First Week-End in California

As you may know, Rebecca came to see me for a month. Since she had to profit of her short journey to visit the most she can, we spend every week-ends traveling in the country. It was amazing even if sometimes a little tiring.
So I will begin with our first week-end. Since Rebecca arrived on Wednesday, it was a little short to organise something. So we rented a car and decided to drive in the area.

On Saturday, we started by Santa Cruz, city in the south of San Francisco near the Ocean. We walked on a huge boarding and looked at the evolution of the weather. It was very beautiful to see sea mist raising, revealing the beach with this amazing theme park. After a little walk in the theme park and on the beach (which was very hot, Rebecca's feet remembered it), we went to the surf museum (little cottage on the coast very cooool and quite fun) and tried to see the natural bridge (it was nearly not a failure).

Then, we profit to be in the area to go visiting some places recommended by the guide book. I don't know if it was the best idea we had. We took a picture of the most pictured tree and saw a house made with stones come from different countries and all of this for only 9 dollars. Luckily, we finished our trip by visiting a very beautiful monastery (and for free because we arrived just before it closed).

On Sunday, we decided to go to the north. First, we went to the Wine country. As you may have understand, this is a big wine-producing country in the north of San Francisco. What is very different from France is that it is amazing how American know how make people spend money. There are for all tastes. You can visit the wineries in limo or have a lunch in one of the huge barbecues organized by the wineries. You can also, of course, buy everything you can imagine, even if it does not have really link with wine. And finally, you can taste wine, which was very nice. I can not finish my story without telling you how the world is very little. Indeed, ten minutes after we start our wine testing, a group of french people came just near us, and of course, they were "camarades polytechniciens". I preferred keep their names silent (maybe because I do not know them) but it was very strange to see known faces there.
Then, Rebecca forced me to go see a geyser. Normally, the geyser shouts out every 45 minutes. Of course, we waited more than 1 hour before saw it but it was worth it.

We finish our day by an amazing tour. We stop on the Mount Tamalpais, area just on north of San Francisco, on the other side of Golden Gate. We started by a walk in the forest "a l'americaine", whichs means that it could be done by car with the facility settled but it was very nice. Then, we drove to the top of the Mount Tamalpais and we admired the splendid sunset on the ocean and the whole bay of San Francisco. It was magic. Finally, we went to the coast to an amazing overlook where we could see the beautiful color of the sky and the light of San Francisco reflected on the sea. Of course, Rebecca's camera had no more battery so I am sorry but I have no picture. Anyway, photos would not be good with the light.

Next Episode, Week-End at Yosemite Park