KatelynAugust 6, 2021 – August 13, 2021
Where We Stayed:
Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa
Trip Highlights:
- Yosemite National Park
- Muir Woods and Wine Tour
- Walt Disney Family Museum
- San Francisco and Cable Cars
Favorite Restaurants:
Our California road trip kicked off with a long morning of travel to Fresno, California. After picking up our rental car at the airport, we spent a couple hours in Fresno prepping for our adventures to come. After quick lunch at In-n-Out, we stocked up on snacks and other supplies before driving about an hour and half north to our hotel in Oakhurst, California. Our hotel here wasn’t anything special, but it was a good enough home for a couple nights as we explored Yosemite National Park.
One thing we noticed immediately as we started to drive north was the smoke. What we didn’t know until after we were already getting settled in the area is that a massive forest fire had broken out just north of Yosemite National Park. Even several hours south of the fire near our hotel in Oakhurst, we could see the smoke in the distance. This would become even more obvious when we made our way into the park the following day.
We woke up early on Saturday morning to make our way to Yosemite National Park. We had heard that the entrance lines on weekends were sometimes quite long, so we arrived at the park around eight a.m. Luckily we were able to quickly drive past the “90 minute wait from this point” signs that led up to the entrance of the park and make our way in with no wait.
Our first stop in the park was the Taft Point Trailhead. This was our only real hike of the day, and we decided to tackle it early when we had the most energy and the temperature was the coolest. The hike to Taft Point is a relatively popular hike in the park because the views at the point are incredible. It is about a mile hike through a small forest and up a rocky incline to the point, with about 500 feet of elevation change throughout the hike. The round trip is about two miles.
Hiking to Taft Point was mildly challenging, but not too bad. A good chunk of the hike was downhill, so despite the fact that we are definitely not in the best shape at the moment, we were able to make progress pretty easily. However, immediately after beginning our hike we were hit with two things that we hadn’t properly anticipated. First was the smoke. You could smell the smoke from the forest fire burning to the north and even see it in the air. All around us smelt like a campfire and we could feel the smoke we were breathing in. Second was the elevation. Taft Point itself sits at around 3,500 feet, and while that isn’t the highest the elevation goes in the park, we could feel the thinner air impacting our breathing as well.
Once you make it through the forest portion of the hike you arrive at an area called The Fissures. Here, the rock we were walking on had massive gaps and openings that dropped straight down into the valley below. It was easy to avoid them, so there wasn’t any danger in accidentally stepping off a cliff, but they were incredible to look down into as we walked past them.
We spent some time taking in the view at Taft Point. The point was relatively empty this morning, so during our time there we really only rank into three or four other groups. From this height we could really see the smoke from the fire, and unfortunately it clouded our views of the valley the entire day we were there. Even through the smoke the views were amazing, and even though I’m not afraid of heights, I couldn’t help but be slightly nervous when looking at the drop into the valley over 3,000 feet below us.
Our hike back was challenging. The smoke and elevation had definitely caught up with us at this point, not to mention that most of the hike back was uphill. We took lots of breaks and slowly creeped our way back to the car for a quick lunch.
Our next stop was brought us farther up the road and up in elevation to Glacier Point. Glacier Point is another view into the valley, though this one doesn’t require a hike to get to and resides at 7,214 feet above the valley. The smoke seemed to be even thicker up here, but through our binoculars we could still make out some of the features of the valley below us.
After taking in the sights from above, we decided to see the valley up close. We started to drive the hour from the top of Glacier Point down into Yosemite Valley. Along the way we stopped at the iconic Tunnel View pull off point to look at the valley we were about to enter sprawling before us.
Once we entered the valley the smoke seemed to disappear, giving us great looks at the rock walls towering above us. We drove a loop through the valley, stopping at a few key pull off points to take a closer look. Most of the waterfalls at this time of year are pretty dried up, but we were able to see a trickle of water coming down from the top of Yosemite Falls.
Yosemite Valley was our last stop of the day in the park, so after our loop we began our trek back to Oakhurst. Both nights in Oakhurst we ate dinner at the Oakhurst Grill and Whiskey Lounge, which was across the street from our hotel. The food was pretty good and their dining room had massive windows that looked out over the forest surrounding Oakhurst. In their parking lot they had a cutting from a Sequoia tree that had fallen nearby years ago. This was my first time seeing a Sequoia or Redwood up close, and even in a cutting their size was impressive!
The next day we packed up our Oakhurst hotel room and drove across the state to Monterrey, California. Monterrey is right on the coast, and our hotel was perfectly set up to provide us a nice relaxing break during our vacation. Our first day we settled in to the hotel, went swimming, and found the perfect ice cream stop (Revival Ice Cream) that we would end up visiting multiple times while in Monterrey. They even had gluten free cones!
Our only full day in Monterrey began with a drive up to Big Sur. Big Sur is located along the Pacific Coast Highway and is full of beautiful scenery along the ocean. We started with a stop at Point Lobos State Park, and went on a short walk to see Bird Island (which is just what it sounds like – an island where a bunch of birds like to hang out) as well as some of the other little groves in the ocean.
We continued our drive up the coast, stopping at miscellaneous points along the way.
After a quick break at the hotel, we spent the afternoon exploring Monterrey’s Cannery Row and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. The Monterrey Bay Aquarium is internationally known as one of the best aquariums in the United States and as a prominent conservation organization. We enjoyed the aquarium, however it was pretty crowded, and though we were vaccinated and many people were wearing masks, the crowds still made us a bit uncomfortable at times.
