West Coast First Timers - Day 4, Goodbye San Fran, hello Yosemite!

[abiknox]

Index here

I woke up at 7am this morning which was a bummer as I had hoped for a bit of lie in. Aaron didn’t wake until 8.30am so I spent time Dibbing and Wattsapping my friends filling them in on what we had done so far. It was nice to have a relaxing morning without anywhere we needed to be at a specific time.

Aaron was adamant he wasn’t hungry after last night’s mammoth dinner but I knew in Yosemite we wouldn’t be having a big ol’ American breakfast so I was determined to have one today. I dragged him along and he somewhere along the way he found his appetite! We went to Lori’s Diner as I had heard good things and we had a 20% voucher, it was also very close.

I ordered the Country Breakfast, two pancakes, two bacon, two sausages, two eggs and hash browns! Aaron had the Special Omelette which was stuffed with bacon, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese. I had an OJ while he had a coffee. The food was really good and exactly what we were after. The bill came to $38 before the voucher and we tipped on the full amount.








We popped back to the hotel, packed our last few bits, checked out and left our luggage with reception. It was about 11am by this point and we were picking up the car at 2.30pm. We headed back towards Union Square seeking out the big Williams Sonoma shop on the way, this place has actually overtaken Pottery Barn as being my favourite US home store! Quite some feat It sells the most beautiful things, shame we always have a luggage restriction (and money restriction but I like to pretend I can afford it all!).

We came out with a couple of little things, mainly cocktail stuff for Aaron. My favourite thing was a set of Ice trays to make these little beauts…



Since we have got home they have been filled and they worked amazingly! I can’t wait to have one in my drink



Forever 21 was next, where I managed to pick up a top for $18, then we continued onto Crate and Barrel where for once we came out empty handed and then we finished in the Westfield. To be honest we weren’t really in a shopping mood and really just wanted to get on the road to Yosemite. I was conscious about picking the car up early though as I didn’t want to get charged for an additional day so we killed some time in a Starbucks just people watching.

We gave in at about 1.45 and collected our luggage & dragged it up the hill to the Bush St Alamo. It was very convenient for our hotel. I was envisaging huge queues having read nightmare stories on here about Alamo but we were the only people there when we walked in. I think the fact we were an afternoon collection helped us. The gentleman serving us was sooooo slow though; no wonder queues build up in the height of the summer! The official time on our pick up slip was 2.01pm and we had a beautiful white Hyundai Santa Fe!

Now even though I had booked an SUV, I was a little worried about the size. At home my car is a Daihatsu Copen, also nicknamed the Noddy car! It’s a .750 engine and its teeny tiny! Here is a photographic comparison!


Baby Car!


Beast!

To be fair though, it was actually OK. US roads / parking spaces are so big it makes driving a pleasure doesn’t it!? It was also fabulous to be so high up, I felt like the king of the road! We head out of the garage after taking a couple of minutes to familiarise ourselves with the car. We had US maps on our Sat Nav and also programmed my phone navigation in to help us while it picked up signal so we were good to go. Or so we thought! Neither my phone or the Sat Nav kicked in and we were driving blind. Traffic was also really bad. By the time we had pulled a paper map out and figured which way we needed to go I had driven the block a couple of times. We then got stuck in traffic, and I mean really stuck!

I had programmed Manteca into the Sat Nav as this was our planned stop between here and Yosemite. Sat Nav said 1hr 20 which was about what I was expecting. Phone said 3 hours! I though the phone was wrong so we ignored it but obviously it knew things the Sat Nav didn’t and was right on the money! It took us 2 hours to get on the Bay Bridge due to an accident, what should have taken 15 minutes! It was then very slow moving traffic all the way to Manteca. When we should have been there at about 3.30pm we arrived at 6.30pm! Absolute nightmare. We were so glad to be stopped though and made our planned visit to Walmart! We bought all manner of goodies for our next couple of days at Yosemite, here is pic I took when we finally arrived



This little lot cost us $49 and was a serious waste of money really. We ate bits and bobs while we were there, a fair bit got surrendered to an ant infestation at our lodge and a lot got carried around in the boot all trip before getting binned before we headed to LAX on our last day. Absolute sacrilege when we saw so many homeless people digging through bins but we never had the food with us when we saw them and even though we looked when we were in the car we couldn’t find anyone around. I felt so guilty throwing it away Just shameful.

Anyway, shop done we drove over to Red Robins Gourmet Burgers. The wait for a table was an hour, I hadn’t taken into consideration that it was a Friday night and my heart sank when they told us, until they offered us bar seating! We’ll take it

The food here was really good but I wasn’t in the mood to eat. I really wanted to get back on the road as I knew it was now going to be dark on the road into Yosemite and I was bit nervous about the drive, as well as being gutted we would be missing all the views! I made the mistake of asking our server how long the drive was and she said about 3 hours. She also made a big deal of us going in at night and how it wasn’t a good idea on the treacherous roads! Way to make my nervous feeling even worse!

