Got up around 9am and packed up our stuff into the car before checking out and driving to nearby Mirror Lake. We parked in the stables car park and found the trailhead a few hundred feet away. We enjoyed the short walk along a paved flat pathway through the redwood forest. On either side cliffs towered above us and along side us a river with rapids rushed by! After 30mins we reached the Mirror Lake, so named cos of the beautiful reflections of the mountains in the water. We walked around a part of the lake and after taking some pics, headed back to the car.
Around 11am we set off for San Francisco, only 180miles or so away! We drove for an hour through national parkland before the landscape changed to dry grassland that reminded me of our countryside back home. At 1pm we stopped for lunch at the small town of Oakvale. We had 6 pieces of KFC and an A&W root beer float! Yum!!!
We continued our drive west and reached San Fran around 4pm and checked into our accommodation for the next 3 nights at Air Travel Hotel. The hotel was on a dodgy looking street, made apparent by numerous hobos and crazy ppl on the street and the fact that it was in the middle of Little Saigon. The hotel itself didn’t look too crash hot but inside we found a great recently renovated room on the 6th floor with a new bed, modern bathroom, plasma tv, and free wifi!
After unloading all our luggage, we set off to see some of San Fran’s sights! Using our GPS, we headed for Golden Gate park down the road. This huge park is kinda like San Fran’s equivalent of Sydney’s Centennial Park. Inside we visited the tranquil Japanese Tea Gardens before heading to the nearby Stow Lake and Strawberry Hill which afforded a view through the trees of San Fran’s hilly cityscape!
Next we drove to the foot of the famous Golden Gate bridge! We stopped at Fort Point to take pics of the bridge and bay but didn’t stay long due to the strong chilly wind!
Our last sight for the day was the crookedist street in America - Lombard St! This section of the street runs the length of one block down a steep hill with a 40 degree incline. It consists of a zigzagging road down the hill with nice gardens in the non road parts of the street and pedestrian steps on either side of the street! We parked in the parallel street and walked down the street before getting back in our car and driving down the street!
Next we headed to Chinatown to find some dinner! We parked near Grant Ave, the main street in Chinatown and looked for a restaurant packed with Chinese ppl! We found a reasonably priced one about halfway up the street and went in for some chicken chow mein and spicy eggplant! Mmm! Good food and good value!!!
Finally we headed back to our hotel around 9pm. We discovered that the parking under the hotel is contracted out to a valet parking service and that we had to pay USD 15 to park it for 12 hours overnight. What a rip!!! Ended up parking it there cos we couldn’t be bothered to search for street parking. The parking attendant was so obnoxious we couldn’t stand him! No tips for him!
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