Day 118 - 21 Oct '23 - Yosemite National Park. It was an uneventful night, no arguing neighbours or spaced-out druggies, so we had a decent enough sleep. I do think though, that the kids have now recovered from Disneyland, as they were awake at the usual time. Alas, this will mean arguments at bedtime again!
Today we drove to Yosemite National Park. At one point it took us 40 minutes to drive just two kilometres, as there was a massive queue to get through the access gates into the park.
This park is actually a UNESCO one, and has some incredible rocks that are popular with climbers. It is a seriously massive park, at just under 750,000 acres, but we were just going to a very small section called the Valley.
Everywhere was really busy, and there were no accommodations available anywhere in the park. Cars filled every possible carpark and pull-off bay. Lots of people were out picnicking or walking the trails or just taking photos.
There were some terrifying drops along the road to the Valley, but they yielded some amazing views, particularly of the Half Dome.
We had our own picnic lunch at Cathedral Beach, which was at the base of El Capitan and the Three Brothers.
El Capitan is a 2307m high granite mountain, that has been climbed since the 1960s. Alex Hobbold made history a couple of years ago, when he was the first person to free solo climb it (well, an 887m route, but still...NO ROPES! Watch Free Solo...).
There were patches of smouldering ground in this park also, and signs up advising of their prescribed burns.
We drove to our motel in Sonora, halfway between Yosemite and San Francisco, our next major stop. As predicted, the kids were back to being little shits in bed.
"He's on my side!"
"Her leg is touching me!"
"Stop moving!"
"YOU stop moving!"
Blah blah blah.
"It's now 9pm and you've been in bed for an hour. You obviously don't want to sleep in your beds, so you can sleep on the floor."
So, down onto the floor they went.
"Can we have our sleeping bags?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Because you had a perfectly good bed to sleep in, which you have chosen not to, so you can sleep on the hard floor."
9:15pm. Still not asleep, and not even trying to be. Abi kept sitting up to check on what Alex was doing. Alex was mucking around with pillows and sticking his hand down his pyjama bottoms.
"Okay, so you don't want to sleep lying down, so you can both stand in the corners of the room and sleep there!"
9:30pm and there was a bit of drama when Alex spotted a cockroach near his bag. Dan squished it, but it fell into Alex's rucksack, so then that had to get emptied and the cockroach killed.
9:35pm and Abi kept going on about Alex standing on her bag, on her bag straps, on her clothes.
"Right! You can stand outside!" Dan said as he opened the door to the unit.
9:40pm and we brought Abi back inside (just to keep her safe).
10pm.
"Can I have a drink of water?"
"Nope."
"Can we go to bed?"
"Nope."
"So we're going to be here all night?"
"Yes, and when Daddy and I go to bed soon, you will continue to stand there except it will be in the dark."
And just as I said, when Dan and I got into bed and switched the lights off at 10:30pm, they were still standing in the corner.
You'd think that would be incentive enough for them to be quiet and stand still...
10:45pm and Alex was told to stop making shadow puppets.
11pm and Abi was told to take her arms out of her pyjamas.
FINALLY at 11:15pm, they had both got the idea of standing still and being quiet.
"What do you have to say for yourselves?"
"Sorry for not lying quietly and going to bed when you told us."
"Would you like to sleep in your beds?"
"Yes please."
"Okay - get in your beds, but be warned, there will be no second chances."
They climbed into bed, and they were still and silent. Long may it last.
Day 119 - 22 Oct '23 - Sonora to Daly City.
"It's 7:30am, can we get up now?"
FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST!!
"NO!"
"Can we read our kindle?"
"NO!"
"Well, what can we do?"
"YOU CAN LIE THERE AND BE QUIET!"
"But we've been quiet."
"Well you can keep being quiet as you clearly need the practice!"
This morning we had an 11am checkout, with no breakfast supplied, and only a three hour drive to our destination. This meant we had zero need to get up, and could have a sleep-in. Bloody kids.
Today we were making our way to a place called Daly City, near San Francisco, our second-to-last big city to visit in the States. We had plenty of time to kill, as check-in to our Airbnb wasn't until 4pm, so we went to the biggest mall in the city. At least, it said it was the biggest mall - all we saw was the food court! Oh, and we walked through Bloomingdale's.
