Yosemite

Yosemite National Park lies about 200 miles east of San Francisco and we thought while in Rome………let’s go and see the Half Dome.

It is a long drive so we decided to leave San Francisco early to take full advantage. We woke early for us this trip; 6.30am and got ready to hit the road. On the route we crossed San Francisco’s other bridge, the Bay Bridge. S and A feel that this bridge needs a revamp to compete with its much more famous cousin along the Bay. We thought it could maybe be painted an appealing pink or purple colour to stand out. Or maybe both? Your thoughts on this would be gratefully appreciated.

Anyway the drive was not all that interesting apart from a very friendly man at the petrol station who was from Saudi Arabia. He had interesting views on learning about the two world wars ‘it’s all done, get over it!’ not sure if the history teachers in us agree with him.

We made our way to the Yosemite National Park boundary and were met with a nice ranger, hat and all. For those of you unsure, Yosemite is one of the world’s most dramatic geological spectacles. Its valley is the most spectacular and is 7 miles long and less than a mile wide. It’s walled by near-vertical three-thousand-foot cliffs, streaked by tumbling waterfalls and topped by domes and pinnacles that form a jagged silhouette against the sky (A would like to thank the Rough Guide for this description).

The reason it is a National Park is all down to a Scot. You can almost hear A’s mum’s heart exploding with pride at this fact. John Muir who was originally from Dunbar campaigned to protect Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove and as a result Abraham Lincoln decreed this as America’s first protected wilderness in 1864. You would think fighting a Civil War would have consumed a lot of Abe’s time in this year but obviously not. Us pesky Scots always have a way of getting what we want.

After we said goodbye to our welcoming ranger we made our way down to Yosemite Valley. It’s about 14 miles of long and windy roads with spectacular views to reach the valley floor. Once we had reached the floor the views were simply incredible. We took in the El Capitan and parked our car in the shadow of the Half Dome. We walked a short distance amongst sky scraping trees to the visitor centre and explored a replica Native American village. When white Americans and Europeans flooded the area due to the Gold Rush in the 1840s and 1850s the Native Americans in the area refused to move from their native homeland of Yosemite which they had inhabited for 4,000 years. Gradually over the years their settlements have become less and less and nowadays Yosemite is inhabited more by tourists than anyone else.

We took a short shuttle bus to Yosemite Falls, a phenomenal waterfall that flows off one of the sheer cliffs. We walked up the trail and came to a fantastic vista point that allowed for the more adventurous to scramble up the rocks to a lagoon directly underneath the waterfall. We decided to get cool in the water pools and submerged ourselves. S could’ve been mistaken for Daniel Craig a la James Bond when he came out the water if it weren’t for the Rihanna T-shirt.

A applied another generous application of sun block as soon as she was out of the water. We all can’t be gloriously tanned like the native Californians. The temperature was 36degrees in the valley and the sun was fierce. A didn’t want to look like a Brit abroad.

We decided to scramble the rock to the bottom of the waterfall and gained spectacular views of the Valley and the Half Dome. We sat on a rock near the lagoon, soaking in the views and admiring the amateur divers. All we’ll say is the divers for Team GB have nothing to worry about come the Olympics.

We made our way back to the valley floor and walked amongst the giant trees. Words and images cannot describe Yosemite Valley. If you are ever in California we would highly recommend a visit. A could’ve stayed another week but she would’ve had to ship the sunscreen down by the lorry load.

We are currently driving back to San Francisco, ready to be smacked in the face by the mist and the cold. We’ll have to do it in 3 weeks anyway when we return to Edinburgh so we’re getting in some practise now. Although when we post this we will have finished our drive but A needs to keep her idle thumbs busy.

Until next time,

Much love

S&A

Prison and Wine in San Fran

We’ve been in San Francisco for the last 4 days and our time is unfortunately coming to an end. The last time we left you we had arrived and were heading to Alcatraz for the night time tour. We made our way to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to ‘The Rock’. We walked there from our hotel near the Civic Centre and experienced some of San Francisco’s famous steep inclines. Edinburgh is relatively flat in comparison! We made it to Pier 33 and joined the queue (line) for the ferry. In the queue we had our photo taken by a photographer to buy on our return. Let’s just say the subsequent photo would put Al Capone’s mugshot to shame.

