MY Last Trip........

[sandie]

Ok I am so depressed that I am here - not there that I thought I would drag you all down with me and post my trip journal from last year day by day, on the day it fell!

We left on the 3rd August so we can start there.........

[sandie]

August 3rd – Travel Day

Our first day started before the sun had even risen. Nono picked us up at 6.30 am and drove us to Minto train station where we stood with the hordes until the train arrived. Once we were onboard the excitement started to build – for all of us except Peter who was starting to dread the flight.

We arrived at the airport a little while before check in so we all shared some fruit salad and yogurt for breakfast and then trudged over to check in. Our trip through customs was exceptionally fast and we ended up with 90 minutes to fill before the departure of our first flight of the day.

Peter used his time to check his email and catch up on his newsgroups, I read and the kids basically watched television and begged for items from the vending machines. After we had been waiting a while we realised that Peter’s jumper was missing. The last time any of us had seen it was at customs. Peter raced off back to the checkpoint and luckily it was still there.

Our flight to Auckland boarded on time and John, Peter and Eloise were on one side of the aisle and I was on the other. After takeoff Eloise and I moved into the vacant row in front of the boys and settled in for the flight. By the time the kids had a look through their backpacks and we ate lunch the flight was almost over. The landing was a bit traumatic for Eloise who had problems with her ears. One of the flight attendants suggested that I buy some nasal spray in Auckland before our next flight.

We had some time to kill before our connecting flight so the grown ups had a mocha and a cup of tea and the kids had a snack from hungry jacks. Eloise sent Far Away Nanna a postcard and we tracked down some nasal spray. Before we knew it we had to go back through customs to board our flight to San Francisco.

This time we were seated at the rear of the plane. John and Peter shared the back row of the plane with another man and Eloise and I sat right in front of them. John watched a movie and played a few games before sleeping for most of the flight. Eloise however watched a lot of movies and only slept for three hours. Peter and I stayed up all night. The flight was a rough one and there was a lot of turbulence and bouncing around.

We found the new Air New Zealand entertainment system excellent. There were over 40 movies to choose from as well as tv shows, documentaries and games. You could pause, fast forward or rewind your movie which meant you could stop watching to eat or visit the bathroom and not worry about missing a good bit. Our landing in San Francisco was just as painful for Eloise and John also had some pain.

[sandie]

3rd August – San Francisco

Our flight landed at 10.30 am and by noon we were in a shuttle bus on our way to our hotel. We dropped off all the other passengers before heading to the Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf where we were staying. Checking into the hotel took almost 30 minutes and as soon as we got to our room we all had a two hour nap. We woke up feeling a bit more refreshed and headed out for a walk.

We made our way down to Pier 39 and stopped to look at the sea lions with all the other tourists and then had a look around some of the shops. The lolly shop grabbed the attention of Peter and the kids as did the chocolate shop and the shop with the tacky souvenirs. The kids had a ride on the double decker carousel and Peter tried out his new camera. We all started to feel hungry about five thirty so we headed back out to the main street and had dinner at the rainforest café. Eloise had some vague memories of our visits to the Rainforest Café during our last trip but John did not remember at all. We were seated upstairs and had a good view of some monkeys and elephants who roared to life whenever the thunder and lightning started.

I had my favourite – coconut shrimp, Peter had ribs and both kids had miniature hamburgers and fries. We skipped dessert as the plan for the evening was a ride on the cable cars and ice cream at Ghirardelli’s. When we left the restaurant it became apparent that the temperature had dropped dramatically. We made our way to the cable car station and finally admitted we were freezing. The kids and I stood in the long line and Peter ran back to the hotel to get jumpers for everyone. After twenty minutes the kids and I decided that we did not want to ride the cable cars enough to wait I line. After twenty minutes we had only moved 5 metres and there were at least 150 people in front of us. When Peter returned we decided that we would be happier eating ice cream and headed to Ghirardelli’s.

Four ice cream sundaes later and we were ready to head back to bed and catch up on some sleep. We stopped at Walgreen’s on the way back to the room and I got some ear plugs for the kids to wear on our next flight.

The kids jumped straight into bed, Peter rang his Mum just to let her know we had arrived safely. We watched television for a while and then we joined the kids and fell straight asleep.

[mushu mama]

This is brilliant Sandie... looking forward to the next installment.

I was talking to my TA yesterday about flights to Hawaii and I agree, Air NZ is the only way I'm doing those long flights from now on. The foods better, the leg rooms better ( not that I need all that much - but with Air NZ I can cross my legs and still have room ) and the entertainment is better. I'm still annoying my friends by sayings " yep, saw that on the plane"... even Millie got cheesed off with me cos I watched the Spiderwick Chronicle's without her... thats one wicked story ... loved it.

