What I Did On My Summer Vacation, By Chris McLaren, Age 36

I’ve been away from the Internet, and this blog specifically, a bit lately, and so I thought I’d give you a little photographic taste of what I’ve been up to. (Click on through if you’re interested.)

So, we went here for a day:

Sarah’s favourite part of that day was this:

Then we went down to San Diego and spent a day at the zoo. This included some petting of bunnies:

And some eating of lunch near elephants:

Sarah also took a staring role in an educational program at the zoo:

We then spent three days driving up the coast on the PCH. This included a night in Santa Barbara, where we ran into a festival at the mission:

It also included a trip through some hilly bits:

There was a lot of beautiful coast, of course. It looked like this: Big Sur Coast

We spent a night at a lovely inn in Big Sur, where we could relax sitting in a river out back:

Then it was up the coast to Monterey, where Trish shopped and Sarah and I did the Aquarium:

The California part of the vacation ended with a couple of days in San Francisco, including, of course, a trip to Alcatraz:

We also did some hiking in the Muir woods, taking in the coastal redwoods and sequoias:

While there I dragged the girls to a couple of bookstores (would have been more, but our days were very full). One was very close to San Francisco’s garlic restaurant, which I forced the girls into.

By the end of the meal, they were converted, and happily sharing a sundae:

After California we were off to visit family and friends in Ontario. This included a big family picnic at the park at Queenston Heights, and then Sarah and I having some adventures with my pal Ralph.

For instance, we drove up to Toronto to go in this thing:

While we were in there we checked out the glass floor, where you can stand and look down over 1500 feet. Here you see me almost stepping on:

Sarah and Ralph had no problem walking around on it:

I was actually much more comfortable looking out over the lake. Sarah also seemed to like that:

The next day we spent in Niagara, first visiting the Falls:

…and then going under them:

After the falls we spent some time at cheesy tourist attractions on Clifton Hill, including the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum:

Then a haunted house, and finally the Butterfly Conservatory:

Of course there was a lot more, but that should give you a taste.

Now I’m home for all of three days, and then it’s off to Melbourne.