Hi we woke up to drizzly cloudy rain but we drove to the Avenue of the Giants  which is 10 miles away. You then are in the Humbolt national park and travel 30 miles along thousands of old redwood trees, amazing!

Lily I found the faraway tree and it touches the clouds to the different lands, but I didn’t see Moonbeam and Silky!

The trees are magnificent and were making lots of creaking noises in the rain. The Eal River runs all through this park and is wide and meandering and makes pretty watery scenes.

We stopped by the park information centre and found out about the history of the area. Many many ancient trees have been cut down all along this coast before the remaining ones were saved by protesters in the early 19 century.

We drove our car through one of the giant trees and as we were the only ones there,Vince stopped to take photos of me in the car inside the tree ha ha!

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In the afternoon we visited the old town of Eureka which was an important port back in the day.

Hope the weather is improving for you at home and love especially to Anona Lilyana Louis and Otis xxxx from grandma and grandad

We seemed to be travelling all day today as we kept stopping to view the sea and the trees!

We are now in a best western at Fortuna California near to Humbolt national park. We have decided not to travel up any further as there is so much round here to discover.

We sadly had an accident this afternoon. We are unharmed but the hire car is not. A deer ran out into the front of the car on my passenger side. Neither of us saw it until it hit the car. We think it ran out of a garden straight onto the road and into us. It died straight away. So sad……

We drove up the coast road which isn’t the quickest way to go but it was so beautiful, very winding and long.

As It was getting late afternoon we decided to head inland to pick up the 101 road, a bit of a mistake as this road was even more winding with steeper bends and hilly. It was a lovely road but not when you are tired. Once we hit the 101 it was plain sailing. We saw a few red woods on the 101 and they were impressive but in the Humbolt park we will find hundreds of them, I can’t wait!

We are in another lovely hotel room, here for 5 nights. Love to you all (I will add photos later) xxxxxx

Hi it rained all through the night with high winds. Murky rain and fog as we went out this morning. The wind slowly dropped and the seas have calmed slightly. It is colder today.

Soooo we went to explore more view points of the Golden Gate Bridge from the beaches and the marinas and also China Town.

Firstly the bridge pictures, I have so many of them now . Hope it looks red today and not grey.

Next we went to China Town (and it’s over a large quarter of the city).  We managed to park the car in a multi storey CP close by and then walked for ages up the streets looking in the shop windows. It was interesting to see all the different foods and clothes. Lots of gift shops sold exactly the same things as to be expected but there were exceptions to this.

We tried tea tasting.That was fun. Green,white red and black teas. Our favourite was red ginger tea with white jasmine a close second.

At the top of one hill there were several 1950s American cars and lots of commotion. They were filming and next (no exaggeration )over a hundred mainly chinese people but a few white American people passed us dressed in very smart late 40s early 50s clothes. They were shutting the road to film. So exciting! I wonder what film it is?

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We ate a chinese meal with chop sticks and then walked back down the hills to the marina to walk off our dinner.

We saw seals a grey heron and egrets cormorants Pelicans eagles, turkey vultures, hawks, dunlins, grebes and gulls.The Pelicans are flying near Alcatraz 

We travel north tomorrow up the coast road to stay near the redwood trees.

 Stormy weather is heading towards us from Los Angeles and so we saw rough seas with big waves along the coast today.

We programmed the sat nav to direct us to the coast and we travelled as far as the Russian River. On the way we saw so many birds of prey that we gave up counting them. There were eagles and hawks soaring in the sky and on fence posts and perched on over head wires. We saw a coyote running in a field and a dead raccoon on the road. I spotted 5 deer too. There were little lambs and calves in the fields.

The best wild life views we saw were at the inlet where the Russian river meets the sea. Here there were many grey seals adults and babies resting on the sand and in the river and sea. Also there were pelicans amongst the hundreds of gulls floating on the river and on the sand bank. We felt so privileged to see all this, hope you like the photos.

We had dinner in a Russian cafe with a difference. The lady cooks Russian food, you help yourself and then pay what you like for the food. She was from St Petersburg and was very friendly. The food was delicious and the room was filled with Russian artefacts. It was like being invited to dinner in her living room! A lovely experience.

The Pacific Ocean was full of ferocious breakers. The whole of California has had a long drought for many months and it has now broken. The last 3 weeks they have had long awaited for rain. Today though was dry the storm is predicted to hit us tonight. This is why the sea was so rough.

What a lovely day we enjoyed today. I love California in the Winter, it is mild and green.

After a very scary landing at the airport where I was sure we were going to land in the sea! I’ve just about recovered. (the runway starts where the sea ends)

So today was our first full day in California. We wanted to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge and so headed out in lovely sunshine and clear skies.

We drove up the surrounding hills to get the best views and these are some of my pictures

We went to Fishermans Wharf and wandered around the piers and saw the maritime museum.

The cable cars go up the steep undulating roads and we drove up and down them it was great fun although we drove very slowly. there were great views of the city.

The breakers and waves on the Atlantic were powerful and I have a little video of them to show when I get home.

We saw pelicans eagles grebes herons cormorants and many gulls.

I love San Francisco 😉

Missing you all but enjoying being away, its strange its like we are just continuing our other holiday in US without being home for 6 months….

Journey was good. The plane set off an hour late as 3 people were missing and they took their luggage off the plane in the end.

we have a small Mitsubishi car and we set off in sunshine that soon changed to rain!

We crossed over the famous Golden Gate Bridge and I took some snaps on my mobile. The town we are staying in is very smart and has a huge square with many small interesting shops restaurants and cafes all around. We are going to photo the bridge today as it s bright sunshine and clear skies xxxx

Hi the house is all secure and just waiting for the taxi to hotel. We leave tomorrow from Heathrow at 10.45am. So excited Hope you will enjoy reading about our newest adventure on Mann Toursxxxx

On Saturday Vince and I took very few photos for a change! We went near to Mdina to the Aviation museum and the nearby craft village

At the aviation museum we read all about the horrors of war and how it affected the resilient people of Malta. They were virtually starved of food and had most  of their homes bombed so they had to live in caves underground.

At the craft market we viewed the beautiful Maltese glass, jewellery, Maltese food and embroidery. We had a cultural morning!

Sunday morning we visited Marsoxlokk fish market. It is a huge market which stretches all along the sea front, stall after stall for a mile and a half.

There were crowds of people and so we followed the road round to the next bay at Marsascala where there is a marina and a sandy rocky beach. it was delightful and we spent a couple of hours there. The weather is still warm at 21 degrees and sunny/cloudy.

Tomorrow is our last full day. (The plane departs 12.55pm Tuesday)

Today we went to Dingli cliffs. This side of Malta is untouched and natural. It is one of the highest points in Malta. The road along the cliffs is precarious and has a steep drop down to the sea. We loved the views and Vince bravely drove the car along the wildest part.  We made our way back via Mdina and explored the other parts of the town beyond the walls. We ate our dinner in a small café. We chose the Maltese menu (which was a mistake!) as it was a salad with white beans capers and peppered cheese. Then macaroni and meat in pastry, very dry and full of carbs! Then nut flavoured icecream.

Back in our hotel, this is the view from our balcony onto the local parish church.

Today we set out early and drove up the steep road to the Red Tower. There were panoramic views over to the islands of Gozo and Comino and towards Mellieha (where we are staying)

We then travelled to see Mdina. It is a walled town on top of a hillside commanding views from all sides. It is steeped in history and there were many photo opportunities.

Mdina is famous for its glass blowing and there were small shops selling glass and jewellery. We really enjoyed wandering around this town and hope to have time to return.