Frisco and Sacramento

So we went from the great Redwoods in the North of California down somewhere else. Let me tell you that never in my life did I even imagine I could or would ever see something like that!!! I have seen many things, but that is simply amazing. If you ever walk among these giant trees, and not only from the road taking pictures and getting back in your car! I mean really walk among those giants, a few miles at least, grasping every moment, breathing the smell of the earth, which really has a special smell there, and see the difference in the light from the morning to noon,too evening and night (because you have to walk a few miles at night!) you will see what I mean. One day I'll be back there for sure, for my eyes will never let me forget that wonder!

This is not even the giant redwood trees and still they take my breath away!

So even when you have been travelling for almost two months and you get used to see new things every day, you will have to sometimes remember to close your mouth!


I felt like I was in The Lord Of The Rings!
 

So on we go to San Francisco to meet a couple of great friends: Diego and Helen! We rush to the city for several hours, including a nice barbecue on the beach on our way there (we thought we had plenty of time)

Aren't you jealous?? This was a great view, food, and even Chilean Music!

We made it to the city way too late! they had already arrived hours before and were waiting for us at their hotel. We managed to take a couple of pictures as we crossed the  Golden Gate Bridge, or whatever it is called, in the middle of the night.

Diego and Helen are among the most awesome people you will eve meet! They flied all the way from Tampax, Florida, just to meet with us. They booked a hotel in the middle of the city and they let us stay with us for the whole time we all spend there, It was great!

Diego is from Chile and Helen is from the US. They met in Chile several years ago and now they have moved to Florida, although after this visit to Frisco they are seriously considering moving there instead.

The first night we went out we had a few beers and Helen and Jocelyn went back to the hotel, leaving Diego and I to do some city exploring! We had a great time! Most of the night we were lost because we had never been there before, but we managed to talk to several awesome people and find a place that was still open and sold us some more beer! We walked quite a bit, but with the daylight next day, it was pretty hard to really remember where we had been! We talked about many things, including life and death, our lives in a different country, human behaviour, religion, politics...too many things to count! He is one smart and very liberal being, and we had been freinds for a very long time!

The next morning we all went sight seeing in the city, which lasted pretty much the whole day. We visited the downtown area, and then we took a boat that went undet the Golden Gate Bridge, or whatever, and the famous Alcatraz Island! That was something to see! First we went to a bunch of places then we visited China Town!

 

We went to different areas and out of the blue I was asked to perfom with a local group of Chinese musicians! That was quite something, and I can now add it to my resume, hehe.

After that we visited Alcatraz (not really, we were not allowed to dock there, just to circle the island) and we went to a restaurant and went back to the hotel for some rest.

 

Next morning we left the hotel for some more sight seeing in the town. Despite being travelling for almost two months, Frisco really is a beautiful city! I'm absolutely sure I will come back there some day, and probably under different circumstances. Diego and Helen, you guys rock!

So after saying goodbye to our great friends, we headed for Sacramento to meet up with another friend I met in Chile about 10 years ago, Sonja, who's been living there for a couple of years.

She took us wine tasting in the area and even though I'm not much of a wine kind of person, I did enjoy these ones quite a bit!
Sonja is a great friend and she has actually travelled and lived in many different countries.
After the tasting we went to the actual old town of Sacramento for a walk and some history tours of the gold fiever from the 1840`s and 1850`s in the area. Sacramento has been the only town so far still has that  "Old West" kind of look. I really enjoyed that town.

Finally we went to a Mexican restaurant for some tacos or whatever and believe it or not, we were treated with a nice "Mariachi" band that actually sang several songs that we requested, including a few that I used to sing myself. That was fun!

This band was really good and gave us a short taste of what it is soon to come once we cross into Mexico.
After dinner we went to the more modern part of town for a beer and then to bed. Next morning we said goodbye to Sonja and left. We didn't make it more than 10 miles when the car started giving us trouble. We managed to stop at a car repair shop and found out that we had to replace the distributor, which had gone so bad it wasn't even turning anymore!
We got it fixed and on we went...to Yosemite!!!!
But that is a new post, so ready this one first! ;)