Day 139 to 143 San Francisco and Yosemite National Park

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It was a relatively short hop from Monterey but we arrived into San Francisco into a busy Memorial Day bank holiday weekend. We chose well for our accommodation just behind Fisherman’s wharf a busy bustling waterfront with ferries across the bay, many eateries - including popular seafood restaurants, museums and street entertainers to make things lively.



To get a flavour of what the city has to offer we jumped on a city sightseeing bus just outside our motel. The bus had live commentary delivered at a 100mph, he hardly drew breath even when we got stuck in traffic. We went past downtown SF, the Italian quarter, Chinatown and other famous parts of the city. One story we were told was the creator of the Golden Gate park who managed to actually create it on sand dunes. He had an aversion to statues being put in his creation, when told to erect a statue would promptly seed trees around it. Even when he was given one to himself he buried it in his garden at home, but when he died they dug it up and put it in the park! We then went over the famed Golden Gate Bridge, we were advised to keep onto our hats as the Pacific winds funnel through.



On our tour we were entitled to a late evening tour to different parts of the city. The commentary from our guide was also delivered at 100mph but on helium-but he was entertaining, we went across the Oakland Bay bridge which gave a great look back at the city. This bridge although much bigger and built similarly doesn’t get the attention as its baby brother, I agreed with our guide it’s much more impressive. We passed near the house used in Mrs Doubtfire also The Presidio, an ex-army fort now turned into a national park, but one of the most profitable, as all the properties within can only be rented for huge sums.



The following day to avoid the queues we got our day pass for the famous San Francisco Cable Car. It was built in 1878 And despite earthquakes, city councils trying to close it down as being unprofitable, it plies its way up and down the steep hills of the city. On our first trip we hung on to the back. The cars are pulled by cables under the street and the driver has to use all his effort to pull on the brake as well as the conductor who has his own brake on the really tricky bits. We jumped out to see the cable car museum, which is an actual working museum, where you can see all the cables turning to work this amazing transport system. We then walked to Lombard Street the crazy zig zag street used in the Love Bug film.



We thought we needed to see more of the bay of San Francisco so jumped on one of the numerous ferries. Ours went to Sausalito, an arty town across the bay. We went past Alcatraz, the famous prison, and arrived safely at the the town dock after a bit of dodgy parking by the skipper because of the cross winds. He managed to have a smile on his face after though.



Our city tour bus ticket enabled us to make our way back to the waterfront. We’d been across the Golden Gate bridge five times by now, windy and blustery every time on our open top bus.



One of our aims on the US leg of our adventure is to have a seafood meal, (probably Lobster) on the eastcoast and westcoast on one of the many restaurants on the pontoons. Here on the Westcoast the delicacy is Dungeness crab, not Dungeness Kent with the Nuclear Power station, but the one on the Washington state coast. Not being completely sure about crab we had seafood platter to share with half a crab in, we shouldn’t have worried it was delicious. After that Alison wanted one more ride over the hills on the cable cars this time she hung out on the footplate to get a last glimpse of this lively city



With an early start to avoid the holiday traffic we headed out over the Oakland bay bridge. With the Satnav working overtime, calling out all the many exits and entry points, on the many highways we were to pass on our way out of the city. After 3 hours we were well on our way to the next port off call Yosemite National Park. We saw much bank holiday traffic coming out of the park and were pleased at ourselves that we were going to miss it.



Sometimes we get it wrong, in fact most of the time we get it wrong, we misjudge what to expect of our accommodation. We knew we were going to be staying in a pre-erected tent but thought it was going to be like a hostel with say 30 units, but in tent form. There must have been hundreds of tents. We had strict instructions for our stay. To deter bears and other wildlife, no food in cars or tents, any food must be kept in Bear proof boxes. Unlike most camping we do we were discouraged from preparing our own food. They did have Pizza, Burger and a canteen on site which served good food.



Enough of the negatives though, Yosemite is stunning the Valley in which we are staying nestles amongst stunning rock formations, with the Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, El Kapitan and Cathedral all looking down on us.



We hired a bike, a strange cow-horned handle-barred machine that you had to pedal backwards hard, to brake-a bit tricky! It was great riding the valley, we saw Mirror Lake then walked up towards Vernal Falls on the aptly named mist trail. I have never seen so much water flow over a waterfall, it was truly an amazing, if wet experience.



After two nights in Yosemite it was time to leave the park but it still had its delights to give us. Heading east we ascended to a height of 10000ft into snowy fir clad hills and further amazing views before descending to lush green Toulumne meadows.



We now head north straddling the California/Nevada border.

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Photos

Sea Lions
great visitor attraction on pier 39

San Francisco GPS buggys
you can tour yourself in one of these GPS guided buggys

Cable Car engine room
You could see the cables running that drive the 3 routes around SF