We had planned a 2 week California Road trip itinerary which involved flying to San Francisco from Heathrow and staying 1 night near the airport, then moving to Lake Tahoe (4 nights), Yosemite National Park (3 nights), Santa Cruz (3 nights) and finishing in San Francisco (5 nights)

Travel to San Fransisco

We arrived at Heathrow at 11 am for our 2pm flight. Izzy and I had been watching lots of Tik Toks about ‘Airport Dad’ so decided to try and make our own – which really annoyed Stu as we were constantly filming him. After we checked in, Stu and Izzy headed to the Amex lounge whilst Tom and I went to the BA lounge. The BA lounge was absolutely packed and after an hour or so we went and joined Stu in the Amex lounge – which was really nice.

Our plane was slightly delayed but eventually we boarded. We were on an A380 so were sat upstairs (as the seats were in 2’s) so Tom and Izzy sat in front of Stu & I.

^{Airplane Selfies!}

It was an amazing flight – the weather cleared and we were able to see the west coast of Iceland. Then we started noticing some white dots in the water and realised they were icebergs which meant Greenland wasn’t far away. We had seen Greenland about 4 years earlier when we had flown to LA so I really wanted to see it again and the scenery did not disappoint. We could actually see the glaciers meeting the ocean!

^{Greenland from the air!}

It was an 11 hour flight and we landed 7pm San Fran time. We got through immigration quite quickly, picked up our hire car (which was covered in dents and scratches) and headed to our Hampton Inn for the night after a quick McDonalds pit stop.

^{Our hire car for the next 16 days – it drunk a lot of fuel!!!}

We were up really early the next morning (despite only having about 5 hours sleep) so were at breakfast when it opened. Afterwards Stu and I decided to go out for a walk and find some geo-caches so we left Tom and Izzy at the hotel with their tablets.

The hotel was next to the airport and there was a pathed walkway along the water front. We watched loads of planes take off and land and used flight radar to see where they were going to/from.

^{Plane spotting outside the Hampton Inn at San Francisco Airport}

It was just under 2 hours to Sacramento (which was halfway to Lake Tahoe) so we left quite early as wanted to visit the Old Town, the railroad museum and have lunch.

California State Railroad Museum

We had no expectations as to what the museum would be like but thought it was worth a visit for an hour or so. It was actually really good. There was loads of information about the building of the railroads and it was full of old locomotive engines. One of the carriages had been set up so it moved to give an idea as to what it would be like travelling on the trains. There was also a dining carriage with all the crockery which was used through the years. We left Tom and Izzy to do their own exploring but it took ages to find them at the end as the building was massive.

^{Entering the Railroad Museum}

^{A selection of the steam engines on display}

The upstairs area was really cool as there was a cabinet full of old model trains. Also there were displays showing different areas of the railroad with model houses and train lines all built.

^{The displays on the top floor}

Fanny Ann’s Salon

We needed somewhere to eat and I found a restaurant on google that was themed a bit like an old American bar. It served burgers and hot dogs etc so was perfect for lunch.

When we entered it was full of memorabilia and one of the floors had lots of pinball games so we chose a table next to them. We all ordered burgers for lunch and they were amazing and then Tom and Izzy played on the pinball machines until it was time to go.

^{Burgers for lunch – definitely needed after an 11 hour flight!}

^{Playing on the old pinball machines}

The machines were about $1-$2 to play but were really good fun!

Sacramento Historic Town

After lunch we went for a wander around the historic town which was set up to look like the gold rush era. We also saw the steam boat on the river which had a restaurant in it. We didn’t stay long as the shops were really expensive and quite touristy – it was also really hot, definitely over 30 degrees.

^{Sacramento Historic Town}

We were starting to feel a little jet lagged so it was time to make our way over to Lake Tahoe where we were spending 4 nights.