Friday 10^th May

Woke again to the smell of bacon cooking and after breakfast of bacon and blueberry pancakes Janet, Lyndsay and I left for a day out around Pictou County. Also the laundry maid put out load of washing on their fantastic pulley operated clothes line which was a joy to behold. We left Lucky and Bruce at home mowing the grass-about 5 acres worth!



Bruce on his ride on mower

First stop was with Aunt Isobel and Uncle Gerald in  New Glasgow  a delightful 84 and 88 year old couple married for 65 years, where the table groaned and morning tea (scones, bran biscuits, coffee cake) became lunch !!

Then onto Pictou town to see the Scottish  immigrant ship, the ”Hector”, lots of clan flags and home about 4 pm. A guided tour of Bruce and Lucky’s new workshop/house was followed by a BBQ dinner then a walk down to the beach houses on the shore and to the falling down barn.

Janet and Bruces House at Black Point

View to sea from Janet and Bruces house



Bruces new workshop

The woodpile !!

Beach at Black Point

Thursday 10 May

Woke to that most wonderful of smells, bacon cooking !! After large cooked breakfast inspected the new trailer home John and Norma had just taken to  Florida and back  and admired their very large dog and the beginning spring garden. Then the four of us set off from Halifax to New Glasgow and spent the whole day driving around Nova Scotia –to Peggy’s Cove, a wonderful place where it was a bit breezy ( see photo ), to the Swiss Air memorial, to Mahone Bay for lunch at the Sea Shack and a visit to the pewter shop where you can watch them making the pewter objects  and explaining how and why they do certain things. Lovely pewter gift from Janet and Bruce that will grace our kitchen window sill when we get home. Nice fish dinner near Truro and arrived at their home at Black Point at dusk  after stopping at Bruce’s sister Wendy’s house to pick up Lucky, the family dog ( well Bruce’s dog really)  who made himself at home with us in back seat and who we instantly fell in love with

Peggys Cove Nova Scotia



Janet Lyndsay Helen and Bruce in gentle breeze at Peggys Cove

Wednesday 9^th May

Up at 5 am for shuttle to airport for Air Canada flight at 8 am  to Toronto and on to Halifax. You have to pay on Air Canada for each item of checked luggage at $23 per piece and also for any food on board ( got free water and soda tho !!) and what we had was stale filled roll and cardboard pizza. That’s why we saw people taking a packed lunch on board. Uneventful flight ( watched 2 movies “A Good Year” and “The Help”) until we landed at Toronto about 4 pm  and stopped about 20 metres from airbridge as there was a huge electrical storm and the whole airport had gone to a” Red Alert” status and had effectively shut down and all ground staff had to stay indoors. We stayed there for about 40 minutes until storm had passed –pretty spectacular thunder and lightning. Once we had docked we had a mad rush through immigration and customs, got bags back on conveyor and on to our 5.30 pm plane, sat there for a while ready to go but before we got off ground the crew ran out of flying time and there was another 2 hour delay  while they found a new crew ( who should have been flying to Orlando!!).  We finally left Toronto at 10 pm and arrived in Halifax  at 1 am to find our lovely friends Janet and Bruce still waiting to whisk us off to John and Norma’s house for the night. What faithful friends !!

Thursday 10 May

Woke to that most wonderful of smells, bacon cooking !! After large cooked breakfast inspected the new trailer home John and Norma had just taken to  Florida and back  and admired their very large dog and the beginning spring garden. Then the four of us set off from Halifax to New Glasgow and spent the whole day driving around Nova Scotia –to Peggy’s Cove, a wonderful place where it was a bit breezy ( see photo ), to the Swiss Air memorial, to Mahone Bay for lunch at the Sea Shack and a visit to the pewter shop where you can watch them making the pewter objects  and explaining how and why they do certain things. Lovely pewter gift from Janet and Bruce that will grace our kitchen window sill when we get home. Nice fish dinner near Truro and arrived at their home at Black Point at dusk  after stopping at Bruce’s sister Wendy’s house to pick up Lucky, the family dog ( well Bruce’s dog really)  who made himself at home with us in back seat and who we instantly fell in love with.

Wednesday 9^th May

Up at 5 am for shuttle to LAX for Air Canada flight at 8 am  to Toronto and on to Halifax. You have to pay on Air Canada for each item of checked luggage at $23 per piece and also for any food on board ( got free water and soda tho !!) and what we had was stale filled roll and cardboard pizza. That’s why we saw people taking a packed lunch on board. Uneventful flight ( watched 2 movies “A Good Year” and “The Help”) until we landed at Toronto about 4 pm  and stopped about 20 metres from airbridge as there was a huge electrical storm and the whole airport had gone to a” Red Alert” status and had effectively shut down and all ground staff had to stay indoors. We stayed there for about 40 minutes until storm had passed –pretty spectacular thunder and lightning. Once we had docked we had a mad rush through immigration and customs, got bags back on conveyor and on to our 5.30 pm plane, sat there for a while ready to go but before we got off ground the crew ran out of flying time and there was another 2 hour delay  while they found a new crew ( who should have been flying to Orlando!!).  We finally left Toronto at 10 pm and arrived in Halifax  at 1 am to find our lovely friends Janet and Bruce still waiting to whisk us off to John and Norma’s house for the night. What faithful friends !!

