The Garden State

This post has been a long time coming, and we are in fact back in Scotland. However, never one to start a job and leave it half finished, we are gonna finish this blog!

So! Crossing the border by land back into the US was pretty straightforward. The stern but pleasant CBP guy waved us through and wished us a pleasant end of trip. It was back on the bus and on to Burlington, a small city in the state of Vermont. We were only staying here for one night and had booked what promised to be a perfect little inn called University Inn. The drop off at Burlington Airport and the free shuttle to the inn was seemless and incredibly easy. Take note Chicago O’Hara Travelodge! We arrived at the inn around 2pm and the staff were very friendly and helpful, our room was a good size for an amazing price (around $30 each) and the best part? It had both an indoor and outdoor pool and a jacuzzi! We had definitely scored. So, after checking in, we decided to go eat at Applebees; a decent restaurant and bar that served good food and drink. Our server was one of the best we have had (after Carl in San Francisco) and he had an impressive moustache that we just wanted to twirl around our fingers. Think World War One era moustaches and you’ve nailed it.

Filling up on food, we decided to go and explore downtown Burlington before returning to the inn intent on taking full advantage of the free services.

The walk to downtown only took around 30 minutes. SB, our friend from LA, had told S that Burlington was very green and home to one of the most liberal universities in the States. Our liberal minded hearts were overjoyed to hear this and knew we’d feel immediately at home. The state is indeed green and we now understand why it’s called the Garden State. We can only imagine how amazingly beautiful it’ll look in the autumn. Passing the University of Burlington, we checked out what downtown had to offer. The town offered a city hall, a string of independent shops alongside more mainstream establishments, and quintessential all-American streets. It was perfect. We took a dander down to the harbour (visits to the harbour are becoming a common theme in the places we have been in) and S was kindly informed by an 8 year old that the steam coming from a small area of play park was in fact mist that people can run through to cool down. A future teacher perhaps?! It started to rain a little so we decided to head back to the inn. The thought of a swim and jacuzzi was most enticing!

S changed into his swim shorts and A into her bikini, both of us lamenting at how unfit we probably were although determined to do at least a few laps rather than just tread water. The pool and jacuzzi were empty so naturally S immediately pretended we were rich and famous with our own private pool. The water was warm, and after a few shaky laps we got into our stride. A few more weeks of practice and we may be blogging about our plethora of gold medals at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, destroying the records held by the likes of Michael Phelps and Jenny Thompson.

Finishing off the night of heart racing exercise, we chilled in the jacuzzi before heading to bed. We were beat. We could have spent an extra day in Burlington owing to the impression it had given us in the space of a few hours. However our megabus to Boston was booked and we were ready to get our historical hats on and see what Bean Town had to offer.

We leave you with a colourful picture S took in the street. Plus, this post is lacking on photos purely because the majority are on camera rather than iPhone and not easily accessible!

Much love,

S&A

Bonjour, Montreal!

Arriving in Montreal, the first thing that struck us was how French it was. We knew it was a large French area, but naively we hadn’t really considered how French it would be. We often forgot we were in Canada as we could very well have been walking down a Parisian street. They even add a little ohlala French fancy to their Starbucks stores.

We were lucky to be staying with two of our wonderful friends and fellow teachers from our time at teacher training college. After having navigated the Montreal transport system and encountered the rudeness of some of the French-Canadians (although we have not let them influence our thinking that all French Canadians are like that) we arrived at SD and CS’s (not Toronto CS – this whole keeping people anonymous thing could potentially get confusing…) Our excellent hosts had wine, grapes and other nibbles on hand to which we were most grateful. We later discovered CS had inadvertently spent $8 for these grapes – well worth the money we say! Thanks CS – they were delicious! It so happened to be that we had arrived on a pub quiz night at the local Scottish bar so after a few glasses of vino and nibbles we headed out. The bar was manned by kilted staff and the food delicious. CS and our very own S shared a huge platter of wings whilst A opted for fish and chips whilst SD had a BLT sandwich. Our effort in the pub quiz was something to be desired and we left not wanting to know where we had been placed…

Our first full day in Montreal was spent checking out the old harbour and port and the Old Montreal area which was beautiful and scenic. Again, the cobbled streets and ‘old feel’ of Montreal reminded us of continental Europe.

We were temporarily sidetracked by a family of adorable ducklings paddling about the lilies which amused us for around 15 minutes.

