Lake Tahoe to San Francisco 220 miles

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Leisurely start to the morning today, bit of a lie in getting up just after 0800hrs and drinking coffee in the room. This was mainly due to the fact we can't go snowmobiling this morning as they are completing "essential maintenance" along the route. This is something we were looking forward to doing as well. We finally decided to get up and head off for a breakfast at Ihop to fuel us for the rest of the day to get to San Francisco. Yet again their breakfast menu is huge and took ages to read through and choose what to eat. We all settled for different varieties of pancakes and some French toast to share. Portions are massive so very full now!! Back in the car now with about a four hour journey ahead of us.

The scenery leave Lake Tahoe was beautiful again with bright blue sky, snow capped mountains and green trees all around. However that didn't last too long as the majority of the journey is on main roads or the interstate. But that doesn't matter too much as it gets us to San Francisco quicker. A friend recommended a restaurant to try out - the stinking rose. It's a restaurant which cooks every dish with garlic. I've just made a reservation for us online for 1930hrs, I'm sure our breath will be delightful by the morning!

We arrived in San Francisco, navigating some very steep roads (too steep I would say). After queuing at the City limits for ages after getting through the toll plaza. We managed to find the hotel with ease and I went to check in while the girls parked the car in a very small space. I think this is the worst hotel we have stayed in on this trip but ironically the most expensive. The office is in the car park and had a strong smell of urine!!! All the others checking in seem to be young backpackers and they take $200 deposit, assuming you are going to wreck the place. The room isn't as bad as we thought, quite big and had bleach dashed around everywhere as it smelt of a swimming pool.

We quickly dumped our luggage off and got back in the car to drop it off at the national office in the City centre. We were greeted by a very strange woman who seemed to be stumbling around and reached the car and did a 360 spin looking for us even though we were right in front of her. Keys handed over with a few minor problems to sort, but now time to enjoy San Francisco without worrying about who's turn it is to drive next. Having said that I am writing this from a bar in the centre having a few drinks.

We stopped for what I would call a quick drink which quickly turned into several as we met an American couple called Bless and Xavier who ended up buying us a round of drinks. She was a nurse and was quite interested in mine and Kerry's job and vice versa. He was an ex marine and now coaches swimming to help get people to a college level etc. We had several cocktails at the bar which were lovely even though we ended up with a bar bill of $100 excluding the free round! It's safe to say when we left the bar we were very happy and very drunk!

We were already late for our meal as we walked out of the bar at 1940hrs and walked down the road. We got a cab but unfortunately fell into the tourist trap as he started driving in the opposite direction as soon as he heard the English accent. I quickly made a point of point of checking google maps and we were soon on the correct track! At the same time Kerry rang the restaurant and apologised for the delay, they instantly knew it was our reservation cause they asked if she was Stephanie - oops!

We were quickly shown to our table, which seemed to be round the back and down a corridor with little booths either side with curtains. It was really busy for a Thursday night, good job we made reservations! We thought we would order a bottle of wine between us, although there was little need after the amount we consumed in the bar! We started with some garlic gloves with bread high was lovely and then we all had different mains.

This time on the way home in the taxi Kerry and I decided to pretend we had been here for week after travelling America for a while, surprisingly our taxi went straight to our destination in a relatively quick time.

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