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Monterey Bay aquarium is located in Monterey bay, CA.

This aquarium is one of the best ones I've seen. It is large and has many different varieties of fish and birds too.

Thea sea fish section was our favorite.

After seeing the aquarium, we headed to San Jose and stayed the night with our friends there. Next, day we flew back to Blacksburg, VA.
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McWay falls is said to be the only waterfall that falls to a sea beach. The trail is not a big one. It takes only 10-15 mins for the hike.

The fall is small but beautiful. The beach is inaccessible though. Then we took lunch from Nepenthe restaurant which had a gorgeous view. The food was not bad either.

Our next destination was Monterey bay aquarium.
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On day 06, we drove to San Jose via Highway 01. Big sur is a part of that highway. This is the most beautiful road I have seen in USA. You can get amazing views of the blue sea all the way through.

Also, not far from Cambria there is a place that seals come to the shore for sun bathing. The first picture shows the seals.

Along the road, there are many vista points too. It was gloomy and misty when we start the trip around 9 am but luckily it became sunny after a while. The scenary was gorgeous.

McWay waterfall is located on this route so we visited it too.
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On Day 05, we drove all the way from death valley to Cambria, CA. It was a long drive and we reached Cambria in the evening. Our lodge was near Moonstone beach.

We visited Moonstone beach just before the sun set.

Since it was winter, no one was at the beach.

Next day our plan was to drive back to San Jose via Big Sur. 
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Artist's drive is a gorgeous winding road. It is located closed to Devil's golf course. You can see colorful rocks and hills while driving through this road. Artist's pallet is a must see place, shown in last picture.

I wish we had more time to spend in death valley. There is so much to see. However the sun set happened too soon and we had to go back to the lodge. Next day, we were planning to drive up to Cambria so we couldn't spend next day in death valley.
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Devil's golf course in death valley is a strange place. Only a devil can play golf there :) The ground is so coarse and its hard to walk on it. The rocks are formed by salt and soil it seemed.

Our next point on interest was Artist's drive.

Death valley is an amazing place to visit. It is so remote and separated from the busy world. It is basically a desert but definitely more than that.

There are many interesting places to visit in death valley. One of them is, bad water basin. It is the lowers point in USA, which is below sea level. 

You can sea salt formation in bad water basin. Then we visited Devil's golf course in death valley.
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In the morning we drove through June lake loop. Its a really beautiful panoramic area. Again, it would have been more beautiful in summer. This loop consists of five gorgeous lakes. There was not much activity going though.

Our next destination was Death valley. We reached there in the afternoon and we stayed the night in Stovepipe wells village in death valley.
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On day 03, we wanted to visit Yosemite valley in the morning and then drive up to June lake. We were not planning to do any hikes as it was already winter and the time was limited.

We didn't find any breakfast place near Westgate lodge or on the way to Yosemite valley. So we had breakfast from the food court in Yosemite lodge, inside Yosemite valley. The food was good.

Then we drove around and visited the scenic points like Tunnel view, valley view.


Valley view

Tunnel view

Too bad the glacier point road was closed as it was Winter. I think visiting Yosemite in summer would be the best. It would be more beautiful, more roads would be open and less dangerous too.

Our next destination was June lake. The road goes through the park (120) to the other side of the mountain range was also closed. So we had to take 108. This meant a considerable delay to our trip.

Guess what when we were halfway through 108, we got to know that road also is closed ahead. Then we had to turn back, enter 88 and follow a very long route to June lake. Winter is a really bad time to travel this area.
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Lombard street is a must see location in San Francisco. The hardest thing would be to find parking though. It's a winding little street in a steep ground.

You could get the best view when you are at the bottom of the street but you need to park the car somewhere and come by foot if you need to take a photograph of the street. The street is one way, that's why you can't see it from the bottom while driving.

We didn't wait to find parking as it was getting late. So we could only photograph the view from the top.

Our next destination was Yosemite valley. We left San Francisco around 4pm heading towards Yosemite. As it was start of winter it was dark by 6 pm. When we entered the mountain area, we had to experience mist too. It was too dangerous to drive on those winding narrow roads through the dark and mist. My advice is not to travel that area at night.

It was around 8 pm when we reach our lodge Yosemite Westgate. It was not the best but ok for the price as it is hard to find good hotels for a low price in that area.
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We saw the Alcatraz prison from the cruise. It goes around the island in return trip. I had a strange feeling when I saw this abundant prison. It is situated in a very scenic location, surrounded by waters but people who lived in those small cells were prisoners. Did they have a mind to enjoy the surroundings?

Anyway, there is a tour you can take if you'd like to visit the island and see the prison itself but we didn't have much time. Seeing from the distance was enough for us.
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Golden Gate Bridge is a must see item in San Francisco. Taking the cruise from Pier 39 is is the best way to see the whole panaromic view.

The cruise goes under the bridge and enter the sea from the bay. Then it turns back. We really enjoyed the ride with the breeze and the birds flying over our heads.

Later in the afternoon we drove through the bridge too. It was a nice experience too.

After the cruise ride, we went to Tandoori Mahal Indian restaurant for lunch. The food was good but it was so hard to find parking. After lunch, we headed towards Lombard street.
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It took about 1hr to go to the city from San Ramon. It was around 11 am when we reach Pier 39. Our intention was to take the cruise to see the Golden gate bridge and Alcatraz island.

Fortunately, there wasn't a long queue for the cruise. Probably because it was the Thanksgiving day. So without waiting much we got into the cruise.

We could see lots of sea lions resting when the cruise starts to sail. The cruise is a great way to see the Golden gate bridge and Alcatraz.
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We visited California in Thanksgiving 2016. On day one, we took the flight from Roanoke, VA to San Francisco airport.

It was around 11 pm when we get there and then we drove to San Ramon to stay with our friends there. It was late and we were jet lagged too. So we went to bed after the dinner.

Next day, our plan was to visit San Francisco city and then head towards Yosemite. We spent 5 days in California and this is the map of our trip




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