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So we found San Francisco less unpleasant and overwhelming on our return. We went over twice on the ferry from Sausalito. A bit of sun helps, but also the energy we got from the young people we met up with. The brother of our daughter -in-law lives there, with his American partner and we spent an evening with them. We hadn’t met either of them before but of course felt like we knew Ben, whom we have heard so much about.

Anyway , he has lived in the States for ten years and they have been in San Francisco for two, so we got a bit of a different perspective. And in our own travels we saw another part of the city . We were at the City Hall during a rally for better mental health care, and just along the road from that there was a portable shower set up for the homeless, which had a really positive energy to it.

I know the social issues here are immense, and it may be that San Francisco is an accepting kind of town to provide so many on the street services for the mentally ill, and they should be applauded for that effort.

We also found our way into a local cafe/diner on a long walk through town. There was a woman with Parkinson’s disease, a guy with Downs Syndrome, lots of very old people having lunch, and two servers with tattoos and nose rings. Outside, a guy with one leg sat in his electric wheelchair watching the world go by and another bizarrely dressed street person went through the bins. It probably doesn’t sound that attractive, but was somehow just fine, and fun and friendly, and part of the rich tapestry of that city. Our male server, who had a big booming voice, told me that every hour in the Bell Tower (the name of the establishment) is happy hour, and the warmth and camaraderie seemed to indicate that.

Down at Fisherman’s wharf the buskers were out and some were very talented. And the vendors spruik and create drama. Further along, the sea lions are having their own dramas on the floats, where they clearly have a very large colony . As a new sea lion leaves the water to find its spot (always with the others, never on one of the empty pontoons ) they all honk and carry on, creating a great tourist attraction, while being out of every one else’s way.

We really enjoyed going back to a place we knew, namely the Hotel Sausalito and enjoyed our walks there and watching the ferry come and go. We found a great pizza restaurant on the water that has a bocce pitch. It really is a lovely place and I was even getting to recognise the dogs. It has a small town feel in spite of being densely populated.

And now here we are at last in San Francisco airport waiting to start the long trek home. Maybe I can gather some thoughts and conclusions on it all, but right now I have to board! See you on the other side.

We left our little cabin to head into Jackson, Wyoming, not too far away , just outside the border of the park.

Is it the Jackson of the song, “We’ve been going to Jackson ever since the fire went out”? We don’t think so because that refers to a city and this Jackson is just a small town of about nine thousand.

However, it is a resort town, skiing in winter, fishing, Grand Teton all year round, so its a busy, bustling place. Those tourist dollars must make a difference as it is extraordinarily well kept . Every building looks like it was painted yesterday and every building seems to be of a particular style that fits beautifully into the land and streetscape. Looks like they have some strict planning laws and a plan!!

There is not a blade of grass out of place, every intersection has a crossing light or a cross walk and there are some delightful bike paths. The thin mountain air and ski run at the end of the Main Street let you know that your are somewhere different and there is a festive feel. It reminded us of Banff in Canada.

There is a plethora of bars and restaurants as well as plenty of outfitters. Outfitters is a common term here in the US and according to Wikipedia;

“An outfitter is a shop or person that sells specialized clothes (an outfit is a set of clothing). More specifically, it is a company or individual who provides or deals in equipment and supplies for the pursuit of certain activities.^[1] The term is most closely associated with outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, canoeing, hiking, rafting and trail riding using pack stations.”

Gives you an idea of the place, but I must say some of those outfitters seemed to sell just everyday clothes.

Jackson is well known for the elk antler arches that grace the four corners of the town square, a patch of green right in the middle of town. Don’t forget that elks grow and lose their antlers every year, so the antlers are not sourced from hunting, which makes the whole thing more palatable. People have clearly put their minds to wondering what you can do with all those antlers and many places use them decoratively in things like light fittings. Looks better than it sounds, trust me, and it makes sense in Jackson as they have the national elk refuge right on the edge of town. This is a place on the plain (or in the hole of Jackson Hole) where the elk naturally gather to spend winter and it is protected now as a refuge. It has a fence along the road side of it and has plenty of lookouts, but the elk have left it for summer pastures. There is also a river running through it and a small lake, where we saw more beaver and lots of birds.

