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| Thursday, 1-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Monterey
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arrived safely at monterey after our adventurous drive down highway 1. saw lots of sea otters and seals before it started to rain again just as we set off around the beautiful 17 mile drive ... so my effort at a new take on 'the most photographed tree' in california is distinctly unimpressive! never mind 
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| Wednesday, 31-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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frogs
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taking a break from the holiday photos for today to introduce you to some of the frogs in our garden ... looks like there will be some frogspawn soon.
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| Monday, 29-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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Highway 1
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we set off on our drive down Highway 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles in pouring rain ... and it rained for much of the drive, which was a great shame, because the views are pretty spectacular.
but it did make for quite an eventful drive, as there had been quite a few cliff falls, and at one point we had to be escorted through a section which had just been cleared by a JCB, while several lookouts were scanning the cliff above for any further falls!!
it was a very long and tiring drive, although fortunately there were not many other cars on the road, as we had to dodge the fallen rocks and keep a look out for sections where the road surface had fallen a couple of inches. on reflection, it was quite surprising that the road was still open 
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| Sunday, 28-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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San Francisco IV
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we had a great time in san francisco, riding the cable cars, shopping, eating, drinking - on the last day we did the 49 mile scenic drive (with a few extra diversions where the signs were missing) and stopped off at the stunning palace of the arts and exploratorium, finishing up at the top of twin peaks in time for the sunset and to watch night falling over the city - beautiful but absolutely FREEZING!!!
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| Thursday, 25-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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San Francisco III
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from our hotel room we had a terrific view across the city to the bay (you can just see alcatrez in the middle picture), and we could hear the cable cars going up and down the streets (kept finding myself singing that old tony bennett number ... that dates me!)
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| Tuesday, 23-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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san francisco II
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sunset from twin peaks
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| Monday, 22-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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san francisco I
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we had hoped to drive to yosemite from las vegas, but there was a big blizzard on the day we set off and we were advised that access was impossible without a four wheel drive, so we went straight to san francisco. great shame, because we were really looking forward to a couple of days in yosemite ... perhaps we can make it next time.
we liked san francisco a lot, especially the cable cars and the leisurely breakfasts. this set of photos is mainly from alcatrez - i can thoroughly recommend the audio tour of the prison: very atmospheric!
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| Sunday, 21-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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Grand Canyon II
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here are some more of the canyon - some taken from the helicopter (the mistier ones). it was impossible to absorb the sheer scale of this place - for example, we landed at a fairly narrow spot, but the pilot told us that the distance from where we were standing in #4 to the cliffs across the canyon was still about a mile! and the canyon itself is a mile deep (we thought we were going to be able to walk down to the river for our picnic!) pretty impressive, eh? 0)
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| Friday, 19-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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Grand Canyon
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for me, this was undoubtedly the highlight of the trip ... we took one of the helicopter flights through the canyon from las vegas, stopping for a champagne picnic on the rim.
here is a panoramic view taken from our picnic spot. (i had to buy a new 256mg card before setting off on this outing to make sure i was going to have enough memory, and i used a fair bit of it - however, visibility was not brilliant so most of the photos from the helicopter were a bit misty).
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| Thursday, 18-Mar-2004 00:00 |
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viva las vegas!
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i thought i was going to HATE las vegas, but it was brilliant ... the insides of the hotels were like gigantic film sets of paris, venice, new york, complete with streets, canals, cafes, shops, all under artificial skies. there were jungles, waterfalls, volcanoes, tigers, dolphins ... all in the middle of the desert.
it was so over the top that i just kept giggling 
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Great nature!! 
