Day 2: From San Francisco to Yosemite national park

After the skin-burningly sunny and intensive day in San Francisco we were ready to hit the road again. First we checked the status of the injuries: Veikka's forehead and nose were horribly red and aching, Jani's forehead and neck were horribly red and aching, the back of my hand was horribly red and aching (I always wear day cream with sun protection) and Lassi's cheeks and nose were slightly red, but not aching. I feel horrible about having let the kids get sun burnt and usually it is my number one priority to take care of everyone's well-being when traveling, but Veikka just looked at me in the eyes and said that Mom, I really don't think it was your fault. Makes my heart burst.

So please, please ALWAYS put on sun lotion even if it's a cloudy or windy day. The weather may change really fast and it is quite an easy thing to prepare for.

As we had woken up really early, partly to avoid the morning traffic in the city center and partly due to jet-lag, we jumped in the car right away. We decided to avoid freeways and use smaller roads instead to see as much of the "original life" as possible. We weren't in a hurry as Yosemite was only a few hours' drive away and so we took a little detour through Southern San Francisco. With a GPS it's relatively easy to drive around in the Windy City even though the traffic can get a bit messy at times. After driving in Florence in Italy this was nothing.

After a while we stopped at some small suburban town to have breakfast at Starbucks. A quick, smooth and pleasant way to start the day.

Our rental Buick had started to make some whirring sound, but the car still worked like a dream so we decided to ignore it. For now.

We had googled shopping outlets in SF and found one in Livermore (San Francisco Premium Outlets) and it happened to be almost on our route. I needed new sunglasses as I had just stepped on my old ones (don't ask, how it happened) and Veikka needed a hat with larger rim to protect his burnt face from the sun. Even if I had been upset about having destroyed my beautiful Giorgio Armani sunglasses two weeks earlier, I was delighted to find a lovely and well-fitting model by Oscar de la Renta. Their RRP had been $250 and here I got them at $49! Money well spent! Veikka, too, found himself a cool mafioso stray hat for $14. When shopping in the US they only show the basic price in the price tag; there will always be a tax added.

On our way to Yosemite the temperature started rising rapidly. After a while the surrounding nature had turned to dry and brown hills. I could easily imagine cowboys riding their horses in the hills herding their cattle. It was really hot, around 36 C degrees, and the air was still. Suddenly we saw fruit trees. And some more fruit trees. Endless rows of green fruit trees and grape vines. The farms must be huge here! At the end of the road we already saw the mountains looming in the background.

Before starting the rise to the mountains it's important to make sure that you have enough gas. There is one gas station quite up along the way, but after that there are none in the national park. At times the rise is so steep that there is a sign that says that you should turn off your AC to prevent the car motor from boiling. The speed limit is very low and due to some road work we were stuck in a queue, and the trip took us somewhat longer than we had anticipated. I didn't mind though as the scenery was truly amazing... just look at the pictures. There are no words to describe this magnificent place.

Sorry about my finger in some of these pictures... I only today learnt to take pictures properly with my new mobile phone.

Getting better all the time... Whenever I thought it couldn't get any better, the next view was even more amazing!

Our hotel Double Eagle Resort and Spa is located behind the valley and the mountains (there are not that many lodgings available in the national park) and it was easy to find. Amazing scenery of a pond and mountains from our cabin. Fantastic beds and a lovely countryside-style wooden furniture. I simply love this place!