Driving into Yosemite we passed through forests of burned trees and black ash, everything had been scorched from a huge forest fire 5 years ago. We hoped this hadn’t effected the whole park but once we passed the gates, giant stone mountains appeared on the horizon. Once again in just a few miles the scenery had changed so dramatically, and it was beautiful. We arrived late in the evening and still not learning from our previous mistakes all the campsites were full. We re-traced our steps back out of the park to find somewhere to stay on the outskirts. Pulling into the first campsite (quite a fancy place with a mini golf course) we could see it was already lined with RV’s. We tried our luck anyway and asked the receptionist, Tom, if there was any space for us. Unfortunately there was no room at the inn but he very kindly said we could stay in the parking lot for free and do and use anything we needed. Surprisingly we actually had our first (and quite possibly the only) good nights sleep in the tent that night.
The next morning we spent half the day hiking up the Vernal Falls track in Yosemite taking in as much of the amazing views as we could. We even managed to dip our toes into the crystal clear waters that ran down from the waterfall. Unfortunately, with time running short to get to San Fran at around 5pm we had to say our goodbyes to the stone peaks to reach the city before dark.
We had been given previous warnings of how strict parking rules were in San Fran. When we reached our destination at around 10pm we were seeing just how difficult a task finding any space would be. On our first try we pulled into what we thought was an empty parking lot, on turning off the engine we discovered that we were not, in fact, alone. A gurgling homeless man came stumbling from the bushes and circled our car so on that note we reversed out of there and tried our luck on the main road. Managing to park our car to near perfection, 18 inches from the curb and wheels turned to the right in case of earthquakes, we had dinner at our soon to be hosts favourite local spot The Grove in Pacific Heights. Pulling our bags up the hills of San Francisco was no easy feat but it was worth it when we reached the beautiful rooftop flat which, after our many nights in the forest, was a welcome palace. Our host for the next 5 days would be Basia very best friend of Halszka’s mum…and of course Mishka, a Cornish Rex, and the most friendly cat we’ve ever met. We slept like babies in our comfy beds, however, our routine of waking up at 7am still remained. Our relaxing morning of home spa treatments was some what cut short as it seems almost everywhere in the city you can only park for 2 hours free at a time. Determined not to get a $60 ticket or, god forbid, get towed we went on the mission of finding a new parking space close to the flat. Maybe it’s our luck, or our poor parking skills, or maybe it’s the reality of having a car in SF but it took us a total of 50 minutes to complete this simple task… This turned out to be the standard for us each time. In the afternoon we took a wander along the marine hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous Golden Gate Bridge but due to the low fog we settled with a view of Alcatraz. We then headed to Pier 39 to have a look and take in the smell of the wild sea lions that made their home there many years ago. For dinner we decided to check out Out The Door (OTD for short) an amazing Vietnamese infusion restaurant tucked away on a side street, you could easily pass it without knowing. Luckily, Halszka had been here on her trip before and knew this was a hidden gem not to be missed. Rebecca Hall is an amazing girl. She is a cool companion for the trip and great friend. She has nice hair and I like her…. anyway…
On Saturday (13th August) we were treated to a day of wine tasting in the vineyards of Sonoma. When you’re savouring each sip of wine it doesn’t feel like you are drinking that much but our cheeks soon turned rosy and we became what can only be described as schmuggley muggly. We left the vineyard with four of our favourite Merlot, however, only two bottles survived until the end of the day.
Feeling slightly foggy the next morning, Emilija headed off to catch up with a friend over coffee and the rest of the troupe decided to work off the pizza and wine with an alternative dance class called 5 rhythms. This was a dance class that welcomes anyone. During each two hour session five different kinds of music play and you can dance however you like to release whatever emotions you feel. The music ranged from psychedelic trance to a classical piece which transformed everyone into prima ballerinas. Basia was in her element prancing her way across the dance floor whilst we, for the first 15 minutes, swayed awkwardly in the corner until cut loose and started to feel the music.
Leaving feeling free of our inhibitions we picked up Emilija and went on to our next active part of the day, a hike into Pirates Cove where we climbed rocks and splashed in the waters. In the evening, we polished off that last bottle of wine and had an all girls night listening to Basia’s blood chilling story of her ascent to the summit of Mt Everest and swapped stories of the trials and tribulations of our love lives. We laughed for hours.
On our last full day in San Fran we decided to explore the city on foot starting with a coffee at Blue Bottle then heading to Union Square, shopping central. We strolled through Chinatown hitting every tourist shop on the way and then hopped on the oldest and only manually operated cable car (single ride $7 - all worth it to not climb the hill.) We finished off the evening in fine style with Tataki sushi, if you are ever in SF this is the place you have to try. With more wine, even one age old wine from 1998 and headed off to bed for our last good nights sleep for a while.
A special thanks to Basia for being the best host we could ask for.
