Weather: most bodacious :)

We arrived in San Jose after a spekky flight over Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. The weather here was much warmer than what we'd experienced in Canada. We found our luggage and caught a bus to the hire car depots where we hired a car for the duration. As for accommodation? Well... we just jumped in the car and followed our nose until we found accommodation nearby the airport (didn't want to get lost again).

The flight took nearly all day as it went via Dallas (don't ask!!), so it was late afternoon. After finding a hire car and somewhere to stay - well, there went the day! We were both pretty pooped with jetlag by now anyway, so we had pizza for dinner and an early night in the sack.

The next day (Tuesday 8th) we headed off to 'Frisco to do the bridge, Alcatraz and the Bay area. We thought we were pretty brave (or stoopid, whichever way you want to look at it) by driving into 'Frisco from San Jose during peak hour traffic. We had no idea of ferry times to Alcatraz so just "winged it" in the car pool lane of the highway.

We did well - didn't cause any accidents or get abused by local drivers. In fact, we even found a car park AND the right pier from where the ferry for Alcatraz left. Howzat??? Jeez... this tourist thingy is easy :)

We bought tickets to Alcatraz and still had a 45 minute wait so we walked to Pier 39 to grab a coffee and brekky. Well... this is what we saw.

Dozens of sea lions - all shapes and sizes, barking at each other and fighting for space on the pontoons. You got used to the stench after a while, but it was unexpected for us, although we'd heard somewhere that these critters were here, but didn't think we'd be able to find them.

Onto Alcatraz...

... with a warning to visitors.

... and inside the main cell block with a "typical" cell.

This is the outside exercise yard (with Kevin taking footage).

This picture is what's left of the warden's residence.

After a few hours of poking around we took the ferry back to the mainland, grabbed our hire car and took off to the bridge and 'Frisco. I took footage of the bridge with the video but none with the digigal - sorry. Never mind - it looks the same as in all the photos anyway :)

Here are some photos of 'Frisco including the famous Lombard Street.

These are the images Aussies like us only see in TV shows where you see the spekky car chases...

... and I just had to get a "streetcar" in one photo.

We headed back to our hotel via a look around San Jose and surrounds (we were actually looking for somewhere to play golf the next day). After trying unsuccessfully to post some stuff back to Oz, we gave up and called it a day.

We spent the next day (9th October) playing golf at Coyote Creek. It was a humid but warm day and we enjoyed the warmth after the cold of Canada. In between shots we looked skyward to see a constant stream of aeroplanes, all at the same height, all spaced at around 10 minutes apart, flying towards San Jose or 'Frisco - it was almost like a highway of 'planes!!

Our relaxing day ended and we looked forward to our flight tomorrow to Las Vegas