Tuesday 8^th May

The free breakfast at Lake Havasu  (cereal, banana, milk and coffee) was fine but everything was in polystyrene plates, bowls and cups, and plastic knives forks and spoons !!  On the road by 8.15

am, you can tell we were keen to leave this town!!

There were some nicer settlements a little further south on the Colorado River near Parker, but mostly it was very bland and boring desert (including sandstorms) much of the way to LA. But on these desert freeways we listened a lot to a talking book about ”Underground London”interspersed with Abba, The Eagles, bit of Leonard and BBC on national public radio  when we could  find a station 

Since we had no GPS in western US we had planned our route on freeways across the middle

of LA  to LAX quite carefully, firstly on 10 right through to 605, then south to 105 and straight

 through to airport and we did it with ease,  just one small hiccup actually finding the Hertz lot

to return the car. Easily solved by asking a young person walking down footpath with an

 iPhone map!!

Once found the Hertz experience at LAX was light years ahead of Santa Rosa. Checking car back

 in was done by scanning bar code just inside driver’s door then man drove us off to our hotel

( LA Marriot) without us having to get our gear out.

Hotel was good, had nice large ground floor room overlooking pool (thanks Jo),  seemed a

shame to only staying one night and leaving early. I (H) had great swim in pool and spa pool

with fire hydrant strength jets.

Ed and Julian picked us up from hotel about 7 pm and we had cheerful Thai meal at nearby restaurant.

  

Monday 7^th May

Lake Havasu is the place where the London Bridge was reassembled stone by stone in the Arizona desert over a small inlet of a lake. The Travel Lodge motel we stayed in was fine (esp at $77 for room with airconditioning and breakfast), Taco Bell for dinner was awful and  really this place has no redeeming features except being half way between 2 places and very hot 32 degrees.

Grand Canyon helicopter

Monday 7^th May -Grand Canyon

Up at 5.30, just after sunrise for an hours walk to west along south rim before breakfast. We saw people setting off on foot down the Bright Angel Track to the bottom of the canyon which is recommended to be a 1 day down and 1 day back up trip and then we saw all the mules being readied for their journey by a bunch of genuine looking cowboys !!  Then to cap off our morning walk a herd of elk were grazing quietly by our back door.

Then it was off to the Grand Canyon Airport to check in and be weighed (!!) for our ½ hour helicopter flight over the Canyon. There were 4 other passengers besides us, a very cheerful young German couple ( she got to sit next to the pilot) and a young Hungarian couple, he cheerful and excited, she scared out of her wits and sat expressionless staring straight ahead for the whole flight over this magnificent, and spectacular ancient landscape. We enjoyed it even if she didn’t !!

After coming down to earth we grabbed a couple of sandwiches (later eaten in sandstorm just off freeway in desert)  and set off south heading for Lake Havasu about half way between GC and LA. Arizona doesn’t seem to do “rest areas” though California does nice ones even if there are warnings about the rattlesnakes !! 

Sunday 6^th May

Lynds driving again and made easy exit onto I40 from Las Vegas about 10 am and headed for Arizona. Had lunch (sandwiches ex Walgrens ) by side of road  at Seligman which is an old Route 66 town and drove about 10 miles on Route 66 to the next interchange. Lots of Harleys and classic cars making the stop in Seligman.  Had a decent expresso there from a Nespresso machine. Arrived at Bright Angel Lodge at Grand Canyon south rim about 4.30 pm. Same National Park $20 fee for 7 days  to drive into park and same good roads with all commercial stuff outside park boundaries. Hordes of day trippers at the lodge when we arrived but had all gone by about 7 pm. Lynds suitably impressed by first view of canyon-we walked eastward along the south rim until after sunset-heaps of people out photographing sunset. Dinner was 2 superb salads at Bright Angel. Our room ( very comfortable and with ensuite bathroom) was right out the back  in the original part of the lodge which is a  group of  buildings, some of which are log cabins.   

Saturday 5th May Initial plan had been to drive back through the National Park and into Nevada over the Tioga Pass but still closed from winter and turned out it would have been a 12 hour drive. So had to drive back down the road we had come up into mountains, on to Fresno, through Bakersfield, Barstow and on up to Las Vegas, about an 8 hour drive through the most incredibly boring desert landscape,that you could drive thru with eyes closed !! Arrived in Las Vegas about 4.30 pm, bit hair raising driving down Strip on late Saturday afternoon to our hotel with huge crowds walking around, but Lynds managed admirably. Our comfortable room in the Monte Carlo hotel was on 30th floor overlong the Strip, only wired intenet in room, wifi only available in coffee shops. Thought I might have a swim in the pool but filled with drunken young people, many with very large and garish tattoos, and pounding music, so gave that a miss. Then off to Belagio to watch the water show and eat a “too large portions” chinese dinner. Wandered around for couple of hours observing the wildlife on the strip and avoiding the pimps. Not a place I ever wish to return to.

