It takes about 8 hours to drive from Yosemite National Park to Redwood National and State Parks and I had dedicated the whole of our third day to just driving. This turned out great for us because we had problem opening the back door of the rental car and we managed to stop in San Francisco to replace the car. So we started off with a Toyota Sienna and exchanged for a Kia Sedona. The Toyota definitely had more features than the Kia but our main concern was space and that we got with both cars. Sonya and Clara enjoyed moving from their seats in the second row to the third row and they could hang and swing like monkeys in the car when the car was parked. More importantly, during long journeys, I could move to the back and sit closer to Clara since she has a habit of having my hand around her before she can fall asleep.
As we drove along the highways towards San Francisco, the fields, filled with dried grass / hay, were almost golden in color in the bright sunshine. It was another surreal experience for me.
We also drove past an area that looked like a wind farm. The hills were just filled with the wind turbines and looked really pretty too.
After exchanging the car at the San Francisco airport, we decided to head to the Fisherman's Wharf in the city. Justin had been there before on a previous trip and told us about the fish market there.
Sonya somehow really loves taking photos with statues and sculptures. What else can be better than the "heart-shaped" statue? Can you see what "heart-shaped statue" she was referring to?
We didn't got far enough to find the fish market but we found a stall selling lots of fresh and yummy looking fruits. The strawberries were huge and perfect (the best strawberries I have seen!) but they were pretty expensive too :)
We got some for our 2 strawberry monsters :)
Then we came upon a stall called The Pearl Factory - Hawaii's Original Pearl-In-The-Oyster. Basically, for $14.99, you get to choose your own unopened oyster, open it and the pearl that is in the shell is the one you get to take home. I am not really a pearl person but this was not something that you get to do all the time so I just had to try it once :)
So, I picked an oyster from the bucket with the wooden tongs.
The guy counted 1, 2, 3 and everyone shouted, "Aloha!" to welcome the pearl before he cracked the shell open.
There's my pearl!
My first pearl...
The guy polished it with salt. I eventually paid more to get in set into a pendant that I get to wear :)
We continued our exploration of the pier. The marina was beautiful.
Then, Sonya saw the carousel and wanted a ride. Clara wanted a ride too but the last time she did, she cried when it started to move and I had to carry her throughout the ride so I didn't let her this time. She was very upset.
We saw on our parking ticket that we could redeem part of the fee by patronizing some of the restuarants / shops and so we decided to have a drink at Bubba Gump, a theme restuarant from the Movie Forest Gump.
The resturant had a great view of the ocean and we could see the boats and also Alcatraz to the left. Flocks of pelicans flew around.
Sonya and Clara tried on Forest Gump's running shoes.
Run, Clara! Run!
In the brochure of the wharf, we also found out about the sea lions next to the pier. Before you actually see them, you can already hear them barking. "Err.. err.. err"
See them sunbathing on the floating platforms.
Sonya and Clara sure enjoyed the sea lions, especially since they do this warm-up exercise in gymnastic class where they pretend to be sea lions.
We also bought some starfish as souvenirs for Sonya's friends back in Westgate.
Now that we were in San Francisco, we just had to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Here's the San Francisco skyline from across the bridge. The guy from the Pearl Factory that we were quite fortunate to have the sun that day. He said that it was usually quite foggy this time of the year as we soon found out during the rest of our road trip :(
We bid goodbye to San Francisco, an unplanned stopover but we all had fun.
We continued our journey up north along Route 101.
Vineyards lined both sides of the highway.
By the time we reached Eureka, CA where we were staying for the night, Sonya and Clara were already fall asleep.
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