The historical aspect of the area was a joy for us but we would have appreciated the historical information plaques and signs to have been in both French and English so we could read them. Apologies if this offends anyone but we had assumed, rightly or wrongly, that a bilingual country would have both French and English signs… We are not experts on the intricacies of Canada’s provinces but we promised we’d blog about places as we found them. However, this did not detract at all from the wonderful day we had experienced. It was about to get better!

We had been tipped off that Montreal is a city of festivals and that if we headed to check that out we would be greeted by entertainment galore and an abundance of food trucks. So after our morning and early afternoon of culture off we set. We were not disappointed. The festival was alive and kicking and the smells emanating from the trucks was salivating. It was just poor luck we had eaten and weren’t hungry. That night, CS and SD made us delicious BBQ chicken with salad and roast potatoes and we chilled and chatted till the small hours over red wine and beer.

Next day, our last full day in Montreal, consisted of a hike up Mount Royal. This is where the city of Montreal took its name. We stopped off at a food shop to get some picnic stuff – raspberries, cheese, prosciutto, and crisps. It was delicious. It was so nice to chill out in the sun, admire the skyline and city of Montreal below and have a very relaxing afternoon. And that was us only half way up. We reached the summit to witness breathaking views of the city. See the photos below for a visual!

Let’s not forget the typical tourist poses!

That evening we had arranged to meet with SD and CS to head on over to Montreal’s gay village. Our meeting place was Christ Church Anglican Cathedral which was easy to find and close by where we all were. As S and A waited for CS and SD we were entertained by a drunken homeless man who was shouting and rambling in French to any passersby who took his liking. His facial expressions and admiration of the ladies was enough to help us figure out what he was saying. Montreal’s gay village is decorated by hundreds of pink baubles and every bar and restaurant seemed to have a terrace which was great for two reasons: you could continue to enjoy the sun as we drank and ate and it provided ample opportunity for people watching.

What was pleasantly surprising, compared to Edinburgh’s ‘Pink Triangle’, was the number of older gay couples that were around. Gay culture can be very youth orientated so this was nice to see. After reliving old times we called it a night and headed home to get some rest before our trip back to the US the next day. Next stop was Burlington, Vermont. A place neither of us had been and knew nothing about. We were excited with anticipation in what awaited us!

Much love,

S&A

Toronto: The start of our Canadian Adventure

A discovered prior to our trip into Canada that she has a lot of Canadian relatives. In fact, her grandfather was born in Toronto before moving to Scotland. Armed with this new information, A and S were ready to find out more about this great nation.

We got off the bus in Toronto and made our way onto the main thoroughfare called Dundas Street. Always nice to find a street that makes you feel at home. Toronto is the most ethnically diverse city in the world and we got a feel for this as we walked along Dundas Street to our accommodation. The food places looked amazing; burritos, falafels, pizza, noodles. We were sold.

We found our hotel, dumped our bags and had a shower to wash away our 12 hour bus journey. We decided to explore downtown Toronto and grab something to eat. After a delicious dinner of noodles and cocktails we headed into Toronto’s bustling Chinatown and experienced our first ever Tim Hortons.

Now, we were unaware of this very popular Canadian coffee chain until we were told about it by our Canadian chums at teacher training college. A had visions of sounding like a true Tim Horton’s veteran by asking for a double double but the nerves got to her as she approached the counter so she chickened out and asked for a plain coffee. Oh well, better luck next time.

We were feeling pretty tired after the bus journey so we decided to go and watch the Dark Knight Rises which had just been released. We booked tickets and went for a quick drink in the classiest of all establishments; Hooters.

It was our first time in the ‘delightfully tacky, yet unrefined’ bar and eatery. The girls were gorgeous, the beers were good and we left ready to be suitably entertained by Mr Bale and co. They did not disappoint and the film received a round of applause at the end of the screening. This was a good reminder for us as to what continent we were on.

After a long lie the next day we had some brunch at Fran’s Diner and visited the Harbour. Dundas Square was also having an Eco Festival and S noticed that none other than Fefe Dobson (?) was playing later that night. More of that to come.

We decided to take in Toronto’s sights by taking a trip up the CN tower. This is the highest building in North America measuring in at 553.33metres high.

We waited around an hour to get the lift up to the viewing platform which also had a glass floor. We managed to keep ourselves entertained during the wait……..

Once we reached the top S sauntered onto the glass floor as if he was John Travolta walking onto a dance floor. However, A had developed a case of vertigo and couldn’t bring herself to step onto it. She looked around at other tourists who were lying sprawled across the glass floor posing for photos. Jordan aka Katie Price could’ve picked up a tip or two.

