09.00 - 4th October 2009
Holiday of a lifetime
So how was it? It was the best holiday I have ever had in my life. I loved every living second of it and was so sad at having to leave that life behind.
Every single thing about the experience suited how I would like to live. The climate obviously allows the sort of outside life, that is a favourite of mine. Waking up in the morning to guaranteed sunshine allowing you to plan your time so far in advance, makes such a difference to life.
Since I came back lots and lots of people have said, �Oh but aren�t the seasons wonderful�? Errrm, I do like the current time (as in today) as it�s crisp and the trees are looking all different colours, but the weather forecast is rain and last night I had central heating on and had to wear a coat in the evening��.So overall a resounding NO, I wouldn�t miss the seasons. California has seasons anyway, just not so extreme. I love wearing vest tops, shorts/sarongs and flips flops and believe me I couldn�t do that last night!
Another question �didn�t the jet lag get you down�? NO! Ok 24 hours door to door is tiring, but pick the right flights to arrive in the evening and when you get there go to bed and sleep, same coming back, pick the flights that mean it is bedtime when you arrive��.Sleep well and then it becomes �What jet lag�?
So what did we all do? We did stacks and stacks. Visited lots of places, beaches, forests, farmers markets, chalk drawing, belly dancing, shops (although not many) for pressies. We saw Sequoia trees ( always wanted to see a real one-saddo!!), El Capitan. Yosemite Park was all that and then more. The sheer enormity of the place, puts you and your little life into some sort of perspective. From paying your $20 for a 7 day pass at the gate, to reaching the accommodation/centre of the park is a massive climb up mountains and takes a couple of hours��THAT�S HOW BIG IT IS. There isn�t a single picture on the old internet that does the places justice - it is overwhelming, fabulous, brilliant, awesome, massive and just so fantastic.
The view from Glacier Point as you turn a bend is indescribable and totally breathtaking. when you enter the park and drive through the tunnel, the view of El Capitan that greets you is soooooooo stunning you can hardly speak. As for Mariposa Grove and those big old Sequoia trees��Well I know trees are trees, but these are amazing (honest)! I would happily give up life in general and work there. Birds, bears, deer, trees, flowers, mountains, water, waterfalls (although most were a little dried out)�..An excuse to return at a different time of year?
To see a brown bear in the wild, is scary, but also so exciting to see something so big and frightening, in its natural habitat is amazing as amazing can be.
As for birds�..I�m not a bird spotter or anything so sad�.OR perhaps I am and don�t want to admit to it! BUT the birds we saw in California were amazing too. Humming birds in the wild�.Ahhhhhh. They are so small and their little wings flap so many times as they seek out nectar from plants. The blue jays are pretty bright and quite interesting to watch and then Golden flaming Eagles��.what can you say? They could steal babies out of prams I�m sure!!
I fell in love with the old brown pelicans, they were so fantastic to watch and I love the shape of them sitting down, but to watch them preen themselves is so funny, they look so awkward on land, but when they are diving for fish, that�s a sight that kept me so captivated it�s not true!
The other strange looking budgie type thing we saw was a mockingbird, it seems to scare everything else off, despite not being particularly enormous. As for shy little herons�.Well enough about birds!
Beaches? So many and all have a special memories for differing reasons, however Avila became a bit of a favourite over our last weekend. It had a pier that had lots of pelicans hanging out and we could also watch dolphins swimming about, as well as seals, gulls of all sorts and cormorants. The beach was beautiful and the little shops were a delight to us all.
We loved the farmers markets, which most communities seemed to have a couple of times of week. The food from these markets was spectacular. To see such a variety of fruit and veg, looking so ripe and vibrant, not all one size and shape. The food from these markets were stunning and at the side of highways there were also places selling fresh fruit to eat on your journey. We had so much fresh produce I feel full of vim and vigour.
Santa Barbara�..Apperntly the rich and famous hang out there and you could see why. The climate is stunning. Surrounded by mountains, with huge mansions nestled into them looking all comfy, whilst overlooking the bay and facing into the sun, must be some sort of perfect place to live. Not unduly far (by US standards) from LA airport��As for the streets, perfectly manicured. It positively feels opulent. Flowers and architecture are marvellous -big wide spotless streets, with the most exclusive shops�..amazing and quite bustly in its way. I�m glad we only visited there and didn�t stay all our time there, because it was quite busy. But by contrast, it was the only place that we saw abject poverty too. There were so many people there that were begging. It put the place into perspective. In the streets there were people and even on the beach, people had towels along the sand at the edge of the pier, with notes on saying what they wanted money for. There was one group of disabled men building fancy sandcastles to try and capture peoples money. So sad really. Then you look up the hills behind and see the huge mansions and look over the men�s heads and see the yachts and cruise boats moored in the marina, it was so diverse.
Another little place we visited, slightly off the beaten track was Ojai, bit strange in its way. Lots of those shops selling crystals and joss sticks but a very sweet in it�s own way and one of the ladies in the shop was selling just Leonard Cohen CD�s��.She said she was a backing singer of his at one time��We didn�t ask for her autograph. But if she was, all I can say was she was a lucky devil!!
Anyway, went back to work to be told the restructure for me would be completed by Aprul�.assessment centre etc�..at risk? No apparently not�.just opportunity to redeploy�.Hmmmmm to California? Apparently not!