Over the road from the refuge is a large stone building housing the Museum of Wildlife Art. We thoroughly enjoyed this and it was a great way to end our wildlife odyssey. It features lots of sculptures outdoors, collections of the most well known and significant wildlife painters of the US and also of course has temporary exhibitions. The current one is a National Geographic day to night photography exhibition which was pretty stunning and features the works of Stephen Wilkes.

We really liked Jackson and were very impressed with the shops and amenities. Of course given its such a resort town it is not surprising that it is so well catered for. It’s also beautiful in its clean , bright, high altitude way. We did feel the altitude, not by feeling unwell, but having reduced energy and finding things like climbing stairs made us short of breath.

We were there over Memorial Day weekend, which is a big holiday weekend. Memorial Day honours and remembers all those who have lost their lives in active military service.

In Jackson it was marked by a number of things starting with a street parade. It featured a lot of horses and people in hats and cowboy/girl type outfits. The snow plough got a big hand, but biggest of all was for the LGBTIQ group, who were in the parade for the first time!! That was nice.

I was surprised by the reverence for the national anthem, which was played very well by the community band. I guess I should not have been surprised,but at the first note people put hand to heart and the drinkers on the verandahs of the bars all stood immediately. I know that we don’t like fervent patriotism but I don’t know, there was something nice about it……………………………there are a lot of things about this country that make me feel conflicted!

The flight out of Jackson is frequently very bumpy due the mountains but ours was just fine and we had a smooth run back to San Francisco, with a really good look at the salt lake in Salt Lake City as we flew in and out of there. And so to Sausalito again and home.

Real moose, Jackson

My abiding impression of this park will be of the wonderful way people greeted me with words like “do you see the bald eagle in the tree there?” Or “do you want to see a moose?” Nature lovers, all intent on braving the cold to get a glimpse of the glorious wildlife and bird life. We spoke to one man, about our age, who drives up every year from Southern California to the Grand Teton park in spring and sometimes in autumn as well. He is an amateur photographer, and I can see how it could cast that spell. He urged us to come another time in autumn, to see the contrast. I wish.

We were lucky to see a moose, the only one we have seen, and again only because another visitor pointed out where he had seen it. We had to wait quite a while for it to show itself from behind the bushes, but eventually it did. We saw the American Pelican, which is all white, and a beaver, which came up very close to us, as well as the more common species like elk, pronghorn and bison.

We enjoyed seeing the Snake River wind its way through the valley and the geology there is fascinating. Jock enjoyed the many manifestations of moraine.

Grand Teton park adjoins Yellowstone, and it was a nice drive through very high altitudes and lots of snow, then back down some of the way to arrive at Signal Mountain, within the park itself.

It’s a small lodge with cabin or cottage accommodation and we loved our little cabin overlooking the lake and mountains. Those mountains! Massive snow covered peaks that are part of the Rockies , appearing and disappearing in the clouds.

But bad weather did finally catch up with us and we had cold, cold days with a wind chill factor, rain and some snow.The first day we just rested. It seemed like after all those days getting out and about in Yellowstone in the cold, our bodies were saying, stay warm! Our cabin was lovely and cosy, and with the view, there did not seem much reason to move that first day, except to go down the lodge restaurant and bar! It too had the wonderful view and a fireplace, was very pleasant and casual , with good music playing and a really nice atmosphere. I like meeting the staff and other patrons and doing some people watching, to learn a bit more about how the place ticks. This particular lodge had a lot of locally sourced food and alcohol. Jock really enjoyed the Jenny Lake Lager and I found the local gin to be delicious.

The next day we braved the cold but did that very touristy thing of driving from one spot to another, jumping out for a few photos and to read the signs, then jumping back in the car! We didn’t even do any of the shorter walks , but did stay out when the wind dropped, which it did occasionally. At one stage, we dropped into another lodge hoping for a hot coffee and were rewarded with a stupendous room with the most massive picture windows I have seen , looking at the mountains of course. It was Jackson Lake Lodge, which has historic significance and was so worth calling into. The coffee was quite good and the artwork and architecture well worth a look.

