Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So our penultimate honeymoon chapter, San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. In San Francisco in a bid to save a little money on accommodation we had arranged to stay in an air b&b house. We stayed with a lovely couple Doug and Richard plus their 2 cats Zora and Blue. We dropped off our bags and then headed off to take our camper van back.
San Francisco as it turned out wasn't quite as I'd expected. I think I'd imagined it would be full of happy gay men waving their rainbow flags! Although yes we did see our fair share of gay men, the streets were also absolutely packed full of the homeless. So sad to see so many forgotten neglected people living in such a rich country, it seemed that almost everywhere you turned there was somebody else living on the street and having an in depth discussion with nobody. With even a cursory glance you could see that drugs are a massive problem in San Francisco and the people have a definite hard edge. Although staying with Doug and Richard was a great experience the area in which they lived was a bit of an eye opener. Initially we wondered why they had a big metal gate across their front door but soon learnt why after a little wander round :) ... The lonely planet advised to have our 'urban wits' about us in San Francisco and they weren't wrong. Lets just say I was very glad of my mug proof sensible handbag ..... Thanks Joanne Fleay :)
Anyway mustn't complain! After a while we pretty much accepted that we weren't going to get far in San Fran without someone saying something unusual to us. The first 2 days in San Francisco we had to do sensible things like laundry and sorting out our luggage. But on the Saturday evening we managed to fit in 'Beach Blanket Babylon' a famous San Francisco theatre institution. Absolutely crackers, this was a musical show famous for unbelievably large hats and tenuous links between each song. The whole thing had an 'Alice in Wonderland' quality which I'm sure can only have been dreamt up from illegal substances. All very silly and all very fun!
On the Monday we headed off early to pick up our organised camping excursion to Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. We'd booked this trip in England where it had seemed like a really good idea. Being told where to go and what to do certainly took a lot of getting used to after 3 weeks of pleasing ourselves! We had a really good group with a few fellow scousers although I have to admit hanging out with uni students on my 31st birthday inevitably made me feel a little old :(. Our first stop was a lounge by the beautiful Lake Tahoe and then an evening sunset cruise. Hmm, a perfect way to celebrate my birthday :).
Next day we headed to Yosemite National Park for a walk (or a hike as the Americans term it, which I think sounds 100% more difficult!) to the Vernal Falls. The granite scenery in Yosemite was amazing. The walk itself was only an hour but felt more difficult due to the high altitude but well worth it once we reached the beautiful waterfall. We were sad to leave Yosemite because we felt in that afternoon we had only just scratched the surface and regretted going there on such a short trip. I think I had it in my head that Yosemite would be an inaccessible wilderness but it was actually really easy to get round with a shuttle bus service between the parking and different hiking routes. I think we could easily have spent a week there.
The one thing that worried me the most about Yosemite was the bears! When we were camping we had to lock all our toiletries and food into a bear box and all rubbish had to be locked away into special bins. Thinking about it I didn't really feel as anxious as I thought I would be. Apparently they are scared of people and as long as you talk loudly or make yourself look like a threat if you see one then it's not really an issue. Well with 3 scousers in tow that wasn't really a problem :). On our last day on our way out of Yosemite we were lucky enough to spot a bear from the safety of the mini bus. He was busy crossing a stream and I swear he looked right at us! Maybe I wouldn't have felt quite so relaxed about it if I had seen him face to face.
Next stop, back to a posh hotel in San Francisco for our last 2 days .......
- comments