With S’s encouragement and support A managed to back onto the floor backwards. No Michael Jackson style moonwalk here, it was more like a baby’s first steps in reverse. She took a few snaps before she returned to the safety of the glass-less area. After taking a few photos of Toronto’s skyline we headed down and made our way to meet another Moray House survivor for dinner.

We met CS at Union Station complete with a Tim Hortons in her hand. A true Canadian! We headed to a restaurant on our favourite of streets, Dundas, and had a lovely dinner of fish tacos and steak. After dinner we returned to Dundas Square to witness none other than Canadian pop star extraordinaire Fefe Dobson (you can Google her). She was well up for it and gave a good show. We were sad to see her go go go like a ghost ghost ghost at the end of her set (if you’ve Googled her you’ll maybe get this)

After we bid a fond farewell to CS, we headed to the gay village. S was keen to check out Woody’s bar which was used in the US version of Queer as Folk. We managed to find it and had a few beers. A was fascinated with what was being screened on the TVs in the bar. All we will say is that it wasn’t the Wizard of Oz.

Time had flown and by the time we had got home from Woody’s, after a trip to a 24hour pizza place, we had only 4 hours until we were up early to visit one of the natural beauties of the world.

We rose early on Sunday about 6.30am and caught the bus to Niagara Falls. We were a little naive in thinking that the Falls were in the wilderness on their own à la Yosemite. We discovered on our arrival that a short distance from the magnificent natural wonder was a strip that would rival Blackpool’s tackiness.

We were a little disheartened by this as we felt it took away the beauty of the Falls. However, we chose to ignore this and concentrate on the magnificat sight that lay before us. And you know what?! It was totally fricking awesome.

We saw the two most visited sets of Falls, the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls which are on the Canadian side. Niagara Falls is separated by the US/Canadian border.

We took some photos from numerous vantage points and went on the Maid of the Mist, a boat that takes you even closer to the action.

Our dignity soon came crashing down like the water as we were soaked by wave after wave of Niagara mist. Luckily we had our bright blue ponchos. It was fantastic being so close to the Falls and experiencing first hand one of Nature’s most spectacular shows.

It turns out that Nature wasn’t quite done with us for the day. After having some lunch and deciding to relax in the sun with our books, the heavens decided to open. We were witness to a huge thunderstorm that decided to soak us once more.

Unfortunately our ponchos couldn’t protect our feet which were now sodden with beautiful Canadian rain. A quick trip was needed to Tim Hortons to dry off before the 1 and a half hour journey back to Toronto.

Toronto has given us a good first impression of Canada and we look forward to seeing if Montreal can continue this.

Much love,

S&A

The Not So Windy City

Having survived Vegas, we decided to take the plane to America’s Windy City, Chicago. Fares for the train were ridiculously expensive and the journey time was over 35 hours. Compare this with a $80, 3.5 hour flight and it didn’t take us long to come to a conclusion. Although A isn’t a great flyer, she didn’t have any inflight breakdowns or drunken escapades a la Bridesmaids. The worst disaster was her spilling her beer over the poor man next to us. Touching down at O’Hare airport at around 1am in the morning, we had booked a hotel reportedly close to the airport – O’Hare’s Travelodge. We don’t tarnish a company’s reputation lightly, but our experience there has been the worst either of us have ever encountered at home or abroad. The advertised shuttle bus from the airport to the lodge didn’t turn up; S tried calling 3 times to no response resulting in us having to pay $35 for a taxi to take us there. On arrival at around 2.30am, we discovered our reservation wasn’t on the system. Luckily we had our confirmation and they had a room. It hadn’t been cleaned properly (a beer bottle lid was found under the bed) and the room felt dirty. So, if anyone is thinking of staying there, don’t. Book the Hilton right opposite the airport. We coulda stayed there for the same price we eventually ended up paying for the Travelodge (taxi fare plus hotel). The staff seemed to have no idea about running a hotel and our request for a shuttle to the airport in the morning took almost an hour to come collect us. We hope Cecil Joseph, the manager of the Travelodge, reads this blog. S is going to refer him to it in an angry email.

Anyway! Not to be disheartened, we looked forward to what Chicago had to offer and made our way to our hostel for the three days – Getaway Chicago. It has genuinely been one of the nicest places we’ve stayed! So thanks to SB’s cousin for the tip.

S has been to Chicago before, but when it was a little colder and wetter so he was looking forward to sampling Chicago in summer. And boy was it hot. It was around 38 degrees celsius our first day. The temperatures cooled a little the subsequent days but it was still warm.