Outside the carpark smelled of wee, and there were a number of druggies and homeless wandering around. Signs in the carpark that told us to lock up the car and ensure our valuables were safe, were not anything new, but seeing them every two metres was!
"I don't think we should hang around here for too long," Dan said as we paid the parking, and avoided the man randomly shouting things while searching for food in the rubbish bin.
We stopped 'briefly' ("we won't be long Dan, I'm sure") at an outdoor equippers so I could buy some waterproof trail shoes. Living out a rucksack means we can only have one pair of shoes, and trainers won't keep our feet either warm or dry in winter. Time to upgrade! Only Dan and I managed to get ours today though, so we'll need to try elsewhere for the kids.
We eventually (sorry Dan!) got to our accommodation, driving through some lowering cloud. It was a lot colder at just 19°C, but the cloud should lift tomorrow, which should enable us to see San Francisco!
Day 120 - 23 Oct '23 - San Francisco day one. What a wonderful sleep in! For the first time since I-don't-know-when, we all had our own rooms. There was no noisy air conditioner. No noisy neighbours. Just silence.
The kids went to sleep in mere minutes, and even though they woke well before us, they quietly watched TV and had breakfast.
We had a really, really lazy start to the day, and didn't leave the house until 10:30am. Our plan was to use the public transport system to get into town, but when we went to buy our passes we found out they don't operate quite the same as other cities.
We worked out it would cost us $39USD just to get into the city each day, plus more money for the other trains and buses, as well as take about an hour to get there.
"Public transport is supposed to make things easier and cheaper," Dan pointed out, "but that's just stupid. We'll just drive in. It will only take us 15-20 minutes and the parking will be the same price."
I had a list of places to see and things to do while in San Francisco, and first on our list was a visit to the Golden Gate Park.
What a lovely wee park! We drove around a little of it, and stopped beside a lake to have our lunch.
"Look at all the seagulls," Alex said. "Quack, quack."
"What? Ha ha ha ha ha! Seagulls don't go 'quack'!" I laughed.
"They're not ducks, Alex," Abi pointed out.
"Did Alex actually say that, Nic, or are you just making fun of him?" Dan asked me.
"Nope - he actually said that! That's why I laughed! Can't expect much from someone who thinks a horse flaps it's wings!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha," laughed Dan.
"Look at me," Abi said, as she ran around flapping her wings. "I'm a horse!"
"You guys are mean," Alex said. "How long are you going to tease me for?"
"Oh, AGES! Auntie Jasmine still gets stick for her pheasant/peasant Pictionary fail, and that was YEARS ago!"
There were also turtles in the lake, and one of them in particular seemed very tame. It came right up to the water's edge, clearly looking for food, and even took some bread from Alex's hand!
The Park had three paid gardens to visit; a Japanese tea garden, a botanic garden, and a conservatory of flowers. We chose the latter, as the blurb said they had rare flowers to see.
It was much smaller than the other two, and I'm not sure we saw any rare flowers, but the kids certainly loved it, if the 104 billion photos on my phone are anything to go by!
There were some beautiful orchids, and some impressive pitcher plants, as well as a to-buy potted plant section that had some gorgeous plants I would have bought, including some I already owned (and much cheaper than you could buy them for in New Zealand).
After the garden, we went to the Twin Peaks, two hills in the middle of the city that give 360° views. Of course, the low cloud that was being blown around meant we didn't get to see much. We could barely see Alcatraz, and couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge.
Rather than see anything else today, we then decided to just head home, and keep our trip to San Francisco a relaxing/recuperating one. We went to a local hairdresser for Dan and Alex to get their haircut; it was better by far than the last one, but not as good as the original barber cut.
Alex and Abi then made dinner! Spaghetti bolognese is something they've made a number of times before, so it was quite nice to not have to cook, although I did have to help a lot...
Day 121 - 24 Oct '23 - Alcatraz. We woke after another great sleep, to more fog. I did a bit of research online, and discovered San Francisco actually has on average 108 days of fog a year, mostly in summer. It's a scientific phenomenon to do with the elevation, close proximity to the sea, and other factors, that results in an advection fog that stays for days on end at a time.
