Tag: Travel

But it’s a four hour drive away…..

I live in the UK. Greater Manchester to be exact. London is about 4 hours drive away, or two hours (ish) if you stump up an extortionate amount to travel by train. I’ve been there so many times: too many gigs to mention, work meetings, visiting friends; however I am always amazed when I think about how little sightseeing I have actually done in the Big Smoke.

Sure, when I was a kid at school, we did a trip to London and visited Buckingham Palace and went to see some shows. When I came down for a couple of gigs, we went hunting the Tardis, visited the London Dungeon and the Globe Theatre, however I’ve never felt like I’ve done sight seeing properly.

The most extensive “sightseeing” I’ve ever done was in Westminster when I visited for a work event and managed to squeeze in an hour of photo snapping.

Recently I traveled down to Lambeth for work. I was staying in a hotel along the river and the view from my room was amazing. It got me thinking; if that view had been in New York, I’d have been blown away. Similarly, if I was going on a Canadian road trip, I’d think nothing of a 4 hour drive to reach my destination. So why is London (or Scotland or Wales for that matter) any different? It’s purely a mind-set.

So from now on, I’m going to try and look at my own country through the eyes of a visitor. I am hopeful that this will let me see familiar places with fresh eyes.

National Tree Week

Apparently, last week was national tree week – who knew? Mind you, we have all sorts of ‘national weeks’ (‘national talk like a pirate’ week is one of my favourites!) so why not one for trees?

Skipping through twitter, I found loads of posts on trees and it got me thinking about the most beautiful trees I know: those in Yosemite. There’s something about the noise of the wind through those tall, solid trunks and the smell on the breeze that captures my soul.

Although I’m generally in love with the trees in Yosemite (ours just don’t seem to cut it over here), flicking through my photos reminded me of the most impressive specimens I have ever seen: Mariposa Grove.

Mariposa Grove is a Sequoia grove filled with giant Sequoia trees, and when I say giant, I mean humongous! These things were like massive pillars, rising up to cut shadows out of the sky. The grove is home to some of the most interesting trees in the park, including the tree that is now a tunnel, the grizzly giant, the fallen giant and the telescope tree.

Standing in the middle of those trees was like being a tiny ant; insignificant and very humbling. We often take trees for granted, despite knowing their importance on the eco-structure of our planet. If it takes a hashtag to remind us to marvel at the trees around us, then I’m happy to bump #NationalTreeWeek up my list of favourite hashtags.

A Stinky Pool in Paradise

Banff’s sulphur hot springs stink. There’s no getting away from it, the smell of sulphur is everywhere and it reeks.

As soon as we pulled up in the car park, the smell invaded everything and it smelt like rotten eggs. Still, we’d never visited hot springs before, and as the saying goes, try everything at least once!

We’d been up Sulphur Mountain the day before and marvelled at the amazing scenery. The basin below is home to the historical site of the first National Park, an information centre and the grotto which housed the sulphur spring.

The grotto was fairly small but the pool within was like something out of a movie.

Surrounded by rock, the green glow of the water reflected all around us. The smell of the sulphur was almost overpowering at times but it was really interesting to see the source of the ‘healing waters’ that people had once flocked to bathe in.

Outside of the cave, a small visitor’s centre provided information on the history of the site. Around the outside of the site, the pool deck provided a walkway around the edge of the pool. Standing up on the higher walls gave a great overview of the site and really highlighted how deep the pools were.

Living in the caves and basin are a species of endangered snail. Although we could get close to the pool edge, we were warned not to put our hands in to avoid upsetting their delicate eco-balance.

We spent the rest of our visit checking out the visitor’s centre and learning more about the basin site before heading up to the hot springs themselves. If you do decide to visit the baths, be warned, they are the hottest waters I have ever been in, and I like my shower set to scalding!

Although the centre only really has enough to keep you entertained for a short visit, it’s well worth a stop, especially if you look out for the red chairs – a great place to sit and take in the view.

Learn more about Banff’s cave and basin here: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/ab/caveandbasin

$4 for adults, children go free.

Highlights of San Francisco

San Francisco is an odd place. There I’ve said it. Everyone who I know that has visited speaks with delight of the cable cars, the steep hills and the beautiful pier. There’s a problem though – I’m not convinced! Or am I?

We’ve visited San Francisco a number of times now, usually because it’s the best place to pick up a car before heading to one of California’s national parks.

The first time we stayed in San Francisco, we booked the hotel on the day and ended up in one of the most grotty places I have ever been: the shower didn’t drain, we were right in the middle of the roughest part of the Tenderloin area (we didn’t realise this until later), there were huge spiders and the toilet sounded like a foghorn every time we flushed it. Although it was terrible, it added character to the trip and we still laugh about it now.

Since then, we’ve tended to stay outside the city centre at the Best Western. Fairly close to the airport (and a Trader Joes for stocking up on food for camping trips), this is a handy place to stay.

I think that the reason I struggle with San Francisco is because it reminds me of Blackpool! The old trams, the pier and the general ‘seaside’ nature of the place all remind me of when we used to visit Blackpool as a child – and it’s not the stand out place for a holiday destination for me.

That was until I started writing this post. So many happy memories of what we did on our trip came flooding back. I remembered how this was the gateway to our road trip. How excited we were to explore and hit the road. San Francisco has given us some amazing memories:

  • The Giant Noodle – Top of my list is the Giant Noodle. When we visited back in 2010, there was a sculpture of a noodle on the pier. Next to the noodle was a sign which read “for your own safety, please don’t sit on the giant noodle”. This struck us as immensely hysterical and ever since, the wisdom of the giant noodle is often quoted in a range of situations and each time it makes us laugh.
  • Alcatraz – This place was creepy and cool in equal measures. A ‘must do’ if you visit San Francisco. You can read about our experiences and tips for visiting Alcatraz here.
  • Bird attacks! – One of our group got hit in the face by a bird. On the pier, in the rain, with a wing. And it was as funny as it sounds!
  • The Cheesecake Factory – sitting high above the Macy’s sign, a small balcony looks out over the main square in the city centre. Armed with the best cheesecake in the world (I love a good cheesecake – and they cater for gluten free travellers), it’s the best place to watch the world go by.
  • Golden Gate Bridge – just standing by the iconic landmark, watching a group of yachts go by was one of those surreal ‘wow I’m in America’ moments.
  • Cable Cars / Tram – Going down the steepest hill on a tram is a experience all on its own!
  • Cliffs and Coast – Driving over the cliffs in the middle of the fog, looking out at scenery between each break of the clouds was the start of our road trip to the national parks.

San Francisco is not the one of the most beautiful, scenic or even iconic places, but it did give us plenty of laughs and memories, and that’s exactly what you want from a holiday, isn’t it?