Whale watching, hiking and more

Dear followers,

The last few weeks flew by once again. After my mother flew back to Germany on Friday, we only had a weekend in Pittsburgh. Then on Tuesday, it was off to the airport again. But where were we headed this time? As in July, we flew to San Francisco and then traveled on to Sunnyvale. Julian had work to do there again. Overall, we spent 8 days there (Tuesday to Wednesday the following week). Since we had a weekend there, we wanted to make the most of it.

On Saturday, we set off very early to Pinnacles National Park. At first glance, it seemed like a relatively unremarkable national park. But to reach the fantastic spots in the park, you need to be active. So we spent the morning hiking through the park. We really enjoyed it there, but see for yourselves in the photos! Since it was already over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (over 32°C) by noon and the sun was relentlessly beating down on us, it was clear that you can't do a day hike here in October. We'll return in winter when it's a bit cooler for hiking. Instead, we drove on to the sea in Monterey. We had a three-hour whale watching tour scheduled. The tour was 'absolutely amazing' (as Americans would say). We can definitely recommend it! At the harbor, we also saw hundreds of sea lions, all lounging in a heap. Afterwards, we headed back to Sunnyvale.

We spent Sunday entirely in San Francisco. During our last visit, we were advised to visit San Francisco in October, as this is supposed to be the most beautiful time of the year and the Golden Gate Bridge isn’t likely to be shrouded in fog. In this case, we were not disappointed. In radiant sunshine, we explored the streets of San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge was visible in all its glory.

The next days Julian spent working again while Tanja relaxed by the pool and recovered from a lingering cold. Then it was already Wednesday and we headed back to Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, we could finally recover from the extensive travels of the last few weeks and enjoy the onset of fall. Next week, we’ll be taking off again. Stay tuned to see where we end up this time. See you soon!