It all begins (well, since last time we wrote but that sounds less dramatic) when some very wonderful friends of C's family came to pick us up from the motel in Sacramento. We were whisked straight off to explore the beautiful Lake Tahoe-
it really is so gorgeous and clear you just want to dive straight in, but sadly you're not allowed to because there's speedboats everywhere and you'd end up getting smacked in the head like a manatee. Mutter grumble from J, who thinks swimming should be proritised everywhere, not stuck in little corners.
After a lovely drive around the lake we went back to our friends' house and were treated to an amazing meal followed by a trip to a yogurt place, where you get to fill your yogurt pot from very exciting squirty things on the wall and then cover it in fruit or brownies or other exciting things. In the morning, post tasty breakfast at the nearby club, we bent our host's ear off about politics so much that he dumped us by the side of the road pointing towards Yosemite national park. Figuring we weren't doing much for the next few days we thumbed a lift into the valley there.
Yosemite is beautiful. Although hitch hiking is pretty normal, without a car you are a bit more limited to hikes you can get to from the central valley. We did a couple of these after luckily managing to find a campsite, sweating profusely in the heat but it was well worth it for the views.
The valley is a strange place to be though. There's stores, a luxury hotel, a swimming pool, a creche (why would you take your kids out somewhere like that and then pay someone else to spend time with them?!). One company has monopoly on all these things so they're pretty expensive too. And its interesting how many people don't actually venture out of the valley and on any hikes- even though lots of them are not very hard work.
With three people and between us huge amounts of luggage there was a good chance hitching was going to go slower- but a guardian angel soon descended and drove us all the way to his hometown of Stockton.
Stockton, CA, is not recommended as a tourist destination. It used to be the murder capital of America but now does not even have that claim to fame is just very high in murders, along with unemployment and general social decay. Also, if you go there you keep having this interaction.
Stockton resident: "WHY IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU HERE? LEAVE! LEAVE! THE FREEWAY IS THAT WAY!"
You: "Is it really that bad?"
Resident (calls across parking lot to someone not previously involved) "Dude, would you live here if you had any choice?!"
Resident 2: "Hell no! No one in their right mind would!"
and so on and so forth.
In fairness, we only heard gunshots ('Stockton crickets') once in the whole couple of hours we were stood chatting with our lift's friends outside a store.
And in contrast to its reputation, thanks to our lovely lift, we had a great time in Stockton! Good company, a nice dinner, and then he took us out to his friend's very nice house a bit out of town to stay the night in style*. We may even meet the folk from Stockton again in Mexico, and indeed the lovely I. from Ohio has promised us she will be there, and now it's on the internet so she can't go back on it :p.
The next day it was off to Berkeley where I. had a lift share in the morning to get her on the way home. This is where we ended up wandering the streets and watching a film about a mad scientist and women and cats and things that was being projected in a parking lot. Such is life (which is a famous saying amongst bush rangers).
We camped out and in the morning it was time for us to split with our new friend and bother some more upstanding members of society- this time old friends of J's parents. We had a great day with them, eating lovely food, bookstore exploring, and setting the world to rights. They even dropped us off on the doorstep of a Hostelling International hostel where we spent last night.
The Wharf and Pier 39 are a big thing in San Francisco, so we wandered down there yesterday evening and ate clam chowder out of bowels made of sourdough (the real challenge is can you eat the bowl as well, we being as tight as anyone raised in Scotland were determined to succeed but a lot of people seemed to be abandoning half a loaf, making you wonder why they don't just get a normal bowl). Apart from this, and the sea lions that gather near Pier 39, there's not huge amounts to recommend from the area. You kind of have to go there to see what its like, but its madly crowded and busy and everything is expensive or kitsch. The sea lions, though, are actually pretty special.
This is Professor Snugglesworth. He and his team are conducting important research into whether or not humans are intelligent. Results so far are poor. Humans show no ability to scratch any part of their body with their back flippers, and rather than language seem only capable of making 'ooo' and 'ahh' noises. Perhaps with patience they could manage simple tasks such as giving Professor Snugglesworth fish.
In our defence, the researcher and his team were pretty adorable.
The hostel had no space tonight so we are hoping the magic of Couch Surfing will help us out, whilst San Francisco seems to be just as hot as anywhere else the state, not the cold and fog we were promised- hopefully it'll start soon because J was quite looking forward to a respite from constant sun cream and sweating five minutes after showering.
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*NB: This came about after a phonecall he made whilst we were all in the car, not telling his friend he was on speakerphone. It went like this:
Driver: "Hey man. I'm on my way back to Stockton, and I have a favour to ask you."
Friend, sounding long-suffering: "You picked up a drifter didn't you?"
Driver (pause, then): "I didn't pick up 'A' drifter... I picked up three."
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