Friday 4th May Headed off to Yosemite National Park on beautifully sunny day. Park entrance (where you pay your $20 entry fee for car and occupants for up to 7 days) is about 4 miles from Fish Camp and then the very well maintained road winds through another 35 miles of beautiful forests and views and emerges from a tunnel to a lookout where there is the most spectacularly beautiful view up the canyon and mountains beyond. A really emotional experience that reduced both of us to tears. Drove on down to canyon floor and spent some time at Visitors centre before going on a 2 hr tour around the canyon floor –open seating for about 50 people on truck trailer bed with very informative and entertaining young National Park Ranger. Saw 2 groups of climbers on El Capitan-takes 2 days to climb and they sleep out on cliff overnight!! Saw lots of deer but no bears. 4 million people visit this national park each year, many of them staying in the park for a week or two.

Thursday 3rd May So much for an early start !! At AAA ( equivalent to NZ AA with reciprocal services for members) at 10 am for free maps-excellent, cheerful, polite service and then armed with detailed instructions from Hazel and Dusty on freeways to take we left Santa Rosa bound for Yosemite. We were held up for 30-40 minutes on freeway just south of Modesto for what turned out to have been a fire on a car transporter with about 5 cars completely burnt out Brief stop in Merced for lunch and then arrived at “The Narrow Gauge Inn” about 5.30 pm. This is a 1950’s era inn named for the railway that was used to transport trees out of the forest and we had good walk around before dinner. Lyndsay had elk !!

Wednesday 2 May Helen spent the day with Dusty in his truck delivering parcels all over an area of Northern California from Santa Rosa up to Ukiah where he goes every day, covering up to 200-300 miles. In the course of the day we visited auto repair garages, motorcycle shops, a tyre shop, a vet surgery, a dental practice, a Wells Fargo bank, health food shop, tyre and muffler shop, bus company, a health centre, a health club and gym, a lawn mower repair place, a factory making furnaces to melt titanium, a bail bondsman, a US Post office, a print shop, an electricity company, a casino, place that made closures for wine bottles, remote controlled toys factory, several private homes and nearly went to a ranch. Lyndsay spent day with Hazel visiting friends. We picked up Hertz rental car ( Nissan with no GPS!) that evening ready for an early departure next morning-pretty casual service starting with location having been moved several miles before Xmas last year but address not changed on documents and no maps available. Then dinner in local Indian restaurant.

Tuesday 1 May “May Day” Fantastic night’s sleep was followed by coffee, pastries and a personal poetry reading with Bill next door, then visit to Roma café for wifi, then with Lorie on to a demonstration in support of nurses on strike at Alpha Bates Sutter Hospital –had gone on strike for 1 day because of breakdown in negotiations (employer’s offer included removal of paid sick leave for RNs !!) but had then been locked out for a further 4 days. Hazel arrived about 4.30 pm to drive us from Berkley up to Santa Rosa where we were greeted by 4 dogs and then Dusty arriving home from work.

Monday 30 April House is very characteristic 2 story San Francisco shingle style built in about 1910 in a street with many similar houses all with trees and beautiful garden. I was privileged to have a look in the vast attic with a wonderful collection of drum sets (3) and a drum practice area with soundproofing, suitcases, boxes of papers etc, just what I need at home !! Then off on hunt for NZ-US adaptor for all the powered things as had packed wrong one, then a saga at Wells Fargo Bank trying to cash some old travellers cheques, followed by first visit to US Post office to post an 11 lb (5kg) package back to NZ, followed by hour long walking tour around the neighbourhood with David followed by an hours nap . Lovely dinner together with Madeline and Bill from next door, much talking and laughter.

Sunday 29 April 2012. Bit of last minute chaos getting packed, dismantling computer etc so running late and Anne had to drive us to the ferry. Then otherwise uneventful Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to San Francisco. Didn’t manage to get upgraded but had great inflight service from Les, Tom and other members of Rueben’s team. 2 1/2 hours wait to get thru immigration and customs and then on to BART to Rockridge where we were met by Lorie and David Brillinger and had short drive to their house in Berkley. Lovely dinner at The Drunken Boat nearby and then we had an orgy of repacking and deciding what to sen

d back to NZ-not bad for Day 1

Well its taken a couple of weeks to get myself organised to start blogging but here I am. We are now at Ingrids in Rochester, New York State and leave tomorrow to fly to Washington DC for a few days then on by train to New York city later next week before flying to London on 26th. This is just a brief post to check that its working and will try over next few days to catch up on what we have been doing in the past 2 weeks. Cheers Helen