In the Beginning...

Hi there everyone,

So here is my first post, more of a virtual postcard really, hence the blog title! This blog, as well as being a window into other educational settings as I travel, will also be a record of some of the places, culture and sites I pass through on the way.

I have spent the summer holidays busy traveling around California with friends and family and it has been incredible! All I can say is WOW, America is huge! We have traveled through such varied landscapes and visited mountains, deserts and cities.

Now it wouldn't be right if I didn't take a moment, in traditional British fashion, to mention the weather! Who knew the weather could be so localised and varied here?! I foolishly imagined California to be sunny throughout, however just driving through a tunnel into San Francisco proved me wrong. On one side of the mountain, it was hot hot heat, by the time we emerged on the other side....fog and cloud! This has also been true of many places, especially along the coast. Monterey Bay, home of an incredible aquarium and stunning coastline, provided some much missed cloudy days! As I write however, in the bay of San Francisco, we are in a heatwave of a mere 46°c... nothing that a freckly fair skinned individual like myself can't handle by staying indoors!

This is a photograph of the Joshua Tree desert - possibly the hottest place I have ever been. You have to purchase a permit to drive through the National Park, as they take the preservation of the desert environment very seriously. It was an incredible landscape and in-between stopping to take in the views, we managed a walk of about a mile, which was more than long enough in the heat! It is so important that you take enough water with you and stick to the trails, people get lost and it can be very serious. It was actually a little scary - being in such heat and trying to follow paths through rocks which look largely similar! The Joshua Trees are everywhere and make a very surreal environment.