The park is another major hiking destination and had the conditions been better there were a number of shorter trails that we could have walked, including circuits round very picturesque lakes. Mind you, the multitudes of bear warnings were somewhat off putting and many side roads were closed due to bear sightings. We didn’t see one ourselves in Grand Teton but I’ve no doubt the chances were very high if you were on a remote track. Maybe one day……………..

After dropping off our rental car in Fresno, we flew to Bozeman, Montana, gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Let me just say that Bozeman was without doubt the nicest airport I have ever visited. Built with stone and timber, with large open fires that you can actually sit near, and lots of beautiful sculptures, its in the style of American lodges and is a fantastic entry to the national park region. Due to all the flight changes made by Delta we had to stay the night in this town and thought we might as well get into the swing of things by going to typical Bar and Grill, a term that features heavily when looking for eating places in rural America (well, this part anyway).

Dave’s Bar and Grill is a chain, which we would normally avoid, but as it was just a short walk from our hotel we gave it a try. A huge timber lined room with an open fire, elk horn light fittings and servers dressed as cow boys and girls greeted us. It had a massive menu with steaks and ribs being the big feature, but we managed to find some cat fish and vegetable “sides”. For those of you who haven’t been to the US, it is common for there to be a list of sides and each main course (or entree as they are called here – yes I know, go figure) will come with two or more sides which you have to pick from the list.

It was good fun and we felt like we had had a good introduction to mountain country. We went on our way next morning in our new hire car to the north entrance of Yellowstone and the town of Gardiner. Our accomodation there was a place called Wonderland Cafe and Lodge, which was right in town, very close to the entrance of the park.

It is a lodge, in that it has lodgings, but is not of the old style. Built a year ago, it has modern apartments above a cafe that is open all day every day. It is owned by Stacey, who is without doubt a Wonder Woman. Her husband is a wildlife photographer and his work decorates the lodge and cafe, which serves fresh and creative food, vegetable heavy, so we were very happy.

So after settling in there and wandering the few streets of Gardiner, enjoying the very fresh mountain air and the sparseness and frontier feel of the place, we headed into the national park for the evening hoping to see some wildlife. And indeed we did!

We drove through the Lamar valley and in no time at all we were looking at our first black bear! This one was a light coloured black bear, known as a cinnamon black bear and she was at a good distance for us to see very well with the naked eye, but not to feel that we were disturbing her or that we were in any danger. It was a very big thrill for me, let me tell you. These critters have been on my bucket list for some time. As it turned out, we were there at a very good time because by the end of that trip and our days excursion with a wildlife guide the next day, we had seen about a dozen bears, grizzlies and blacks, including three sets of sows with cubs. Two of the mothers with cubs were a long distance away and we viewed them with the guide’s high powered scope. The advantage of that is that they were not aware of us and we could see them playing and interacting with each other in a totally natural way, undisturbed by onlookers. The cubs were doing all those cute things you have seen on the nature docos, playing with each other, falling off logs and rolling over each other.

And there are always plenty of onlookers. Cars and people soon line up to view whatever has been located and when its busier, bear jams and wolf jams are common.

We saw wolves as well! Including one that was in waiting near a bison that may have had a stillborn calf . We could not see into the grass but the guide was sure that this would be the case. Bisons will stay with their dead young for a couple of days and wolves will wait patiently for them to leave. We also saw a lone male eating a carcass and a lone black female wolf travelling at a fast trot. We were able to see her first with the scope, then the binoculars, then with the naked eye. Then we had to be careful not to be too close to her as she crossed the road and continued on her mission.

Of course we also saw the more common animals like elk, bison and their calves, pronghorns, longhorn sheep, mountain goats, coyotes and deer. Our guide Cara was fabulous. She is American but has also lived in Australia for a long time and has citizenship there. She spends most of the time in WA but in the east her favourite place is Guerilla Bay! Small world.

We told Cara of our interest in birds so she took us to see the nests of a Horned Owl, Peregrine Falcon and an Osprey and we did lots of other spotting on the way. She came to pick us up at 5.30 am (!) and we had a brilliant day with her. SO much fun and excitement. Surely one of my favourite activities of all time………….

Cara also knew all about the vegetation and the geology, so Jock was happy too. She thanked us for not complaining about the cold! Apparently people do. It WAS cold, even snowed at times. But she had some hot coffee and hot chocolate, lots of lovely food, and a nice warm car, and we had our layers of clothes. Apparently the overcast weather makes for better wildlife spotting……….

