Part 3 - South Lake Tahoe & Mammoth Lakes

On Monday morning we checked out of our San Francisco hotel and headed out to the airport to pick up our car for the next part of our drive. We were supposed to get a Chevy Tahoe for this part of the trip, but they didn't have any available. Wade was not ok with the alternative option we were provided with, so we ended up with a V8 Chevy Camaro (of course we did)!

Our plan was to drive to Muir Woods, just outside of San Francisco and then head out to South Lake Tahoe. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and after a quick stop for some breakfast we headed towards Muir Woods. We got there and soon realised, we should have been there hours earlier. It was only 10am but there were no car parks available anywhere in the vicinity of the woods. We persisted for a while, but eventually gave up and decided to get back on the road and head towards Lake Tahoe.

The landscape for the first part of the drive was very dry and desolate but once we got passed Sacramento and closer to Lake Tahoe it turned into more of an alpine landscape. One of the great parts of the drive was watching the temperature rise the closer we got! It hit 100 (around 38 degrees Celsius) at one point, before dropping down to the high 80's by the time we arrived in Lake Tahoe (around 30 degrees Celsius). This was definitely a welcome change from the cold of San Francisco!

Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and is about 500m deep at the deepest point. About 2/3 of Lake Tahoe is situated in California and the other 1/3 in Nevada. Our hotel was on the Nevada side of the lake, which basically just means that gambling is legal! We arrived late in the afternoon, and after dropping off our bags, decided to head out and explore the lake a bit more. We took a drive to Emerald Bay which was about 1/2 an hour away and stopped at the viewing points to see the amazing views. We also took a quick hike to see Eagle Falls but they weren't falling so much! On our way up to Emerald Bay, Wade had spotted an ice cream shop that looked popular. Having not had lunch yet, we decided to stop on our way back and see what the fuss was all about. We both opted for a single serve in a waffle cone, and I'm not sure what drugs these people were on, but the single serve was bigger than anything I have ever seen (refer picture below!!). They were really good - but neither of us were able to finish them! After we got back to our hotel, we decided we would head out to watch the sunset over the lake. We drove out to Zephyr Cove just in time to see the sun set behind the mountains, at which point we grabbed a couple of drinks and enjoyed the views.

Our second day in Lake Tahoe (Tuesday) we had a bit of a sleep in, and then went in search of a jet ski to hire. After a few attempts, we finally found a tandem one available at Round Hill Pines Beach Resort, which was near Zephyr Cove. We headed out on the lake where Wade found the top speed of the jet ski very quickly! He had a bit of fun with it (well - when I wasn't yelling at him to stop or slow down)!! The lake was beautiful, in the shallow parts it was crystal clear and you could see the bottom, and in the deeper parts it was a deep blue colour with the bottom nowhere in sight! When we came back into the shore we hung around the beach for a while and discovered that seagulls were not the birds most likely to be seen here - it was geese! They were very tame and were not concerned by the people at all. In the afternoon we wandered around town a bit checking out the local shops and ended the night at the Harrah's buffet (which wasn't terrible given the price and they did have some nice cocktails too)!

On Wednesday morning we had another slow start and once we eventually checked out of the hotel, we hit the road for our next stop - Mammoth Lakes. The drive (for the most part) was really nice. We stopped in a town called Bridgeport for a break and some lunch, where we found a local burger joint and had some fried chicken burgers (which were pretty good).

We made it to our hotel around 3.30pm and checked in to find out we had been upgraded to a One Bedroom Suite! The room was super cute, with lots of appropriately themed ski village decorations (ie. lots of deer and pine needles everywhere)! It would be a great place to stay during ski season. After dumping our bags, we took a drive around the area, and out to the various lakes which were really beautiful. The elevation at the top lake that we went to, Horseshoe Lake, was around 9000 feet (or 2,700 metres) - and you could definitely tell that the air was a bit thinner!

For dinner we took the resort shuttle into the village, had a wander around and then went to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner. The shuttle then picked us back up to bring us back to the resort and we settled in for the night.

Here are some pictures from the last few days:

Emerald Bay

Eagle Falls

The ice cream that broke us (this was taken after I had already eaten some too!)

