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California experience

After I arrived in San Francisco, I was picked up by my aunt and taken to my cousin's house in San Jose. My cousin was out shopping, but when she got back we had margarita and crisps. Previously never having tried margarita before, I assumed the stuff around the rim of my glass was sugar, and so I licked it off... only to discover it was salt.
          Later that evening we went over the hills to Santa Cruz, where I would spend the next 4 days of my Holliday. I stayed in my auntie's condo which was in and around a complex of about 600 others... although you wouldn't know it unless you walked around a bit. It was pretty quiet in the daytime too. There was a lagoon just out the back with private access for the residents to a jetty which led out a little way into the lagoon (perfect for photography) however; the best was walking along the public jetty which was permanently floated. I was down there pretty much every day... that is, when we weren't out and about doing other things. Most mornings, after breakfast, I would take my camera and telephoto lens and walk down to the lagoon and photograph the wildlife there for a few hours before all the family headed out.
          First day we stayed pretty much around Santa Cruz town centre and once I had come back from the lagoon we walked around the beachfront to The Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. Later, my cousin ran back get tickets for us to go see some horse show/ performance thing, where horses were doing all kinds of 'tricks' i.e. jumps. It was all pretty relaxing, palm trees, surfers, skaters (there was a small skate park by the beach front) hot girls with tans walking about or playing volleyball on the beach. The whole atmosphere was great.
          Anyhow, I am drifting on a bit and shall speed up with some photos
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My entire time in Santa Cruz was awesome; I thoroughly enjoyed it, the people, the atmosphere and the environment. It will stick with me in my mind for many years to come. When it was time to leave Santa Cruz, my parents hired a car and they, I and my sister went up the coast.

Next up: Vacaville.
We came here to visit some old work colleagues of my mothers, of whom she used to work with back when one of them lived in London. They had previously visited us in England about four yeas ago, and now we would see them. They're a great bunch, fun to be around, great sense of humour, great house and awesome people overall. We spent a total of 4 very memorable, great, and funny days with them and in the time we were there, we visited: Six Flags Marine World (in Vallejo, California), walked around 'new' and 'old' Sacramento, visited the small town of Truckee, Hiked around Lake Tahoe 'n' had dinner in a glorious restraint on the waterfront and had funny and serious conversations all along the way; including in the pool at their house... which was awesome.

I miss it loads, and hope to return in the near future.

Utah
We spent a total of two days in Cedar City with some other friends; not much so say about this since we go to see them most years for a short perido of time. The experience is diffrent each year... but it's cool.