#TIMONTOUR - SAN FRANCISCO

Warning this is a suuuuuuper long post!

Its been a while since I've given you a recap of #timontour, sorry about that. Things have been a bit insane around here. Andrew's been busy with work and I've had lots of things to do, plus there's been lots of excitement getting ready for our biggest trip yet to....ALASKA! But enough about that.

For the second week of Tim's visit we went on a road trip leaving Mr Macintosh behind. We spent 3 days in San Francisco and then spent 3 days in Yosemite. This post will cover San Francisco then. Most of the big landmarks you'll have seen before if you've read any of our other San Francisco posts but this time they'll have Tim in them too. 

The first day we did the long drive up and then went to the California Academy of Sciences. It was so much fun. There was an aquarium section, a whale exhibition and my favourite part a rainforest section where you could walk around with butterflies and birds flying round your head. I was amazed, except that no butterflies landed on me. That would have tipped it into the insanely good category. After that we went to find our airbnb place and spent the evening cooking dinner and exploring the local area. 

The second day was probably our most full on day. We woke up early and did all the touristy things. We started off at the piers and caught a boat that took us underneath the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz. It was crazily windy and a bit choppy but so cool. We then went to the Aquarium of the Bay and got to see some pretty cool things, including Andrew's new favourite animal; the sea otter. He even pooped whilst we were watching!

After a lunch at Bubba Gumps (where Tim had the most insanely large meal!) we did some cable car riding, visited the cable car museum, saw the most wiggly street in the world and had coffee at our favourite coffee shop, Saint Franks. We then took a bus to the Golden Gate bridge and walked along it for a bit to get some crazy views back across the city. Had a quick stop for ice-cream before we headed home for some proper food and to rest our poor exhausted feet! 

The third day started with some serious shopping so there aren't a whole lot of photos for that. We then explored Chinatown and did some more cable car riding. We then ran home to change before heading out to our favourite restaurant there, Leopolds. An amazing German place. Tim was rather excited to eat there too! 

The next day we left our amazing airbnb place and had breakfast at La Boulange before heading off to Yosemite! Bit of a whirlwind tour of San Fran but I think this way you understand how insane it all felt for poor Tim who most of the time had no idea where he was. Some days we had to show him on the map where he'd been. He clearly wasn't too sure!! But it was fun!

H 

A VISIT TO THE BAY

I need to preface the original post with the note that we were in no way affected by the earthquake. We didn't even feel a thing. 

We have been pretty quiet on the blog this week as from Tuesday through Friday we were living it up in San Francisco. Andrew and I have been once and have seen some of the sights but there's lots to see up there so we were eager to go back with my parents. Although I have to say I wasn't looking forward to going back to the more English feeling temperatures! 

Tuesday we spent driving up and doing some exploring along the Pacific Coast Highway. The views there are stunning and we really enjoyed just staring at the California coastline. When we arrived in San Francisco we were staying just one block from the Golden Gate Park which was beautiful. 

Wednesday revolved around the West side of the city. We went over the Golden Gate Bridge and looked around the Marin Headlands. Then we had lunch at an amazing place called La Boulange. There was some strolling around the park and exploring the streets before heading to Leopolds for dinner. German fare. It tasted good. 

Thursday we went into the main part of the city by bus, WITH MAC! He loved the bus and was most happy sniffing all the people as they got on and off! Most people were ok with him, except maybe the bloke whose shoe he dribbled on. We walked around the piers and Fisherman's Wharf. We saw seals and Alcatraz. We did some shopping in Market Street and wandered around Chinatown and the Financial District. It was a long day but we saw a lot.

Friday we did a little bit more exploring before driving home via my great Uncle Steve's house who lives in between San Francisco and us. (That makes it sound close but its closer to San Francisco than it is us and that's still 2 hours away!) It was great to see family, even if I was a young teenager when he moved out here. 

Now we are exhausted after our grand tour. I still love San Francisco more than LA, although Pasadena and Santa Monica are nice. Here's a few snaps of the trip.
H

ROAD TRIPPING

Here are some photos of the drive to and from from San Fran.

Setting off early on Friday morning we headed through Mojave and through the mountains on a windy road to the Interstate 5. This was an incredibly straight road going direct to San Francisco, we were joined for some of the drive up by our friend Tim via Skype.

We took the Pacific coast highway back from San Fran on Memorial Day. One word to describe it would be "wow!". You would see amazing views of the coast and then you would pass round another coastal headland and have a whole new stunning view. Just the deepness of the colour blue of the Pacific and the whiteness of the crashing waves was mind blowing. Han did most of the driving of winding roads so I could do the Woodruff thing and get the map out, far more fun than sat nav!

We stopped off for lunch at Monterey; a bustling fish market town stuck out on its own peninsula. Once the capital of California! Recently the old fish canning district had been regenerated so was great  place to stop. We saw a couple seals enjoying a post lunch nap, we also stopped by to see some elephant seals just next to the highway near San Simeon. The beach was full of them!

The road trip turned into more of an adventure than what we had planned as we came off the coastal road to head inland for home. With sat nav not working we relied totally on the map. We decided on a 'small road' that became a 20 mile hair raising gravel track through the mountains, this was followed by an even more sweeping road through the hills and oil fields (as our petrol tank was becoming dangerously low). Looking earnestly for a gas station, passing through towns with gas pump in ruins or closed down, we were getting a lil worried. Thankfully with Han's superb navigating we found petrol and food before heading down the last bit of the Interstate 5, grateful for a straight and predictable road! We had been travelling for 12 hours in total that day so were extremely tired and glad to be back but with loads of memories of a great weekend.

A

Outward Bound

The Return Journey