Pleasanton

day three. Woke up at Julie's house to finish off the donuts and more lovely coffee for breakfast, then packed up ready to leave. We'd decided to see the west of the city via the '49 mile scenic drive'. Well, we did our best to follow the map but all day only saw one sign showing where it was! We managed to see everything we wanted to though. I was so surprised that most major tourist attractions are just not signposted. You either have to guess (as the one way systems are not marked on the maps either) or drive round and round to find stuff. Despite this, we managed to put our toes in the Pacific on Ocean Beach, then headed north for some fantastic views of the Golden Gate bridge. During our travels around the city, we had no choice but to encounter the steep hills again, this time behind the wheel. Oh dear, that was scary, especially when reaching the crest of a hill and not being able to see anything over the bonnet. Oh, yes, and then down down down again.

The Dodge Charger!

After several attempts to negotiate the Golden Gate Park we found the lovely Stow Lake and stocked up on hot dogs, cracker jacks and tea. I spotted a turtle sunning itself on a rock but made so much noise telling Richard it was there it buggered off! Then we got lost again in the park before heading up to the Palace of Fine Arts - what a stunning building! We considered the Exploratorium but resisted as it was $14 each and we're just so used to museums being free.

Golden Gate Bridge

Next we went off to the Conservatory of Flowers which had an exhibition of carnivorous plants - reminding us of those we saw at Chelsea Flower Show. Absolutely fascinating stuff and the orchids were lovely too. We managed to escape the park then headed back towards the ocean  for dinner of fish and chips, 1/2 lb hamburger and fries at The Beach Chalet. With our meal we had a sampler of six local beers which were all lovely. After this we negotiated the city one final time to head out across the Bay Bridge to Pleasanton, to a brilliantly traditional motel - the real American sort that you think only exists in the movies! A couple of old cars were parked up which added to the movie atmosphere.

Po Sampling Six Beers

In the Car