An American Holiday

We left San Francisco today at around 12:00 noon. The Holiday Inn messed up it seems the charges for the room and that has rather spoiled our time there as they insist they didn't double charge. So we're waiting for tomorrow to speak to the NAB and clear up the charges immediately.

So, sick of Fisherman's Wharf and San Fran, we embarked for Los Angeles. Driving, it actually was a very pleasant drive once on Interstate 5 heading south, and we saw a beautiful sunset along the rolling hills and dipping valleys. Driving 600 kms we made it to Anaheim where we just stopped for this evening. No rooms at all except for the Fairfield due to people wanting to be around here for New Years! The prices also went up so either plan way ahead of time or just smile and accept the rate hike.

Tomorrow, we're heading to Disneyland for just the day, and afterwards the following day we'll head up to LAX and prepare for our flight back to Sydney. We miss everyone back at home!!! We miss our home too!

Also, when we get home we'll have to talk about a rather spooky experience. We also have news that we didn't share in that Thomas (2) has a ghost friend that seems to be the size that can sit in his hands or be his size. That ghost friend has a name and it is BeeBo. Don't laugh, it's quite serious to Thomas. BeeBo seems to have a job that he goes to and leaves Thomas alone and then comes back after work. BeeBo eats, he scares and laughs, and only Thomas can sing to him. Very interesting.

Talk to you later!

Emily - Sophie was so happy when Ben read her your message on this blog. Keep on writing to her, Sophie's Friends!

Today, since we are staying at Fisherman's Wharf, we did quite a lot. First, we had breakfast at Pergamino Cafe. We recommend this cafe for breakfast...it is delicious! It might look a little crowded and a bit...dirty, but it makes up with the very happy servers and food. We saw the historic ships all along the piers, went to the Wax Museum (which was ok, but most didn't look at all like what they were supposed to be so we don't recommend going to that). We hopped on a trolley at Bay Street and rode it all the way up the hills and down to Union Square. We saw and talked to some independent music artists, walked and looked at the stores all through the square and then began walking up a HUGE hill. It took a bit of time and then when we were at the top, Ben looked at the map and led us down another street but down the hill into Chinatown. We could have walked just around the hill. Silly Ben. Chinatown was very nice! It was so busy, full of people selling and buying, walking and talking. We had lunch at the Floating Sushi Boat Restaurant and we really recommend that for the sushi! Sophie loves sushi and she picked that restaurant out. We stayed in Chinatown for quite some time doing little bits of shopping. Then we walked up Grant Street to the Wharf again. That is a long walk. But we saw such beautiful villas and apartments that we wished we could live at. We then walked around the wharf and looked at a few shops but most were closed at that time. There was even a man selling brand new air jordan Nike shoes out of a shopping trolley. Ben said that they probably accidentaly fell off a truck and were found by the lucky man who was then selling them. He pretended to talk on his mobile phone and every once in awhile opened a box of shoes up and pretended to look at them before quickly putting them back. We went for dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Although it was initially really amazing to see the giant aquariums, jaguars and gorillas...and the dinner was good, the service was absolutely shocking and dismal which ruined the time we were having. Today was a huge day and our feet hurt alot.

So - we recommend definately Pergamino Cafe. We recommend Chinatown and the Floating Sushi restaurant.

We don't recommend the Wax museum or Rainforest Cafe. Or the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf.

So happy we stopped because when we drove the next day we were in Redwood country! These giant trees could be seen simply from the car and many of them were even larger in width than the car! It was funny seeing the tourist traps with some saying "See the mystery trees!" and others "See a house made from one log!". It wasn't much of a day besides looking at all the different trees, the snow blowing all over which made it very nice to look at. We saw lots of elk in large herds that were grazing and laying in the fields watching the cars drive by. And then, as we kept driving, we saw the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge...we made it to San Francisco!!! We stopped and checked in at the Holiday Inn and went to sleep.

We left Salem Oregon at 12:00 in the afternoon after a huge breakfast from IHOP. As soon as we started driving, we watched the weather drop to below freezing and immediately just outside of Salem it began snowing....very hard! Ben told us the problem with driving in the snow is the ice that forms on the roads as well as drivers staring into the snow and becoming a bit dazed rather than keeping their eyes on the road and crashing into other drivers. It was pretty bad snow from Salem to Grand Ronde where we fueled up. We made it to Lincoln City and began our drive down wonderful US Route 101 heading south. We passed beautiful coastal little towns, and stopped over at Depoe Bay for a nice stretch. The waves crashed so high up that the spray blew over the roads and bridge! Getting back in, we made it all the way to Crescent City, California before it was time for us to stop for the evening. Long driving, and everyone was good!

Hello Everyone!

We just wanted to wish everyone who is coming along with us on this American Holiday experience a very merry Christmas! Tonight is Christmas Eve (Ben is writing this at close to midnight!) and we attended Christmas Eve services at Dayspring Fellowship, a very nice church in Keizer, Oregon. From there we had a huge feast of fresh vegetables, fruit and sandwiches for our evening meal, and then a massive platter of fresh baked cookies and other treats. Oh, and Ben's favourite, Egg-Nog! Thomas had some too and loved it, but he couldn't have too much. So now we're as Ben is typing, packing some items in the children's Christmas stockings from grandma and grandpa.

We also celebrated Christmas via Skype with our Australian family! It was so wonderful seeing the family back at home so full of cheer and we miss them very much.

So for now, we wish you all a very merry christmas eve. We'll be posting photos and films tomorrow when the excitement of Christmas kicks off!

From all of us to you.....have a wonderful, save and very enjoyable sleep!