road trip from Reno... :D

Reno Nevada to the Napa valley California....
and all the Americana along the way ...
"good morning Truman...."

Napa valley vineyards

the Francis Ford Coppola estate...


Coppola's enchanted tree ...it bears lemons, limes and oranges
just like the magic faraway tree !!!

he has the most incredible collection of magic lanterns from the year dot ...
so beautiful ....




on a secret road back to Reno we found a field of odd scarecrows guarding ...
weeds...or are they...?

definitely something from a scary movie ...
(makes mental note for later use...*)

of seagulls ,san francisco, skeletons and sailing boats

last week a fast jump from the Nevada desert to San Francisco...
i think we covered pretty much everything ...from cable cars to boats under the golden gate bridge,good Italian food,bagel dogs (one eyebrow raised) ,china town,trams from Milano,...(wierd ... what are they doing here i travel on them every day in Italy...)
beautiful Americana retro trams from the 50s ,antique game halls at the ferry terminal and fabulous shops entitled ...
"tasty salted pig parts"
ermmmmm i guess you cant really go wrong .... :D

old frescoes of the building of the transcontinental railroad,
love the mix of wall art and construction here

throughout the city are old poster stands, lamp posts and public toilets imported from Paris
...its a bizarre mix of modern American culture and recognisable European classic pieces



its a good looking city ...reminds me a little of Sydney and Auckland
(apart from all the Americans)...


watching street theatre down at the fishermans wharf i was attacked by enormous marionette human skeletons,....



completely traumatised ...they were horrifically giant and real



recovering my equilibrium....

it's bizarre

lurking in the Nevada desert with a pirate .... who would have thought the desert was so full of life ,.... i knelt to take photos of some tiny desert pansy/violet flowers ...and as i looked up i realised the entire plateau was a carpet of little purple flowers defying the dry dust wind and cold blizzard snows and scorching sun that changes from one hour to the next




yesterday i saw my first real live wild coyote .... and a few days ago on the way to San Francisco i smelt my first skunk and ate my first bagel dog...weeeeeeeooooowwwwwww nasty

lying on the lawn in a bikini one day watching an american eagle swooping around scanning for ... marmots and chipmunks...? ....and the following day in a blizzard on the same lawn dressed for antarctica .... whuh?????

ahhhhhhh Americana,.... kitsch and squeaky clean perfect front yards ...flags and big big trucks the wild wild west movie continues....