Our car for this part of the holiday

Sunset from Zephyr Cove

Round Hill Pines Beach

Wandering around Tahoe

Mammoth Lakes - Horseshoe Lake

Lake Mamie

Twin Lakes

Mammoth Lakes Village

Part 2 - Big Sur & San Francisco

We had a big day of driving up the coast from Pismo Beach to San Francisco (almost 6 hours if we didn't stop), so got up nice and early, had some breakfast at our hotel, and hit the road.  Unfortunately there were some fires in the Big Sur area, so our view for most of the trip was grey and hazy and a lot of the main sights were not accessible.  It was still a really nice drive though.

Our first stop was at the Elephant Seal Vista Point, where we got to check out some lazy but noisy seals.  Not far up the road was another viewing point, where we were greeted by some very friendly squirrels and a nice view!  Further up the road agin we stopped at Nepenthe - which is known for having a restaurant with a view.  Unfortunately, given all the smoke and haze, there was literally no view, so after a quick stop we kept on driving!  Our next stop was the famous Bixby Bridge where we took some pictures.  Once we got a bit further past this point, the haze started to clear, and we saw our first glimmer of blue sky!  We then took a drive along 17 Mile Drive which took us by Pebble Beach Golf Club, the Lone Cypress and Monterey.  

By this stage it was getting quite late in the afternoon, and we still had a few hours drive to get to our hotel in San Francisco.  On the way we took a quick detour via the Google & the Googleplex Visitor Center and then headed towards the city.  We didn't realise how bad the peak hour traffic was going to be heading into San Francisco (not sure if it was a bad day but it was definitely on par with LA traffic) and it was a very slow drive in.  After what seemed like an eternity we finally made it to our hotel!  Our hotel wasn't too far from Union Square so our first night we wandered around our area, and grabbed some dinner before heading to bed.  

What we did realise very early on in our visit to San Francisco, was how cold it was.  I think the most commonly used phrase while we were in San Francisco was - "holy crap it's cold!!"  We quickly discovered that a San Francisco summer is colder than a Brisbane winter. 

Our first full day in San Francisco was a big day.  We walked from our hotel to where the tram starts to take you to Fisherman's Wharf, saw how long the line was and decided walking was a better option.  About about 40 minutes and some epic hills later, we arrived at Fisherman's Wharf (while our feet were very sore, it definitely helped with warming us up).  We wandered around the area for a while, checked out the seals at Pier 39 and then headed off on our Alcatraz Tour.  It was good to finally get to Alcatraz and do the tour, but "holy crap it was cold" over there.  We caught the boat back to Fisherman's Wharf, and not stupid enough to make the same mistake and walk back to where we were staying, we got an Uber back to Union Square!  We had a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (we took our White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Cheesecake "to go" as we were too full from lunch) and then headed back to our hotel to quickly change before heading off to a baseball game.  We walked down to AT&T stadium where we watched the Giants play the Orioles.  It was actually a really good game to watch and thankfully the Giants won.  After the game we walked back to the hotel and called it a night.

Our next day in San Francisco was a Sunday and we decided we would hire some bikes and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito.  We headed back to Fisherman's Wharf (thank you Uber) again to get our bikes and off we went.  It was crazy busy - and we soon discovered how many people had the same idea as us on this very cold Sunday!  There were way more hills on this ride than I was prepared for and I quickly discovered that I am definitely not at my fittest!!   Not willing to give up though, I kept pushing on, and we made it over the bridge.  Once we got over the bridge, there was actually some blue sky and it was so much warmer than in the city!  We then rode a bit further on to Sausalito, where we grabbed some lunch (fish and chips) before taking the ferry back to San Francisco.  We grabbed an Uber back to Union Square, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to our hotel for a bit of a break.  We ended the night with a few drinks at the 39th floor of the Marriot Marquis.  This location is known for its amazing views, but unfortunately all we saw was fog.  As such, it seemed fitting to have the "Karl the Fog" cocktail (which also included Bundaberg Ginger Beer)!  We then grabbed a quick dinner of sushi at a nearby restaurant, and headed back to the hotel for bed.

Here are some photos from these few days.....

Noisy Elephant Seals

A nice view along the way...

Our squirrel friends (they kept coming so close I was scared I was going to stand on one)!

Bixby Creek Bridge

Pebble Beach Golf Club

The Lone Cypress

Google!

Some views on our walk to Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Our Alcatraz Tour

Baseball Game - SF Giants v Baltimore Orioles

Our Bike Ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito

View from the Marriott Marquis 39th Floor!!