After checking into our hostel, we decided to explore the neighbourhood. We were based in Lincoln Park, reportedly one of the more expensive areas of Chicago. The architecture was impressive and the neighbourhood had quite a Victorian feel to it. We decided to take advantage of the hot weather and explore the city’s waterfront and Lake Michigan area. It was beautiful. We waded into the water and just absorbed our surroundings. Sometimes, when you’re only in a place for a couple of days, you take pictures without really appreciating what you’re snapping. The Chicago skyline was to our right, with Navy Pier in the distance, and Lake Michigan right in front of us. We spent a good couple of hours exfoliating our feet in the sand and strolling along the shore. All in all, a wonderful day and one that definitely made up for our previous night and arrival in Chicago.

Day 2 was our main tourist day. We headed downtown to see one of Chicago’s famous installations – the Cloud AKA The Bean. It is truly a fun and quirky piece of art.

We also marvelled at Chicago’s impressive architecture that surrounded us – skyscrapers and more European medieval style buildings alike. Chicago really has character and A often expressed her huge love for the city.

A bit of shopping and a trip to Navy Pier was next on the agenda. We were lucky to have gotten this far; A had an unfortunate incident of shoving a stick she found down what we thought was an empty drain when in fact it was an inhabited wasps nest. Cue a hilarious sprint and the best face S has ever seen A make as a swarm of angry wasps began to emerge from the drain. Don’t worry. They didn’t get us!

Our shopping trip was highlighted by A getting extremely excited about a shop named after us (although a different spelling of A’s name, which didn’t detract from the amusement!) They even had a special entrance just for us. As demonstrated by the following picture:

Getting over our new found celebrity in the city, Navy Pier had a great buzz and the music really brought the summer day alive. We both felt like breaking into a dance right there and then but we didn’t want to show up the pier performers. We’re selfless like that. Filling our stomachs with wings and quesadillas, we enjoyed the atmosphere of the pier for a while before taking a leisurely stroll back to the hostel to be greeted by an impressive thunderstorm. It was so loud that it set off 3 or 4 car alarms at 1am. We had never experienced anything like it.

Next day, we had to check out at 11am. The hostel had luggage storage so we didn’t have to lug our backpacks around with us. We decided to go for some cultural exploration and headed towards the Chicago Musuem. Unfortunately it was a tad expensive so we didn’t go in but we had a look around the neighbourhood and took some pics next to a Lincoln memorial, until our grumbling stomachs announced lunchtime. Chicago is famous for its deep pan pizzas so of course we had to have one – S knew of the famous Ginos that has been feaured on the show Man vs Food and had been there before so off we headed, salivating at the thought of pizzas larger than our faces combined. Ordering a medium 6 slice half and half we only managed two slices each, experiencing the kind of feeling that you wouldn’t feel hungry again for days.

We took a leisurely walk back to the hostel and chilled before our night time greyhound coach to Toronto. A little apprehensive about the greyhound experience (stories of beheadings and downright bizarre behaviour abound on the internet – the beheading one is true! Google it – and we also had a stop off and bus transfer in Detroit. To be honest, we lived it up in South LA for two nights and were pretty literate in ‘da hood’ so Detroit would be a walk in the park. Turns out, our journey from Chicago via Detroit to Toronto was perfectly normal and we both still have our heads. Passing the Canadian border was a breeze and we’ve now spent the past 6 days in Canada and 2 days back in the US. We promise to blog about them all soon. We’re a tad behind. It’s just what happens when you’re having fun!

We’d like to leave you with one final sentiment S snapped whilst strolling through Chicago.

Much love,

S&A

Sin City

We have been debating about this blog post. After-all, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas right? So, we are gonna leave you with the following picture and a brief Top 5 (in no particular order). The rest of our experience can be freely created by you, dear reader.

Top 5

1) The Venetian Hotel. Gondola rides. Venetian masks. Fake blue sky!
2) The Szechuan Button and the party it created in our mouths. Twice.
3) S’s Rihanna t-shirt getting quite the attention. Who knew he’d been wearing the devil?
4) Visiting Egypt, New York and Paris in the space of 60 minutes.
5) The luxurious Wynn Hotel.
And a bonus 6) Meeting A’s friends in Vegas. Scots abroad!

And I guess we could share a few photos!

