After changing buses we arrived quite late into San Antonio so had a snacky dinner in the hotel restaurant. We were staying at riverwalk plaza hotel, which was very close to the riverwalk. The next morning we walked all the way along the river and saw some lovely looking restaurants and bars, which we planned to visit that evening! We saw the little river village and walked around the Alamo site. This was close to some touristy shops so we had a look in them and bought some souvenirs. After going back to the hotel to chill and get changed, we went for drinks in the first pub ever on river-walk. For dinner tonight we decided to splash out and have a huge traditional Texas BBQ at a highly recommended restaurant called The County Line. The waiter recommended we get a sharer plater including the main BBQ meats- pork ribs, beef ribs, sausages, turkey and beef brisket accompanied by coleslaw and garlic mash potato. The meal was incredible and we were so full we walked back to the hotel where we lay watching films for the rest of the evening!!

On Friday we left San Antonio quite early, so arrived in Austin by 11am. We couldn't check in to the room so left our bags in the luggage area and asked the receptionist for a plan of where to go for the day! We started off walking up to the soho area and had an amazing pizza lunch at a place called Home Slice. After pizza we wondered around the local market then back down to the river area. We found a footpath along the river, which we followed to a pool area where people were paddling in the water. Shortly after getting there thunder and lightening started so we turned around. It was really heavy rain so we got the bus back to the hostel, checked into the room then just chilled watching a film for a bit. When the film finished we got ready and went for dinner at amazing burger place called The Fat Pig . The burgers were huge and tasted soooo nice. We had cider with the meal called ACE which was also a really nice pear cider (with my initials!!). After food we were full but I really wanted to go to a line dancing club. We went to one called the White Horse dancehall where we watched some really talented couples dance to the music (while we ate the free popcorn)! After leaving there we headed for sixth street- the main drinking street. We went to quite a few bars and watched some talented singers. Again we got in late, and had to get up early to fly to San Francisco. Luckily the hostel had free bagels and fruit for breakfast which we took 'to go'!

The flight was not fun as we were so hungover, but we arrived at the hostel early, just in time to take full advantage of freebie breakfast no. 2!! After leaving our bags in the luggage room we had to go to the medical centre to have check-ups on our backs from the car accident in Orlando. After that was done we went to explore the city. The first place we walked to was a tall lookout over city, where we could see all the roads going up and down, as well as the worlds most crocked street! We sat in the park below the lookout to eat lunch. After lunch we walked down to Fisherman's wolf and the pier 39 area. It was nice to walk around the pier looking in all the traditional shops. At the end of the pier there were lots of pieces of jetty floating in the water, on top of which were loads of seals!! we watched them for quite a while as they were hilarious, pushing each other off the jetty pieces. After taking lots of photos we got the bus to golden gate bridge. When we got there we realised we couldn't hire bikes there and should've done it earlier, which meant we had to walk over the bridge. It was a very long bridge with great views either side, although it did get quite windy in the middle. Once we got to the other side we decided we couldn't walk back, so hopped on a bus and went shopping for a little bit. We went back to the hostel to check into our double bed bunk bed room!! Afterwards we popped to a supermarket to buy supplies for dinner and our trek America tour. That evening we backed up all our photos and used the internet to catch up with family. The next morning we got up and found the bus to Golden gate park. We hired a bike each for two hours and cycled round the park. We had a picnic in the park before cycling back. Later that afternoon we went shopping for a bit then we took a traditional old school tram ride to the top of one of the hills. We got changed at the hostel then went to meet Chris and Andy (who we originally met in Washington DC). We all went for a meal in Chinatown, where we had a crazy waiter! It was great to see them and have a massive catch up. The next morning we were up early to get the public bus to meet our trek America group at the departure hotel.