Lisa. -/

[KeithS]

Thanks Sandie - this is great. I like reading holiday journals more than trip reports as the journal is all about living in the moment - there is a big sense of the unknown and they also contain all the little details you forget about when writing trip reports. Trip reports are all retrospective - I guess that is why I also liked Lisa's blog - it makes the reader feel like a part of the trip. I keep telling Della that I want to type up the holiday journals she has kept for our Disney trips - one day I'll do that and post them here!

[sandie]

4th August – Exploration Day

Unfortunately the day started at 4.30 am. That’s when Peter woke up and started fidgeting in bed next to me. At about 5.30 he took the hint and got out of bed, got dressed and went for a walk. He ended up exploring right along Fisherman’s Wharf and made his way up towards some of the commercial piers where tourists are not normally encouraged to go.

He got back to the room at 8 am, threw the curtains open and rudely awoke the rest of us who were still happily sleeping. After showering and dressing we made our way down the street to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for breakfast. The kids and I had pancakes and Peter had cereal. We left our first tip of the trip and went to catch a cable car up into the city.

Thankfully the line to board the cable cars was much shorter than the night before. John and I sat inside while Peter and Eloise hung off the outside and cheated death. We made it to the top of the hill and set off to explore. We started off in the first mall we came to. Eloise bought some ear rings for her school friends and then we headed off to the shoe section. John’s sneakers had died before we left home and he was travelling with nothing except his crocs. We were heading to Yosemite the following day and he would need walking shoes. Our search was fruitless and we headed back out to see what else we could find. Peter got himself some shorts from Macy’s. There was nothing in the Nike shop that we could afford without getting a second mortgage and the Levi shop was also fruitless. The day was nice and warm and we sat in a park for a while before heading to the Disney Store where we did not buy anything but just soaked up the atmosphere. Our last shopping stop was the DSW (Direct Shoe Warehouse) where John got himself a pair of sneakers and Eloise bought a more comfortable pair of walking shoes.

The line to get on the Cable Car back to Fisherman’s Wharf was very very long. The others were hungry so I said I would mind a place in line so they could get some lunch from Subway. After a while an ambulance arrived and I an injured person was taken away. At least we now knew the source of the delay! After eating the others joined me in line. We moved slowly – each cable car only takes about 40 people so it can take a long time to actually get on one! We were halfway there when we heard drums and music. A marching band had arrived! We took it in turns to leave the line and enjoy the music.

After 90 minutes we had reached the front of the line and only had one family between us and boarding. We braced ourselves ready to run and grab the outside seats. Just before the dropped the rope to let us on the family in front decided that they were sick of waiting and left the line. Why would you wait that long just to leave?

For the trip back down to the wharf Peter and John stood on the outside and Eloise and I got outside seats. We hopped off near a Starbucks and Peter got his first US mocha. Verdict: not so great!!

Our afternoon started at the Musee Mechanique. This large warehouse is filled with historic penny machines. You can watch a penny movie or use mechanical men to wrestle. Eloise got her fortune told by a mechanical fortune teller and we spent $20 in 30 minutes! Our next stop was the USS Pampanito a retired military submarine. We climbed in and around the vessel and then headed over to the USS Jeremiah O’Brien a retired naval ship. We spent a lot of time exploring all the nooks and crannies and the kids climbed everything in sight. On the way out John bought himself a modal plane.

We decided to head back to the hotel for a break before our evening tour. Peter and John headed up to the room and I watched Eloise swim in the cold hotel pool. After cleaning up we headed across the street to the tour bus depot and joined our evening China Town Tour. We started the night in a Chinese restaurant and shared a table with two couples from New Zealand and a couple from Canada. We ate lots of food including short soup, sweet and sour pork, fried rice and some other dishes that I did not recognise. After dinner we joined our tour guide for a walking tour of China Town. We started off in the retail area and learnt the history of Chinese immigration and the gold rush before heading into the back streets to hear the more interesting history including crime gangs and family feuds.

It was interesting to notice that street signs were in both Chinese and English and to find out what all the flags on each of the buildings stood for. Each political faction has their own flag and it is often differences in opinion that cause gang wars. No matter what your personal belief is you are always represented by your family’s political flag.

We also learnt that many of the people who live in China Town are forced to live in very confined spaces. Property rents are high and wages are low. Our tour guide lived in a room with 6 other men that is probably the same size as our lounge room. This includes their bathroom and kitchen!

Our final stop was a fortune cookie factory where we purchased a bag of vanilla and a bag of chocolate fortune cookies.

