10th August - Last day

We started the day going to a really interesting Laundromat to do our washing. It was called Brain wash and not only could you do your washing or hand in your dry cleaning but it was also a cafe, internet cafe and had computer games. For the first time ever we did our laundry and wern´t bored - someday all laundromats will be made this way.

We headed back up to Union Sq downtown for our last site seeing in San Francisco. Sad to be leaving cos it´s such a nice place and the peole are so friendly will have to come back some day.

For dinner we ate at a wee place round the corner from the hotel in an Asian Fusion Cafe which was a mixture of Indian, Chinese and Japanese but the curry I had was magic and the Pakora again came with a couple of mad sauses - reminders of home!

8th August - Back on the Sauce

We took a wee tour of 3 winneries sampling their lovely wines. The first in the famous Napa Valley was the Kirkland Ranch Winery and the building looked more like a traditional Cattle Ranch which it had been for the first hundred years then converted to wine - thank goodness. They gave us samples of 4 wines 1 White 2 Reds and a Desert wine - tell Gillian she would have loved it - even I thought it was nice. Our favourite was the 2000 Guy Buffet Cabernet Sauvignon which was dry and tasty.
We then went to the Madonna Estates Mont St. John Winery still in Napa - this is a totally organic winery and they gave us 4 delicious wines 2 white and 2 red and again our fav was a Cab Sauvignon - the 2000 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - we were even taken a wee tour of the vines to see the grapes growing.

We stopped for lunch on Sonoma (another major wine valley in California). Sonoma is very historic and was the place California was made independant for 3 weeks in the 1800s during the war between Mexico and the US The architecture was very Spanish and the couple of remaining original buildings were beautiful. We ate in a mexican restuarant surprise surprise.

The third winery was in Sonoma - The Viansa winery also plied us with 3 nice wines but they also had hundreds of preserves, pickles, jams, sauses and spreads which the wife makes while the hubby makes the vino.

I´m glad I don´t live neat that winery I would be a very fat drunk.

We finished the tour by being driven over the Golden Gate Bridge which was nice.
OH and don´t try to find any of these wines in the shop, sorry they don´t ship - they only sell them at the winery itself - a very good excuse to go.

8th August - Lost Day

Sorry not a lot to report today - nearly died trying to get out of bed to get some food as the hangover is very bad.

Did venture downstairs at night to the Brazilian Cafe where we got dinner and it was very nice - Brazil is looking up if you can get Cauliflower stuff which tastes like a yellow Thai curry with cauliflower.

7th August - Alcatraz

We took a tour of Alcatraz which first included a tour around Angel Island one of the largest islands in the bay. It was very beautiful full of history. Angel Island was the Ellis island of the West - where thousands of immigrants from Asia and the Pacific were kept before being give entry into the US.
Then took the short boat trip to Alcatraz and walked up the steep hill to the Cells. An audio tour lets you go around at your own pace looking at the cells of Al Capone and the famous birdman. What was really funny was every cell had a bed, a sink and a toilet - better than the Bar L now - maybe the Scottish Office could by a job lot of toilets from Alcatraz as nobody is using them now - may stop all those criminals suing cos they had to slop out - maybe they shouldn't have been crims in the first place - eh!!!!!!
The view of downtown SFO are really great and supposidly on a clear night the prisioners could hear voices etc. coming from the Marin County side of the bay - ah poor loves - well they shouldn't have been crims in the first place eh!!!!!!
At night we went into the hotel bar run by a baseball fanatic so he explained all the rules to us - so we're now converted and are going to try to get to see a game before we leave the US.
We then went to North Beach for dinner and a few drinks - well it is Friday night - we were even persuaded to go to a club - Roxy Sky - it was awful - it was supposidly electronic but it was really just rave crap. But a couple of dancers on the stage were dressed up in green neon - very Kraftwerk - thought Tony may like it.
8th of August - lost day
Stayed in bed most of the day nursing hangovers - whoever invented Vodka and Redbull should be shot. I thought I felt ok enough to go and get some food but it was a bad idea - nearly died on the way back took me three hours to eat my eggs and hashbrowns.
Managed to crawl down to the hotel restaurant at night which serves Brazilian food - I had a cauliflower dish which tasted a bit like a yellow Thai curry and was fab - back to bed cos it's bad standing up.

