California Dream
Monday, 19 June 2006 12:12
Finally the study semester ended, and we had time to travel to California, USA. Almost tree weeks around in San Francisco, Yosemite and Monterey. A great trip! We left Denmark all together, Anne, Luca and me.
And on the way we visited our friends Sven and Katharina in Berkely, just before they returned to Switzerland.

The flight to California went via Seattle, where we had to change plane. This was very fine for us, being tired from sitting with Luca on the lap. The final destination was San Francisco, where we picked up our mini van, and headed straight to Sven and Katharina in Berkeley. San Francisco is easily accessible from there. And the city is also small enough, so that it is not a hassle to drive in and out by car (thanks to TOMTOM :-)). So, we had a couple of tours through San Francisco, where we visited the Fisherman's Wharf, the old prison on Alcatraz, and the Coit Tower. These were great short tours while getting used to the different time zone.

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After some days we were heading south-east for the Yosemite national park. On the way we found a nice little Hotel in Mariposa, where we could stay for some days. From Mariposa we had access to the park's southern entrance. The Yosemite park is impressive! A truly picturesque landscape with large oak trees, steep mountains, and beautiful waterfalls. And so typically for California, everything is accessible by shuttle bus and wheelchair friendly :-). Of course we did not mind because we had Luca in his trolley with us. I definitely like to go there again when Luca is a bit older, so that we can go for a hike some steps up the mountains. I bet it's wroth a try!

After Yosemite we wend back to the coast to Monterey. We chose that place because of the easy access to the 17 mile drive, Carmel City,  Highway 1, and Hearst Castle. We hat a whole week to explore the area, including a trip to Gilroy for an unforgettable shopping adventure. The whole area is just gorgeous! All people seem relaxed, great food, beautiful landscape! We had great family time while traveling at a slow pace.

The trip back to San Francisco lead us through the Big Basin Rewoods Park, where we took some walks through a forest of very large trees (more than 100m tall). That makes you somewhat feel as small as an ant. Impressive!

We spent the last days in Oakland, again outside of San Francisco. That was simply because we had bad luck with the hotel we booked in the city. But Oakland was fine. Close again to Sven and Katharina, close to San Francisco, and the pool in the hotel was also appreciated after two and a half weeks on the road.

I can say that I am very imressed by what I have seen in California, and that this surely was not my last trip to the states.
Last Updated on Monday, 19 February 2007 01:19