The Aquarium is located next to Cannery Row, which is a touristy area filled with restaurants and shops right along the ocean. We wandered through here, picking up a ton of pressed pennies, before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
The previous night, we had tried to go to dinner at a restaurant called Flaherty’s in Carmel-by-the-Sea. We didn’t make a reservation, and once we arrived realized that they were already booked up for the entire night. This night, we planned ahead, making a reservation ahead of time. They were still busy, but we were able to eat some delicious seafood, most of it locally caught. They had a huge selection of gluten free items, including amazing fried calamari!
The following day we left Monterrey to head to our final stop of the trip: San Francisco. We checked into the hotel, returned our rental car, and picked up lunch in the city to start our day. After lunch at another new favorite of our, Asian Box, we headed to the Cable Car Museum. This is a free museum located at the hub of all of the cable cars in the city. Neither of before visiting had actually understood the difference between a cable car and a standard trolley of street car that another city would have, and we both found this quick stop super interesting. Cable cars themselves do not have anything powering them. They operate by gripping and releasing hold of a cable that is continuously moving through the street. The cable car system in San Francisco is the only one left operating in the world, and there are only a couple lines that still operate in the city. The video below is of the wheels that are moving the cables through the streets allowing the cable cars to traverse the city.
We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner, then walked to see the Painted Ladies houses, another classic San Francisco sight. On this walk was the first time we learned of one challenge to traversing San Francisco: the hills. Our ten minute walk from the ice cream place we stopped at after dinner to the Painted Ladies was straight uphill the entire way. So that “quick 10 minute walk” we saw on the GPS can be a little more challenging that you might expect.
The following day we had scheduled a full day guided tour north of San Francisco to see the redwoods at Muir Woods National Monument and to stop at a few wineries in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley. This ended up being one of our favorite days on the trip, and we would easily do this tour again if we were in the area!
Our first stop was Muir Woods National Monument to see the redwoods. We had about an hour here to explore as much as we wanted. The tour didn’t cover admission to the park, but we were surprised to find out that our America the Beautiful pass we had purchased for our Western road trip earlier this year would cover it, so we ended up getting in for free!
Seeing the redwoods was something I was incredibly excited about in California, and these did not disappoint. Pictures truly do not do justice to the sheer height of these trees. There were small plaques in certain areas of the park talking about historical events that had happened their or the age of certain trees in the grove.
Once we finished at Muir Woods, we drove to our first winery, Kieu Hoang in Napa Valley. All of the wineries we visited provided us free tastings, and we learned a ton about how wine is made in this area and how/why certain wines taste the way that they do.
We had an hour for lunch in Sonoma Plaza, which was plenty of time. There were a ton of different restaurants available, and we chose a Mexican Restaurant nearby. We had time after eating to wander through a few stores and purchase some chocolates from a local shop before continuing on our tour.
The second winery was doing filming for their website, so we were invited to taste more wines than are typically provided on their tasting. Our tour guide actually told us quietly that the winery we stopped at usually doesn’t take too much time for the tour groups, but today, because they were filming, they gave us the full experience. They even allowed us to taste a 70 dollar bottle of wine, though Sam and I both agreed that that one was one of our least favorites of the day. The rest of the wines were great, though, and they even allowed us to eat grapes straight from the vine!
Our final stop of the day, Mayo Winery, was a nice small winery, where we were able to try a wide variety of different types of wine as well as see their barrel room. We finished up our tastings there and began the hour long drive back to San Francisco.
We had one last stop before re-entering the city. In the summer, San Francisco is known for having a pretty heavy layer of fog over the city, and especially over the Golden Gate Bridge. Because of this, despite the fact that we had been in San Francisco for nearly two days at this point, we really hadn’t been able to see the bridge yet. The fog had cleared up by the time we were coming up to the city, so our guide drove us up to an overlook point for the Golden Gate Bridge, we were finally able to see it and take a few pictures.
We were pretty hungry by the time we arrived back in San Francisco, so we stopped for a quick dinner at In-n-Out in Fisherman’s Wharf and explored the wharf a bit. We walked (uphill again) to see Lombard Street, the famous twisty street down one of San Francisco’s hills (see the video of a few cars making their way down it below).
Later that evening, we used up some of our meal credits that the hotel had given us when we arrived at the hotel bar with a few late night snacks, including a cheese plate in the shape of California!
We spent the morning of our final day in San Francisco exploring the Walt Disney Family Museum, a museum set up by Walt’s daughter that chronicled his life from birth to death and all of the amazing successes and challenges in between. Despite not being operated officially by the Walt Disney Company, this museum was very well done, and we spent several hours reading through all of the stores and seeing all of the memorabilia.
Our second stop was an odd one, called Musee Mechanique in Fisherman’s Wharf. This place is part museum, part arcade, with all of it dedicated to coin-operated machines of past and present. Alongside modern arcade games, there were mechanical games from the early 1900’s and before, as well as short scenes that were viewable for only a quarter. This place was super fun, and we had a good time trying out some of the more odd machines and games that we could find.
We walked down from Fisherman’s Wharf to Pier 39, which along with being known as a major touristy area full of restaurants and shops, it is also known for serving as a home to a large group of sea lions. We didn’t spend too much time here, but we were able to watch the sea lions for a bit and get a glimpse of Alcatraz off in the distance.
The final thing that was on our San Francisco to do list this trip was a ride on the cable cars. We found a cable car stop near to our hotel and wanted for the next car to stop. The cars had just started running again after the pandemic, and for the entire month of August they were free to ride. We hopped on and rode until the end of the line, which turned out to be not far from Ghiradelli Square, home of the first ever Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory. After stopping by for some dessert, we headed back to the hotel to pack up for our early flight the next morning.
I loved all three places we stopped on this trip, but before we even left San Francisco I was planning how we could get back. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities we’ve traveled to, and I’m excited to eventually make it back there again to see even more.