5th August - Walking the Golden Gate Bridge

Took the bus to the bridge and luckily it was sunny and we can and see it rather walking in a fog - which we do figuratively most days - the bridge is 1.2 miles long so it's quite a walk for us (or rather me - being a couch potato).
I thought it was called the golden gate bridge because of the colour but close up its really the terracota bridge but that doesn't sound so good - but actually the entrance to SFO through this strait was called the Golden Gate by sailors so therefore the Golden Gate Bridge and not the Terracota coloured bridge!
Along the way we noticed a single flower and a note - dozens jump off the bridge each year and the fall ito the freezing water means there are few if any survivors. There are no barriers above waist height to stop people - maybe a way of population control - rather cruel! A sign beside a phone said Crisis line -I wondered would this be for the people who jump or the people who witness the jump. There are lots and ots of tourists on the bridge all day must be some people who have witnessed this.
The walk was pleasant if a bit windy and the view back over the bay and Alcatraz fantastic.
For dinner we went to little Italy and ended up in Fior D'Italia reportidly the oldest Italian in the US. The dinner was fine and we did a lot of people watching or listening. A guy at a table a few away had a Scottish Rugby top on and we had to listen intently to his dull conversation to find out he was not infact Scottish.
The food was very good - usual massive portions and a very lovely Raspberry Sorbet to round it all off.

4th August - Site Seeing SFO

Did all the touristy things which included long queues, more long queues and a bit of a laugh. We took a cable car (which were invented by a Scottish guy who didn't like walking across the massive hills in SFO - typical Scot - can't blame him). The Cable Cars (different from Trolley / Trams) are pulled up the hills by a cable (hence the name) which is under the car in the road. They have no motor and the driver has to manually push the car onto a turning circle and turn it round at the end of the route.
We stood in a queue for ages watching the car turning ritual all done to the music of an old guy playing 3 tunes on an electic guitar. I said 3 tunes what I really meant to say was 3 tunes really badly, what I mean is 3 tunes played like 45 cats were being strangled. He then had the audacity to tell us SFO did not pay him to play and passed a hat around - like wea are supposed to pay him to play!
Finally on the Cable Car I stood outside on the plate holding on - like in the movies - Mairi sat inside holding onto me. It didn't go too fast but was a bit of a laugh.
We got off at Lombard Street famed as the windiest street in the world - it is very very steep and we walked down and back up. Jumped back on the Cable Car and went to China Town - lots and lots of shops selling strange looking vegetables - we played 'Name that Veg' neither of us did very well - didn't have a clue what all those big pink knobbly things were.
We went into a Sushi bar and had lots of lovely lovely food - picked from a revolving server - what was really great was the server was filled with water and little boats in the shap of dragons carried the food. Mairis first venture into Sushi was a great sucsess and now she wants to go daily.
Chinatown is filled with lots and lots of crazy buildings gold, red and green with dragons and chineese symbols all over them - we really liked it.

3rd August - San Francisco

Got the plane early to go to San Francisco and hopeful it's more tourist friendly than Seattle. The hotels nice but no Air Conditioning - which worries us a bit. Went down to Tourist Info (which they have) to get info on where to go etc. Mairi nearly threw a fit when she saw the signs for Alcatraz which said the next available tour was after we leave! Fortunately there is a possibility of getting on standby if we go down to the dock the boats leave from. So we headed down to the dock to research the situation. Turns out only the cheap tour is sold out the expensive one (over twice the price) is not, so we book it and a tour of the Napa and Sonoma Wine Valleys (I would have thrown a fit if we could not get onto this).
We got our first glance of Alacratz which is tantalisingly right in the middle of the bay and very close - must have been hell for those prisoners - serves them right!
Couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge way too foggy - and did I mention how cold it is - San Francisco (SFO) has basically the same temp all year round betewwn 65 and 80 and a bit like Scotland it can change in minutes and does frequently. Now I know why theres no AC - don't need it.
Went for Spanish Tapas for dinner was absolutely fantastic - way too much for the two of us to eat as usual but we tried to plough our way through.