Following that we headed south into the other part of Yellowstone, geyser country, and Old Faithful. We stayed two nights in the Snow Lodge right next to Old Faithful geyser and the original Old Faithful lodge, and walked all the geyser basins. So, there is a super volcano under Yellowstone and these geyser basins exist across a huge area of the park.

It’s easy to imagine yourself on another planet, standing in clouds of steam, listening to bubbling water , looking at scorched and weirdly covered earth, and seeing the geysers shoot water high into the air. We watched Old Faithful, which erupts about every ninety minutes , four or five times. In the evening we could do that without the bus loads of day visitors who crowd the space during the day. We were also lucky to see the Beehive geyser erupt, as it is not a frequent one and is very dramatic. The pools and springs can be a stunning blue which you can only see when the wind blows the steam away sufficiently. It is as I said, very otherworldly, as was the frozen Lake Yellowstone. We have never seen a frozen lake before, and it was a massive expanse of ice.

So the cold weather continues but we are lucky in that even on the worst days we have had some sunny periods and when were staying near Old Faithful we could go back to our room when it rained or hailed. That particular day we had snow, rain , hail, wind, and a long period of sun. Spring, for sure.

From there we have moved on the Grand Teton National Park which abuts Yellowstone, and are enjoying gazing at the mountains, but more of that next post.

So, John Muir, the advocate of national parks and most eloquent of conservationists, said about Yosemite that “It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter”.

He certainly was able to articulate the beauty and mystery of America’s natural heritage, and I can only agree with him on this one. It has been wondrous and awe inspiring to be here. It is just so dramatic and on such a huge scale that even with so many people flocking to see it, the massive granite peaks dominate. Add to that the huge waterfalls that are a feature of spring, the green meadows, the huge conifers and the wildlife and birds and it’s all that one’s heart could desire!

We are staying in a cabin in the southern end of the park. It is a typical holiday cabin that was not too close to any neighbours and we have been able to sit on the porch and watch the squirrels, woodpeckers, robins and lizards, and have also spotted some deer here and a turkey buzzard. So that has also been a wonderful thing for us, as while we have had lots of fantastic accomodation, its the first time we have had an actual house, and that is very pleasant. It’s quite old fashioned but everything works very well and it’s extremely comfortable. We are quite a way from Yosemite valley but are in the park itself and in this area there is one of the historic lodges of Yosemite. This one is now called Big Trees Lodge and it is famous for having had John Muir entertain President Roosevelt there in 1903 during the camping trip that Muir took with Roosevelt, in order to convince him to protect this area and to set up a national park service. (It was a success).

We dined at the lodge on our third night, and as well as having an excellent meal we were entertained by our server who has worked there since 1982! He had a very dry humour and his character along with the character of the lodge dining room was a winning combination.

But what about the park itself? We had two extraordinary days, visiting Glacier Point first then spending the day in the Valley yesterday. We ended up walking a good deal and a long distance both days but have not attempted any major hikes as they are beyond my ankle and Jock’s heart. However, it is an amazing hiking destination and any hikers out there should get here as soon as possible!

Spring brings the ice melt of course and so waterfalls are a big feature of the season. There is literally water everywhere right now and we have viewed a lot of extraordinarily high waterfalls and walked by rivers and creeks that are raging white water.

We have been impressed by the way the park is managed, and particularly how the crowds and traffic are managed. This is not high season by any means but we were glad we got up and out early for our day in the valley as the crowd certainly built up over the day. The roads are really good and have places to pull over to gape at the scenery and to let faster cars pass. The message about bear safety could not be stronger and there are lockers for food and warnings everywhere.

And we saw one!! It ran across the road as were heading home just on dark. So it was the briefest glimpse as it was really moving but it was undoubtedly a bear! We have also seen lots of deer while driving, but no near misses.

