To arrive in San Francisco, we took two four hour flights. We then got an uber to our holiday house. It was a lovely house and the whole area we were staying in was lovely and all the roads were very clean. All the houses were lovely pale colours and some of them looked like they had come out of a fairytale. Me and Lottie were sharing a room and my mum and dad had a room in the basement. My mum and dads room was really nice. Later on we went to the supermarket to get some stuff for dinner and breakfast. For dinner we just had tomato soup and bread because we were to tired to make something big. The soup 🥣 was pretty good though. After dinner we went straight to bed.

The next day we did a walk up to twin peaks. Twin peaks is a view point looking over San Francisco. The view was really good because it looked over the city and the sea. We climbed up loads of steps to get to the top of twin peaks. At the top there seemed to be a skating area because there was lots of graffiti at the top on the floor which was pretty cool. On the way to twin peaks we stopped off at some concrete slides! I know it sounds strange but there were concrete slides and you sit on cardboard to go down them. The slides were quite steep and super fun. You sit on the cardboard and put your legs out and you go super quickly! I slid down loads and it was so much fun! I had to hold on very tightly because otherwise i could of fallen off the cardboard! After our walk we arrived in Chinatown. It took us seven and a half miles to get to Chinatown! At Chinatown, before we went to lunch we went to target. Target, is a shop in America which is very popular. We got Reese’s chocolate which were absolutely delicious. After target, we found a nice Chinese restaurant for lunch. The Chinese food was so good. My favourite part was the chicken or spring rolls. Spring rolls are my favourite part of Chinese, I just love them! We also had crab leg, dumplings and rice 🍚. It was all so tasty and Chinese is now one of my favourite types of food 🍱! After that we went back to our house and had some chill-out time before going to pick-up our grandparents from the airport! We were going to have our grandparents over for the rest of our time in california! We got to their gate and we held up our sign we had made for them. When they came we ran up to them and had a big hug! We got an Uber that could fit all of us in it and drove back to our house. There was another room in our house which grandma and grandpa were staying in. We had pasta for diner and then we went to bed.

The next day, after a quick breakfast we walked to golden gate park. First we went to a massive playground which was super fun. There were some concrete slides there too which was a plus. We have been keeping track of the number of playgrounds we’ve been to and, so far I think we’re at 22 now, so a lot less than our last trip. After the playground we walked along the edge of a giant field and saw some people re-laying a baseball pitch! Along the way we saw two giant model dogs which were really cute. One was an Italian chef and was adorable. We got a good picture with them both of them which was nice. We saw some pigeons and crows but what was really good is that we saw a hummingbird! I love how small and cute hummingbirds are. When we had walked to the centre of golden gate park, we went to the bottom of a tall building, got the escalator up and looked at the view. The view was of the whole park, then the city and then you could just about see the sea in the distance. Next we went for lunch at a nice outdoor cafe and I had a giant egg and chicken wrap which was delicious. I ordered the chicken salad but when it came it had spicy 🌶️ sauce all over it so me and my dad swapped. To drink I had an iced latte which was really good. If you didn’t know I love iced coffee.Later on, we went to the Japanese gardens which is a pretty Japanese style garden. There was a river going straight through the Japanese gardens and there were loads of giant fish which were super cool. All the flowers at the Japanese garden were so pretty and the whole garden was very neat. There were also some Japanese statues which were very cool. We also saw some little squirrels which were adorable. I love Japanese gardens cause there so neat and pretty. After the Japanese gardens, we headed home. I had a really fun day out. At home we freshened up and headed to the pub for drinks. I had a cherry coke which was delicious. We ordered sprouts that had been like roasted for a snack! I know it sounds disgusting but it was really tasty. Lastly we went home and went to bed.

The next day, me and Lottie and dad and grandpa all got a boat out to Alcatraz, a prison on an island! There wasn’t anyone living in it now so we got to have a tour of the prison. The tour was online on a remote and headphones that you wore to listen to the tour. The prison was really cool and we got to see all the different cells. The cells only contain a bed, a toilet and sink and a bookcase or a light if you’re well behaved. There was a library and a playing field and if you respected the rules you got to use them a couple times a week. If you didn’t respect the rules you got locked in a cell with no daylight for twenty four hours a day except from once a week to exercise! We even got to go inside some of the cells! We saw all the different rooms and it was super cool. The reason this prison is so secure is because it on a tiny island so even if you escape the prison you’re still stuck on the island so you can’t go very far after your escape. At the prison there was a man who had previously been in prison and he was autographing his life book and giving it to people! I couldn’t believe I was looking at someone who had been in one of the most secure prisons ever. Our visit to Alcatraz was very cool. We met up with my mum and grandma and went for lunch at a crab place. I just had fish and chips and it was so good. My mum, dad and grandpa all shared two giant crabs 🦀. It was so good! To get home we took the tram, which is like a train mixed with a bus. Me and lottie got to stand right at there edge of the tram with half our bodies sticking out! We had to hold on tight but it was lots of fun! When we got home my mum and dad went out for the night. Me and lottie and my grandparents had soup for dinner and then watched Mamma Mia which is one of my grandmas favourite movies. Then we went to bed.

