Addition - Day 12 - White Water Rafting

Day 35 - Napa - SFO - VIE / GVA

Dear Reader, see below us splitting up in Paris. Sadly the trip is finally over. It was great fun. Now we are evaluating and reediting the different parts of the trip. Stay tuned to more exiting photos.

Day 34 - Concord - Napa

After the night in the very nice, old style mountain hut "blue sky lodge" we drove north to end the trip with a day in "Amusement Parks". In Waterworld we liked the Honolulu Half Pipe and the Devils Fall. In Discovery World we rode Medusa 5 times in 45 min. Now we are looking forward to return home.

Day 33 - Monterey - Carmel

We started our day with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was very interesting. There was a big big fish (2-3m) called ocean sunfish and it looked really funny. I’ve never seen that kind of fish. After the Aquarium we went to a Thai restaurant and had some curry. When we were finished dad and I went to the car and drove to the 17 Mile drive and saw the famous Pebble Beach Golf Club where TW won with record margin. On one of the fairways there was a deer. Then we drove through the lovely village of Carmel. Along the pacific ocean coast highway we did twice stop for a quick swim and had a scenic picnic dinner during sunset.

Day 32 - South of San Francisco

We left San Francisco on highway No 1 south aong the coast in thick clouds and cold weather. Driving through the outskirts of San Francisco we started to see a sign of home - a street named "Geneva". Along the coast we stopped several times to test the waves and the water of the Pacific ocean. It is very very cold as the water actually comes from the Gulf of Alaska.
The wather improved near Santa Cruz and as activity of the day we played 9 holes of golf.

Day 31 - San Francisco - Shopping

After breakfast we did a long walk of shopping. We bought us a pair of jeans and I myself running shoes also the Minneapolis Colts cap for auntie Sonja. Afterward we went to little Italy on North Bay into a restaurant called Mona Lisa. We both ate a very good pizza. Then we went to the cinema and saw “Simpsons – the movie”.

Day 30 - San Francisco - City Tour

After the exhausting hike we took things a little bit easier, had a late start and Mexican burritos for lunch. In the early afternoon we explored San Francisco via a guided tour with a bus. (Tower tours).
It was very interesting to see all the “famous” places where TV and movie block busters had been shot like Mrs Doubtfire, Full House, Desire for Happiness, etc. Certain areas of SF have Lots of very nice Victorian houses, in other areas there is still a lot of flower power culture around. The tour also included the Golden Gate bridge and the Japanese Tea garden (we had Jasmin tea). After the tour we bought the Alcatraz triathlon t shirt for Polly and had dinner at Hooters.

Day 29 - Yosemite - Ascent to Half Dome

We started our day very early at 5 o clock because there was an one-hour drive to the trailhead. The hike finally started at 6:30 in nice coolness and beautiful quietness and light. After 30 min we reached the bottom of the lower waterfall and 2 hours later we had reached the back country campground where dad and Wolfi M. had been visited in the tent by a bear at night 19 years earlier. It was getting hotter and hotter. After 4 hour we had our lunch break in the last available shadow, which dad needed to recharge the batteries as he was carrying the big backpack with all food and all water. The top of half dome was reached in 5.5 hours after the strenuous almost vertical ladder to heaven (274 m altitude gain). The view at the top was worth every bit of effort. We had only 2 l of water left and the weather started to look shaky in the east thus we stayed only 15 min at the top. The ladder to heaven down was a bit trickier especially due to the enormous traffic – up to 1000 people climb the half dome per day. The way back down was long and hot – we had to refill the water bottles in the little Yosemite river (and take a 30 min foot bath) – and ugly due to the granite stairs we enjoyed on the way up as well as the unbelievable amount of sandal-tourists along the lower waterfall trail. We reached the car in 4:45 pm. As a reward both got a yosemite T shirt and lots to drink. Then we set off to reach San Francisco asap, after picking up some cloths we forgot in the morning. We arrived in SF around 10pm.

Day 28 - Close to Yosemite

A rest day before the half dome hike. Time for the required laundry. Relaxation, Swimming, Football, preparations