Day 15: on the road

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Day 15

On the move again and onto the 10th and final hotel today. We leave Yosemite quite early as we are driving to San Francisco and have a lot of things planned, starting with a baseball game tonight so need to get into the city early.

Waking up in Yosemite is one of the best experiences and really hard to describe just how beautiful it is. Even pictures don't do it justice. The darkness of the night before hiding the surrounding mountains has disappeared and the bright morning sunshine reveals the tall mountains all around us. I would 100%!r(MISSING)ecommend staying in Curry Village but it does get booked up very quickly so make sure you are booking in advance. Hoodies are always required for evenings I would imagine. If you feel like being a bit more surrounded by nature then there are plenty of camping grounds in the park as well as hotels both within the park and just outside it. There is a fee for the park but it is such a great place.

We visit a few shops in Yosemite for last minute purchases before we leave. There are just deer walking around the car park as we are packing our suitcases, but thankfully no bears! It's quite a chilly morning and hoodies are required, even in the car.

The drive to San Francisco is quite scary but not half as bad as driving to Yosemite from San Francisco as you are safely on the other side of the road from the massive drops. The roads are narrow, busy and twisting around the mountains but have spectacular scenery around - and below!

As always we break up our journey with a stop at Starbucks roughly halfway. We used to fly between places in America before we hired cars but realised that you get to see and experience so much more in the car and of course there are a few wrong turns every now and again but it's all part of the experience! Today we stop in a place called Oakdale and grab a coffee in Starbucks. Being from the UK we have an 8 hour time difference and need wifi to contact home so the free wifi on offer in Starbucks is really good! Oakdale is hot! Yosemite was chilly because it was early in the morning and we know from experience that San Francisco is chilly so an hour spent in the sunshine is welcoming! From here we are only about 90 miles to our destination.

The drive between Oakdale and San Francisco is different to our other drives so far and is full of fields and farming - orange trees, corn fields etc.

We find hotels in San Francisco getting more and more expensive and because this is our annual family trip and we have a large car we do struggle. We like to stay central and have in the past, around Union Square I find is best as you are close to the BART (train) and within walking distance of a lot of things as well as being close to the stop for tour buses which is a must! Our previous hotel was The Donatello, minutes walk from Union Square. That year we began our trip in SF and hadn't picked up our car yet. This year is a little different and we thought we would try something new - not our best idea.

On a recommendation from friends we stayed in the college town of Berkeley. Our hotel was Hotel Durant which was just ok, in my opinion. The location, for Berkeley was good but not any use for us as all our plans were in the city! We were in a rush into SF to go to a baseball game at AT&T, right by the bay. The traffic was an absolute nightmare our entire journey and the toll on the bridge did not help. Luckily we had thought ahead and booked a car park space in a garage right beside the grounds. This was a VERY good idea as the city was complete gridlocked with game traffic and work commuters. We had paid in advance via the website we found on google and a space had been reserved for us about a 5 minute walk from the entrance. We found our seats, eventually and ate in the grounds. Pricey and not worth it but part of the experience. Being from the UK baseball isn't something we are familiar with and I won't lie and say I understand what is going on but the atmosphere is really cool! We first watched a game in San Diego with the Padres in 2012, then in 2013 saw the Phillies in Philadelphia but the San Francisco giants is by far the best game we have seen! The views across the bay with the sunsetting were beautiful and the atmosphere in the arena was really electric and with a very big crowd. It was a Friday so a lot of people had come from work and were really friendly. We weren't too worried about where we sat as you can see from anywhere. You definitely need a coat/ jacket/ hoodie no matter where you are in SF at night (and sometimes day too) but being beside the water at night was even colder! Giants won and a great night was had by all. Even getting back to the hotel wasn't too bad.

Back in the room we book a tour for tomorrow at front desk. We have done a bus tour every time we have been in the city but it is definitely the best way to see everything and the hop on and hop off buses are ideal. There is simply too much to see by foot, parking is not an option and relying on public transport wastes too much time. Prices for the bus tour aren't too bad considering everything on offer but definitely shop around online in advance for discounts or coupons.

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