I had the Cod Burger & Aaron had the Western Burger, mine with onion rings and Aarons with fries. Sorry I only have a pic of mine.



We left at 8pm, programmed the Sat Nav which gave us a drive time of 2hr 20 minutes! That seemed better but I know it does take longer on the winding roads. Thankfully traffic was a lot calmer when we got back on the road. We stopped for fuel on the way & it only cost $13 to fill up. Bargain. We did have a slight panic when about an hour into the journey, neither of us had seen a sign for Yosemite. Aaron had typed in the Sat Nav & he said ‘well its definitely in El Porto isn’t it!?’ Ummmm NO! I said El Portal! Luckily when we checked what he had typed in, he had done it correctly and just after my heartbeat got back to normal we saw a sign for Yosemite!

In the end the drive did only take the 2hr 20 minutes Yippee! The roads were clear all the way in with pretty much no one else around. I imagine it’s a lot slower in the day time when everyone is marvelling over the sights. I just kept my concentration head on & drove. I guess we are more used to winding roads than the Americans but it seemed like a fine journey to me. I guess Aaron was all the merrier as well for not seeing the sheer drops I was wizzing us around. I joke of course, he was moaning at me to hurry up! At one point I did really stress him out swerving for an animal, I think it may have been a racoon but I knew there was no one else around us & it was a knee jerk reaction! Maybe it wasn’t a good idea in hindsight, if I had swerved the other way we would have got to know that sheer drop a little bit better! Eeeek.

Anyway, we arrived at the Yosemite View Lodge at 10.20pm and rushed into the lobby to check in. we were given room 1078 which we were told was a river view which I was hoping for! It was right opposite the lobby so we didn’t have to move the car again which was a joy. We walked into the hotel and it was just gorgeous. Slightly dated décor but why would you want anything else when you’re staying somewhere like Yosemite! The room was enormous, 2 huge King beds and a massive balcony. My eyes just about adjusted to see the river and it sounded incredible. I heard Aaron shout that we had a tiny bath which I was disappointed with, I went to have a look and it was enormous! You could easily fit 4 people in it. It was air spa & had two separate shower heads.




This photo so doesn’t do the bath size justice!

Oooh how happy we were at this point after our disappointing hotel in San Fran and the stressful drive. I ran a bath, Aaron watched Jimmy Fallon & we got to bed just after midnight.

Tomorrow …. Yosemite!

[Pussycat Doll]

Brilliant day, those drops in Yosemite are really something, probably better that it was dark! I drove along the white line in the middle of the road! Looking forward to reading more. Pussycat

[Ruthy1604]

I had to laugh at the stash of food - we did exactly the same and ended up throwing loads away. The taxi driver on the way home in the UK was telling us how he loved twinkies & we threw almost a whole box away

That burger looks delish

[Guest]

I remember when we went to Yosemite from San Francisco. Our overnight was at Merced which we didn't get to until after midnight - all because of a burst tyre in Modesto. The drive is worth it though as I'm sure you are going to reveal.

[MichelleS]

Another good day ,fab read 😃

[Guest]

We got hooked on jimmy fallon! Food looks yummy!

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

Brilliant day, those drops in Yosemite are really something, probably better that it was dark! I drove along the white line in the middle of the road! Looking forward to reading more. Pussycat

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Yes, definitely a good job for Aaron! Middle of the road seems like a good plan.

Originally Posted by Ruthy1604

I had to laugh at the stash of food - we did exactly the same and ended up throwing loads away. The taxi driver on the way home in the UK was telling us how he loved twinkies & we threw almost a whole box away

That burger looks delish

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Its such a shame to waste so much isn't it!?

The burger was nice but I just couldn't appreciate it with the stress of the drive. Im annoyed at myself now, I should have just relaxed.

Originally Posted by geoffa

I remember when we went to Yosemite from San Francisco. Our overnight was at Merced which we didn't get to until after midnight - all because of a burst tyre in Modesto. The drive is worth it though as I'm sure you are going to reveal.

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Its crazy isn't it

Originally Posted by MichelleS

Another good day ,fab read 😃

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Thanks

Originally Posted by princess_chazy

We got hooked on jimmy fallon! Food looks yummy!

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He is brill isn't he, we watch him on Youtube a lot at home, he really makes me laugh.

[lovedisney89]

That was disappointing about the traffic, at least you made it though
That bath looks incredible!

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by lovedisney89

That was disappointing about the traffic, at least you made it though
That bath looks incredible!

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I know, it was a nightmare. The bath was so appreciated!

[orlandosgr8]

Sounds like a great day other than the delay. We encountered similar roads on our visit to the Smoky Mountains