I went all the way to California and all I got was this lousy sweatshirt!

Yes, I know, I'm a BIG disappointment aren't I? And I only bought the sweatshirt for an extra layer as somebody had told us that it got cold camping in the Yosemite National Park at night (and they were right - down to about 10C in places).

Problem was I was too busy:

cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge (hidden below by sea mist!) in San Francisco:



Seeing the tallest trees in the world:



Visiting the oldest living things in the world (more trees) - some as old as 4000 years:





Camping in the hottest place on earth - Death Valley:



Scuba diving:



Rafting:



Surfing (just look at Mr J and P go - the theme to Hawaii 5-0 just springs to mind doesn't it?):



Whale watching (or rather feeling immensely sea sick in my case) - we glimpsed the largest living thing - a blue whale (no photos, those darn blue whales move rather too quickly).

Now if you're still with me and haven't switched off in disgust at my measly efforts at thrift shopping, I have to admit I'm exaggerating slightly when I say that the UCLA sweatshirt was the ONLY thing I bought from the magnificent thrift stores that I did visit. On our second to last day in California, I visited the Thrift Centre in Santa Cruz (yes I did say CENTRE) yes, not some piddling shop or even store but a CENTRE. Two floors of....STUFF (actually two floors is not unusual in thrift stores). Plus EVERYTHING was HALF PRICE that day (that's not unusual either). So I did manage to find..... (don't get too excited everyone...):



a large piece of fabulous crimplene (50 cents; about 30p) which I hope to incorporate into some patchwork ensemble (well, it was going to be a patchwork picnic blanket but by the time I get round to doing it, it will probably be deepest winter). And......



some barkcloth cafe style curtains complete with cheery yellow curtain rings ($4; about £2something).

Hope you all had a lovely summer. Can't wait to catch up with all my favourite bloggers. Ta-ra dear readers.