The next day the weather had changed and was cold, wet and misty with snow due overnight. We enjoyed the cabin and took a look round our local area and managed a six kilometre walk round a local meadow, which was lovely. A meadow here is like our flats in the Snowies, important wetland areas. We couldn’t resist returning to the lodge and again had an excellent meal. Jock chose classic southern fried chicken and mash, which he loved! Then we sat in the lobby listening to a pianist/vocalist who has also worked there since 1982! He was a great entertainer, a storyteller with a great interest in history as well as a musician, who interacted with his audience. We enjoyed the other guests. who seemed much like us, and we gather from one we spoke to that many are return visitors. Well you would if you could, wouldn’t you?

I am rather at a loss of words to describe the beauty of this place and might let the photos do that for me. But I can tell you that I have felt moved (which won’t surprise a lot of you ) to have worshipped at this particular nature’s temple.]

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So here we are in Sequoia National Park, walking amongst the giants. We have so looked forward to this. Many of you will know that Jock has a particular interest in trees, so seeing the biggest tree in the world and being in the heart of the Forest of Giants is really something special. There is a wondrous quiet and majesty about these forests.

The evening we arrived there was a massive thunderstorm, followed by a densely foggy and unseasonably cold day which was a bit of a blow, but luckily the next day was sunny and crisp. It was great to see the two different moods, but all fog would not have been good!

The second day we walked slowly along the Congress trail soaking in the splendour of the many groves. The woodland is open with a soft needle floor, snow covered in places, so naturally quiet and soft. The sun intensifies the redness of the trunks of the old trees, while the young ones have brown trunks.

The oldest tree in the park, called The President (which we visited) is estimated to be 3200 years old. That’s hard to comprehend isn’t it.

As well as the trees and gushing streams, we were treated to lots of bird sightings and we saw a groundhog ! We felt the altitude, and are still jet lagged so we found it hard to ascend any heights but took our time and rested often on rocks and the beautiful chunky benches that are spotted along on the trails.

We are staying at a lodge here and ended the day with a cocktail and pizza on the deck , chatting to other guests round the fire pit. Ahhhh……………………………………….

Wish you were here.

As you know I wrote my last post while flying over Greenland on our way to San Francisco. A few days of jet lag brain followed that, but luckily we were in sunny Sausalito, which was a great place to start this last leg of the trip.

Sausalito is on the San Francisco Bay across the Golden Gate Bridge from downtown San Francisco. It is very picturesque and in May, very relaxed. But it is a tourist town and apparently gets very congested in the summer. It has a walking path and bike path for miles along the waterfront and is very green. It was sunny with a big blue sky and most surprisingly, we felt right at home as it is just full of Australian native plants. They are everywhere, both shrubs and trees, and being spring the bottle brush was in full bloom. Who knew?

I went on a walk with a local to get some history and insights (another of those experiences that you book on Airbnb) and he told me that the trees were planted during the gold rush, by Australians who came to find their fortune. As the eucalyptus are fast growing they thought they could make money on the timber but it was found not to be suitable as a building material there. So now they have these eucalypt covered hills adding to the fire danger!

But there are so many paperbarks and a myriad of other plants used as streetscape that it must have been a council policy at some stage. They are certainly thriving there and they add to the general gorgeousness of the place.

My guide, Ben, told me a lot of the history of the area, which was a hot house of creativity, especially music, in the sixties and seventies. Carlos Santana , Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, you name them, they all lived there at some stage during the height of its house boat alternative community heyday. “Dock of the Bay” was written there………………….

From there we caught the ferry over to downtown San Francisco to buy some items we couldn’t get in Sausalito and were shell shocked by that little foray. It was crowded, of course, but also noisy, dirty and just generally unpleasant. I was spat at by a guy I happened to look at who was marching at great speed with his bedroll on his back. That was not enough to put us off on its own (it didn’t land on me, by the way) but was part of the whole unhappy vibe.

It seemed on that short exposure to be one of the least attractive cities I have visited, with not much to recommend it. Though we did only walk from the ferry through the financial district and as far as China Town, which we did not explore.

So when we return from the national parks we are going to stay at Sausalito again instead of in the heart of San Francisco, near Union Square, which we had booked, and just take the hop on hop off to have a look round. I met a guy on my walking tour in Helsinki who was from Oakland, which is very near San Francisco. He told me SF has become a dirty and dangerous place in the last five years and I really did not want to believe him . I cant speak for dangerousness, but dirty , yes, I agree.

From Sausalito we went by car, train to Fresno, then rental car, to arrive at the end of a long day in Sequoia National Park. But more of that in my next post.

