it's been a few days since my last post... have been travelling a long way down through oregon and into california. am now in santa cruz, but leaving here tomorrow for san francisco... last stop before going back to new york and then home - eeek!
well, the train trip from portland to klamath falls was wonderful - took about 7 hours - but it was beautiful - so much better than the bus - lots of room and able to move about and go for a wee when you need to rather than on the bus when you have to wait for a smoke stop...
views from the train:
met a lovely guy called chad on the train - he's studying art in san francisco and he reads a lot, so we had a ton of stuff to talk about - it was really great and we had laughed a lot. we started talking about hunter s thompson and i told him that i'd designed a book cover on him - and the spookiest thing was that he knew the book (with the US cover though) and then he showed me his sketch of the photo of him that's on the cover - so i dragged out my laptop and showed him my cover with the same photo! how weird is that! hoping to meet up with him in san francisco.
i'm currently reading shantaram which is his favourite book too - was nice to talk about art and books - we swapped books for a bit too as he was reading a book of short stories which i read a couple of - and he flipped through shantaram.
i got off the train in the dark at klamath falls and was a bit worried as chad had been telling me that there is still quite a KKK following in klamath falls and there was a full moon so i was a bit spooked - but it was totally fine and i ended up getting a cab to my hotel with some other people who were going there.
up and about the next morning - glorious sunshine and fresh air - was gorgeous! off to the shuttle bus station and an hour and a half on a shuttle bus to medford to meet the greyhound bus to sacramento.
downtown klamath falls:
no greyhound station here, this is the little shuttle station:
mountains:
arrived in sacramento in the evening after a not-so-comfortable journey on the greyhound - although the scenery was beautiful. lots of trees and mountains with snow along the way. stayed at the youth hostel in sacramento which is a gold-rush house built in 1895 - a palace really - my room was very pretty although someone had seen fit to paint it the most lurid shade of orange - bleurgh!
my pretty room:
the sacramento youth hostel:
up the next day and onto another train for 3 hours - i love the trains here. pootled along (they don't go very fast) through industrial california through lots of waterways which were gorgeous in the sunshine. off the train at san jose and onto another bus to santa cruz.
lime flavoured crisps - very salty and limey - probably delicious with some tequila cocktails:
do you know the way to san jose?
checked into my nice hotel with pool - did some much needed laundry - then went off to explore santa cruz on a gorgeous hot sunny afternoon. went to the boardwalk with the funfair that is featured on the lost boys - but it wasn't too spooky - too many people about! felt a bit lonely and didn't go on any rides - no fun on my own...
walked to the end of the pier where there were lots of seafood restaurants but ended up getting fish and chips and sitting at the end of the pier watching the sun go down, with surfers and kayakers in the distance and the call of the seals (who live under the pier) and the sea-gulls - was glorious but got chilly when the sun went down so came back to the hotel and chatted to jo for a bit on facebook!
santa cruz from the pier:
pretty posing seal:
the view from my fish and chips:
moon rising in santa cruz:
twilight fairground:
today has been a bit of a mixed bag really - got up late and wandered downtown (away from the beach) - thought it was all a bit hippyish, but there are some great shops here and ended up buying some really lovely shoes (like i need another pair!) and also visited the farmers market where i got lunch and lots of samples of the lovely fruit and veg on display - fabulous peaches/nectarines here!
then wandered back through town and was just about to buy another dress (like i need another!) and went into my wallet to give her my credit card to realise that i'd lost it - panic stations! i'd only left it in the bloody atm machine. of course it wasn't there when i went back, so i rushed back to my hotel to cancel it... am very very cross with myself... what an absolute eejut!
had wanted to go and do the cliff walk to take some photos but the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the mist had come down, so abandoned my walk as it seemed pointless... went and got some cheap food and went to see a movie in a cutie little cinema... not a great idea as the movie i decided to see was the new todd solondz 'life during wartime', jeez, should have chosen something else - was a bit too weird for me...
the nick - a gorgeous little cinema:
so am back at the hotel and gonna try to get up early tomorrow (a mammoth task for me) and do the cliff walk as i'm leaving on the bus/train tomorrow at 11am... right, time to set the alarm...
nighty night
vx
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