To San Francisco

Today, Thursday, 10th April, we left Yosemite National Park and drove to San Francisco.  We drove through acres of almond trees, then walnut trees.  We also saw a couple more diary farms, with the cows standing and sitting in the mud under the open barn.  We had a stop-off at Sambardo's in Linden, near Stockton, which is where Compac (the company Eric works for) has the largest cherry sorting machine (which Eric has worked on).  He wanted to check how things were going with commissioning the machine, as the cherry season is due to start soon (although apparently there have not been enough frosts this year, so they are only expecting about 50% of the normal crop here in California).  We got to see the machine (we used a golf cart to get to the building), and meet the owners, Lawrence and Beverly Sambardo, who were both very friendly and hospitable.  Sambardo also process walnuts and apples, as well as cherries.  Lawrence has given us some ideas for things to do here in San Francisco.

Lawrence's father came out to America from Italy, with nothing.  He worked 2 jobs and slept for 2 hrs a day for a year or two until he had enough money to open a market with his brother in San Francisco.  They worked there, I think, 6am to 11pm, 365 days a year for 10 years.  Then, with no experience of horticulture, he decided to shift to Linden, and offer a better life for his family.  That is hard work and dedication.

We've seen lots of houses and other buildings with solar panels on them.  Eric's dream come true!  We also passed through lots more wind turbines on our way into Oakland and San Francisco.

Our first stop here in San Francisco was one of Lawrence's suggestions - as we came over the Bay Bridge from Oakland into SF, we stopped at Treasure Island, Yerba Buena (an island in the middle of SF Bay) and looked out to the SF city skyline.

Then, our hotel.  It is relatively expensive compared to other hotels we have stayed in (except for the National Parks) and it does not even provide breakfast, but we can leave our car parked here all day, which is fine, as we can make our way round some of the places we wish to visit by foot or public transport.  We are now able to drink Hetch Hetchy water, so in a way, we are still close to Yosemite National Park.