Tags
baseball, Ferry Building, Hotel adagio, Lombard Street, Lori's Diner, pier 39, San Francisco, San Francisco Giants, Sea-lions, The Cheesecake Factory, The Golden Gate Tap Room
Well our excitement started building as we drove back towards San Fran over the Bay Bridge (the old bridge was being dismantled so we were on the new one). We only had a couple of days and had written a long list of all the things we wanted to fit in! Driving in San Fran is a breeze compared to other cities, there doesn’t seem to be much congestion at all. Mike decided he wanted to drive down Lombard Street – the one from Herbie with all of the hairpin bends on a steep slope. This was the other side of town to us and it only added 15 minutes to the journey. It was good to drive it but you couldn’t really see much and we ended up being photographed by the rest of the world that were on foot admiring the wonderful street!
We then dropped our bags off at the hotel before dropping off the car. This time we stayed at the Hotel Adagio this was a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel. The decor was very contemporary, although it did feel like they had done up the lobby and the bar, the main part of the rooms but forgotten about the corridors and bathrooms! We had our best nights sleep of the whole holiday here. The beds were just perfect for us. We also had a lovely corner room with views down the street and across at the wall art.
We returned to San Fran in a mini heat wave. It was so unexpectedly hot for our last few days!
We had an hour settling in before heading out to meet Mike’s friend Ana again. We met in a bar called Jasper’s just round the corner. It was happy hour so time for more cocktails for me and Ana! From here we took a taxi to the ball park to see Giants play Atlanta. Apparently it doesn’t go down well when you ask how does baseball differ from rounders?! I still don’t see much of a difference apart from in rounders people tend to actually hit the ball. This seemed like a game of throw and catch between the pitcher and catcher. I found several ways they could improve the game before it ended 4-2 to the Giants. We did the stereotypical thing and drank beer and ate hot dogs. I was impressed that each seat had a cup holder like the cinema!
From here we walked back into town for a few more cocktails. The next day I felt very, very rough (I really can’t drink anymore!) but I was a brave soldier and got on within enjoying our last full day. My legs were very very stiff from the cycling and hiking in Yosemite so a walking day to try and loosen them seemed a good idea. We walked through the financial district to the old Ferry building. This has been turned into a foodie place and had a farmers market on the outside. We walked both inside and out admiring all if the artisan foods. I had a prosciutto ciabatta and Mike had a cheese and corned beef toastie, we sat outside by the water people and sea-lion watching whilst we ate.
From here we wandered right round the piers to Hyde Street Pier stopping for drinks to rehydrate wherever we needed it (soft drinks today!). We had a good look round Pier 39 – which has lots of shops and hundreds of sea lions on the end!
After this walk we went to Ghirardelli posh chocolate factory. We shared a brownie and Mike had a big dirty shake amusingly called the Nob Hill Chill.
This was to prepare us for our next hike. We walked up the very steep hill to Lombard Street so that we could see it by foot. Thankfully one side of the street was shaded on the walk up. Some crazy people were actually cycling up the hill. When we got to Lombard Street it was as busy as the day before but it was good to walk down the hill and see it from the bottom with lots of cars on. From here we wandered through the streets back to the hotel. We saw a broken cable car being pushed up the hill by a snow plough, they hadn’t even taken the people off so I hope it didn’t run away from the plough!
The only things we missed off our list was the Coit Tower (because it was closed), drinking Irish coffee at the Bueno Vista (too hot) and the cable car museum (shopping in air conned malls won!).
We freshened up, after the 6ish mile walk, before heading out for our last tea. Mike chose an old school diner – Lori’s Diner. It was full of old radios, juke boxes and memorabilia, the seats were the glittery red 50’s style booths. The food was good but we ordered too much and only ate half of it. After this we went back to the Golden Gate Tap Room where I made the mistake of teaching Mike how to play Skeeball. Now I can’t beat him!
Our last morning was spent exploring the shops, staying in the air con and finished up with our last meal of the holiday at The Cheesecake Factory. This was yummy and a great way to end the day before we were whisked off to the airport for our trip home. The holiday has flown by, although it seemed like forever since we were last at home or even in Thailand.
We have had an amazing adventure. We just hope we win the lottery this weekend so we can stay exploring for a little bit longer…
It’s a very hard place to leave. You would be really disappointed if you had to drive away from the valley to stay outside the park in the evening. The park really quietens down in the evening so its magic is much more accessible. There are talks programmes and theatre shows about the parks on at each of the resorts in the evenings but we were pretty exhausted from our days activities and found it hard to get tea in before things closed at 8pm. We are used to eating much later. 
