Stephen now has bruised shins from me kicking him during the night and demanding that he "switch the f'ing thing off!" - you would think he might learn!!
We had planned to go and do a couple of museums in DC but that was quickly put off. We were both super tired and I was grumpy as hell! Stephen eventually managed to convince me that it was okay to have a slow day...have a coffee, read a book, put our feet up. Which is precisely what we did. Today hasn't been much more action packed really. We've folded all the post-holiday laundry and tidied up a bit as there was something of a tornado of destruction pass through the house as we got back and emptied bags and cases. We take a lot of "stuff" with us...chargers, computer cables, camera cables etc etc and it gets scattered everywhere when we return. Thank heavens the new pouffe has storage in it, so we've been able to scoop all of this up and deposit it somewhere!!
Saturday 26 April 2008
Muir Woods and San Fran photos
Very tall trees...
The trunks were around 5ft across
Trust me, it was as cold as it looks!!
Lombard Street from the bottom
At the top of Lombard St
Looking down....
Friday 25 April 2008
A walk in the woods
As dinner had been so delicious the previous night, we went back to Don Giovanni's for dinner again! It had been a long day, and neither of us wanted to venture very far - not given our recent experiences in trying to find restaurants from the driving directions given in hotels! We weren't too late back - just enough time to download lots of photos to the blog before I hit the hay. Breakfast was "interesting"! They had Eggs Benedict on the menu (which I simply adore!), but it came with a merlot hollandaise which was, well, not very nice! It tasted quite winey (obviously!), and its not a taste I like at breakfast! Not sure that red wine and eggs goes together very well... I managed to scrape most of it off, so all was not lost!
After brekkers we packed (again!) and loaded up the car ready for the drive back to San Fran. We had planned some stopping off points, and the first of these was Muir Woods to see the giant coastal redwoods. It was a stunning drive down to the woods, clinging to a steep, twisting road which took you down the side of the valley. The view was spectacular. Muir Woods was fascinating. The trees were huge! The redwoods grow to around 360 feet tall, and are around 1000 years old. There was also information on the efforts to save the wood from deforestation in the early part of the 20th century, and the part that John Muir played in that. He was a conservationist who originally hailed from Dunbar in East Lothian and had moved to the US with his parents in the mid-1800's. When I was little we used to go to Muir Woods in Dunbar, so it was interesting to contrast and compare. The drive back up the twisty, clinging to the side of a hill, road was quite frankly nerve-wracking!!! It was a sheer drop in places, and we were oh-so-close to the edge. I shut my eyes in places and just hoped that Stephen wasn't doing the same as he was the one driving!!
We had planned on visiting Sausalito for a wander round and a spot of lunch. We had been years ago and remembered a busy, vibrant town and marina, full of shops, restaurants and people. I'm not really sure what happened, but it appeared to be closed! There were a few people wandering about, but it was cold and grey, so we pushed on to the next spot on the agenda which was the fortifications on the headland overlooking the Golden Gate bridge. You get an absolutely cracking view of the bridge from here, but my God, it was freezing!!! It was drizzling and windy, and you're in a really exposed position so we didn't hang around long. We walked up, took a photo or two, then practically sprinted back down to the car!!
Onwards, ever onwards, we headed across the bridge (and paid the exorbitant $5 toll), then headed across town to Lombard Street. Its the "Crookedest Street" and zig-zags down the hill. The drive up was something! It was a really steep climb to the top of the hill. We had a car with a ridiculously large engine, and it took all of its little horses to get us up to the top! My rollerskate would have given up about halfway I think! We stopped at the top for photos (not that you can really see how steep it is from them), and Stephen did his thing and took snaps of loads for people. Driving up and over the top in order to drive down the street was interesting. You could not see what was coming at the junction as the nose of the car was pointing too much into the air! Thankfully there were mirrors on the lamp posts to help on that score. It was a very slow descent down the street, but we twisted our way down and I jumped out (risking life and limb and being trampled under the crowds of other tourists!) to get a photo.