We reboarded the bus and headed for a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to see the night time lights of San Francisco. It was getting late so the driver started dropping us back at our hotels. Typically ours was the very last stop.

We had to be up very early for our Yosemite Tour in the morning so we all went straight to bed.

[Mel]

I'm loving reading this Sandie

I wasn't a fan of San Francisco, but I spent most of my time there by myself

Oh, you must live out near me I used to catch the train to work from Leumeah.

[calisota]

I'm looking forward to your impressions of Yosemite. It was 20 years ago that I was there but I still have impressive memories of it.

My enduring memory of San Francisco is a wild cab ride I took ("show me the town, I don't want to spend more than $20") that included a ride downhill where we literally got airborne at each intersection like a scene out of the movies, a drive down Lombard street where he was sliding the rear around so much we were knocking over trash cans and stopping at the Fireman's memorial to see the city lights. A really nice city.

Greg

[sandie]

Oh, you must live out near me I used to catch the train to work from Leumeah.

Raby!!!!!

I'm looking forward to your impressions of Yosemite.

According to the rules I have set myself - you have to wait another 11 hours! I'll post before I leave for work in the morning!!!!!!

Although I will say that Peter who is awesome with a camera took the most breath taking photos there.

Sandie

[calisota]

Although I will say that Peter who is awesome with a camera took the most breath taking photos there.
Sandie

Yep, it's one of those rare places on earth where it doesn't matter which way you turn the view is spectacular.

Greg

[sandie]

5th August – Yosemite
Today started unbelievably early. We had to be at the tour depot at 7 am. We grabbed some fruit and muffins from the vendor in the foyer of the hotel and headed across the road to meet up with our tour.

The bus was full and we headed off on our four hour trip to the Yosemite Valley. Our bus driver had lots of stories and obviously loved Yosemite. We heard all about floods, avalanches and rock slides as well as his romance with his wife who he had met while conducting a bus tour just like ours! After a few hours we stopped at a produce farm that had a little shop attached. We bought lots of fresh and dried fruit as well as yogurt covered pretzels. We reboarded the bus with our healthy feast and settled in for the next two hours of driving.

The last hour of the trip was up a very winding mountain road. Neither Peter nor I had ever been on a road like this. It was narrow, steep, had no guard rails and it was scary!!! About half way up I started to feel sick and just put my head on the seat in front of me and tried to sleep. I kind of dozed on and off and was very glad when we arrived at our next stop. We all filed off the bus and treated ourselves to a wondrous view of El Capitan and the surrounding mountains.

We reboarded the bus and continued driving down into the valley. When we arrived at the main visitors centre at noon we were all allowed to escape and were told to be back at the bus at 4pm on the dot. Our first stop was lunch in the lodge. Both Peter and I had hamburgers and the kids had mini pizzas. After we had refuelled we started exploring the tracks in the park – the kids and I racing ahead and Peter stopping to take photos every few steps! We saw the awe inspiring Bridal Falls only in Summer the water is all dried up and we were bailed up by a rattle snake for a while.

We were all exceptionally hot so we boarded the small bus that circles the park and got off after a few stops and walked down to the river. The kids waded in the water and we just sat in the shade and relaxed. It was almost 3 so we walked back up to the main road and hopped on the shuttle bus and just had time to grab slurpies and ice cream before hopping back onto the bus. The kids were talking to a couple from Canada who sat behind us and gave them tiny koalas. On the way out of the park we stopped for a few more photo opportunities.

The river, the mountains, the trees were all awe inspiring. I can not do justice to the way this area mkade us all feel. Peter and I agreed we were coming back in the Spring sometime to see the falls.

Half way back to San Francisco we stopped at a mall for dinner. Eloise had tacos and the rest of us had KFC. We must have been enjoying it too much as we were the last ones back on the bus and everyone was a bit angry! The people behind us gave the kids melon shaped spoons as return gifts for the koalas. We arrived back in San Francisco at 10 pm and after a stop at 7 Eleven for more ice cream we all went to bed.

[mushu mama]

Rattle snake?

Lisa.

[ajp]

The river, the mountains, the trees were all awe inspiring. I can not do justice to the way this area mkade us all feel. Peter and I agreed we were coming back in the Spring sometime to see the falls.

That about sums up Yosemite, awesome place. And spring is definitely the time to see it, not only the falls, but some scattered snow still on the peaks, especially on the half dome. Look forward to seeing these pictures.

I'm enjoying these Sandie.

[Mel]

Raby!!!!!

Sandie

You're not my next-door neighbour are you?

Loving these reports

[sandie]

You're not my next-door neighbour are you?

Without posting my address I am not far from the Raby Tavern, how about you?

Sandie