Life as James knows it

Monterey > Santa Barbara

Very pretty, very touristy!

Wine estates located in the Napa Valley, easily the most pretentious wineries / vineyard vie ever visited - wiith the exception of The  Crane Family Vinyards, from which I purchased wines.  Estates that reside on the main Napa highway totally play on the location.  Any tasting will set you back anywhere from $20 (from what I seen up to $100) ..... just for the privilege of tasting.  Why? ...... probably because they can, people come to the region with the mindset that it's the meca for wine.  While I did drink some very nice wine, it's definitely not worth the price being charged. Tasting Options / Terms:   - Napa Valley (standard wines produced using a mx of fruit from the region)   - Single Vineyard - Special Selection (select fruit used from the estate) Shiraz is often (possibly always) called  Sirah  ( pronounced  Síra) by Napa Valley people.  There's also a ' Petite Sirah': smaller fruit size used, fruitier, sweeter. Seems...

Alcatraz La Isla de los Alcatraces, as it was called by Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala while charting San Francisco Bay, which  translates to The Island of the Pelicans. Interesting place to visit, the tour of the remaining buildings from the days of being a Federal Penitentiary was an eye opener.  Exploring the details about one of the most intricate escapes ever divised ( June 11, 1962, by Frank Moris, John Anglin, and Clarance Anglin) was amazing.  I'd read details about this escape, it'd always interned me ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_1962_Alcatraz_escape ). One of the cells from the escape

San Francisco is an awesome place, there are some similarities to Melbourne .... specifically Fitzroy/Collingwood - somewhat hipster!  Also, I now know how the term 49ers originated -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush Summers in San Francisco consist of rolling fogs over the bay, and keeps the city reasonably cool. Golden Gate Bridge Down at the wharf of an evening.  I did the San Francisco thing of having some chowder .... and a beer.

Yosemite, a large animal and plant habitat block in the Sierra Nevada area. A national park has an elevation range from 648 to 3,997 metres and contains five major vegetation   zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. The geology is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley is understood to have reached 1,200 metres during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the incredibly enormous U-s...

Phoenix was a quick stop for me where I had a quick look around and checked out some of the local hospitality .... which was excellent!  Other than that all I can say is that's it a very big spread out city ( 1,341 square kilometres - according to the US Census Bureau)  in the middle of the Arizona desert.  Might have to go back for a visit, did like the locals I met. Warm ...