So we decided to make the move to Idaho a week long vacation as well. We decided to go to California and hit Monterey and San Francisco.
We started with a quick stop at a random truck stop along the way. It was an 8 hour drive day. We ate at Panda Express and then got ice cream at a 31 flavors. Mom said we could get 2 scoops each and they ended up being HUGE scoops. We all struggled to get through our servings and “A” couldn’t finish at all.
The next day we finished the day up to Monterey. We checked into out hotel and then went to a beach in Carmel-By-The-Sea and saw some “fairytale” houses. It was a nice little walk. Then back to Monterey and found a place to have dinner. It was suggested by the person that checked us in at the hotel. It was a fine dinner. I had lasagna which was really good, but everyone else thought their meals were just ok. The dessert was huge and good. We got a single slice of chocolate peanut butter chocolate cake. There was a lot of chocolate.
The next day was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a typical aquarium in my opinion. Seeing otters, jelly fish, and penguins is always nice.
Then we went the the farmer’s market in Monterey which was also suggested by the person the the hotel, and it was a hit. There was so much local food. We got fruit, desserts, and dinner. “A” and I got wood fired calzones, “B” and “G” got empanadas and tamales. The empanada was the best. For dessert we got macarons and a chocolate bread. I didn’t get the bread at first, and I regretted it once we got back to the hotel so “B” and I walked back to get it. It was the end of the night and the guy had it on a special sale so I got 3 pieces for the price of 1.3 pieces earlier in the day – SCORE!
Next morning we headed to San Francisco. It was a 2.5 hour drive, and when we got in we couldn’t check into our hotel without an extra charge so we just parked our car and then headed out. We wandered the pier area and ate some tasty seafood. Then we headed to pier 33 for our Alcatraz boat to tour the island. That was fun – for a former prison. It was kind of cool to be on “The Rock”, but it was really windy and quite cold. Then back to land and had bread bowl soup dinner.
The next day we got muni passes to ride the public transit, including the historic trolly. We waited an hour and took the trolley all the way from one end to the other.
Then walked to Chinatown where we had lunch of dim som at a couple places. That was tasty. Then we caught buses over to Golden Gate Park and went to Fort Point and had the girls do Jr. Ranger there. We also did Jr. Ranger at the San Francisco Maritime area as well. So, the girls got 3 new badges this day. We walked along the Golden Gate Bridge some as well as the fog rolled in.
Then grabbed some ice cream near out hotel and went to see fireworks with the 200000 other people that were there to see it. “B” suggested we head down a random pier which we did and then found a very nice place where there were already a few other people waiting to watch the fireworks. Two of them happened to be U of A alumni. That was kind of funny. The show was 20 minutes of lots of fireworks. There were actually two shows going on at the same time, and we realized they were the same show from two locations. So we got a double show from our vantage point. The fog started coming in about half way through and that dampened the show a bit, but it was a good time.
The next day we checked out of the hotel and headed to Muir Woods National Monument. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, and got to the park and headed out on our hikes. I saw someone with a banana slug miniblock kit as we started out so we had a plan for after our hike on what to buy. We did a total of 6.9 miles of hiking in the park (and surrounding area). We got to see lots of redwoods, a couple creeks, some tiny baby salmon, but sadly no banana slugs. It was a good day. “G” had a toe that had been bugging her and it got worse during the day, but other then that the hike was fun. We did find the banana slug miniblock and will get it built sometime in the future.
Then we headed to dinner and a very good Indian place called Avatar’s. We stayed at a small town of Mill Valley at a Holliday Inn Express – it was pretty bad. When the AC unit ran it made the room smell like urine. And there were no other rooms available. The suggestion by the front desk was to open the sliding glass door. That was ok, except we were on the first floor and there appeared to be vagrants that wandered the area near the hotel so leaving the door open all night seemed sketchy. We did leave it cracked because I found that the sliding door has a stop drilled into it to leave it partially open but not movable after that (like they knew the security was important). Then at 5:30am a trash truck showed up right outside our room and did its thing of backing up (beep, beep, beep) then forward, then back, then forward and the getting the trash bin, etc. It was so annoying. Seriously it is a hotel, pick up the trash in the middle of the day! Then another truck showed up around 7:30am for a repeat performance. Also, the bed wasn’t all the comfortable, and the floor near the entrance door and bathroom was warm all the time (I think there are hot pipes under the floor there, it reminded me of my dorm room in college).
The next day we wandered a little more in the Golden Gate recreation area, but this time on the north side of the bridge. We wanted to do the last of the Jr. Ranger things in the area. So, we parked at Rodeo Beach and then hiked to the Point Bonita Lighthouse. It was a nice hike. There was a tunnel we had to go through and there was a banana slug in it!
It was also very foggy. We got out to the lighthouse and got the guides for the girls to fill out. We found out they had stamps there too since the visitor center in the area had been closed for a few years. But we didn’t have out books to put the stamps in and they had no paper. So we asked them about when it closed and we knew we could hike back to the car and then get back to the lighthouse before they closed at 3:30. So, a nice hike back and then we had lunch. Then we hiked back to the lighthouse and it was super busy. They were letting people onto the bridge to it in groups. So we waited and then once we got over we found that…
They had closed the actual lighthouse due to the high number of people. We asked the ranger on that side of the bridge and she said they couldn’t open it due to the high number of people. WE were annoyed to say the least. We had spent a few hours doing the ranger guides, hiked another 2.5 miles, and then were told, “Too bad come back on another day.” We tried to explain it to the lady, but she was so focused on the large number of people she wouldn’t even get the stamp and badges for us that would have taken her about 2 minutes or less. We finally had resined ourselves to not getting it, and heading out, but when she heard we wanted Jr. Ranger as well and she said she had badges in her pocket. So, they did that – YEAH! and she happened to have a special 50th anniversary badge for the park in her pocket as well and gave that to us too. So, that was cool.
Then drove to Reno, NV to sleep. On the way we stopped in the Sacramento area for Jelly Belly and dinner at a Greek place. Got to the hotel about 10pm, and tried to sleep. This hotel was a lot better than the last night.
And the next day was a 6 hour drive to our new house to drop stuff off, and it allowed the girls to see it for the first time.
We headed to the hotel we will be staying at the next couple weeks while we get settled and our stuff gets moved in. The hotel is a part of the relocation package “B” got so that was really nice.
And now we are in our new home city. It is weird, very weird. This isn’t home (yet), but it is.
NOTE – all pictures were taken by my wife.