What happens in Vegas....
Let's just say I helped save the world.
What a cheerful name.
Pretty awesome scenery in the Eastern entrance
Just a balmy...
...121 degrees today.
So I headed up to some altitude where it is cooler to camp...
It's just next to some 200 year old charcoal kilns.
They chopped down the nearby pine trees to make the charcoal...
Looks like they did a pretty good job...
However, in the Inyo National Forrest they have gone to great lengths to preserve the habitat of the Bristle Cone Pine. Some of these trees have been dated at over 12,000 years old and were used to re-calibrate the carbon dating technique...
You have to eke a miserable lonely existence to live to be a thousand.
A couple of living fossils.
Look!
The Bristle cones are right on the western edge of Death Valley ...
Enough. On to some forest and streams on the Western side of the range...
...and a bit of a steak craving...
A little iron replacement.
Inyo National forest covers quite a few different habitats and backs onto Yosemite National Park...
Yosemite is second to The Big Hole for visitors each year. So I lingered in Inyo for a day before tackling the crowds...
No fish but who cares...
Despite the number of visitors Yosemite is in pretty good shape. This is the road leading to the car park to get to the Soda springs trail head.
It only adds a couple of extra miles to the trails.
Some easy meadow trails....
Look!
Pretty good Cammo.
Soda Springs...
Just like soda water.
Some Sequoia groves are also and easy trail...
Money shot...
About that big.
Before heading to San Francisco I paused a couple of days in Delta country at Brennan Island. Despite the irrigated farms they are on their fourth year of drought...
Not a blade of grass.
These guys have taken themselves underground.
They've built networks of tunnels. You need to watch where you step.
First day in San Francisco became a bit hectic. It was Jerry Garcia day and I started by catching the bus out to the Amphitheater. There was no real entrance to this place. You sort of wandered through the park and follow your nose...
Lots of Dead Heads. (Grateful Dead fans)
Some have just stayed in a decade they liked...
They are windmills... Not in a quixotic way.
Back on the subway to get out to San Jose for the pre-season 49ers game. Well I would have caught the train if they hadn't closed the track for repairs. So I had to drive and then pay $50 for a parking spot...
A sea of red...
Football food...
Well, when in Rome... The child looks worried - thinks he's dessert!
After the game I was parked in the tail gate party section. The 49ers were soundly beaten by Houston and here I had parked my hire with Texas plates amongst all these disappointed fans. It got messy very quickly but they sort of gathered that there wasn't a Perth in Texas.
I only stayed till sundown.
I sacrificed a day to go and join the masses with a walk along the bay...
Pigeons and cameras.
The closest I'll get to the rock...
You have to book tours at least 6 weeks ahead.
The fog came in as I got closer to the Golden Gate bridge.
So I checked out the Fine Arts Buildings...
One of the few places that they've kept the water up to.
Went to catch up with Slick at Berkeley and got sidetracked here...
In the punk section...
And here I am attending Berkeley...
No protests these days. Lots of fee paying students.
Look. Marina Squirrel!
At the Fillmore for a benefit concert...
18 players on stage at one time...
You could make a bid on this silent auction item. Bass signed by Phil Leash (Grateful Dead bass player). Starting bid was $10,000 US,
Beautiful hand crafted instrument but a bit out of my price range. (The Mustang wants one anyway)
I missed the last train home and had to catch a taxi back to the valley. $80...San Fansisco is one of the most expensive places to live in here.
Finally for a special treat I caught up with"Slick" who arranged a day sail around the bay in a friends boat. .
It was pretty foggy as expected but Captain Ron wandered us around and found some sunshine.
Captain Ron flying the Stars and Stripes Pennant.
The flag was lost overboard in the gusts.
It wasn't me...
Slick making sure we didn't run into the bridge...
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