Continued from our previous post - Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in San Francisco
Day 5
7:00AM - Free buffet breakfast at hotel :) checked
8:00AM - Collection of car rental at Hertz checked
2:00PM - Miners Inn at Mariposa checked
2:30PM - Lunch at nearby vicinity checked
3:00PM - Yosemite National Park skipped
7:00PM - Dinner checked
8:00PM - Stargazing at Sentinel Dome, Yosemite National Park checked
Reality:
Woke up feeling super excited that we can finally eat buffet breakfast! The buffet spread at the Park Central hotel was good - there was free flow smoke salmon!
Feeling satisfied with the breakfast, we went to the Hertz near our hotel to collect our convertible car. We initially rented a Ford Mustang, but we eventually managed to get an upgrade to a Mercedes-Benz C class convertible. You can read about it here - Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz. Yay! However, it took us more than an hour to figure out the functionality of the car as it was a brand new car. I couldn't even find the hand brake, how to move off?! Eventually, we figured out the basics from the user guide such as how to open the roof, how to release hand brake, activate headlights etc and moved on to our next destination - Yosemite.
Yosemite is about 270 km away from San Francisco and took us about 3 hours to reach there. We checked in at the Miners Inn, which is a fairly huge and cheap place compared to our past few accommodations, probably because it is far away from the city. We paid around SGD 188 for two nights and the accommodation comes with free breakfast as well. The breakfast is delicious too! Highly recommend this place to anyone who intends to visit Yosemite.
After we checked in, we decided to have our lunch at Don Rubens restaurant for Mexican food. We thought the food was not too bad and the staff was pretty friendly and helpful. As the sky started to darken, we decided to head back to our accommodation to rest a while before we head out again for stargazing.
At around 8pm, we headed out to the Sentinel Dome, one of the recommended stargazing area which we researched online. However, we realized that it wasn't exactly accessible by car when we reached. Our GPS eventually led us to the Yosemite Valley Trailhead parking and we were expected to hike up to the Dome. How are we supposed to hike up in the dark?! We took some disappointing photos and left the place in the end.
Tips: for anyone who intends to stargaze, it is better to hike up the Dome in the day first (but I wonder how to hike down at night too...). Alternatively, I recommended driving up to Glacier Point (however, this road will be closed during winter) for stargazing.
Day 6
7:00AM- Free buffet breakfast at Miners Inn checked
8:00AM - Visit Yosemite National Park checked
Reality:
We managed to visit quite a few places within Yosemite. Started with the Bridalveil Fall trailhead and moved on to the Lower Yosemite Falls. We also visited the Yosemite Visitor Centre and learnt about Yosemite history.
We completed most of what we wanted to do at Yosemite at around 2pm, and KPO thought we have enough time to visit the Glacier Point. I was a bit hesitant as I thought the road will be closed in winter and wanted to give it a miss. Eventually, we tried calling the National Park hotline to confirm and were lucky to learn that it was still open. And we were so glad we drove up there as it was by far the most scenic place of our trip and we fell in love with it immediately! Highly recommend anyone visiting Yosemite to visit this place if possible!
Day 7
7:00AM - Free buffet breakfast at Miners Inn checked
9:00AM - Mariposa Grove checked
4:00PM - Drive to Corporate Inn Sunnyvale, Silicon Valley checked
Reality:
After our breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Mariposa Grove which was approximately 2 hours drive away. We have to park our car at an open space carpark quite some distance away from the Mariposa Grove, but there is a free shuttle which brings us there directly.
When we reached, we were amazed at how tall the Mariposa trees can grow to (height of 26 stories or the height of the Statue of Liberty) and some were more than a thousand years old! The whole trail took us around 2 hours and I really enjoyed walking in the serenity in the woods with KPO. It felt like time has stopped at that very moment.
Once we are out of the woods, it is back to the hectic crazy schedule that we have. We have >300 km to cover before reaching Silicon Valley, our next destination.
That's all we have for Yosemite. For anyone who intends to visit this national park, we would recommend staying there at least for a day as the Yosemite National park is huge! We love that place and it is so sad to learn how the environment was impacted due to the US government shutdown now.
