Hello, San Francisco

Ahhh back in the big smoke... Although maybe not quite as homely and relaxing as you might think! San Francisco is one of the biggest cities we have visited so far since our arrival into the states and it was quite the rude shock to the senses!

As usual on the road trip thus far, the trip into San Francisco was not without the onset of stress sweats. Creeping toward the outskirts of the city, the thermometer in the car was reading a high of 36 degrees (Celsius of course) and the fuel gauge was reading dangerously low as we reached some unexpected mountainous country (the climbing, winding, low speed type). With Emma behind the wheel for one of the first times on the trip, we knew we were in for a wild ride. Coasting as much as possible on the downhill and minimising the use of the accelerator on the uphill we finally made it to the next "gas station" and paid an exorbitant amount for a top up to get us to the next town!

When we finally reached town I was back at the wheel and we were met with the overpasses & underpasses of the US highway system. Combined with my navigators reliance on 3G (which we don't actually have) and google maps related orientation we made a few wrong turns before reaching the Bay Bridge which at one point widened to 17 lanes through the toll booths (not enjoyable when we were in the right lane and needed to get across to the left)! A couple of nervous phone calls and 20 minutes later and we made it to meet our San Francisco hosts Anna, James and for the first time Leo.

James took us across to the hotel we were staying at in the centre of town which they had kindly managed to get mates rates for us as they will the run the restaurant, bar and room service for the hotel! For the first time in almost two weeks we enjoyed a real shower and more importantly a bed to sleep in... we felt like royalty!

Now, along with the need for first world conditions our clothes required some serious attention. The smell that had begun to emanate from our bags was becoming unbearable so we walked the streets to find a laundromat and spent the morning doing the necessary cleaning where I honed my Blockus skills and fidgety mcfidget Emma roamed the streets looking for coffee and some pre breakfast treats.

Once the clothes were fresh and clean we headed across town for our Brunch date with our hosts in their other restaurant. Walking through the city we were surprised how quickly the scenes changed, from city to sights to china town followed by little Italy and the parks & gardens. Brunch itself was amazing. The chef and the menu were able to accommodate for all of the weird and wonderful dietary requirements at the table to produce some amazing food!

The whole bay area seemed to be named by the pier it lay beside and we found ourselves at the touristy pier 39 where we indulged in some dark chocolate, played in the gift stores and saw some of the local sea lions.

The best way to see the city was by bike and because ours did not fit and are safely stored up in whistler, we hired bikes and embarked on a lap of town. As well as the usual stops along the route including the Golden Gate Bridge and fishermans wharf where we stopped for some fish and chips, we managed to get ourselves slightly lost and ended up having to make a few hill climbs (luckily without tears) before eventually returning back to union square.

Our trip to Alcatraz was all that we expected and more. The weather was on our side for the day and we were able to do an audio tour which took us through the famous prison and showed us what made the prison so famous - the people inside! There was also a little history tour which gave us some more reason as to why there are so many Mexican people and Mexican related signage; not only is Mexico a neighbour to California... California also used to be part of Mexico before the gold rush of the 1800's when the USA claimed ownership!

During our short burst of city lifestyle, treats were a plenty with chocolates, sorbet and snacks all around. If you look closely in day 14 you can see a picture of Emma enjoying her three favourites things - Bridges, Water and Coconut Sorbet!

We were definitely sad to see San Fran in the rear view mirror having not managed to spend as much time with our hosts as hoped, but we have so many other adventures and exploring to look forward to that we had no other choice but to get back on the road; this time headed east toward Yosemite National Park.