This morning we had a slow start. It took a little bit longer as usual before we drove away from the hotel. And befroe we could really hit the road we needed to do some grocery shopping and we needed gas!

So at 9:30h we left Fresno towards the southwest entrance from Yosemite National Park. Till the entrance we had no problems with traffic and also the roads in the ark seemed to be empty. First stop was a restroom since Danielle needed one, the first one was closed, the second one was a couple miles after the first stop we wanted to make. We decided to drive past the stop en drive back after and so we did go back to the Tunnel-view. What a great outlook and we found the answers for a virtual geocache here.

From there we continued our way to the Yosemite Valley where we took the Valley Shuttle tour past a couple highlights inside the park. We got out at the Falls but in this time of the year the falls have no water. And afterwards we went for a hike towards Happy Islands. From there we went back to our car and continued our travel to the Tuolomne Grove.

In this grove there are a couple giant Sequoia’s and this was also something we wanted to see in this park. After we got out of our car we checked out the map of the area and we needed to hike for 2-3 hours to see the trees. So we went down the hill to the bottom of the Grove and after 20 minutes we already found the first giant Sequoia of the trial.

From there on we took a short cut to the dead sequoia where you can walk-through and on our way there we found another Sequoia. After taking pictures we went back to our car. And this was the harder part of the hike, we went down going to the trees which meant we need to walk up back the car. Exhausted but confident we walked back in about 25 minutes. From that point it was still almost 3 hours driving towards Bishop, CA.

The way out of the park we followed the exit signs to the east exit of the park. We drove over the Tioga Pass and that was an awesome experience. For the first time in my life I was over 3.000 meter above sea-level without being in a plane. We stopped a couple times for pictures and enjoying the view.

After leaving Yosemite NP we drove further to Bishop were we stay in a Best Western hotel .  It was too dark to make pictures from the outside but the hotel looks nice and cozy. The room is a little bit smaller as the rooms we had the last couple of days but its a clean room .

For diner we ate at a local place called Wishkey Creek Bishop. We both went for a burger and they were both delicious. After having paid we left the restaurant to find a GeoCache. in Bishop. The total number is at 124

Tomorrow we will need to get out bed early since we have planned a trip through death valley with the goal to end up in The Venetian.

Today was our last day in the San Francisco area.

After we woke up incredibly early (6:00 a.m.) we left the hotel at about 7:15 a.m. after Sander had a discussion with the hotel manager concerning to power cut-off in the first night of our stay. The result was a refund of 50$ plus tax because of the inconvenience. That being said we left the hotel with all our luggage and headed for Fisherman’s Wharf. From here the boat was departing for our tour to Alcatraz and Angel Island.

After we had found a parking spot at Pier 39 we walked to Pier 33 to pick up our tickets. When walking to Pier 33 we saw the Disney Wonder in the San Francisco Harbor, one of the ships of the Disney Cruise Line. During our New York trip we’ve already seen the Fantasy, do they follow us???

After taking some pictures we arrived at the Alcatraz Cruise Landing. We picked up our tickets and because we were way to early (traffic can be a b*tch in the morning but luckily for us it was not) we decided to go look for a Starbucks to buy the San Francisco City Mug. We found one in the Levi’s Building (yes. Levi’s from the well-known jeans) and they had the mug.

Then we returned to the Alcatraz Cruise Landing because the would start boarding at 09:00 a.m. and the boat left for Alcatraz Island at 09:30 a.m.

Because it was foggy and windy it was really cold at the boat. But I wanted to take pictures of the Island so we stayed outside and after 15 minutes we arrived at the Alcatraz Island.

A Ranger was waiting for us and informed the group about everything on the island and after that we went up to de cellhouse to get the equipment for the audio tour the through the cellhouse.

It is very interesting to hear al the stories and see the original cells and other rooms. We watched everything and then we headed back to the dock because the boat was taking us to Angel Island for part 2 of this trip.

Angel Island can be compared with Ellis Island in New York. The only difference was, that in Ellis Island arrived immigrants mostly from Europe and Angel Island was the place where immigrants from Asia and the Pacific entered the United States.

As we arrived at Angel Island a tram was waiting for us to take us for a one-hour-tour along the island. We were told about the long history. How it was started as a military base. When the military came back from Europe from World War II they entered the US again through the Golden Gate and came to Angel Island.

There are o lot of nice buildings on this island and spectacular views. After the tour we went back to the dock and while we ate something at the Cove Cafe the boat was soon departing to go back to San Francisco. It took us about 40 minutes to get back to the mainland from Angel Island.

Throughout the day we had contact with Ian and if we could meat him in the evening for dinner. Reason for that was that Sander wanted to visit the Apple Company Store in Cupertino because it was closed on Saturday and Ian is working not far from Cupertino.

At around 05:00 p.m. we arrived at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino and visited the store. I must say, we bought some “amazing” stuff.

We met Ian at the store and decided to get dinner at a restaurant nearby called BJ’s. This is a nice restaurant/brewhouse and the food was great. After dinner we went for a Geocache together not far from the Apple Inc. building. After a quick search we found it but finding out how to log it took a bit longer…

Then it was time to say goodbye to Ian, because we had to drive to our next stop this vacation, which is Fresno. The drive took us almost 4 hours and that made us aware of the driving we still need to do this vacation. We arrived in the hotel just before 10:30 p.m. and the hotel is nice.

We now go to bed because tomorrow e have a National Park visit on the planning.