Do you remember that I said that the feeling of a city can change in a couple of blocks? Well would you like to guess where our hotel for our return visit was? Yup!! Nice hotel, crap location. Thank goodness it was only for one night! It was better in one direction than the other...one way was massage parlours and people asking for money every 10 yards. The other way was the Hilton and some art galleries. The upside was that we found a really good Indian restaurant really close to the hotel. Every cloud... Of course, it is a pisser that we have found a great Indian restaurant and it's in San Francisco, but hey... if we have one really great curry whilst we're over here in the US we should be thankful!!
We were up at the ungodly hour of 5AM in order to catch the 7:45 flight back to DC. We both slept really badly - probably because we knew we had to wake up in the middle of the night. Which may have been why getting to the airport turned into such a trauma!! It wasn't the most clearly signposted exit for the airport, or rental car return and Stephen took the wrong turning off the freeway - TWICE!!!! Thank heavens for SatNav! As it was I was grumpy, but I would have been totally incandescent if I had had to navigate us back with the crappy maps they give you! Another marital averted...
After brekkers we packed (again!) and loaded up the car ready for the drive back to San Fran. We had planned some stopping off points, and the first of these was Muir Woods to see the giant coastal redwoods. It was a stunning drive down to the woods, clinging to a steep, twisting road which took you down the side of the valley. The view was spectacular. Muir Woods was fascinating. The trees were huge! The redwoods grow to around 360 feet tall, and are around 1000 years old. There was also information on the efforts to save the wood from deforestation in the early part of the 20th century, and the part that John Muir played in that. He was a conservationist who originally hailed from Dunbar in East Lothian and had moved to the US with his parents in the mid-1800's. When I was little we used to go to Muir Woods in Dunbar, so it was interesting to contrast and compare. The drive back up the twisty, clinging to the side of a hill, road was quite frankly nerve-wracking!!! It was a sheer drop in places, and we were oh-so-close to the edge. I shut my eyes in places and just hoped that Stephen wasn't doing the same as he was the one driving!!
We had planned on visiting Sausalito for a wander round and a spot of lunch. We had been years ago and remembered a busy, vibrant town and marina, full of shops, restaurants and people. I'm not really sure what happened, but it appeared to be closed! There were a few people wandering about, but it was cold and grey, so we pushed on to the next spot on the agenda which was the fortifications on the headland overlooking the Golden Gate bridge. You get an absolutely cracking view of the bridge from here, but my God, it was freezing!!! It was drizzling and windy, and you're in a really exposed position so we didn't hang around long. We walked up, took a photo or two, then practically sprinted back down to the car!!
Onwards, ever onwards, we headed across the bridge (and paid the exorbitant $5 toll), then headed across town to Lombard Street. Its the "Crookedest Street" and zig-zags down the hill. The drive up was something! It was a really steep climb to the top of the hill. We had a car with a ridiculously large engine, and it took all of its little horses to get us up to the top! My rollerskate would have given up about halfway I think! We stopped at the top for photos (not that you can really see how steep it is from them), and Stephen did his thing and took snaps of loads for people. Driving up and over the top in order to drive down the street was interesting. You could not see what was coming at the junction as the nose of the car was pointing too much into the air! Thankfully there were mirrors on the lamp posts to help on that score. It was a very slow descent down the street, but we twisted our way down and I jumped out (risking life and limb and being trampled under the crowds of other tourists!) to get a photo.
Do you remember that I said that the feeling of a city can change in a couple of blocks? Well would you like to guess where our hotel for our return visit was? Yup!! Nice hotel, crap location. Thank goodness it was only for one night! It was better in one direction than the other...one way was massage parlours and people asking for money every 10 yards. The other way was the Hilton and some art galleries. The upside was that we found a really good Indian restaurant really close to the hotel. Every cloud... Of course, it is a pisser that we have found a great Indian restaurant and it's in San Francisco, but hey... if we have one really great curry whilst we're over here in the US we should be thankful!!
We were up at the ungodly hour of 5AM in order to catch the 7:45 flight back to DC. We both slept really badly - probably because we knew we had to wake up in the middle of the night. Which may have been why getting to the airport turned into such a trauma!! It wasn't the most clearly signposted exit for the airport, or rental car return and Stephen took the wrong turning off the freeway - TWICE!!!! Thank heavens for SatNav! As it was I was grumpy, but I would have been totally incandescent if I had had to navigate us back with the crappy maps they give you! Another marital averted...
