California Dreamin'

California is one of my favorite places to visit in the United States. Their weather is always near perfect. In San Francisco, it was about 60-70 degrees or below! Mark Twain once quoted, "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spen t in San Francisco." Los Angeles was hotter, at about 90 degrees. Yosemite National Park was hot as well, high 90s, but not really that humid.

SF: We stayed at the Union Square area, where it's blocks away from the main Trolley stop! Union Square is a shopping area with dozens of department stores and awesome eateries/restaurants.

The trolley ride from Union Square takes you up the hills to Fisherman's Wharf, passing Chinatown, the Coit Tower, the Crookedest Street, etc.

Here are the highlights of our trip/recommendations for SF:

1. Alcatraz Cruise to Penitentiary/Audio Tour <--Awesome insight and beautiful view of SF skyline from the island!
2. Fisherman's Wharf <-- You can see the sea lions, eat great crabs, crab chowder & garlic fries... there's one In & Out Burger place in this area; Tons of souvenir shops.
3. Chinatown <--Oldest Chinatown in North America. <---lots of restaurants, bakeries, souvenir shops, and antique shops.
4. Golden Gate Bridge <--It's about 2-3 miles from Fisherman's Wharf; Walkable, but we opted to rent a bike for half a day.
5. Coit Tower <--- only $5 admission fee, you see the SF skyline...a 360 view through small windows. They have a stretched penny making machine upstairs! It's north of Chinatown, probably midway point to Fisherman's Wharf. You get to see Crookedest street from afar.
6. Crookedest Street on Lombard Street <--You see cars swerving in a zig zag motion. Pretty cool!
7. Cable Car Trolley <--It's a MUST in SF. You'll miss out on an exciting ride if you don't hop on a step at least once and grab onto a pole, especially on the steep hills!
8. Union Square <--Shopping & Eating!
9. Civic Center <--Cool Statue of the 3 heads & 6 arms...
10. AT&T Park <--Catch the SF Giants baseball game, pretty cool ballpark with an ocean view!
• TIPS:
  • Currently, the tax rate is 9.5%;
  • Bring a jacket, scarf, gloves, cuz it's cold in the summer...foggy weather!
  • Take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from the airport to Union Square for $8.10

LA: We stayed in Koreatown, at a hotel where we faced the Hollywood sign! There's so much traffic in LA because no one takes the Metro, it's never crowded!

Here are the highlights of LA:

1. Hollywood Blvd: Walk of Fame <---The biggest stars are found on the same block as the Grauman's Chinese Theater: Michael Jackson, Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Bruce Lee, and other big names! Souvenir shops everywhere!
2. Beverly Hills <--we passed by on our way back from Santa Monica <--looked really nice from a bus point of view
3. Santa Monica <-- beach, shopping on Third Street, cafes, restaurants...
4. Dodger Stadium <--- Take the free shuttle at Union Station to get to the game if you don't have a car.
5. Downtown LA <---Staples Center, Convention Center, Tall Buildings, etc...
• TIPS:
  • Currently, the tax rate is 9.75%
  • Rent a car, to get to places...not a lot of people take the Metro, but it'll get you to all the places I mentioned above
  • Get your souvenirs on Hollywood Blvd, they're abundant there.

Oakland: We mainly went to Oakland for a baseball game. We didn't get a chance to visit the small city...You can take the BART in SF and get to Oakland within 30 minutes.

Yosemite National Park

1. We took a van with about 10 passengers and the driver took us there, stopping a few times for photo opportunities and then let us loose for 3 hours to explore the park. We got to see the Half Dome, the waterfalls, lots of trees, but not the giant sequoias =(.
2. It took about 3 hours to get there. We stopped by a farmer's market and bought fresh almonds!
3. There are shuttles running every 10+ minutes to about 20 points of interests.
• TIPS:
  • Currently, the tax rate is 8.75%
  • Drive to Yosemite with a rental car, it's not worth $150 to get an unguided tour...
  • You can spend a whole day there, that is if you get there bright and early to avoid the lines at the ticket booth/entrance
  • Smell the bark of a ponderosa pine tree, it will smell like vanilla
  • Bring tons of sunscreen! It was sunny and hot!