Mariposa California

After leaving lovely San Francisco on a Friday afternoon we were met with a little traffic.

We navigated through it and made it safely out of the city.
Our next leg on this journey takes us to Mariposa, Ca. to visit Yosemite National Park.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariposa,_California
Mariposa is a quaint little western town with lots of shops on the main drag!
http://www.visitmariposa.net/

I booked us a night at the Best Western 

so we will be close to Yosemite in the morning!

http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/US/CA/Mariposa-hotels/BEST-WESTERN-PLUS-Yosemite-Way-Station-Motel/Hotel-Overview.do?propertyCode=05440

This is the only hotel I could find with a vacancy
near the west entrance closest to the giant redwoods!
http://www.yosemiteexperience.com/

I really wanted to get lodging in the park but everything is reserved a year in advance, bummer.

So, we checked in our room and headed out to search for something to eat! 

We found a great pizza place and it was packed!

http://pizzafactory.com/locations/mariposa/

Some of the best pizza we have had on our epic journey! lol,

and we had no idea it burned to the ground a few years prior.

http://www.modbee.com/2012/05/13/2196971/fire-burning-entire-block-of-downtown.html

After our pizza we decided to take a little walk. 

So much traffic, crazy!

We talked to a shop keeper who said that the fires were spreading 

and that there were calls for more evacuations. 

http://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/613-bridge-fire-in-mariposa-county-on-friday-september-5-2014

A bridge is burned out in oakhurst and roads are closed.
We knew there were fires in the area but the TV stations had reported them being under control.
We saw fire trucks earlier but didn't know where they were heading. 

Now we know... there's a fire blocking the road leading to the Yosemite entrance near 

Mariposa Grove where the giant redwoods are...oh no!

When we returned to our hotel it was packed with evacuees. 

All the rooms were sold out so they just camped out in the lobby and parking lot.
I overheard one of them saying that they stay packed up and ready to go
 since they are called to evacuate all the time!
I guess that is just part of the life while living in the dry forest.

Now to re evaluate our plan for navigating the park in the morning, lol.
Just part of the adventure... Yosemite Part 1 tomorrow!

San Francisco Part 2

Today is another big day of sightseeing and experiencing San Francisco! 

I have to have my coffee first thing so I headed down to the lobby to see what they offer for breakfast.

Fruit and coffee.
That was all, but they do have a restaurant on site...

Cafe Pescatore

so we kicked the day off with a great breakfast at our hotel!

http://www.cafepescatore.com/

We both ordered different omelets with potatoes and toast.

The service was wonderful!

We enjoyed a window seat as we watched the city wake up on a busy Friday morning.

The portions were huge so I immediately boxed up half of my meal for Spencer.

He was sleeping late in the hotel room!

Did I mention how fabulous our room was? 

I wish we had one more day here, I'm not ready to check out yet!

I found a cozy corner and wrote out some postcards, yes I still mail postcards when I can.

We have some family members and friends who don't facebook or text 

so I have to keep in touch with them the old fashioned way!

We took our time gathering our things and saying our goodbyes to our lovely 

Tuscan inn

http://www.tuscaninn.com/

Now time for some more sightseeing! 

We have a big list to tackle today! 

We plan on visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, The Presidio, Lombard St, Coit Tower, AT&T Park, and anything else that crosses our path!
Our first plan of attack is the Golden Gate Bridge!
http://www.goldengatebridge.org/
The parking was crazy but we got a spot!
As we walked toward the bridge we started snapping and we took a jillion fabulous pics! 
I'm having a hard time condensing them, editing them and just letting the ok ones go! 

Me and my sweetheart!

It has to be the most romantic picturesque place in the world!

Spencer loves the 60D camera and he is quite the photographer!

Thanks to some kind British visitors for taking our picture!
This is a memory I'll treasure forever!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge
Even the walk from the parking lot to the bridge is wonderful!

http://www.nps.gov/prsf/planyourvisit/golden-gate-bridge.htm

Once we got on the bridge the views were fantastic! 

There was a surfer in the water, sea lions, the coast guard, lots of sightseeing boats,

and an incredible view of Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge and the City! 

and a reminder...

just in case.

There was so much history too!

We walked all over the Park and read all the great information!

A lesson like no other... you can't read this in a book!

Our time is up so we headed to the park store and picked up a few goodies.

We made sandwiches and had a picnic too!

Then on to the next stop...The Presidio

 http://www.presidio.gov/about/Pages/about-the-presidio-and-presidio-trust.aspx
I didn't take any pictures because I opened an iced coffee and spilled it all over myself...

http://www.nps.gov/prsf/index.htm
but here are some great links to this historic park, fort, and cemetery!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_San_Francisco
The grounds are beautiful...so historic and sacred.
We drove all through it and it resembles an old landscaped college campus.
So lush and beautiful...
No times to waste as we are on a super tight schedule...
Fortunately we were already on Lombard Street so we just continued on until we found
the crookedest part of the street.



here's a view from Coit Tower
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_(San_Francisco)

We drove down it and it was packed with tourists! 