2nd August - Flight

We went to the museum of flight today and went onto Concorde and Air Force One - the presidents airplane - he wasn't there to greet us which I thought a little rude.
This ofcourse is not the current one - but it is the one JFK used to use. It was very funny - lots of old equipment - which would have been really hi-tech at the time although now looks like giant wooden boxes with lots of valves and knobs on it.
Concorde was tiny no wonder they ply everybody with champaigne - to stop them from realising it's soo small.
The usual crap trying to find a bus to the place and trying to find the place itself it's seems in Seattle direction signs are non existant.
Oh - no sign of any memorial to Kurt Cobain - probably was one but just no signs as how to get there or where it was or maybe everybody has moved on or never really cared in the first place (like everything else in Seattle).

1st August - Seattle Highland Games - Again

This time we made it, the first bus got us to Auburn with no problems the second bus was put on by the Games Society and was hired from the School. We rode in a big yellow American School bus that you see on all the TV programs - it is build for kids - no leg room and a magic sign above the drivers head - 'Driver check each seat for sleeping children at the end of every run'.
The games were really big and very different than in Scotland. The tacky candyfloss sellers, the darts games and the stalls where you either win a fish or a teddy bear were all replaced by Scottish Tat selling all sorts of Celtic crap.
Most of the clans has a tent enticing people to join the clan society. Mairi and I approached the MacKenzie tent and spoke to the American guy a shirt which said MacKenzie emblazened on it - Mairi told him she was a MacKenzie all the way from Scotland and he asked her if she wanted to join the clan - Mairi corrected him and said 'I'm already a member of Clan MacKenzie - You mean do I want to join your clan society' the look of shock and annoyance on his face was bad enough but then he bid us farwell and said he hoped we enjoyed the games - basically - piss off!
Alas there was no MacInnes tent probably in the beer tent way too pissed to bother with putting up a tent and displaying nonsence on their idea of being Scottish and in a Clan.
We then settled down to watch some dancing. The Blue Bonnets competition was on and my mother has been trying to get me to remember this for years - once the dancers began I knew why I didn't remember it - it's hard and even thought I saw it 3 times I still couldn't do it.
Then across the field my eyes saw the orange sign with the blue and white writin,g my heart lept and I exclaimed - Irn Bru. We dispensed with the dancing and headed across the field and to our utter delight one stall was selling Irn Bru - all the way from Scotland. They told us this was the first ever shipment in the US - every other year it gets impounded cos of some additive. Fortunately Barrs (lovely man) put an extra sticker on the bottle with the American name of the additive and they let it through. We each bought a couple it's been a month since I've had any.
Lots of the men were wearing new fashionable kilts (or maybe not) - they are called 'utilikilts' and are only one colour and have big combat like pockets on them - very stupid.
My favourite stall of the whole thing had to be the one selling body armour, metal head coverings, dirks, swords and even Claymores. Half of the guys at the games had bought one and were parading about with them in their belt buckles - could you image this in Scotland - neds would be going to the games to start a new Culloden- NO!
The games finished with the massing of the bands - 25 pipe bands in all - it was quite impressive especially as it was very hot, the sun was splitting the sky and we were in a beautiful park in full view of Mt Rainiers snow covered peak glinting in the sun.
On ride back to town with the sun setting, the snow on Mt Rainier went all pink - very romantic - unfortunately I was with Mairi (she was with me) and we were both with our new best friend (whom we met at the games) a Cat Psychologist and Human Medium whom we exchanged phone numbers with.

