We were determined that a fall of unexpected snow would not stop us visiting Yosemite. We made a call and things had improved and tyre chains were no longer necessary. Packed up we had breakfast – if Janice doesn’t get at least 2 cups of tea in the morning she’s dangerous to approach. We set the sat nav for Yosemite, crossed our fingers and toes and said our goodbyes to Fresno.

It was a 2 hour drive and as we climbed steadily, we realised that to have done it yesterday would have been foolhardy.

First protected in 1864 the national park covers 1200 square miles of waterfalls, ancient giant Sequoias, a vast wilderness and so much more.

We couldn’t spend too much time there as there were 2 hour queues to get further into the park and we were on a schedule to get to San Francisco, 170 miles west. At least we had enough time to see the Sequoias and some stunning views.

We navigated ourselves off the main freeway to get more of a feeling for the country.  Janice covers the flora and fauna – there is nothing we now do not know about almonds.  To share just a little California grows 80% of the world’s almonds and it takes 400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of almonds – recent droughts have proved challenging.  We even pulled over and, with no- one looking, picked a couple of unripe ones which Janice dissected.

Arriving in San Francisco for a 3 night stay, we check into a hotel which also cares about water use.

In the shower is a timer to ensure efficient use of water.

Being a plastic free hotel all qr codes/ instructions are written on wooden blocks and if you don’t want to be disturbed in the morning the above rock should be placed on a ledge outside the room. 

It’s an early night for us 3 oap’s so we’re ready for some San Fran sightseeing starting with a morning visit to Alcatraz – after the 3 minute shower of course.

And the almonds…..