Wolf whistles and Fish

My task this week was two-fold. 1) Learn how to wolf whistle. I had it in the back of my head that this could potentially produce a slip up. Nothing of the sort! Check it out.

 

I am genuinely quite proud of that one. It's been a packed week which has seen me attending two gigs, taking part in some gardening, watching Expendables 2 (the bit with Chuck Norris is awesome) and having my first Spanish tuition lesson - which was muy bien.It also saw me ironing out the second fold of my task - 

2) cleaning and preparing a fish. The fish in question was a rainbow trout and I certainly took care of it as this will show...

 

So that was fairly harrowing at points but it wasn't done just for the halibut. I hake not being able to do things and bless my sole, I didn't want to be floundering around the next time a fish needs gutting. Actually it was quite interesting and a tremendous skill to have in the bag. 

So next time, I will have been brushing up on the phonetic alphabet and my main task will be to learn and be able to recognise some common bird calls. That way, if I ever find myself in the presence of a group of 'twitchers', and should I wish to impress them, I will be more than able. Come to think of it, I will also find out what the collective term is for a group of birdwatchers. 

I'll leave you with the dragon that appeared in my pint glass.

Wilderness and beyond

As a small select number may now know, I am back in the UK. But where did I leave you last time you might say? Well I believe it was in the vicinity of San Francisco, so I will continue my account from that point.

Having had a great time thus far, I made my way inland to Yosemite national park and, to what I consider to be one of the highlights. I camped out in this amazing place for two nights down on the valley floor in the busy campgrounds, using the days to walk around groves of more giant trees. Although I saw no more Mountain Lions, I did see plenty of Deer and even a Coyote. This is the view from one end of the valley - pretty spectacular I'm sure you'll agree.

However,  for my last night I decided to make my way to the visitors office to get a wilderness permit and a bear cannister (massive black box to put food in so the bears don't attack you) and packed up my rucksack.

I then embarked upon a 5 hour trek out of the valley into the wilderness with my tent and spent the night at a place called Eagle peak. This was one of the best things I have ever done and here are some of the views I had from my makeshift campsite. From here I made myself a brew and some soup and watched the sun set over the valley - all this with not a human for literally miles.

Anyway, with Yosemite behind me I began to bring my trip to a close with a spectacular drive down highway 1 over a couple of nights, stopping off at some lovely beaches and ended up in LA where I once again met up with my mate Dave. Once again my friend, thanks for putting me up. From there we hit Vegas. Amongst the highlights were seeing Calvin Harris playing a DJ set from our sun loungers complete with ice buckets of beer, and being accosted by two women late at night in the MGM grand lobby who genuinely thought that Dave and I were rock stars.

So, all trips have to come to an end, and this one was no different. I drove around 2,189 miles. I met some quality people along the way. I did some cool things and saw some amazing spectacles. And I am pretty sure I left half of the insect population of the western United States on the windscreen of my rental car. Since I have been back, I've had to regroup and wash lots of clothes but I am now back on it. As such, my next weekly task shall be to learn how to wolf whistle  (something I have always wanted to do). In addition, I shall add in the task of learning how to clean and cook a fish from scratch.

W

P.s.

One last thing. Just this weekend gone, I watched one of, if not the best football matchs of my life and if you haven't seen the videos yet then please watch them. I don't normally mention Watford on here as I am aware many will not have a clue what I am talking about and will inevitably get bored but this is an exception. Quite simply incredible.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nAwOXGIrVQ

Mountain Lions

I began this week where I finished the last, unsurprisingly in Seattle, where apparently Ronnie Corbitt has taken up driving taxis. Nice city, although I stayed in a fairly sketchy area around China town. I managed to cover just about the whole city in one morning after my phone completely died via the city’s underground buses to buy a new cheap US phone. This still all gave me time to head up the space needle where I chilled out to some pretty awesome views. 

From there I picked up my rental car. A brand spanking new Ford Focus which drives like a dream. From Seattle I headed for the cost and ended up in a lovely little place called Cannon Beach which I’m told is where they filmed the Goonies. Here was the view I was met with.

The beach was so nice and the sand so good that I felt guilty walking on it with my shoes on. Definitely a place to visit again if I get the chance. So time for my first stop off and I was lucky enough to have someone willing to put me up in Portland. Bit of legend called Joey Colando, so once again, cheers dude. 

After picking up the worst chickpea and tuna wrap ever at a cafe the next morning (the only chickpea tuna wrap I have ever and will ever have) I hit some waterfalls along the Columbia River gorge. Apart from being a lovely day, it was also amazing to see. I then carried on a scenic drive into the mountains and out of nowhere got myself involved in a massive blizzard which provided me with some scary moments driving as I was on the edge of a cliff. Thankfully unscathed, I joined the highway south and embarked upon one of the nicest drives I’ve ever had to the soundtrack of what I think was the perfect shuffle selection I’ve ever experienced on my ipod – this  definitely involved AC DC.This was all despite the town of Boring.

After this I recouped at a motel and started out along highway 199, which is the best road I’ve driven along so far. It took me through forest and canyons and threw me out of Oregon into California and the first of many groves of giant Redwood trees. These are something you have to see to believe. Enormous, up to 2,500 years old and 300 foot high. I camped out in this setting and it was awesome.Here is the morning view at the campsite.

The next day I drove down the cost and saw more massive trees, stopping off halfway to hike into one of the forests. The geeks among you may or may not know that this is the area where they filmed Return of the Jedi. The place did indeed look like the forest moon of Endor. 

Anyway, here’s my big moment. After hiking for an hour without seeing anyone at all I turned back satisfied towards the road and the car. Shortly after this I spotted movement on the pathway not 10 yards ahead of me. At first I thought it was someone’s dog. An unusually massive dog. As it turned in front of me and jumped into the bush by the path I saw its massive tail and realised it was in fact a Mountain Lion, or Cougar. I froze and realised that to get out of there I would have to pass the path where seconds ago had been a large carnivorous predator. Thankfully I wasted no time and as I made my way back to the car, now less than relaxed. I zipped up the collar of my jumper around my neck which is the site where I’m told they like to go for first. That night I camped out in another redwood grove, campfire blazing, warm cup of tea and soup, the dangers of the Mountain Lion all forgotten.

From here, and following a brief petrol scare, I moved onto San Francisco and met up with some more friends who helped me out with accommodation. Thanks once again to Liz and Cory! They really sorted me out. San Fran. What can I say, great city and Alcatraz well worth a visit. Then who should turn up by complete unbelievable coincidence on a work training week, but my good friend Craig and his work colleagues. Very random.  As such, suitable celebrations at the bar on top of the Marriot hotel were in order complete with the following view before catching some food with some live jazz.

Great week, great people and great times. Next week... Yosemite, highway 1, La and Vegas.