Our first 5 days

We arrived in SFO about midday on the 1st. Used Bart (Bay Area rapid Transit) from the airport to the city and checked into our great little boutique hotel at about 1:30. Neither of us had slept on the flight, but we thought it best to stay awake until local night time, so off we went from our city centre hotel down to Fishermans Wharf by cable car. We climbed up to Coit Tower, walked around the pier area, clambered through the innards of a WW2 submarine, then arrived back at our hotel just in time for the complimentary California wine tasting. Two glasses, we were flying! A quick dinner at a local Irish pub, and it was nighty night for us.

Woke up late next day, and headed down to the Bay again to catch a tour to Alcatraz. We did a self guided audio tour which was absolutely terrific, being talked through the prison by former guards and inmates. Then we hired bikes at the Pier and pedalled around the bay foreshore to the Golden Gate, across the bridge to Sausalito. We caught the ferry back to the city with about 50 other bikes and their pedallers. A fun afternoon which had us back at the hotel around 6:30. After dinner at a local, and cheap, and good, French restaurant, we hit the hay.
It was a pity we only had a day and a half to explore, because Susie and I both agree we could really get to like SFO. Beautiful city, bay, friendly people, lots to like.

Next day travelled to Salt Lake City for the start of our ski overdose. Howdy, our great mate from Huntsville, met us at SLC airport and an hour later we were chatting to Pam, his wife, and staring up at our favourite ski mountain. Wooohooo!!

So far we've had 2 days on the mountain, split by a day off yesterday when we went to watch H and P's niece in an ice skating comp. Susie and I both surprised ourselves on the mountain, skiing top to bottom (2500') without a stop right from the start. The locals say the snow is a bit hard, no new snow having fallen for a few days, but to us, it is AWESOME!

Susie at Snowbasin

Robert at Snowbasin

A useless but interesting fact. The main streets in most large towns/cities in Utah are impressively wide, with 3 lanes each way plus a parking lane and a turning lane in the middle.  I commented on this and Howdy informed us that it's because the Prophet Brigham Young (that's the guy who had 27 wives) declared all main streets had to be wide enough to turn his horse drawn carriage around. Those carriages must have had lousy turning circles, but the roads are impressive - beats the hell out of George St, Sydney.


Tomorrow, just for a change, we think we might go skiing. Sorry to hear you guys have been sweltering in the heat back home since we left.

That's it for now. cheers,

Rob and Susie