Wild West Wanders (January 2001)

If you point at a picture you will get a description and if you click on a picture you will see it in more detail....

San Francisco

Day 1...Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz through the mist...    Main compound from warden's housing area.    We escaped from Alcatraz!    San Francisco through the mist...     Rainforest Cafe's latest animal exhibits!

We jumped on a ferry which took us across to the Island (picture 1) where we were free to walk around and explore at our leisure. It's a fair climb to the jailhouse at the top of the island, but worth the walk. There's plenty to see and do on the island and we were lucky with the weather. Picture 2 shows the jailhouse and the shell of the Governor's House which was burnt during the Native American siege.  Picture 3 shows Tony, Nic and Malc enjoying the sunshine on the island, while picture 4 shows off the San Francisco skyline.  Dinner was at The Rainforest Cafe (picture 5) which was fab!

Day 3...Lombard Street, Golden Gate Park, Japanese Tea Gardens and Steiner Street

 San Francisco's finest mode of transport.       How's your handbrake?

We all got up early and walked down to the cable car terminal to start our hectic day. The cable cars are pretty smart as you can see, and are most fun if you stand up and hang out of the sides. You just have to watch that the backs of your legs don't get hit by wing mirrors when you pass parked cars.  Going down hills like the one shown in the second picture is cool - you just have to trust the braking mechanism on the car!

Looking down Lombard Street...    ..before walking (carefully) down...    ...in order to look up Lombard Street!

We jumped off the cable car at Lombard Street then walked down the hill towards one of the beaches to get some good views of the bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.    View from the Visitor's Centre.    The bridge, with Fort Point down at shore level.    San Francisco from Golden Gate Bridge.

After Malc got soaked by the waves whilst trying to take a photo, we headed towards Fort Mason and got this good view of the bridge (picture 1).  After that, we caught a bus to Golden Gate Park and took some close up bridge shots (pictures 2&3).  Malc walked out onto the bridge and got a good skyline shot (picture 4).  Next stop was another bus ride to the Japanese Tea Gardens....

Cascading water...    ...tranquil buildings...    ...and calm lakes.

The Gardens were beautiful, with delicate plants and water features.  We had some Japanese Tea and cookies whilst watching the water fall down rocks in the gardens below.  Highly recommend it!

Old and new San Francisco.  

Last stop that day before the sun set was Steiner Street.  This street has been nicknamed Postcard Alley as it is possibly one of the most photographed streets in San Francisco.

Las Vegas

Day 9...Death Valley, Nevada/California

Outlaws preparing to enter Death Valley.     Badwater - the lowest point in the USA.   

After winning $200 in a Superbowl raffle, we decided to hire a people van and drive to Death Valley.  First stop was for lunch in a one street town which consisted of a Post Office, a restaurant/cafe and a garage/general store.  The lunch was fab, but it was a bit bizarre drinking out of jam jars!  Once we had refuelled our bodies, we drove to Badwater (picture 2), a place which is a couple of hundred feet below sea level.  It looked like something you would see in a Star Wars film.

Lots of colours...    ...and lots of shadows.    See any martians?    The long and dusty road...    The Artist's Palette.

The colours in the rocks as we drove through Death Valley National Park were very vivid as you can see from the pictures.  We drove back to Las Vegas and treated ourselves to dinner at Hooters (which pleased the lads no end!).

And that, my dear friends, is the end of our Wild West Wanders holiday diary.