So fun!

I made a video but don't know how to upload it, bummer.

We came down Lombard and found ourselves near the entrance to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill!

http://sfrecpark.org/destination/telegraph-hill-pioneer-park/coit-tower/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coit_Tower

The views up here are great!

So many interesting sights...

lol even the San Francisco potties are interesting!

It took 3 people to figure it out! lol

On the way out of town we drove by the new AT & T Ball Park

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Park

It was near the Bay Bridge!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco%E2%80%93Oakland_Bay_Bridge

http://baybridgeinfo.org/

When we came into San Francisco we were on the upper part of the bridge,

leaving we found ourselves driving on the underneath! 

Crazy!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Park

Now it's time to hit the road...

We have hotel reservations tonight in Mariposa, Ca 

so we can visit Yosemite National Park bright and early!

San Francisco Part 1

After a fun afternoon at Alcatraz Island we were tired and hungry. 

We were on foot and decided to walk down to the Fisherman's Wharf.
We happened upon the Hard Rock Cafe and Spencer scored another Tshirt!
http://www.hardrock.com/cafes/san-francisco/
We are starving at this point but we continued on to find some seafood, finally we cane upon a nice little place for dinner that reminded us of Kemah.

http://piermarket.com/

Pier Market at Pier 39

The food was fabulous and we had a window table with a view of the San Francisco Bay.

Everything was fresh and we could see the raw seafood being prepared! wow!

For some reason I didn't take any pictures...it was that good I guess.

After a fabulous dinner we decided to take a look at the restaurants and shops.

Of course we had to walk through a candy shop!

With renewed energy we decided to take a walk to the 

cable car turn around

This took us through the Fisherman's Wharf!
http://www.fishermanswharf.org/
Finally seeing this historic area for myself!
It was all lit up at dusk!
We saw Ghiradelli and so many historic restaurants on the way!

I don't know how many blocks we walked but eventually we found the cable car turn around
http://www.sfcablecar.com/

We got on and what a ride it was!

We ventured all through town and into chinatown, the financial district, union square and I don't know exactly where all we went! lol

Steve was riding on the outside and trying to take pictures! 

We got on and off twice!

We watched the turn around a couple of times.
I even made a video but it won't upload to my blog!

So interesting to see it still done by hand!

The city was lit up like Christmas...beautiful!

http://www.sfcablecar.com/routes.html

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_cable_car_system

Such a fun experience and soon it will be just a memory...

But now we are really exhausted and we have another big day in the morning!

Time to head back to our hotel

Best Wester Tuscan Inn

http://www.tuscaninn.com/

I'll be blogging next about our visit to the Golden Gate Bridge!

Alcatraz Island Part 2

So after wandering all over the Island we finally trekked up to the Cell house. 

It was a good hike up there...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Federal_Penitentiary

There is a great audio tour that shares a ton of information!

We walked through the showers to the start of the audio tour...

headsets for everyone and in every language! 

and here we are...ready to see the inside of the prison...

Cold, dark and solid.

We could hear the sounds of the prison on the our headsets...just like it was still in use.

Prisoners and guards talking...

cell doors slamming...

we walked the entire cell block...

Here's the isolation area

We even went into the open cells...scary

This is the premium unit...complete with sunshine!

The center of the cell house lovingly referred to as Times Square.

Steve enjoys the history lesson...

me... I'm already on information overload.

The Battle of Alcatraz

http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/battle1.htm

Markings from the Battle still on the floor.

This tour is really well thought out.

We really got our money's worth on this tour.

So much information to absorb all at once...

The whole island is run by this power plant, interesting. 

We also viewed the outside recreation area and the dining hall too.

Spencer found an outside bench to listen and relax.

He's in deep thought processing all this information at once. 

Me too, I think this is where I took the headphones off, lol

Remains of the Indian occupation on the Water Tower.

Historic buildings towering high above the island

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Alcatraz_Island_features

Another picturesque lighthouse near the dock.

This cannon is in the guardhouse.

The guard tower lookout.

Building 64 where the guards and their families lived.

Now Alcatraz Island is part of the National Parks System.

Time to get back on the boat to San Francisco and Pier 33.

One last view as we are leaving,

I can't get enough of the ice cold blue water

 and I cannot imagine anyone trying to escape and swim across the bay either...

Now it's time for a seafood dinner and more San Francisco fun...

Riding the Cable Cars!