The next day we got in our hire car and drove to Golden Gate Bridge 🌉! Golden Gate Bridge is a giant bridge that is a kilometre and a half to get across it. At night the Golden Gate Bridge lights up orange. We took some pictures next to the bridge and then drove across it. When we had crossed the bridge we drove for a little bit more and arrived at a nature reserve. It was at Muir Woods and there were some giant trees. I couldn’t get over how tall and giant the trees were. There was a little booklet which was for the trail. You fill in different pages through out the trail to get the badge. We saw a really cute chipmunk 🐿️ that was super cute. The trees were just insane!!! The whole walk really good. After the walk we had lunch at the café. Me and Lottie both had hotdogs and it was so good. After lunch we gave in our booklets and we got our badges. The badges were really nice wooden ones. There were lots of different walks in San Francisco and you can collect up to 500 badges! On the way to our hotel we stopped off at the supermarket before we arrived at our hotel. It was really nice! There was a pool and a whole bucket of toys to play with outside. When we unpacked we went to the pool. The pool was three metres deep and I could dive to the bottom! The pool was freezing but once you get in it’s fine. There were noodles, a sinking fish and beach balls. Me and lottie played some American football which was super fun. Later on, after we had dried off from the pool, we went to a nearby pub for dinner. I had a bacon burger which I shared with my sister because it was so big. For dessert we had a giant slice of peanut butter cake 🍰. There was live music 🎵 that was really good. After that we went to bed.

The next day, we had an early start. We drove to the supermarket (half an hour away) and got some things for our picnic today. At the supermarket there was a section with hot breakfast! I didn’t think we were going to get a very good breakfast but it was really good. I had hash browns, sausages and scrambled egg! We ate it at this little eating area outside the restaurant. After the supermarket, we drove home and picked up our grandparents from their room. We all hopped in the car and drove to Armstrong woods! We got a little map of the route we were doing and there were some things on the map which we had to find. Armstrong woods was named after Mr. Armstrong and his daughter, who protected the area. Armstrong woods had lots more impressively tall trees. There was one tree that was called the hugging 🤗 tree. It was called this because the bark was very nice and soft. Even when everyone (six people) put there hands round the tree, we still didn’t get round the whole thing! The oldest tree there was 1,400 years old!!! It was in very good condition for a very old tree. We also saw a very pretty deer 🦌 that was super close! I love deer because there really elegant and dainty on their hooves. There was a couple bridges and some absolutely incredible trees! After the woods, we went back to the hotel and went out to go wine tasting (not me and lottie. My parents and grandparents). When we got to the vineyard it was very nice. There was even a big set of boule to play with. While my parents wine tasted, me and lottie had our picnic. We had: a chicken-mayo sandwich, a banana, some grapes and a fruit roll (it’s like a squashed yo-yo). We watched some people play boule and it was quite entertaining. When they were done playing me and lottie played. I am personally pretty bad at boule but it was very fun. Me and Lottie tied. Before we left, we took some pictures and got an Uber home. At home we went in the pool again. The pool was freezing, like yesterday, and I was the first to get in. I figured that jumping in would be the best way to do it. I loved diving for the sinking fish and I was very good at it. You would think it would be be pretty hard but its not really. Afterwards, we played a little American football before heading to the pub one last time.

The next day, we went into town and had breakfast at a café. I had pancakes with syrup which was really good. We had all our bags in the car because we were leaving today! We drove to a rodeo! A rodeo is a big dirt arena where locals compete on horses, bulls, sheep and cows in different events. We were all very excited for it to start. Before it started we got hot-dogs and fizzy drink! The first thing was women on horses dancing in different arrangements. There were two kids that were about twelve on the horses and they were amazing! They were just as good as some of the adults! Next was bucking cows! People sat on the cows and they jumped and kicked almost a metre off the ground, the idea was to stay on for as long as possible. When people fell off it looked awfully painful but they stood up no problem. It was crazy how long some of the men stayed on for! They was this one event where your riding on a horse and you have a lasso. You have to catch a calf in the lasso, once you’ve caught it you jump off the horse and tie it up! You really have to wrestle the calf to tie it up and it looked very scary! There was some children doing the bucking cows and they were really amazing how long they stayed on for! The youngest person was about eight!!!!! And I couldn’t believe how amazing and good they were! They rodeo was seriously cool and I really enjoyed it. After the rodeo we drove back to San Francisco and stayed in an airport hotel for the night. For dinner we just ordered pizza to the room. We packed our bags because tomorrow we were flying to Japan!

In the moring I waved and hugged my grandparents because they weren’t coming with us to Japan. They were going on a little América trip for a couple of weeks. We had breakfast, and headed to the airport.

Really sorry haven’t posted in quite a while. See you in japan 🇯🇵!