Tuesday 22 April 2008
Napa photos
Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco skyline
Napa hotel
Vines as far as the eye can see
Old Faithful blows right on schedule!
Kauai photos part 2
We came all this way, and this is the view?? The mist rolls in - the view at 4000 ft
Hanapeepee valley. This was a STOP THE CAR NOW moment!!
Hanalei valley
The mountains from Hanalei beach - where's Puff?
Hanalei beach
The next beach was even more gorgeous!
Where the river meets the sea (Wainiha Beach)
The final beach on the North coast (Haena beach)
Waimea Canyon
Opaekka Falls
Wailu Falls - these were in the opening credits of Fantasy Island!
Stephen and I riding the waves...
The Hotel
At the Luau
Stephen's tasteful shirt!
My flower lei
Forgive me for I have Zinned
We dined at a very romantic (ie touristy) restaurant on our final night in Kauai. It was a nice Italian place overlooking a bay and had the moon reflecting on the water. The receptionist had suggested we visit Kauai pasta, and we think they were recommending places that they go to eat - good food, reasonable prices, just stuck in a 1970's time warp with the Formica tables and usually situated in a strip mall between a nail bar and a drug store! To be fair the food was always pretty good, but sometimes you want a lovely setting too...and don't mind paying a few extra dollars to get it!
We checked in online for the flight and for some reason we couldn't get a seat assignment. We got to the airport good and early, and it was just as well as it was pretty chaotic! There was a huge queue to check luggage. We asked about our lack of seat numbers and were told to check at the gate for seat assignments. Oh oh! We're on standby and the flight is oversold!! Stephen eventually managed to get us seats, but they didn't seem to recognise we were a "party of 2" so they weren't together. He said "there is a crap seat and a really crap seat". As they were nearly finished boarding the flight I took the boarding pass with my name on it and headed to the really crap seat - at the back of the plane, wedged between two blokes. I had assumed my seat was crap because it was a middle seat at the back of the plane, but no! My seat was the crap seat because the other one was a middle seat in Economy Plus!! He had omitted to mention that part to me!! He spent the 5 hour flight in relative comfort, whilst I spent it squished between two guys who insisted on sitting with their knees spread far apart (and encroaching on my space!). Also, to make matters even more delightful, the guy to my right was eating something really offensive and the woman in front changed her baby's nappy on the seat in front and it was a stinker!!! I thought there was somewhere you could take little babies to do that???
We drove up through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate bridge. It was a perfectly clear day and the views were stunning. We stopped at the view point on the north side to take some photos. Actually as it was blowing a gale and freezing I stayed in the warmth of the car as he had a jacket to hand and I only had a t-shirt on! There was a bridal party having photos taken and the bride was looking a little cold and windswept!
It was a lovely drive to Napa past miles and miles of vineyards. The hotel is gorgeous! Its a B&B style hotel - antique furnishings and individual style of rooms. The grounds are stunning too. Even better (as we were starving) was the fact that there is a superb Italian restaurant about 100 yards down the road. We had a superb dinner there last night.
Breakfast is included (unusual in an American hotel) and it was served by a lovely Mexican lady who didn't speak much English. Bacon, Eggs and Potatoes was on the menu and we both ordered that (well, we had wine to taste and didn't want to do that on a slice of toast alone!). It came with scrambled eggs, and Stephen wanted fried.... "Can I have fried eggs?" - blank look - "Can I have the eggs over easy rather than scrambled?" - "over easy?" - "yes, over easy, fried eggs over easy". Off she went, then back she came with the menu in hand. "Potato over easy?" - No - "Bacon over easy?" - No - "Eggs over easy?" - Yes!!! It was a pure Fawlty Towers moment!!! Stephen's gentle accent strikes again!!
We've driven up Napa Valley today, and toured a couple of wineries. The first one was fascinating - our guide really knew his stuff, and they seemed to make really "select" wines. The other winery was a little more larger scale, but it had a cool cable car ride up to the top!! We had tastings at both places - quite interesting to compare the different varieties and styles. There was a big focus on red wines though, and I'm much more of a white wine gal! I forced it down though!!! We've tried Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Zinfandel....Mmmmmm!!
