Snowboarding, Snowshoeing and Jaccuzzi at Mt Bachelor

Mt Bachelor is a great mount in the middle of Oregon, near Bend, with all the facilities for winter sports. We rented a house for the weekend, we were 9. There was no argument about whether it was a good idea to jump into the outdoor jaccuzzi first. Followed by a nice meal that got us ready to go to the mountain in the morning. No pictures of it though as everybody was scared to damage the camera while snowboarding. But day 2 was snowshoeing for some of us, which I enjoyed very much. Beautifully peaceful.

San Francisco

The streets of San Francisco :









Alcatraz, "the Rock", is now open for tourists. They need to book at least 1 week in advance.







The Golden Gate was completed in 1937 and transformed the local economy. People didnt need to go around the bay any more. It became a symbol of San Francisco and the US.









We took the local transportation to from 1 side of town to the other. Here we are heading to the gay quarters up the hill. SF is famous for its huge gay community. The gay quarters are known to have some fun local shops and atmosphere.






No, nothing bad happened in the gay quarters, I'm just unhappy to leave :

Redwood Forest

This Forest is in the North West of California, just a the border of Oregon. Huge trees everywhere. We stayed just a couple of hours as we were on our way down to San Francisco, but it was enough for Andrea and I to play in woods like kids.

Remeber that old picture of an old car going through the tree ? Well that's where it is. A modern car could not go through, the hole is actually too smal, but the tree is still impressive.

Skydiving above Las vegas

We had to wait for almost a day for our plane at Las vegas, after our motorcycle tour around the canyons. So we decided to throw ourselves in the sky. not before a nice typical breakfast with eggs, toasts and bacon. Andrea had already jumped once in the past, it was my first time. Without saying anything, she bought for me the photo package. Enjoy.





The story starts by saying that the plane was designed for midgets. Being normal people, we hard a hard time to fit in, and even harder to get out for the jump. But there I am, with both fit on the cover of the right wheel of the plane. Mix of emotions, excited and frightened.







Off we go : the bastard instructor pushes us in the sky. As soon as we're falling, the fear is gone, the excitement is uncredible. Adrenaline flows through the veines. the area around Vegas is actually pretty nice with mounts and lakes. So far so fantastic. Appreaciate how my face gets transformed along the trip down.








After 1 min, he opens the parachute. Once settled he explains to me how it works, pull here to turn left, pull here to turn right. Easy. It is very reactive, and as he does it I could feel my stomach being shaken a little. The he gives me command for a few seconds and I play the same, left, right, left.

I would have never guessed it could happen, but in the end it was too much for my poor stomach. Like bubles in an ocean, I threw up my eggs and French toasts above my head, in about 10 seperated spits. I kept the bacon, it was too good to give away. My bastard instructor wasnt so happy I spit on him, whereas it made quite pleased to get my revenge on his arrogance. Who knows how many of those eggs got stuck in the parachute and those who landed far away from home.