Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
As some of you know I have just returned from nearly 3 weeks in California with @Sazzle and @Russell. We flew out to San Francisco and back from Los Angeles, and got up to plenty of fun along the way! First up, here is a summary of what we got up to:
So let's begin, in the city of San Francisco.
I'm going to try and keep this part short but sweet. We flew in to San Francisco from London Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic (my first experience flying with them and I was very impressed), arriving late on a Tuesday afternoon. After picking up our hire car we had a fairly straight forward drive to out hotel in Fisherman's Wharf - Hotel Zephyr. The location of the hotel really could not have been any better and we had a wonderful view from our room out across the Bay.
For a US city San Francisco feels relatively small and it is not too difficult to get around. We had two full days in the city; on our first day we the Big Bus (biiiig buffeettttt) open top bus and on the second day we got a MUNI day pass which allows you transport on all cable cars, street cars and buses for only $12, bargain!
My highlight of San Francisco was Alcatraz. I have wanted to visit this former maximum security prison for a long time and it did not disappoint. The ferry over to Alcatraz Island make for a nice start to your adventure and upon arrival there is a good introductory film that you can watch which helps to set the scene. The tour itself is an audio tour, and to be honest I am not usually a huge fan of these, however the Alcatraz audio tour is so well done. It has not changed since the 1980s and I can see why. I won't give too much away as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is planning to do it in the future but I cannot recommend it enough. You also get some lovely views across to San Francisco and the rest of the Bay from Alcatraz!
Other highlights of the city for us included the Cable Cars (so much fun), The Palace of Fine Arts and The Walt Disney Family Museum (a must for any Disney fan in my opinion, a very well present museum which follows Walt's story perfectly and contains many exhibits and photos that you will not see anywhere else).
The Golden Gate Bridge would have been another highlight had Karl the fog not been present! We drove over the bridge on the open top bus but could not even see the top of it then due to the fog.
Following on from two days in San Francisco were took the long and scenic route down the coast to Santa Cruz (the Boardwalk was unfortunately closed) and then back us to San Jose/Santa Clara. We came across some lovely coves and beaches which made up for not having time on our trip to do the main scenic drive down the coast to LA!
Our hotel this night was right next to our first park of the trip - California's Great America. I will come on to this next!
- San Francisco sightseeing
- California's Great America
- Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
- Yosemite National Park
- Six Flags Magic Mountain
- A little bit of LA sightseeing
- Disneyland
- Disney California Adventure
- SeaWorld San Diego
- Knotts Berry Farm
- Universal Studios
So let's begin, in the city of San Francisco.
I'm going to try and keep this part short but sweet. We flew in to San Francisco from London Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic (my first experience flying with them and I was very impressed), arriving late on a Tuesday afternoon. After picking up our hire car we had a fairly straight forward drive to out hotel in Fisherman's Wharf - Hotel Zephyr. The location of the hotel really could not have been any better and we had a wonderful view from our room out across the Bay.
For a US city San Francisco feels relatively small and it is not too difficult to get around. We had two full days in the city; on our first day we the Big Bus (biiiig buffeettttt) open top bus and on the second day we got a MUNI day pass which allows you transport on all cable cars, street cars and buses for only $12, bargain!
My highlight of San Francisco was Alcatraz. I have wanted to visit this former maximum security prison for a long time and it did not disappoint. The ferry over to Alcatraz Island make for a nice start to your adventure and upon arrival there is a good introductory film that you can watch which helps to set the scene. The tour itself is an audio tour, and to be honest I am not usually a huge fan of these, however the Alcatraz audio tour is so well done. It has not changed since the 1980s and I can see why. I won't give too much away as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is planning to do it in the future but I cannot recommend it enough. You also get some lovely views across to San Francisco and the rest of the Bay from Alcatraz!
Other highlights of the city for us included the Cable Cars (so much fun), The Palace of Fine Arts and The Walt Disney Family Museum (a must for any Disney fan in my opinion, a very well present museum which follows Walt's story perfectly and contains many exhibits and photos that you will not see anywhere else).
The Golden Gate Bridge would have been another highlight had Karl the fog not been present! We drove over the bridge on the open top bus but could not even see the top of it then due to the fog.
Following on from two days in San Francisco were took the long and scenic route down the coast to Santa Cruz (the Boardwalk was unfortunately closed) and then back us to San Jose/Santa Clara. We came across some lovely coves and beaches which made up for not having time on our trip to do the main scenic drive down the coast to LA!
Our hotel this night was right next to our first park of the trip - California's Great America. I will come on to this next!