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.

For today we planned a sort of shopping day. After doing so much yesterday and the still being present jet-lag we woke up today around 08:00.

Our plan for today was visiting the Premium Outlet Mall in Vacaville. After breakfast and printing the coupons for this mall we left the hotel. The weather in Berkeley was not fantastic and we doubted of even wearing shorts. But after checking the weather app on the iPhone we learned that it would be 33 degrees Celcius in Vacaville today. So the choice had been made, shorts!!!

After a drive of 45 minutes we arrived in Vacaville and it was not warm outside, it was hot. First we went to our favorite store, Tommy Hilfiger. There was an end-of-season sale and I found three shorts only costing 9,99$. On top of that we received 20% discount because of a check-in at 4square. Furthermore we bought for Sander shorts en polo’s and polo’s for me.

Then Sander discovered a Jelly Belly store where they sell jelly beans. Jelly beans have all kinds of flavors. There was also a sample bar where we could try all the different flavors. So I tried Dr. Pepper jelly beans and Sander all the other ones. Then Sander filled a bag himself with all different tastes. The cashier told us that the Jelly Belly Factory was not far from here and that they give free tours in the factory.

For lunch we ate at Original Mel’s an American diner where Danielle Mushroom & Swiss Mel Burger and Sander went for the Steak & BBQ Chicken. It was delicious, why don’t we have restaurants at home which can deliver this quality of steaks and burgers? During dinner we used the table jukebox for a song and we came with Greased Lightning.

So after lunch we decided to go to this factory en we were lucky. A tour was about to get started in 12 minutes. We saw the plant where the jelly beans are produced, finished, packed and got ready to be shipped. Very interesting. Afterwards we got some Hello Kitty Jelly Beans and we could try all the different jelly beans. Sander tried also the not so tasty ones like rotten eggs, moldy cheese, baby wipers. They were really not tasteful.

Next thing was visiting a shopping mall in Fairfield because they have Victoria’s Secret here where I wanted to shop. The shopping was successful and after grabbing a Starbucks to go we went back to the hotel. The ride back to the hotel went without any problems or delays although it was pretty busy on the road.

After arriving in the hotel we checked out Berkeley for a couple GeoCaches while wandering around. We’ve found 3 new ones which brings our total finds to 118. After the walk we both had appetite and we asked Siri for a nice sandwich place, she suggested to go to Café Yesterday and that was a good suggestion. We both went for the C.B.R. (Chicken Breast Roasted) combined with chips. The place was filled with students and they played classic music on vinyl. I would definitely go there again if I was not living so far away.

As a bonus one pictures from the outside of our hotel here in Berkeley.

Tomorrow we need to get out bed early so we go to bed early today.