I Wish they All Could Be.....

California  Girls....(Beachboys song)

Sung at full voice while driving on the "other"side of the road atop a cliff with a steep drop 100+ metres to the ocean - Today we drove The Big Sur (Coast Drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles)

Miles of winding roads, edge of the cliff just outside the car, just your typical 500 km  Sunday drive.

Just to make the very last drive of our trip more fun, we encountered a dust storm outside LA.

New song - Now the Carnival is Over

 So, we are now back where we started - in Los Angeles

The Thelma and Louise drive across USA & Canada and back again is Over

• Driven - 10,800 miles (17,000 km) 
• Challenges faced - Armadillos, mooses, double yellow lines and scary waitress in Chinese Restaurant
• Avoided - State Troopers (see double yellow lines) and Kardashians
• Lost - one pair of pyjamas (don't ask) and any preconceptions or misconceptions about the wonderful folk of the USA & Canada
• Loved - All Of It!

Golden Girls at the Golden Gate

(or in Australian - Sunburnt Sheilas in San Fran)

See that Bridge waaaaay in the distance, we were going to walk across it. Nahhhhh, soon gave up that idea!  Close enough.

 

Prisoners who couldn't swim escaped from here- they were probably prepared to walk further & faster than we were today.











Cable cars go up and down the steep hills.
We did not understand the conductor who yelled out "Stee incrine ahet Preese hor on tie"
So we didn't know there was a steep bit coming up and we didn't hold on tight.  Really cool tourists probably don't fall over in cable cars.

Best Bib n Tucker

House is not falling over - just v difficult to walk up/down SF streets 

The Green Green Gums of home - in a San Francisco Park!

What we learned today: One should pay attention to cable car conductors who call our "Hor on Reeeeeeee tie preeese"

What we also learned today: when 2 tired sunburned Auusie tourists get off at the wrong train station, late at night in outer SF, the ticket seller feels sorry for us, radios to the driver to hold a train so we can get safely to the correct station!  People are soooooo helpful here.  Thank you San Fran!  We loooove this place.

So, we have ridden the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transport) and we have ridden the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport)  - wonder if Fresno has one?

A Tale of Two Chickens

Washington, Oregon and Northern California- these are the final states as we head south on the last week of our Thelma and Louise trip.

The Good

Mountains of Washington and Oregon States 

Picnic lunches beside the Columbia River

Full moon over the Sacramento River

The Bad
(This takes place in a Chinese Restaurant in outer Oregon).

Karen:   I'll have a seniors meal of egg drop soup, egg roll and Ma Fa Chicken please
Wendy:  I'll  have a seniors meal of spicy soup, crab pots and Almond Chicken
........ Soups arrive and are delicious.....
.........Egg Roll and Crab Pots arrive on the same plate- challenging but OK
..........Wendy's chicken arrives- a big serve- but nothing for Karen.
Never mind says Karen, the Egg Rolls were sufficiently filling.
The Bill arrives and includes Karen's (missing) chicken .
On questioning waitress and asking her to remove chicken from the bill, waitress screams at Karen:
"Chicken was on same plate as other chicken!  Your friend eat chicken, no refund!"
Karen:  let me clarify- "You put two different dishes on the one plate, give it to my friend, nothing to me and we both are expected to eat from the one plate?"
Waitress (screeching) "Both chickens on one plate, friend eat, you get both chickens, you pay!"
We paid, sigh.........

Aww, that is so nice of you (sorry about the chickens)

Just for Antelopes?  What about sick mooses or armadillos?

We stopped in here and signed the Chinese Waitress up for the Marines.

What we learned today:  Oregon. Big Mountains, Big Trees, everything is Big
What else we learned today- how to run really fast out of Chinese Restaurants when not leaving a tip!

Oh Canada

Is the prettiest place.
There are gardens.....

There are mountains and lakes...

There buildings and totem poles....

They have tourists who pose in front of stuff and can't remember what it was..... 

But best of all, Canada has Heather from Rossland BC and Wendy from Vancouver Island BC who each graciously and kindly hosted two girl travellers in their homes: fed us, gave us beds for our weary heads, showed us around their beautiful communities and showered us with the kind of hospitality for which Canadians are renowned.  You are the best!

And then there are signs........

What we learned:  Canadians are cool! 

What we also learned: Beavertail is delicious!

What we heard: "My beaver is worn through" (referring to the furry slippers).  Seriously, we did.

Put your Butte into It

Butte is in Montana.  While it is only a stopover on our trek north into Canada, It has a Granite Mountain memorial to a mining disaster here 100 years ago.

It was at the top of a very tall hill so we hauled our buttes up there for a great view.

Today was just abutte travelling - beautiful Montana mountains and plains.

The following are facts about Montana-truly!

• The official state animal is the grizzly bear
• It us illegal for unmarried women to fish alone in Montana
• It is illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperone

Oops, now we really are in trouble!  

Back End of a Bison Bending Over

Karen:  There's one, I can see one!

Wendy:  No, that's a rock.

Karen:  There's one with six legs!
Wendy:  No that's a dead tree trunk.

So went our conversation in the car as we entered the Wildlife Loop Drive, between Keystone and Custer in South Dakota, home to a herd of 1,300 free roaming bison.

Karen: That could be one
Wendy:  Again that's a rock.
Karen:  I still maintain that it could be the back end of a buffalo bending over.

We finally saw bison, close up and personal.  They were magnificent.

This one crossed double yellow lines- where's a State Trooper when you need one?

The babies were so cute!

Today we saw another of nature's marvels, Mt Rushmore Memorial.

What- they're carved?  How  did they manage to get them to all pose together for the sculptor. These were the sensible questions we asked  the Rangers.

He's my favourite:  Abe's a babe!

What we learned today:  Presidents are Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln and no, they do not intend to add Jimmy Barnes to the group.

What Karen learned today:  do not ask gentleman sitting next to us if he and his wife enjoyed the show, unless you are sure he us a man - he was actually a she. 

We loooove this country, please don't ask us to leave!

Size Does Matter

...if you are the Mississippi River,.

It seems no one can agree on its length, somewhere about  2,300 miles.  We sailed on it today in a dinky little paddle wheel boat for a couple of miles.

This Indian is called Hiawatha (seriously, he is).  Mississippi is
an Indian word meaning Big River. 













































We explored the Mississippi on the Wisconsin side, then the Minnesota side, then again Wisconsin and back to Minnesota.  We pretend this was deliberate and not Karen's navigating.








Buffalo Bill Cody once lived on an island where we ate our picnic lunch.  He probably didn't eat banana sandwiches with a cinnamon sweet roll liberated from the hotel breakfast buffet as we did.

Turtles sunning on a branch in the Mississippi.

Albertville Outlet Mall in Minnesota is not an Indian word and is not on the Mississippi.  We explored it anyway.  Forgot to buy groceries so it looks like it will be liberated breakfast buffet again!



The Mall says we can"t bring this in:





What we learned today: the Mississippi is the 4th longest river in the world
- the Albertville Outlet Mall is not.