On our first full day we hired bikes from the Lodge for the day. The guys here were very nice and helpful. The bikes were kind of interesting and took some time to get used to. They were beach cruisers (or something like that) basically sit up and beg style sitting position with huge wide handlebars, and fat tyres but the fun bit was they didn’t have any conventional breaking system. To stop you had to pedal backwards. This took some getting used to!!! My natural instinct is to take my feet off the pedals when I want to stop, and this doesn’t really help. The other thing I found hard was setting off as you can’t back pedal to get the pedal in the right position. Anyway in the crowds, you can imagine the number of near misses! 
There is a wonderful cycle track around the valley floor, about 12 miles of track, which covers all the ground that the free shuttle buses operate. It was fabulous peddling when every now and then you get a flash of the granite face between a break in the trees, or you cross a bridge over a sweeping river with big trees and beaches on its banks. It makes you feel a little funny inside and makes you want to stop so you can just say ‘wow’ to yourself! There are points of interest all around the tracks they pass through each of the resorts and also through the village. There are bike racks everywhere so you just had to remember the number printed on your bike as everyone had the same bikes! We stopped to do a few hikes along the way and to grab food and drinks. 
Our first stop was in the village where we looked at the Ansel Adams Gallery – I would call this more of a shop than gallery! Then we had a look around the museum before grabbing a delicious ($10) sandwich in Degnan’s deli. We then cycled onto Mirror Lakes where we did an hours walk up the valley to the lake (that is more accurately described as a puddle on the side of a stream!) The views were stunning, and especially so when we climbed up the track a bit further than the regular tourist stopping point. We had great views of the Half Dome. From here we cycled onto Happy Isles and then onto Curry village where we had a small pizza to share and got a break in the shade. 
From here we then cycled up the valley floor, along the river and meadows stopping to watch the stream of weddings going through the little chapel. This really seems to be the place to get hitched and it really is a beautiful place to do it. After this we turned and went over the swinging bridge which gave views back across to Yosemite Falls. There were pretty picnic areas and beaches all around. Onwards we went, passing back through our Lodge and went and did another walk up to the viewing point for Yosemite Falls. I have never seen a waterfall so busy with people. It totally ruins the magic of it. Or maybe it’s that after a 3 month holiday I’m a bit waterfalled out! 
We then dropped off the bikes before sipping, very well earned, champagne on the balcony (thanks Katie)! 
Our second day was another busy one. We took the Glacier Point bus tour on a one way ticket. Our driver was fabulous, he had so much information and good stories, I was disappointed we weren’t travelling back down with him as we were going to miss out on so much more. The journey was about an hour and a half to get up there and the point is about 1000 metres about the valley floor, he just has to go a long way round to get there. We hopped off the bus and admired the views. Again more breathtaking moments. Half dome is so weird from this angle. You really do see the half dome! There was also snow around, as snow had fallen the previous week. It was still quite deep in the shady spots. From here we made our decent. There were two options: the panorama trail or the 4 mile trail (which is actually almost 5 miles!). We took the 4 mile trail so that we still had time to do stuff when we got to the bottom, we were told that the other trail was a 6 hour walk. 
The one we chose was lovely, winding through the trees, and lots of people coming the other way asking if they were nearly there. We upset a lot of them by telling them they were nowhere near! I desperately wanted to see a bear but it wasn’t going to be. We did see plenty of lizards out sunning themselves on the rocks and several deer ambling around the woods. If you are thinking about this walk do be warned it is very steep downhill all the way with no real let up. There are lots of switchbacks on the route too. Having said that, the views across, along and down into the valley are incredible. You won’t be disappointed. 
Back in the valley we had our lunch sat by the river, keeping an eye out for a bear trying to steal my beef sandwich but alas – I couldn’t even tempt him with that! 
Once we got back we had a quick stop at the room before wandering down to The Adawahnee. The walk from the village up to the hotel (about a mile) was lovely and weaves in and out of the trees with big rocks between the trees and across the other side you had more views of the meadows. We had intended doing a naturalist guided walk that started here but instead sat on their patio drinking cocktails in the sunshine and admiring the view, surrounded by yet more wedding parties. From here we did walk back to the village as it was soooo pretty but then we decided to get the shuttle back to the Lodge from the village. 
We had such a wonderful time here. The day on the bikes was my second favourite day of the holiday. I highly recommend Yosemite to anyone that loves the mountains but I will be very jealous if you see a bear! 
We drove out of the park the next morning stopping at the Iron Door Saloon, the longest continually serving bar in California (or so it claims)! The food was very good standard American fayre. Here I saw the only bear of the trip. The bar is in Groveland and is a must stop if you are passing by – even if just to learn a bit about its history… 
1wonkeydonkey 