It does mean our view will be obscured again, but I'm hoping it will also make for some interesting photos.
Alcatraz started life as a fort, then became a military prison, before changing to a federal one in 1934. It lasted until 1963, when then-attorney general Robert F. Kennedy closed it, due to prisons switching from incarceration to rehabilitation.
Alcatraz was certainly a miserable-looking prison. The cells were tiny - a mere 5' wide, 9' long, and 7' high. Inmates had a bed, a shelf, a small fold-down table and chair, and a toilet and sink.
The exercise yard was cold and windy, and they could only play cribbage, backgammon, checkers, hearts, or dominoes. Their meals, however, were apparently the best in the prison system!
There were 14 escape attempts over the years, and only three people are unaccounted for, although it is widely assumed they are dead; the movie Escape from Alcatraz fictionalised their escape.
The prisoners on Alcatraz were mostly transfers from other prisons; inmates who were incorrigible or had escape attempts. Of the 1595 prisoners there, only 70 were sent there initially.
When they arrived on the island, they were presented with a rule book of how they were expected to behave. I particularly like rule number five (something we've reminded our kids often when they step out of line!):
When we got back to the mainland, we went to Pier 39, an apparently famous pier, that had loads of restaurants and shops. It's also where sea lions come every year, but it was unfortunately the wrong season for us to spot any.
We went home after that, and again enjoyed a lazy afternoon, with Alex and Abi doing a couple of hours of schoolwork while Dan and I watched TV. Taking a break from the constant travelling is certainly helping us recuperate; it gets quite tiring having to always find somewhere to stay.
Day 122 - 25 Oct '23 - San Francisco sightseeing. Today was one I designed to be solely looking at the landmarks and recommended places of interest. Once more, we had a slow start to the day, but the major difference was NO FOG! Blue skies and a freezing wind were all we faced.
We decided to go back to the Twin Peaks to get a better view of the city, and the kids and I also climbed up the stairs to the tops of both peaks.
Boy, was the wind cold! And strong too! There was a great view from the tops, but to be honest, no different from the warmth of the car...where Dan stayed.
Our first drive-by site was the Painted Ladies, a group of houses made famous from the opening sequence of Full House. A 'painted lady' refers to a Victorian era house, built in America, that uses three or more colours of paint to highlight the features or architecture.
They were very pretty buildings, but their colours were somewhat subdued. The light at this time of day won't have helped, either.
We then drove to Lombard Street, the steepest street in San Francisco. This is the one that part of it has a one-way zigzag road with gardens. It was like driving in a continuous parking garage, the corners were so tight. The angles for photos didn't quite make it stand out, and the gardens had ceased blooming, so it wasn't as pretty as I'm sure it could be. It sure was a steep street though!
After parking the car in town, our first walking stop was to Fisherman's Wharf. We stood drooling outside the restaurants, looking at their fish and chips, and fish tacos, and fried fish sandwiches.
"Luckily we're all looking forward to our cheese and jam sandwiches!" I said with bravado.
At the end of the wharf was Ghirardelli Square, the site of San Francisco's premiere chocolate factory. What better to have on a cold and windy day, than an icecream sundae? We were sitting quite happily eating our sundaes when a passer-by stopped to ask if we wanted a photo!
Once we'd finished, we hopped on one of the famous cable cars. They recently celebrated their 150th anniversary, and the rattle and noise of the car certainly felt like it!
We got off at Chinatown, the largest Chinatown outside of China (I know, that sounds strange, since China isn't a town, but that's how they promote it). There were some lovely side streets with lanterns hanging between them, but I think it would have been more impressive to see during one of their festivals.
We walked past the Transamerica Pyramid building on our way, which is the second tallest building in San Francisco, and an incredible shape. (It was the tallest until 2018).
After that, we carried on to the Filbert Street steps, which are, you guessed it, steps on Filbert Street! I had no idea when we started them, where the steps would end.
"Where are we going, Nic?" Dan angrily asked, as we reached yet another break in the steps caused by a street running through them.