Much love,

S&A

Farewell California

After our breathtaking day out at Yosemite, we headed back to LA along the far less scenic route of I-5 and HWY 101. The drive was incredibly boring but we were working against the clock and had to return our car at 3pm that day. Arriving back in LA, it felt like a little part of us had returned home. We had heard, from various sources, that LA was dirty and less enjoyable than other cities in California. Turns out, we loved it and it was nothing like had been described to us. LA is a city of its own, and without a car and willingness to explore, you wouldn’t experience it to its fullest. It helped we had great and accommodating people to hang out with (thanks SB and PMD) and show us parts of LA we may not have discovered. Every single person we met in LA were so friendly, so helpful and so willing to chat away to you. This was perhaps best demonstrated by our new BFF, Shana, who saw us outside SB and PMD’s apartment waiting for SB to get home from work. She invited us into her apartment and plied us with wine. Shana, thanks so much for the randomness of it all! Good luck with the move 🙂

Our last night in LA took place in a bar called The Basement. We had a lot of laughs with SB, PMD and one of their friends who was visiting from San Fran. Our graffiti on the walls are particular works of art worthy of display in The National Gallery of Scotland or Tate Modern Museum.

We even gave the room an inspired musical performance on the bar piano. We may be exaggerating that performance just a little but in our heads it was one of sheer brilliance.

We bid farewell to SB in the morning as he headed to work and we set off to catch the 33 bus to downtown LA to then get the bus to Vegas. $20 for a one way ticket. You wouldn’t get that back home.

So, we have left California and have also bid adieu to Vegas. Blog post about that is forthcoming. S is already plotting his move out West. Since Britney was outta town he HAS to come back and stake out every Starbucks until he spots her in all her coffee glory. We’ll miss the city, but other parts of the US call. Chicago, talk to us.

Much love,

S&A

PS. This is always good advice. Thanks LA!

Yosemite

Yosemite National Park lies about 200 miles east of San Francisco and we thought while in Rome………let’s go and see the Half Dome.

It is a long drive so we decided to leave San Francisco early to take full advantage. We woke early for us this trip; 6.30am and got ready to hit the road. On the route we crossed San Francisco’s other bridge, the Bay Bridge. S and A feel that this bridge needs a revamp to compete with its much more famous cousin along the Bay. We thought it could maybe be painted an appealing pink or purple colour to stand out. Or maybe both? Your thoughts on this would be gratefully appreciated.

Anyway the drive was not all that interesting apart from a very friendly man at the petrol station who was from Saudi Arabia. He had interesting views on learning about the two world wars ‘it’s all done, get over it!’ not sure if the history teachers in us agree with him.

We made our way to the Yosemite National Park boundary and were met with a nice ranger, hat and all. For those of you unsure, Yosemite is one of the world’s most dramatic geological spectacles. Its valley is the most spectacular and is 7 miles long and less than a mile wide. It’s walled by near-vertical three-thousand-foot cliffs, streaked by tumbling waterfalls and topped by domes and pinnacles that form a jagged silhouette against the sky (A would like to thank the Rough Guide for this description).

The reason it is a National Park is all down to a Scot. You can almost hear A’s mum’s heart exploding with pride at this fact. John Muir who was originally from Dunbar campaigned to protect Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove and as a result Abraham Lincoln decreed this as America’s first protected wilderness in 1864. You would think fighting a Civil War would have consumed a lot of Abe’s time in this year but obviously not. Us pesky Scots always have a way of getting what we want.

After we said goodbye to our welcoming ranger we made our way down to Yosemite Valley. It’s about 14 miles of long and windy roads with spectacular views to reach the valley floor. Once we had reached the floor the views were simply incredible. We took in the El Capitan and parked our car in the shadow of the Half Dome. We walked a short distance amongst sky scraping trees to the visitor centre and explored a replica Native American village. When white Americans and Europeans flooded the area due to the Gold Rush in the 1840s and 1850s the Native Americans in the area refused to move from their native homeland of Yosemite which they had inhabited for 4,000 years. Gradually over the years their settlements have become less and less and nowadays Yosemite is inhabited more by tourists than anyone else.

We took a short shuttle bus to Yosemite Falls, a phenomenal waterfall that flows off one of the sheer cliffs. We walked up the trail and came to a fantastic vista point that allowed for the more adventurous to scramble up the rocks to a lagoon directly underneath the waterfall. We decided to get cool in the water pools and submerged ourselves. S could’ve been mistaken for Daniel Craig a la James Bond when he came out the water if it weren’t for the Rihanna T-shirt.

A applied another generous application of sun block as soon as she was out of the water. We all can’t be gloriously tanned like the native Californians. The temperature was 36degrees in the valley and the sun was fierce. A didn’t want to look like a Brit abroad.

We decided to scramble the rock to the bottom of the waterfall and gained spectacular views of the Valley and the Half Dome. We sat on a rock near the lagoon, soaking in the views and admiring the amateur divers. All we’ll say is the divers for Team GB have nothing to worry about come the Olympics.

