Up early as we were woken by everyone going to the Starbucks near us for early morning coffees.  We went there for a drink, teeth brushing, undie changing and much needed WiFi. On the road nice and early to get to Sarah. Great feeling to surprise her at 10 am in the morning after her having a late night. She didn't know we were coming for the weekend at all. Had the best shower and did some washing, which I can't believe how great it feels to do. Went to brunch at the Stanford lunch halls with Sam and Sarah. Amazing amount and variety of food. The waffles even had the Stanford logo on them. Went for a walk around the Stanford campass.  Such a beautiful place, I could definitely go to university here. Out to get costumes for tomorrow's bay to breakers and then Safeway to get alcohol and food. Back at Sarah we just chilled and did some admin. Before going to Sam's flat and cooking up a stir fry for dinner. MnMs and ice cream for dessert while we did more administration then off to bed nice and early.

Up so freaken early to catch a train into San Francisco for the Bay to Breakers race. Unsure what to expect. We got to the path and watched some pretty normal looking runners competing, then came all the crazy dress up and then the many naked people. Finally the cops let us on the course.  They reakon there are 30000 competitors and 30000 on lookers who get involved.  We started the walk surrounded by many drunk, drinking and very happy people.  Such an amazing atmosphere. It's like the walk to and from sevens in wellington on steriods. Managed to get on a roof top party with a Disney them. Awesome costumes and people. Apparently no one actually still lived there,  one person just had a key from last year.  Walked 4 mile up the street observing all the interesting scenes. Then our group became quite drunk so we pulled off and grabbed burritos. Sarah, Bridgette, Erin and I then bused to a mall and meet up with Kirstie, Rebecca, Georgia and Remai who happen to be in San Francisco today too. It was cool to catch up and hear some of their stories before we caught the train back to Stanford. Went and got chicken  and buns for dinner and strawberries for dessert. Went to bed after a very long shower, last warm shower for who knows when.

Up super early again, I'm not really enjoying this pattern. Drove back into San Francisco at 5.15am to line up for alcatraz same day tickets. We had missed out on  the rest so this was our only option. The booth opened at 7.30am and we were number 19, 20, 21 out of 50. So Sooooooo so happy. I really wanted to visit and we  manged to get some tickets. Ferried over to the island. My first prison visit. A bit of a creepy place but also fascinating about its history. The island has been home to protest,  gold era protection of the city, prisoners,  wardens and their families and a lot of wild life. Learnt about the triathlon that starts from Alcatraz each year. Its a 1.2 mile swim in temperatures that mean if you don't have a wetsuit you will have hypothermia after 40 minutes. Sounds like a great challenge. Really enjoyed the audio tour of the cell block, very glad we got to visit. Back to fisherman's wharf for a seafood chowder lunch . Then hired bikes and road along the foreshore and across the golden gate bridge. Started off cold but the weather improved and we got to enjoy the magnificent sites of the city. Took three hours to bike there and back. We returned to our van and left the city.

Unfortunately it was pretty much rush hour traffic with the end of the working day.  Drove to Hodgdon meadows camp ground on the outskirts of Yosemite park. Along the way we stopped at a random car park where bridgette and Erin made us nachos and I used Starbucks to charge my phone. Got to the camp ground at around 9.30pm. Here we were given bear bins where we had to put every bit of food including frozen and all our toiletries and make up. Pretty much anything with a scent. So not use to doing that in New Zealand.