A bit more of a lie in this morning, and any chance to get down to see the Bay to Breakers race had gone, today we were switching to Yosemite and did want to try and get there before the sun started to set and with Google being our friend it looked like a long 5 hour plus drive.
After the morning routine, we checked out, leaving our bags with bell services before heading down North Point Street to find our breakfast place for today, which was the Hollywood Cafe.
After breakfast we got another bus from just over the road, which headed down parallel to Chinatown into the main Union Square area of the city. The Avis office was on Post street and was crowded and it seemed to take for ages to actually get our car. We had booked a Ford Mustang Convertible but was offered (for a small upgrade) a Volvo, but after confirming that the Mustang had a bigger boot and knowing the amount of bags we had, we stayed with the Mustang.
The Drive back to the hotel was easy, especially as it was still before 11am on a Sunday, we did see a few people in fancy dress obviously runners from the bay to breakers had headed back into town after the race, but we were soon back at the hotel, the bell guys managed to get 1 suitcase into the boot, but the other one and my laptop rucksack had to go on the back seat, but this could only be achieved by taking the top down. And so we were on our way around 11:30 for the long drive. I was to take the first leg until a late lunch and Celia would take over for the second half.
We had hoped to drive up Hyde Street and turn left into Lombard street and get to drive down the crooked street, but you can't do a left into Lombard from Hyde so had to make a later left and headed towards the bay bridge.
Driving through the city in a Convertible was a nice experience and you get a good view especially at a weekend when the traffic is not too bad. We were soon over the bridge and the first part of the journey is motorways so not much to see but the wind was howling around the car as we had the top down. The temperature started to rise as we headed into the valley and the urban and suburban views gave way to farm land and the odd small town.
But the towns also get less and less frequent, We went through Oakdale at 1pm where they were having a Chocolate festival, but we had planned to only have lunch at 1:30 so decided to carry on, this may have been a slight error as after Oakdale the towns just disappeared and we drove on for another hour seeing no signs of civilisation with the slight exception of Chinese junction population 13. We then found the road went from long straight and empty to very hilly, and we started to climb.
At the top of the hill we saw a cafe, Priest Station it was 2:30 and we were both hungry so we had no other choice than to stop, and we were so glad we did. The food was great and reasonably priced which as there had been nothing for over an hour was a good sign. I had a burger and Celia a salad. We both had the Lemonade which was divine. We would so recommend this as a stopping point.
Refreshed from our lunch and a nice chat with a local couple we continued on, just after the priest station we entered Groveland which is an alpine looking town and from there we were soon entering the Stanislaus national forest.
and from there we continued directly into Yosemite. (at 4pm)
It took another hour of driving through Yosemite until we reached the valley floor but the views on the way were stunning.
We had booked 2 nights in the Ahwahnee hotel and we got there just after 5pm, there was some confusion on the tour we had booked the following morning as the desk clerk said that it was cancelled and we would have to speak to the concierge to rebook, but on speaking to the concierge it was just the change from 9am to 10am that we had had an email about 2 months ago.
Driving all that way had resulted in both of us having got a small bit of Sunburn, but we also decided that I needed a hat, so we had a look in the gift shop, but they only had full wide brimmed ones and it would be unlikely that I would wear it again, so we tried the Candy store, which also had some baseball caps, so that seemed like a better choice.
We had been given a room in the cabins which was a nice but basic room, it was a bit of a shame that will all the lovely views, our view from our window was of the maintenance area.
But we were not there to sit in the room. We didn't even unpack for this short stay, just moved the food into the fridge/plastic box to keep the smells from the bears. We had a reservation in the Dining room that evening and after a long drive that was the limit to our experience.
The food at the dining room was OK, but just OK. Celia had a Pork chop and I had pulled pork pasta disk. We both then headed back to our cottage for an early night, tomorrow we would get to explore the valley properly.
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