27.08.2013If you’re going to San Francisco…

You probably all know the famous song by Scott McKenzie. And although we did not wear any flowers in our hair, we had a great time in San Francisco. Especially staying with Aunt Judie and Uncle Peter was a pleasure. We also managed to meet Diego and Janina, who had just flown in from Zurich and were on their way to Yellowstone. And before heading on to Los Angeles we also visited Yuping and her newborn girl.

But before we finally arrived in San Francisco we once more had a long road trip ahead of us. This time we first crossed Idaho and then Nevada.

The further west and into Nevada we drove, the more and more smokey the sky became:

What looked amazing was caused by the great Yosemite Rim fire, the third largest wildfire in California’s history. As a result Lake Tahoe was hardly visible and the fire danger in the area was very high as well.

With just a few more miles to drive to San Francisco we joined the rush hour on a 6 lane interstate towards San Francisco. The interstate was really crowded with cars and when the van in front of us suddenly hit the breaks really hard, there was not enough space to stop our car in time. We had our first car accident in 14 years…

Just that morning Tini had asked Andy what a ‘fender bender’ is; the same day we had one… To keep it short: Luckily neither we nor the driver of the van was hurt. Both cars made it to the shoulder of that 6 lane highway where we settled the details. Because our car was leaking and couldn’t drive faster than 5 mph, it had to be towed. Without any big hassle we got an exchange car and the full insurance package covered all damages.

Besides all the troubles, we had a beautiful sunset and made it to the dinner with Diego and Janina with only a half an hour delay.

We had a really nice evening with Diego and Janina; we enjoyed some Chinese food, had a drink at a bar and Andy was updated on all the things that had happened since he left.

The next day we visited Aunt Judie and Uncle Peter in their fabulous apartment in San Francisco. From there we had an amazing view over the Bay Area and when the fog disappeared we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

It was the perfect place to follow the yachting race of the Louis Vuitton Cup between Italy and New Zealand (or “Prada vs. the Kiwis”), that took place that afternoon. The winner, in this case the Kiwis, get to challenge the Oracle team in the 34th America’s Cup.

After the race we drove down to the pier to have a closer look at the 72-foot wing-sail catamarans. There was a lot going on; films about sailing, food, drinks and shopping…

In the evening Aunt Judie and Uncle Peter took us to St. Francis Yacht Club for dinner. Luckily it was a more casual event, so we didn’t stick out too much with our more functional wear 🙂
The food was really superb and ended with as much desert as one could agree upon with ones conscience 🙂
All the time over we had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge until it started hiding after sundown…

Even at night the bridge looks beautiful.

Later that night and after a last look over sleeping San Francisco we fell into some of the most comfortable beds on our trip.

After breakfast the next morning we drove down the famous Lombard street, which was just around the corner.

It was a bit cloudy that morning but that didn’t keep us from crossing the Golden Gate Bridge by foot. We started at the Fort Point which lies directly under the bridge.

Andy imitated some Japanese tourists with this pose:

Eventually we made it to the other side of the bridge:

And while it had still been cloudy in the morning, we walked back under a perfectly sunny and blue sky:

For a short walk along Ocean Beach we went to visit Cliff House:

In the late afternoon we continued to Los Altos Hills and again met up with Aunt Judy and Uncle Peter. Before dinner we played ball with Lucy and it was almost impossible to get her tired of fetching the ball 🙂

We started out with delicious mojitos before the special crab salad introduced us to the deliciously seasoned and grilled chicken with assorted vegetables and finally ended with a mouthwatering lemon cake. Next day Uncle Peter prepared a surprise breakfast for us:
“Weisswurst-Frühstück”! Since we have been traveling for a while now, he thought it would be one of the things we’d miss. And he was totally right! We really enjoyed that Bavarian specialty and the past two days that made us almost feel at home.

After Aunt Judie had equipped us with entire guides and must-sees for South America we drove up to Berkeley and visited Yuping and her newborn girl. After meeting her at home and chatting away about all the developments on both sides of the Atlantic she took us out for lunch to her favorite Chinese restaurant.

In the afternoon we once again continued south, heading towards Los Angeles…