Two Miles and Four Feet from Home: San Francisco

We woke up about 7 and I cooked breakfast. Somehow I had "accidentally" bought real bacon instead of turkey bacon....... yum yum. Our plan today was to get the oil changed in the Prius and maybe get it washed and then head for San Francisco for the day. We found a place to change the oil and they did a great job of offering me extra services that would have totaled up to over $300. No to everything but the oil change. It was $40 bucks which is expensive in my book but they did give us drinks while we waited and also a coupon for a free car wash. Not too bad after all. We went to the car wash and got the Prius cleaned up and headed into town. It was a pretty easy drive in and this time we had downloaded an app on our phone and purchased parking ahead of time. It was valet parking at Holiday Inn and I was glad we got it somewhat cleaned up for the valet driver however I am pretty sure it still smells like 2 and half weeks of camping. The price was $24 for the day. Not too bad and it was located just one block from Fisherman's Wharf. We had called the night before to see about getting Jasper boarded but they could not confirm until today. San Francisco was voted one of the most dog friendly cities so we decided to take him. It said if he had a muzzle he could even ride the public transit system. After we arrived the first thing we noticed is how cold it was. Even though we knew it was cool there it was hard to leave our campsite where the high was going to be 95 wearing coats. Needless to say within 10 minutes we purchased Lyn a coat for $11.99 at the first souvenir place we saw. Lyn now has 5 coats with us in this trip. Two she brought, two she bought in Pescadero and now this one. After that we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf and just took in all the sites. We saw the Sea lions and all the great views. We also saw lots of seafood and decided to have lunch there. We split a giant dengue crab and lobster sandwich which was super good. Jasper kept giving us looks while we were eating it and we finally gave him two milk bones to feel better about ourselves. After lunch we strolled down the water way and came across a National Historic Park that we had never heard of. It was the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. It was pretty cool complete with ships but had one major flaw. They did not allow dogs. Jasper and I waited outside while Lyn looked and then we switched and I took a peek, They have several ships and lots of other interesting artifacts to look at. We had heard that Jasper could ride the cable car if he had a muzzle and that you could use your leash as a muzzle. We also read that it was totally up to the cable car driver whether to allow it or not. When we got there we saw a long line and we actually asked if Jasper could ride and the cable car driver that was there at the time said it should not be a problem so we bought tickets and got in line. It took about three cars and 30 minutes of waiting for our turn to arrive. While we waited Jasper sat and laid patiently and everybody ooed and awed over him. Anyway when our turn came the driver did not like the looks of things and said if we did not have an actual muzzle we could not go. Several people in line actually got mad and told the driver to let him ride but we decided to take it in stride. The problem was now we were the owners of $28 worth of tickets and no way to refund them as the kiosk was closed. I asked several people if they wanted to buy them for $20 and I guess I sounded too much like a scam artist. While I was doing this one of the workers there saw me and came over to help. He actually vouched for me to the next family in line and gave them the confidence to buy the tickets. I got $20 dollars back and they saved $8. Nice people are everywhere and you usually do not have to look too far. We decided we would just walk to China Town which is where we we were going to ride to anyway. We headed up some of the steepest streets I had been on and Lyn was wondering what she had gotten herself into. Every street we crossed we were rewarded with great views and actually got to stand at the top of Lombard street and watch the cars go down that crazy street. After considerable effort and a stop for directions we were finally in China Town. Lyn loved the markets and she bought a bamboo rug for the camper and some vegetables to cook for us over the coming nights. We meandered through and after several hours headed back to our car. The car park was actually at the Holiday Inn and they let us use their bathrooms and everything! Wow what a luxury! We got in the car and headed out. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge for the third time in two days. Beautiful every time! It took us about an hour to get home and while Lyn fixed dinner I headed out and filled the car with gas and got a few supplies. Tomorrow we head to Yosemite National park. This park is super hard to get a campsite and I was lucky enough to reserve a site for two nights starting on the 18th. At the time I had no idea where we would be on the 18th but I took a chance and it appears that it has worked out. The only site available is a tent site so we will be camping in a tent for the next two nights. I brought a small tent from our first year of camping. According to the description our site is actually 80 feet up a hill from where our car will be parked so it looks like trying to move the camper into the tent area is a no go. Anyway except for the prospect of bears we are truly excited to see Yosemite in all of its splendor! As I write this Jasper is already sound asleep. We walked about 9.5 miles today and I think we wore him out. Really enjoyed today and looking forward to tomorrow.