We also went to see the "Old Faithful" geyser. It had gone off around 10 minutes before we got there, so we had to wait...a whole 15 minutes or so!! The eruption was preceded by a lot of steam and a bubbling noise, then there was a little spurt, then it finally did its thing, which it does faithfully every 30 minutes or so, and spurted water about 40 feet into the air!
We checked in online for the flight and for some reason we couldn't get a seat assignment. We got to the airport good and early, and it was just as well as it was pretty chaotic! There was a huge queue to check luggage. We asked about our lack of seat numbers and were told to check at the gate for seat assignments. Oh oh! We're on standby and the flight is oversold!! Stephen eventually managed to get us seats, but they didn't seem to recognise we were a "party of 2" so they weren't together. He said "there is a crap seat and a really crap seat". As they were nearly finished boarding the flight I took the boarding pass with my name on it and headed to the really crap seat - at the back of the plane, wedged between two blokes. I had assumed my seat was crap because it was a middle seat at the back of the plane, but no! My seat was the crap seat because the other one was a middle seat in Economy Plus!! He had omitted to mention that part to me!! He spent the 5 hour flight in relative comfort, whilst I spent it squished between two guys who insisted on sitting with their knees spread far apart (and encroaching on my space!). Also, to make matters even more delightful, the guy to my right was eating something really offensive and the woman in front changed her baby's nappy on the seat in front and it was a stinker!!! I thought there was somewhere you could take little babies to do that???
We drove up through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate bridge. It was a perfectly clear day and the views were stunning. We stopped at the view point on the north side to take some photos. Actually as it was blowing a gale and freezing I stayed in the warmth of the car as he had a jacket to hand and I only had a t-shirt on! There was a bridal party having photos taken and the bride was looking a little cold and windswept!
It was a lovely drive to Napa past miles and miles of vineyards. The hotel is gorgeous! Its a B&B style hotel - antique furnishings and individual style of rooms. The grounds are stunning too. Even better (as we were starving) was the fact that there is a superb Italian restaurant about 100 yards down the road. We had a superb dinner there last night.
Breakfast is included (unusual in an American hotel) and it was served by a lovely Mexican lady who didn't speak much English. Bacon, Eggs and Potatoes was on the menu and we both ordered that (well, we had wine to taste and didn't want to do that on a slice of toast alone!). It came with scrambled eggs, and Stephen wanted fried.... "Can I have fried eggs?" - blank look - "Can I have the eggs over easy rather than scrambled?" - "over easy?" - "yes, over easy, fried eggs over easy". Off she went, then back she came with the menu in hand. "Potato over easy?" - No - "Bacon over easy?" - No - "Eggs over easy?" - Yes!!! It was a pure Fawlty Towers moment!!! Stephen's gentle accent strikes again!!
We've driven up Napa Valley today, and toured a couple of wineries. The first one was fascinating - our guide really knew his stuff, and they seemed to make really "select" wines. The other winery was a little more larger scale, but it had a cool cable car ride up to the top!! We had tastings at both places - quite interesting to compare the different varieties and styles. There was a big focus on red wines though, and I'm much more of a white wine gal! I forced it down though!!! We've tried Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Zinfandel....Mmmmmm!!
We also went to see the "Old Faithful" geyser. It had gone off around 10 minutes before we got there, so we had to wait...a whole 15 minutes or so!! The eruption was preceded by a lot of steam and a bubbling noise, then there was a little spurt, then it finally did its thing, which it does faithfully every 30 minutes or so, and spurted water about 40 feet into the air!
Sunday 20 April 2008
The magical garden isle
It's been a busy few days! For a small island (roughly 32 miles each way) there is a LOT to see! We've spent a lot of the past few days exploring and have driven practically every inch of the major highways of the island (all 4 of them). Sadly it does rain in paradise (well WE are here, so it was bound to happen!). We woke up a couple of days ago and it was pouring at the hotel. Thankfully it cleared up as we headed north, and by the time we got to Hanalei it was beginning to get quite sunny. Yes. Hanalei. We have been to see Puff the Magic Dragon!!! How did the song go? "Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea, and frolicked in the April mists in a land called Hanalei". Couldn't have been truer! I know I said this before but this is a beautiful island, each bay and beach more stunning than the last and Hanalei Bay was no exception. Imagine a white sand beach with crystal clear turquoise sea in front of you, and soaring tree covered mountains behind you. It was utterly utterly gorgeous! But then we travelled a few beaches further on and each was more stunning than the last. Truly we feel honoured to have seen them. I will post photos soon - I do need to make you all jealous after all!.
