The Americans, part II

And onward with our story...

Where we last left our intrepid American explorers, they were enjoying the mountainous beauty of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden . After enjoying the gardens, we set sail for Betty's Bay, a vacation community to the southeast of Cape Town. 

Betty's Bay lies in what is known as the "Overberg," the area literally "over the mountain" from Cape Town. Just a short 2-hour drive away, it's radically different from the city.

The locals are friendly, but possibly on drugs.

We stayed in this beach house, which had a huge fireplace and a great deck overlooking the rugged coastline...

Which is all the more enjoyable at dawn when your baby wakes you up.

Not far from Betty's Bay is the wine district of Elgin, a colder-weather area famous for its whites and Pinot Noirs. We visited the largest and oldest Elgin winery, called Paul Cluver, on what was a blustery, Fall-in-New-England kind of day.

In the tasting room, we honed our appreciation of the regional specialties. The bar and the other rustic wooden furniture was built by Dr. Cluver himself. Best tipple? Almost unbelievably, the Chardonnay. For about $12, it's one of the most incredible wines I've ever tasted. Like butter. Seriously.

Feeling a bit too soused to drive home, we lingered for a long time at the farm restaurant having an incredible meal. Better than the meal, however, was the bathroom which was literally built into their woodpile! (see below)

Another highlight of the area is the Kogelberg Biosphere, a Unesco World Heritage Site nestled among the mountains.

It's known for proteas and other endemic, hardy plants...

...as well as for its ultra-tannic streams which are perfect for the weekly bath.

Through all this adventure, Freyja was a champ. Here she's enjoying a bit of fried fish with Aunt Nini.

As mentioned above, the coastline is amazingly rugged - formations like this dragon rock are common.

And this vista at Walker Bay is also typical.

Another cool feature of the coast are the various colonies of JACKASS penguin (so named for its braying call, not for its inanity). Now called the South African Penguin or some other PC crap like that, they'll always be our Jackasses.

The colonies are literally right there - penguins were walking through the parking lot! The birds have little fear of Americans, luckily.

Other wildlife is there too, if you look carefully enough.

Drunk on wildlife, we decided to visit yet another vineyard, this time in the beautiful Hemel en Aarde Valley, close to the town of Hermanus. 

We stopped at the snootily named Bouchard Finlayson winery, which had both great views and a nicely built cellar.

Spirits soon flagged, however, and we made our way back to the fort to watch our last sunset in Betty's Bay

On the way home, we stopped at the famous Peregrine Farm Stall - a strategic pie reserve and peddler of locally made provisions. Marvelous!

So it was back to Cape Town for one more night. Our objective? Face this monster of a cable car and make our way to the top of Table Mountain, which rises more than 3000 feet out of the bay.

Spirits were high and the weather was good at the base of the hill...

But by the time we arrived up top, the fog had rolled in.

Nonetheless, some members of our party still found the view terrifying.

This is the sort of view we should have had - white sand beaches stretching between mountains. Still looks okay from sea level, though, and a drive along this coastline made a gorgeous finale to our trip.

"Hey Bestie, feel that finale?"

But we have to end with these shots of our stalwart traveling companion, the fearsome Gru (Freyja). Despite winery upon winery, hikes into the hinterlands, and getting lost in Cape Town, she only lost her shit twice. And that's pretty good.