We made our way back to the valley floor and walked amongst the giant trees. Words and images cannot describe Yosemite Valley. If you are ever in California we would highly recommend a visit. A could’ve stayed another week but she would’ve had to ship the sunscreen down by the lorry load.

We are currently driving back to San Francisco, ready to be smacked in the face by the mist and the cold. We’ll have to do it in 3 weeks anyway when we return to Edinburgh so we’re getting in some practise now. Although when we post this we will have finished our drive but A needs to keep her idle thumbs busy.

Until next time,

Much love

S&A

Prison and Wine in San Fran

We’ve been in San Francisco for the last 4 days and our time is unfortunately coming to an end. The last time we left you we had arrived and were heading to Alcatraz for the night time tour. We made our way to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to ‘The Rock’. We walked there from our hotel near the Civic Centre and experienced some of San Francisco’s famous steep inclines. Edinburgh is relatively flat in comparison! We made it to Pier 33 and joined the queue (line) for the ferry. In the queue we had our photo taken by a photographer to buy on our return. Let’s just say the subsequent photo would put Al Capone’s mugshot to shame.

We boarded the ferry and made a very windy 10 minute trip to Alcatraz. San Francisco’s climate is similar to Scotland bar the rain. We were glad to be kitted out in jeans and hoodies. We docked at Alcatraz and were greeted with a sign that told us we had arrived at one of America’s most notorious high security prisons. The buildings are wasting away and run down but this all added to the atmosphere. After a history free start to our trip in LA S and A were glad to have an overdose of facts, anecdotes and trivia which they are sure to bore their nearest and dearest with on their return. Did you know that a pig’s gestation period is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days? Now you do!

We were met with our enthusiastic tour guide who led us up a steep path to the main prison. She regaled us with a story of a prisoner who tried to escape, drowned and was eaten by crabs. Not sure if we ever will fancy crab from the San Francisco area any time soon.

We then embarked on an audio tour of the prison which was fascinating. We don’t want to give too much away as we would thoroughly recommend the tour. It was totally awesome!

Our ferry trip back was windy and cold but the nighttime views of the San Francisco Bay made up for it. We then decided to take a gritty walk back to the hotel through San Francisco’s downtown where A was asked by a homeless man if she could buy him a cheeseburger. A pretended she was poor and quiet, the latter requiring all of her acting skills to pull off.

After our walk on the wild side we headed to bed to rest before our trip to check out the rest of San Francisco in the morning.

We had definitely been bitten by the tourist bug as our second day in San Francisco was an explosion of sightseeing, wide eyes and compulsive photo taking. We took in the Castro district which is decorated with rainbow flags that celebrate its LGBT roots and culture.

We visited the shop that Harvey Milk set up in the 1970s before he was assassinated and bought some items from the Equality for Everybody shop that has now taken its place.

After some more exploring of the shops in Castro we had a spot of lunch and headed to the landmark that is synonymous to San Francisco; the Golden Gate Bridge. S drove like a true professional over it and we parked on the other side to take a walk (and numerous photos) over it.

It was every bit as good as it looks. It was fog free and we managed to get fantastic views of the city. It was one of those surreal moments when you can’t quite take in what is in front of you. We also had a reminder of home with the blowing wind.

Keeping with our tourist behaviour we visited the zig-zag street at Lombard street and S drove perfectly down it. We then headed to Fisherman’s Wharf where we dined at Boudin’s Bistro. We shared a goats cheese starter and S opted for fish tacos and A had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Delish!

Our waiter, Carl, was great and even treated us to a pint of San Francisco Ale as well as two glasses of Napa Valley’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon. A was in heaven! He also gave us directions to Napa Valley so we could go and check out the vineyards in person.

After our meal we decided to go and check out the nightlife of the Castro and headed for a nightcap. By the time we got to bed we were zonked. It had been a busy day.

We had a bit of a long lie the following morning and didn’t wake until 10.00am. We decided to check out Napa Valley which is an hour’s drive from San Francisco and famous for its vineyards and winemaking. It was cold as we left San Francisco but as soon as we were over the mist enveloped Golden Gate Bridge the temperature began to rise. By the time we reached Napa Valley it was 102degrees, about 38degrees celsius. It was hot! What else to do but taste some wine at one of the vineyards that line the main road of the valley. We opted for Beringer Vineyard which is just after the town of St Helena at the top of the valley. We took a tour of the wine cellars and caves and tasted 2 beautiful wines. A and S felt they had won the lottery and forgot their teacher salaries for a while. They were brought back to earth with a bump when they discovered the delicious wine was $30 a bottle.