At the train station we had another of those experiences of people going out of their way to make sure we got on the correct platform . We are finding Americans to be very friendly, polite and articulate. A lot of people who have served us in shops and so on are willing to have a long chat and we have been delighted by their accents and outgoing ways. They do have trouble with our accent though, and I am resorting to making myself sound more American (not hard) so that they can understand me more easily!

See you in Sequoia!

Well its been a while since I posted anything, having spent some time in England with our son and his wife and our nearly two year old granddaughter, as well as our daughter , who lives in Canberra. It was wonderful to all be together again and a nice change, as it happened, to be there in Spring rather than Autumn. It was very green and pretty, with bluebells and other meadow flowers and the birds nesting.

And why Helsinki, you might well ask.

Some of you may remember that the round the world ticket we bought is a Finnair airfare and Helsinki therefore had to be in the itinerary. We certainly had no objection to taking a look at the most northern city in Europe, but decided to stop there on the way out of Europe in May, rather than on the way in in March. As it turned out, the lovely spring they were having turned very cold just as we arrived, so we got to experience some proper northern weather, like 2 degrees and snowing!

It was actually fine when it wasn’t raining, though the first day my eyes did not like the cold and wept mercilessly in spite of my specs. It was a nuisance having to cope with so many layers, plus gloves and tissues! I’m glad I got to use my beanie though…………

Helsinki was a stark contrast to Italy. It is very clean , monochromatic (at least at this time of the year and in this weather) orderly and expensive, so opposite in almost every way!

I enjoyed finding my way around, which is not difficult, and managed to see a lot of the city while Jock rested to try to finally shake off the cold and cough that has been hanging round. We were in a fantastic location in an apartment near the city centre. I walked everywhere and we were able to find restaurants very close by so Jock did not have to walk too far in the cold when we wanted to go out. We enjoyed a really good Nepalese meal there. We miss Australia’s amazing multicultural cuisine, and were so glad to have a good curry!

We noticed that wherever you go there are more than ample coat hooks and racks , for obvious reasons, and some places have brushes at the door for your shoes. It is also common to take shoes off at the door in private homes, not surprising for such a snowy country.

The architecture is quite stark, certainly austere, with very large solid buildings, some of granite, very few made of timber. Interiors were also simple and minimalistic. There is plenty of space and not too many people. In fact there are only five million in the whole country.

I walked by one of the lakes where there were separate bike lanes and walking lanes. That was a sunny day and very pleasant. I walked between the Music Centre, which is a large performing space and the Opera House, through park land. There is an abundance of open space and bike lanes everywhere, including through the city centre where they have a dedicated lane. Pedestrians are very well catered for with crosswalks and cross lights on just about every intersection. Cars certainly do not seem to dominate as there are also trams and buses galore. It is perhaps the least congested city I have visited.

I went to many of the landmarks and the markets (salmon, reindeer, salmon, rye bread, salmon) and took a walk with a local on the UNESCO world heritage site of the Island of Suomenlinna, which was a fortress island.

It was a great afternoon, positively balmy at eight degrees and our guide Miina was very interesting. She has two jobs, working in winter as a carpenter at the dry dock on the island. Yes, winter, as in summer all the boats are in service, with repairs and improvements being done only in winter. For her other job she is a meteorologist and I assume she does the guided walks ( through Airbnb experiences) because she loves it! I have certainly never met a person with such a diverse skill set!

Miina lives on the island and took us to her home (a tiny apartment) as well as walking us round the island and giving a great potted history as well as a fabulous local perspective.

Their history is of Swedish and then Russian rule with Finland only gaining independence one hundred years ago. Even though only five percent of the population speak Swedish, it is one of the two official languages. But schoolchildren also learn English from early primary school.

It was a low key time, but interesting, and we were very comfortable in our apartment. It was a good transition between family time and the last leg of our trip, the U.S. and far flung national parks, which is going to be a pretty full on time with a road trip and shorter stays than we have done to date.

I am writing this on the plane, currently flying over Greenland (spectacular ice and snow) and looking forward to San Francisco, in spite of being told by a Californian, who was on the island walk, that it has become a dirty and dangerous place…………..

See you on the other side.