Anyway, stay tuned to our next post on Silicon Valley!
You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in San Francisco
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in New York
- Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - SQ26 Singapore to New York
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - The Private Room
- Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites = 38.6% Cashback!
Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)
Day 5
7:00AM - Free buffet breakfast at hotel :) checked
8:00AM - Collection of car rental at Hertz checked
2:00PM - Miners Inn at Mariposa checked
2:30PM - Lunch at nearby vicinity checked
3:00PM - Yosemite National Park skipped
7:00PM - Dinner checked
8:00PM - Stargazing at Sentinel Dome, Yosemite National Park checked
Reality:
Woke up feeling super excited that we can finally eat buffet breakfast! The buffet spread at the Park Central hotel was good - there was free flow smoke salmon!
Feeling satisfied with the breakfast, we went to the Hertz near our hotel to collect our convertible car. We initially rented a Ford Mustang, but we eventually managed to get an upgrade to a Mercedes-Benz C class convertible. You can read about it here - Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz. Yay! However, it took us more than an hour to figure out the functionality of the car as it was a brand new car. I couldn't even find the hand brake, how to move off?! Eventually, we figured out the basics from the user guide such as how to open the roof, how to release hand brake, activate headlights etc and moved on to our next destination - Yosemite.
Yosemite is about 270 km away from San Francisco and took us about 3 hours to reach there. We checked in at the Miners Inn, which is a fairly huge and cheap place compared to our past few accommodations, probably because it is far away from the city. We paid around SGD 188 for two nights and the accommodation comes with free breakfast as well. The breakfast is delicious too! Highly recommend this place to anyone who intends to visit Yosemite.
After we checked in, we decided to have our lunch at Don Rubens restaurant for Mexican food. We thought the food was not too bad and the staff was pretty friendly and helpful. As the sky started to darken, we decided to head back to our accommodation to rest a while before we head out again for stargazing.
At around 8pm, we headed out to the Sentinel Dome, one of the recommended stargazing area which we researched online. However, we realized that it wasn't exactly accessible by car when we reached. Our GPS eventually led us to the Yosemite Valley Trailhead parking and we were expected to hike up to the Dome. How are we supposed to hike up in the dark?! We took some disappointing photos and left the place in the end.
 |
| The disappointing photo. lol. |
7:00AM- Free buffet breakfast at Miners Inn checked
8:00AM - Visit Yosemite National Park checked
Reality:
We managed to visit quite a few places within Yosemite. Started with the Bridalveil Fall trailhead and moved on to the Lower Yosemite Falls. We also visited the Yosemite Visitor Centre and learnt about Yosemite history.
 |
| How Bridalveil Fall looks in winter @_@" |
We completed most of what we wanted to do at Yosemite at around 2pm, and KPO thought we have enough time to visit the Glacier Point. I was a bit hesitant as I thought the road will be closed in winter and wanted to give it a miss. Eventually, we tried calling the National Park hotline to confirm and were lucky to learn that it was still open. And we were so glad we drove up there as it was by far the most scenic place of our trip and we fell in love with it immediately! Highly recommend anyone visiting Yosemite to visit this place if possible!
Day 7
7:00AM - Free buffet breakfast at Miners Inn checked
9:00AM - Mariposa Grove checked
4:00PM - Drive to Corporate Inn Sunnyvale, Silicon Valley checked
Reality:
After our breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Mariposa Grove which was approximately 2 hours drive away. We have to park our car at an open space carpark quite some distance away from the Mariposa Grove, but there is a free shuttle which brings us there directly.
 |
| That's not KPO, just a random person next to a sequoias tree |
Once we are out of the woods, it is back to the hectic crazy schedule that we have. We have >300 km to cover before reaching Silicon Valley, our next destination.
That's all we have for Yosemite. For anyone who intends to visit this national park, we would recommend staying there at least for a day as the Yosemite National park is huge! We love that place and it is so sad to learn how the environment was impacted due to the US government shutdown now.
Anyway, stay tuned to our next post on Silicon Valley!
You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in San Francisco
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in New York
- Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - SQ26 Singapore to New York
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - The Private Room
- Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites = 38.6% Cashback!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)
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