San Francisco to Calistoga.
Lewis picked up our clean washing and the car from the parking lot, we drove Lombard street (not really as scary or cool as it looked walking but still fairly cool) Min was “taking video” on Lewis’s camera… well let’s just say that it helps if you press go!
Then out of San Fran over the golden gate bridge (the day was misty) and into Muir woods, they are just amazing the trees are huge. It is impossible to explain the sheer size and majesty of them.. I expected to be amazed but was not prepared for the prehistoric feel of the forests also the misty atmosphere really added to the feel of the woods. We saw baby chipmunks, a spotted owl and a whole heap of annoying people (whilst we were there too we did not feel the need to yell to one another in the woods, fortunately we took a higher, slightly longer much quieter walk which was lovely, we saw a squirrel eating bark/moss some wrens and just got to enjoy the feel of the woods which was lovely). The café / gift shop had baby redwoods for sale it was a battle with Lew to leave the tree there and no he could NOT get it into Australia (he wanted 3). A medium tree that had come down had been aged at over 1000 years old and it was a medium sized one. They were MASSIVE One of the trees had had its original trunk destroyed by wildfire or lightening due to the size of it this original tree was over 1000 and the babies were about 1000 years old themselves CRAZY! The root system covers about an acre per tree.
Headed from Muir woods to Sonoma valley (winery area) called into the info centre and got some info, we headed to the oldest winery in the region Buena Vista 1859? The area is known for its Cab Sav tasted some good wines the Chardonnay was really lovely, they called Shiraz something different. The dude knew his stuff but we had to head to make our spa in time, on the way we had to pass through a tiny town called Saint Helena and it took FOREVER to get through this area (about 15 minutes to transverse through a tiny town) so we were late for our spa in Calistoga (most stressed I have been on this trip as we were late it turned out ok however they just moved our spa booking back ½ an hour). Plus they had over quoted me by $100 so double bonus! Dropped our stuff off in the room and headed down for the mud spa. We had a couple’s one so you got in a mud bath (sphagnum moss, mineral water and clay) it was hot on the bottom so you had to slide in sideways and then squiggle down to get in the mud. It was a very weird feeling as you were completely supported by the mud – quite relaxing but didn’t smell that great. Had a tea mud thing put on our faces and lay there and stewed for about 15 minutes. Then out of there and rinsed off in a mineral shower, mine was cold so was a bit of a shock.. The mud stuck to Lewis hairs so that was funny and took FOREVER to get off him, then into a hot Jacuzzi again with mineral water, by now Lewis was cooking, then from there into a room to cool down, wrapped in blankets… not sure how that worked Lew was still sweating for hours. Then back to the room, I read whilst Lew slept for about 2 hours, then went to dinner in the main street at a nice Italian place, I had spaghetti Bolognase (apparently this place was famous for this) and Lew had lasagne (very nice).
Lewis picked up our clean washing and the car from the parking lot, we drove Lombard street (not really as scary or cool as it looked walking but still fairly cool) Min was “taking video” on Lewis’s camera… well let’s just say that it helps if you press go!
Then out of San Fran over the golden gate bridge (the day was misty) and into Muir woods, they are just amazing the trees are huge. It is impossible to explain the sheer size and majesty of them.. I expected to be amazed but was not prepared for the prehistoric feel of the forests also the misty atmosphere really added to the feel of the woods. We saw baby chipmunks, a spotted owl and a whole heap of annoying people (whilst we were there too we did not feel the need to yell to one another in the woods, fortunately we took a higher, slightly longer much quieter walk which was lovely, we saw a squirrel eating bark/moss some wrens and just got to enjoy the feel of the woods which was lovely). The café / gift shop had baby redwoods for sale it was a battle with Lew to leave the tree there and no he could NOT get it into Australia (he wanted 3). A medium tree that had come down had been aged at over 1000 years old and it was a medium sized one. They were MASSIVE One of the trees had had its original trunk destroyed by wildfire or lightening due to the size of it this original tree was over 1000 and the babies were about 1000 years old themselves CRAZY! The root system covers about an acre per tree.
Headed from Muir woods to Sonoma valley (winery area) called into the info centre and got some info, we headed to the oldest winery in the region Buena Vista 1859? The area is known for its Cab Sav tasted some good wines the Chardonnay was really lovely, they called Shiraz something different. The dude knew his stuff but we had to head to make our spa in time, on the way we had to pass through a tiny town called Saint Helena and it took FOREVER to get through this area (about 15 minutes to transverse through a tiny town) so we were late for our spa in Calistoga (most stressed I have been on this trip as we were late it turned out ok however they just moved our spa booking back ½ an hour). Plus they had over quoted me by $100 so double bonus! Dropped our stuff off in the room and headed down for the mud spa. We had a couple’s one so you got in a mud bath (sphagnum moss, mineral water and clay) it was hot on the bottom so you had to slide in sideways and then squiggle down to get in the mud. It was a very weird feeling as you were completely supported by the mud – quite relaxing but didn’t smell that great. Had a tea mud thing put on our faces and lay there and stewed for about 15 minutes. Then out of there and rinsed off in a mineral shower, mine was cold so was a bit of a shock.. The mud stuck to Lewis hairs so that was funny and took FOREVER to get off him, then into a hot Jacuzzi again with mineral water, by now Lewis was cooking, then from there into a room to cool down, wrapped in blankets… not sure how that worked Lew was still sweating for hours. Then back to the room, I read whilst Lew slept for about 2 hours, then went to dinner in the main street at a nice Italian place, I had spaghetti Bolognase (apparently this place was famous for this) and Lew had lasagne (very nice).
No comments:
Post a Comment