We boarded the ferry and made a very windy 10 minute trip to Alcatraz. San Francisco’s climate is similar to Scotland bar the rain. We were glad to be kitted out in jeans and hoodies. We docked at Alcatraz and were greeted with a sign that told us we had arrived at one of America’s most notorious high security prisons. The buildings are wasting away and run down but this all added to the atmosphere. After a history free start to our trip in LA S and A were glad to have an overdose of facts, anecdotes and trivia which they are sure to bore their nearest and dearest with on their return. Did you know that a pig’s gestation period is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days? Now you do!

We were met with our enthusiastic tour guide who led us up a steep path to the main prison. She regaled us with a story of a prisoner who tried to escape, drowned and was eaten by crabs. Not sure if we ever will fancy crab from the San Francisco area any time soon.

We then embarked on an audio tour of the prison which was fascinating. We don’t want to give too much away as we would thoroughly recommend the tour. It was totally awesome!

Our ferry trip back was windy and cold but the nighttime views of the San Francisco Bay made up for it. We then decided to take a gritty walk back to the hotel through San Francisco’s downtown where A was asked by a homeless man if she could buy him a cheeseburger. A pretended she was poor and quiet, the latter requiring all of her acting skills to pull off.

After our walk on the wild side we headed to bed to rest before our trip to check out the rest of San Francisco in the morning.

We had definitely been bitten by the tourist bug as our second day in San Francisco was an explosion of sightseeing, wide eyes and compulsive photo taking. We took in the Castro district which is decorated with rainbow flags that celebrate its LGBT roots and culture.

We visited the shop that Harvey Milk set up in the 1970s before he was assassinated and bought some items from the Equality for Everybody shop that has now taken its place.

After some more exploring of the shops in Castro we had a spot of lunch and headed to the landmark that is synonymous to San Francisco; the Golden Gate Bridge. S drove like a true professional over it and we parked on the other side to take a walk (and numerous photos) over it.

It was every bit as good as it looks. It was fog free and we managed to get fantastic views of the city. It was one of those surreal moments when you can’t quite take in what is in front of you. We also had a reminder of home with the blowing wind.

Keeping with our tourist behaviour we visited the zig-zag street at Lombard street and S drove perfectly down it. We then headed to Fisherman’s Wharf where we dined at Boudin’s Bistro. We shared a goats cheese starter and S opted for fish tacos and A had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Delish!

Our waiter, Carl, was great and even treated us to a pint of San Francisco Ale as well as two glasses of Napa Valley’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon. A was in heaven! He also gave us directions to Napa Valley so we could go and check out the vineyards in person.

After our meal we decided to go and check out the nightlife of the Castro and headed for a nightcap. By the time we got to bed we were zonked. It had been a busy day.

We had a bit of a long lie the following morning and didn’t wake until 10.00am. We decided to check out Napa Valley which is an hour’s drive from San Francisco and famous for its vineyards and winemaking. It was cold as we left San Francisco but as soon as we were over the mist enveloped Golden Gate Bridge the temperature began to rise. By the time we reached Napa Valley it was 102degrees, about 38degrees celsius. It was hot! What else to do but taste some wine at one of the vineyards that line the main road of the valley. We opted for Beringer Vineyard which is just after the town of St Helena at the top of the valley. We took a tour of the wine cellars and caves and tasted 2 beautiful wines. A and S felt they had won the lottery and forgot their teacher salaries for a while. They were brought back to earth with a bump when they discovered the delicious wine was $30 a bottle.

The grounds of the vineyard were perfectly groomed and home to a spectacular house built by one of the first owners Frederick Beringer who was an immigrant from Germany.

After our wine tasting we headed back to San Francisco and checked out China Town. We got some food in one of the restaurants and decided to hang out in the most Chinese of all places-Starbucks. This, may we add, was to get free WiFi. While we were engrossed in our phones a homeless man came in and poured milk all over the floor. Cue a confrontation between him and a sassy Starbucks employee. We were oblivious to all of this until we were asked to leave as they decided to shut early. Another reason for us to love the grittiness of San Francisco.

Yosemite was our next call. Blog post imminent.

Much love

S&A