We have seen all the sights reachable by car. There are places that are only accessible by helicopter or by 3 day hike into the interior. And you know I ain't into hiking!!!
We drove up to the Waimea Canyon yesterday. It wasn't a particularly clear day at 3500 feet unfortately so it was difficult to capture the Grand Canyon of the Pacific in all of its majesty. We braved the last 3 miles of badly maintained, pot-holed road up to the final view point - the one that gives you a glimpse of the Na Pali coast - and all we could see was nothing!! The clouds were rolling in and obliterated any view there should have been. Oh well, we'll just have to come back someday!
The Luau was good fun! It began with a drinks reception where we were promised that the barman could mix Mai Tai's that would "make you feel better". I tell you, I didn't need his Mai Tai's in order for him to do that!! Pheweeee!! He mixed a mean Mai Tai, and there was a queue of drooling women to take them off his hands! You have to love a man in a sarong!! There were plenty of lovely ladies for Stephen to drool over too. There were actually wearing coconut shell bikini tops at one point...and I thought that was just in the movies! Its not a style I can see me wearing - I'd need significantly bigger coconuts for a start!!!! The old romantic did buy me a flower lei...after I had marched him over and demanded he do so!! It was lovely, made from fresh flowers and smelt divine, and given with a kiss as tradition demands.
Dinner last night was interesting. We had asked for a recommendation at the hotel and were pointed to The Bull Shed in Kapaa, which is about 10 minutes from the hotel. Thanks to the fantastic directions it took us about an hour to find it!! We had been up and down the town, and half way back to see Puff at one point!!!! Eventually we found it - down a lane, tucked beside a hotel. It was not where I would have chosen, but as it as now 8:30 it was there or the McDonalds across the street. The food was actually pretty okay, but it was Formica tables, so not the most salubrious of settings!
We have seen all the sights reachable by car. There are places that are only accessible by helicopter or by 3 day hike into the interior. And you know I ain't into hiking!!!
We drove up to the Waimea Canyon yesterday. It wasn't a particularly clear day at 3500 feet unfortately so it was difficult to capture the Grand Canyon of the Pacific in all of its majesty. We braved the last 3 miles of badly maintained, pot-holed road up to the final view point - the one that gives you a glimpse of the Na Pali coast - and all we could see was nothing!! The clouds were rolling in and obliterated any view there should have been. Oh well, we'll just have to come back someday!
The Luau was good fun! It began with a drinks reception where we were promised that the barman could mix Mai Tai's that would "make you feel better". I tell you, I didn't need his Mai Tai's in order for him to do that!! Pheweeee!! He mixed a mean Mai Tai, and there was a queue of drooling women to take them off his hands! You have to love a man in a sarong!! There were plenty of lovely ladies for Stephen to drool over too. There were actually wearing coconut shell bikini tops at one point...and I thought that was just in the movies! Its not a style I can see me wearing - I'd need significantly bigger coconuts for a start!!!! The old romantic did buy me a flower lei...after I had marched him over and demanded he do so!! It was lovely, made from fresh flowers and smelt divine, and given with a kiss as tradition demands.
Dinner last night was interesting. We had asked for a recommendation at the hotel and were pointed to The Bull Shed in Kapaa, which is about 10 minutes from the hotel. Thanks to the fantastic directions it took us about an hour to find it!! We had been up and down the town, and half way back to see Puff at one point!!!! Eventually we found it - down a lane, tucked beside a hotel. It was not where I would have chosen, but as it as now 8:30 it was there or the McDonalds across the street. The food was actually pretty okay, but it was Formica tables, so not the most salubrious of settings!
Thursday 17 April 2008
Kauai - the photos part 1
Stephen sampling the local Kauai brew 
My first cocktail. We were sunburnt before we got to Hawaii!
The beach at the hotel
The beach with mountains in the distance
The hotel pool 
The view at lunch today - a bay at Lihue
Poultry!! 
Stephen stopped traffic (the approaching jeep) for these ones!
Hmmm, where is it?
Oooohhh! There it is! The blow hole near Poipu
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