Day 19 ... onwards towards San Francisco

After 3 nights in this lovely part of the world we are on the move again to our final destination, Castro Valley, just outside San Francisco.

We had our 'at home' breakfast of cereal and fruit and then packed up the car.  As the sun was shining this morning we decided to head back to the valley floor for some sunshine photos before we headed off.   Keith has been feeling very tired the last couple of days and it was only as we passed an elevation sign this morning we wondered whether 'living' above 6000ft was not helping his breathing.  We'll see if it gets better in SF or whether he's just worn himself out with all the sightseeing!

We stopped first at Tunnel View, who could resist one last look along the valley to Half Dome, gorgeous.

We then carried on into the valley area and stopped a few times to top up the photo count.  We also parked up near the lower Yosemite Falls area and walked a little til we found a view I had liked yesterday where you can see the falls from the walkway.  The flow definitely looked slower than yesterday but the whole area is just lovely.  Must admit I was relucant to leave, not sure whether it was Yosemite itself or just the fact that it is our last national park!

We continued to enjoy the scenery as we left the valley and followed the rest of the Tioga Pass out of the park and into the hills of Stanislaus National Forest area.  We found some more fascinating roads including the steep and winding road out of the hills and down to a town called Moccasin.  There was also a large reservoir here and we found somewhere to stop and look at the water while we ate our sandwich lunch.

The next part of the drive was very flat and there was a lot of agriculture. There were a lot of trees planted in rows and it took us a while to find clues to tell us what the crop was - almonds (we think)!

We joined the freeway and it was a bit manic.  The opposite carriageway was packed with people leaving the city on Friday afternoon, our side was flowing but fast and busy.

After one missed turn and a bit of re-routing, we found our hotel and checked in, then took some time to relax before heading out for dinner.

A new restaurant chain for us for dinner tonight, Black Angus Steahouse, bit like Longhorns.  We were very impressed with our ribs and teriyaki steak meals.

Hoping to use the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport system) to get into San Francisco tomorrow, no idea how that's going to go,  we don't do public transport usually! 😲

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