The grounds of the vineyard were perfectly groomed and home to a spectacular house built by one of the first owners Frederick Beringer who was an immigrant from Germany.

After our wine tasting we headed back to San Francisco and checked out China Town. We got some food in one of the restaurants and decided to hang out in the most Chinese of all places-Starbucks. This, may we add, was to get free WiFi. While we were engrossed in our phones a homeless man came in and poured milk all over the floor. Cue a confrontation between him and a sassy Starbucks employee. We were oblivious to all of this until we were asked to leave as they decided to shut early. Another reason for us to love the grittiness of San Francisco.

Yosemite was our next call. Blog post imminent.

Much love

S&A

Pacific Coast HWY1

Our scenic drive from LA to SF took around 8 hours, but it was totally worth every hour. We decided to take HWY 1 rather than the freeway, with the possibility of a few stops and perhaps a layover if we got tired. So on Saturday, July 7th, we said bye to SB and his roommate PMD and hit the road.

Now, as we’ve said before, we’ve assimilated and adapted to LA pretty quickly (we feel) and for the first time we got stopped on the freeway, which was backed up with traffic in LA, and asked for directions to Sunset BLVD. Admittedly we didn’t know in which direction it was, but we felt that our adaptation had paid off. We had been asked for directions in a city we’d lived in for 5 days. Score.

HWY 1 is a contrast of beautiful blue skies, warm sunshine and coastal beaches that glow and shimmer, and misty mountains with steep cliff drops and names that start with ‘Devil’. Sometimes we could gaze across the ocean, other times we were wrapped in a mist like blanket, half expecting the Cullen family to leap from the trees at any second. We had to stop for gas a couple of times; a cashier asked if we were Irish (she was close!); and a couple of Americans asked what kinda gas should go in their car (see, our assimilation and faux confidence into American life is working…pity we didn’t know the answer to that question either).

Hunger called, so we stopped off in Santa Barbara for a bite to eat. My goodness, the place is beautiful. The sun was beating down and we’ve both never felt so relaxed. It felt like paradise and fittingly we ate at Paradise Cafe. S had delicious pork tacos and A had fish tacos with some Chardonnay on the side.

Leaving Santa Barbara, we continued north, passing through a quintessential American town. As we continued along the highway, S spotted a sign that read ‘Men’s Colony’. With both of us getting a little excited about what this could possibly be and thoughts of the male dancers from The Abbey running through our heads, we pulled over to investigate. Turns out, our imagined Men’s Colony was a male correctional facility. Let’s move on.

A little disappointed with our thoughts having been turned to convicts in orange jumpsuits, we continued onward, hitting a treacherous winding climb up coastal mountains. The views were shrouded in mist and the light was failing but the views were atmospheric and breathtaking at times. We pulled over to take some pictures of a Bull Elephant colony (a lot more exciting than the Men’s Colony) and were pleasantly surprised to see them all lazing around, all fat and grunting, spooning one another.

It was getting dark, we still had around 120 miles to SF, and we didn’t fancy hunting for a place to stay late at night. So we stopped in Monterey, expecting to find a bed for the night no problem. Turns out we had arrived on the weekend of the annual Scottish fair and rooms were scarce. What are the chances?! So, humphing around town like Mary and Joseph, we asked every motel and inn if they had a room for the night. Just like the biblical story, doors were slammed in our faces with cries of NO VACANCY. It was worse than Bethlehem. Eventually, we came across the Red Roof inn that had one room left. We’ll take it! The place smelled bad but the room was ok. Some poor couple were spending their wedding night there, having driven in in their wedding car and passed us in the corridor in all their nuptial glory.

Getting a good nights sleep, we left around 11am, drove past the Scottish fair (people in kilts, bagpipes and signs of toss the caber) in search of breakfast. Happening upon Grandmas Kitchen, we tucked into our pancakes, eggs, and waffles before setting off on our final stretch.

We arrived in San Francisco on Sunday and have been on an amazing tour of Alcatraz and have explored some of the city. Blog update soon! We are off to investigate the city a little bit more.