31st July - Seattle Highland Games

That's right folks we had seen a poster for the Pacific Highland Games and thought we had to go. Got up earlyish and signed onto the free internet at the hotel (very nice of them) to get info on how to get there. The poster said there were free buses being laid on from Auburn - so we only had to get to Auburn - and from the map it was 30-40 miles away. We checked the buses the trains, asked at the hotel desk - they could tell us how to drive there but didn't have a clue about public transport (yuck!). The hotel then sent us to the the only thing Seattle has that resembles a Tourist Info place and it was shut for lunch - so at 2:30 we went back and the lone guy, once finished serving somebody, finally told us there was a bus and where to get it. The bus to Auburn would take 1 hour, the free bus from Auburn to the games would take 45 minutes so at 3:15 we called gave up as there was no point in going today but all was not lost tomorrow is another day (and the games were on then as well).
Disappointed - well actually totally pissed off - it seems if you don't drive in Seattle it's almost impossible to find out how to get anywhere - there is no tourist info, the hotel staff don't have a clue and nobody cares anyway - rant over.
At least Seattle tried to make amends by putting on a Parade for us at night. During the day as we walked down 4th Street people were already putting seats out to mark their best spot. And I don't just mean fold away deck chairs, there were arm chairs and 3 seater sofas - not to mention one family who totally went to town and had not only the 3 piece suite but also a side table adorned with table lamp - Americans really are mad.
The Annual Seafair Parade started at 19:00 and went on til 21:40 (2 hours and 40 minutes) there were the beauty queens from all over Washington State (must be a lot of towns) one was even called Princess Shonna, lots of floats with all sorts of wierd and wonderful, many marching brass bands and many, many dance troups all doing drills (like on an army parade ground!) some were all in line, all in step - others - just give up - you know who you are!
There were giant inflatables - a whale, a big purple thing with a bunch of purple people - never found out what that was all about - best leave it alone I thought.
When the fire brigade paraded by the guys at the fire station beside where we were standing (totally a coincidence) they hosed down the poor firemen paraders.
My favourite float was a big yellow submarine with an 'All you need is love' sign at the front, being towed by a bunch of Hare Krishnas all singing the Hare Krishna song - the Beetles and Hare together at last.
All too soon the festivities were over and the thousands that has lined the streets were off, two women, walking in the same direction as us, were saying how short it had been - Mairi and I only stayed to the end cos we had missed half of it in the first place - short I thought it would never end - but then I wasn't sitting on my sofa.
How exactly did they get them there and home?
This night we found a much better pub - cheap and full of strange people. The bar man even gave us half price drinks. Mairi was very please, I not so, at again being asked for ID again and not getting into one pub as I don't carry ID - I must actually look under 21 (stop laughing).

30th July - Seattle Site Seeing

To get it all over and done with, in one easy step we choose the best sites and headed off to see them. First up the Seattle Centre and the Space Needle - a couple of hundred foot tower looking over downtown Seattle. The view of downtown, the Pugent Sound (by which Seattle sits) the Union Lake and even Washington Lake peeking out between some buildings were all visible unfortunately Mt Rainier was not visible as the sun was not shining and cloud hung low in the sky. We then went to take the Monorail (sits above 4th street) downtown. At the foot of the entrance the price list was diaplayed so we headed up the ramp - the guy at the top told us it was shut and had been for 2 months - we asked why not have a sign to tell stupid tourists this - but he didn't understand what we were saying.
Onwards downtown, by bus, to the Underground Tour - basically Seattle burnt to the ground in it's early days and was rebuilt and to the delight of the locals they regraded the street level (basically said new street level was 1 floor above old cos raw sewerage used to backflow onto the street at high tide - nice). They did this by building as norma,l but then down the sides of the street (along the pavements) building 10 foot walls on either side of the street, filling the tunnel in with dirt and paving above - the road. The original pavements were then 1 flight down until they built pavements at street level. The underground building levels eventually came into disrepare until in the 1960's a local writer started the tours to preserve the area. All the buildings are original (repro victorian gothic) circa 1900 and were being demolished to build hulti storey car parks. Well the writer has won and the area is being regenerated and is looking very nice. The tour was very interesting (Ok I'm a geek - remember Mairi is a Civil Engineer!) We then went to the Klondike Museum which was scarey what people put themselves through to get some gold. There was a film of a bunch of Hikers, who recently did the walk to Alaska along the Klondike - they had waterproof, windproof, warm clothes not to mention proper footware and they struggled - the families (cos husband, wife and kids all went) were wearing anything they owned which wasn't much. And I grumbled about the Grouse Grind.
That night we went to a lovely little Veggie restaurant, a bit out of downtown, but the food was so excellent it totally deserved it's beautiful name - Cafe Flora.
We then went to a couple of Seattle bars - they were full of yuppies and for one it was a real bar and mobbed.