Holiday to Pacific West Coast in Jun 2012: Day 14 – Yosemite to San Francisco

By Nige on Sun 17 Jun 2012 at 22:00
Type: Post
Story: Holiday to Pacific West Coast in Jun 2012
Tags: Awahnee | Fisherman’s Wharf | Hilton | Mustang | Rainforest Cafe | San Francisco | Starbucks | Yosemite

Long day today!  Vick had a little bit of a bug last night which she has now got over (that’s a relief). 

We had booked in for a brunch at the Awahnee as our last breakfast but when we turned up it cost $40 and included Prime Rib which wouldn’t be available until 10:30am.  We were booked in for 8:15am expecting a quick breakfast and then off on our way. 

There’s no way we would get anywhere near $40’s worth of grub, so I pulled a fast one and told the Maitre’D that Vick was ill.  My scam almost fell to pieces when Vick skipped up to the desk and asked when we would be seated!

Anyway we got away with it, and after some hassle with opening the safe in our room we were on our way.

We headed to San Francisco on Highway 140, so not the way we came in.  This route was primarily single lane, no overtaking for almost 100 miles, so it was a little frustrating to say the least.  Glad it wasn’t that route in a few days ago.

Our biggest smile came when we finally found a Starbucks.  Thanks to Andrew for the coffees today.  (Sorry you can’t read your name on the cups!) It took us about 100 miles, 2 hours and some sun burn to get there but it was worth it.

More to come after we watch the new series of The Good Wife which is far more important…  Oh dear (Vick here) seems that it’s not the new series of the Good Wife, it’s a repeat.  And while I’m typing this, Nige is on the balcony of our hotel room in the pitch dark, in his white towelling bathrobe, his camera and tripod.  I expect to hear sirens soon…

Ho, ho, ho… She thinks she is funny doesn’t she?  Just trying some dark, long shutter photos of street scenes.  She wouldn’t understand.

Anyway back to today – the last 50 miles into SF was hectic to say the least.  The road was packed and hairy, scary. The other thing was that the temperature dropped from 92f to 69f in about 10 miles.  It was boiling for 120 miles or so, then we were shivering almost with the top down.

We found the Hilton Financial District hotel and got confirmation that we had bagged a top floor room with a bay view.  What a view once we got into our room.  Will post some photos.  It also really foggy right now – we can hardly see Alcatraz.

Anyway one of the benefits of staying at a Hilton hotel for half my life since Jan has finally been realised: free upgrades, executive lounge access etc.  Completely materialistic and it’s great.

Grabbed some appetisers in the hotel lounge and then we walked out down Columbia towards Fisherman’s Wharf to find some food. 

We put our name down (thanks to Ann and Derek) at Rainforest Cafe (nothing special but good quality standard fare), and we went looking for the bar we visited 6 years ago.  Finally found it – the Argonaut on Hyde and Jefferson.  We think Andrew and Sam may have stayed there recently as well.  It’s got a fishing theme and we met Josh behind the bar who gave us some great ideas when we get to the Sonoma wine region for wine tasting etc.

Vick got p*ssed (at least it doesn’t cost me much) and she staggered back and I made sure she didn’t fall over.  It was a good night.

Stats for Day 14: 180 miles, 2 Starbuck’s coffees (one each), 0 Hollywood celebs spotted (although there was a very close lookalike to Samuel L Jackson in the Hilton lounge at the hotel wearing a baseball cap the wrong way around and a yellow top with shorts – does that count?), 0 Subway inches consumed, reasonable load of calories consumed, good amount of calories burned (walking in SF).

Plan for tomorrow is to do our laundry, and then see SF.

Follow the whole story here: Holiday to Pacific West Coast in Jun 2012