Much love,

S&A

4th of July and First Friday Fun

The last time we wrote, we were preparing for 4th of July. We understand the irony of two Brits celebrating the independence of a nation that gained that independence from defeating, well, us. However, 4th of July is more than just a celebration of America’s birthday, it’s a celebration of freedom and an excuse to drink and who doesn’t love that right? We hit up Santa Monica Beach in the morning, savouring the sea air. We ate at a great place called Bubba Gumps and practically filled up on shrimp. The thing we always forget about the States are the portion sizes, and S confesses to hiding some of his shrimp in a napkin so it appeared he had eaten more than he had. The waiter was full of banter and we felt bad. He was also kinda cute (that was S). Now, Bubba Gumps is inspired by the film Forrest Gump so our waiter/waitress (the latter was new so was being trained) treated us to a Forrest Gump quiz. Thank God for A and her compulsive film watching as S was pretty bad. We got a perfect score of 3/3.

After lunch we donned our Stars and Stripes underwear and prepared to party in West Hollywood with a bunch of Americans and the friend who was putting us up. It was awesome! All day drinking, BBQing, games of corn hole and general merriment make for a good party. Oh, and sparklers! How could we forget? S and A felt like celebrities with the constant attention – ‘oh my god! I love your accent, where are you from?’ A was asked if she was from Ireland… No comment.

Surprisingly, we felt perfectly fine next day. Our friend, let’s call him SB, had to work on the 5th which sucked for him but we decided to set off for Venice Beach and Pier to check out the apparent freakshows who parade up and down the boardwalk. We walked past Muscle Beach, took in a skate park, and was offered marijuana for medicinal purposes more than once. Did you know marijuana goes well with ice cream? No, us neither.

The beach was perfect, and the weather just right. Considering there are floods and rain that would cause Noah to start reaching for the wood back home, we are appreciative of every piece of sunshine. The tan is coming along nicely.

Driving back to SB’s we noticed a school that A thought looked very familiar. After a thorough investigation we found out it was the school that was used in Grease. A posed for probably too many photos outside doing the ‘well-a-well-a-well-a’ dance move. S expressed the same enthusiasm when he discovered Britney filmed her debut video at the school.

After overdosing on vitamin D all day, we headed back to SB’s apartment and took him and his roommate out to dinner as a thank you for having us. We went to a great diner called Swingers and had delicious shakes and food. The diner was used in the film Knocked Up in the scene the morning after the two characters do some knocking up. Thank goodness there was no awkward ‘I’ll call you’ chat at our table and we left feeling totally stuffed and about to burst. After dinner we and SB decided to go to West Hollywood and party with our American gay brethren. S and A literally had vodka on the rocks all night because it was more or less 5 parts vodka 1 part Sprite. The best bit about the night? Practically naked buff dancers on the bar in the Abbey. A couldn’t hide her blushes (and eyes).

Heading home, we all decided to strike a pose next to the Beverley Hills sign. Cue 25 photos and A’s best pout. S decided to recreate a scene from Scary Movie by running through the sprinklers next to the BH sign. 10/10 for Mr Mackenzie who managed to keep his composure and run elegantly while being sprayed with water. I don’t know if the residents of BH would agree though… We also went and got Sprinkles cupcakes…at an ATM! Cupcakes from holes in the wall? Why doesn’t this happen more often? A is ready to pitch the idea to Lord Sugar when she gets home ©

Our first Friday in the City of Angels saw a return visit to the beach at Santa Monica. The sun was out in all it’s Californian glory and we soaked up the rays while admiring the natives to Santa Monica. In the morning we made our way to a lovely little diner on Washington Blvd called Maxwell’s. If you ever go to LA you should visit. The food was delish. A finally got to sample some Mexican food which everybody had been raving about. After chilling on the beach at Santa Monica we made our way to visit the house that is used in American Horror Story.

After our initial challenges navigating the roads of LA we now have it down to a fine art; we are now experiencing the same road rage that some LA drivers display extremely well. We’ve been flipping people off and hooting the horn left, right and centre. S even ran a stop sign. Accidently.

We then headed back to SB’s where a gathering was in full swing for a trip to Venice for First Friday. We experienced a short LA bus ride to a strip in Venice that is lined with food trucks and packed bars and clubs to celebrate the first Friday of every month. A and S became quite excited when SB told them that Bill and Sookie from the hit HBO TV show True Blood lived in the area. Cue a rendition of ‘Sooooookieeeees’ for about 5 minutes.

We decided to take advantage of the food trucks on offer along the street. S opted for fish and chips from a truck called ‘Cod Save the Queen’. You can take the boy from Scotland…… A decided to make up for her lack of fruit and veg by having a slice of salad pizza. It shouldn’t work but oh my god it does! After some drinks in a bar and a walk home we hit the sack to rest ahead of our coastal drive to San Francisco. Which we have almost completed. We’re currently checked into a hotel and about to rest up for the final leg of the drive. We’ll leave you with a picture of part of the Pacific Coast Highway.

Much love,

S&A