"I don't know!" I laughed.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!!"
It turned out there were 384 calf-and-thigh-killing steps. All four of us were feeling it by the time we got to the top, and then we climbed up even more steps to get to the top of Telegragh Hill to see the Coit Tower (a happy surprise, as I didn't realise we were heading there).
This was a tower gifted to the people of San Francisco to 'beautify the skyline'. Inside, all the walls were covered in a continuous mural. The lift to the top of the tower was broken, but we were allowed to walk up, and pay $10USD each for the privilege! No thank you...
We then walked back down the hill and streets to go to a Diego Rivera trompe l'oiel, a perspective-based mural. This was one of his more famous ones, as it was a mural within a mural, of painters painting a mural. Unfortunately, the San Francisco Art Institute where it was painted, was closed to the public and was now an abandoned building.
As we were about to walk back across the road, we stopped to let a car with cameras mounted all over it go past.
"Hey look! It's one of those photo cars we've seen!" Alex said. "That's number four!"
Boy, did we get a fright as it went round the corner and up the road, WITH NO DRIVER!!
It turned out there are loads of these autonomous cars driving around San Francisco as taxis, and all the spinning cameras (on the roof, the bumpers, and the wing mirrors) are detecting traffic and road signs. Pretty cool to see though!
On the way home, we made one more stop, at Cupid's Span. This was an enormous bow and arrow at the waterfront walkway. (Thanks to Abi for being the photographer - I'm the miniature person with white-looking shoes!).
Day 123 - 26 Oct '23 - San Francisco. A day of nothing but chilling out. Got out of bed about 9:30am...
...aarrggh my calves!...
...and after breakfast, Dan did some work on his computer while I looked for accommodation for when we leave tomorrow.
After lunch we went to Target to find some Hallowe'en costumes for the kids. We will be in Seattle, so hopefully near some streets we can go to, or a community-based event at least.
We managed to find some cheap costumes, and even better, they were on sale! I could have spent a fortune on their decorations, and they've even brought out the Christmas stuff. One thing this trip is definitely helping with, is being a sucker for commercialism!
As a surprise, we then took the kids to a 'pumpkin patch' in the parking lot. We've seen loads of them on our recent travels - they are massive inflatable slides and bouncy castles, all pumpkin or fall themed, and you can buy carving pumpkins there too.
It was a very chilly wind, and Dan and I had our jackets zipped up, as we sat on hay bales and waited for the kids' time to run out. At least the sun was warm, and Alex and Abi had lots of fun (and burned off some energy).
When we got back to the house, we all sat on the couch and watched a movie, then ate dinner, then watched another movie! (Which was great, as my calves have felt like they've been getting stabbed with every step!)
It has been super relaxing being in a house again, with space to move around, as well as space we can all go to be by ourselves. Travelling across North America has been fabulous, but it definitely has tested us all!
Day 124 - 27 Oct '23 - San Francisco to Eureka. Our final relaxing morning and sleep-in for a little while. It was another gorgeous day, and thankfully the wind had stopped, even though it was a bit cool at just 12°C! I think the time for shorts has now finished.
Before we left San Francisco, we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge.
The cables on this bridge are seriously huge. There are 27,572 wires in each cable, which has a 92cm diameter, and each cable is 2.3km long!
Back on the road - it was another four-and-a-half hour drive to our motel in Eureka. We drove through some lovely scenery, as it got hillier and tree-ier. (I know that's not a word, but it should be!).
We were in Californian Redwood territory, and one road in particular was extremely narrow as it wound through the trees. There was even a chunk missing from one tree that must have been taken out by a truck.
We arrived in Eureka just before dinner, and first thing we did was turn on the heater in the room. Not only are our shorts going to be packed away, but I don't think an air conditioner will be needed anymore either.
For dinner, we had American KFC! Well, everyone apart from Abi, who had sushi. This KFC was super crunchy, crunchier than any we've ever had in NZ, and came with six different sauces! Sooo yummy!!
We've got just under three weeks left before we head to the UK, so we're back on the road again for the next few days to get higher up the country. Hopefully the weather stays nice!
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