Our next day in California happened to be Kate's 7th birthday. We drove into the city to first show the boys Lombard Street. We sent Kate a birthday video standing on Lombard, with the city spread out below us. Then we got back into the cars and drove down the twisty street. So cool.
After Lombard, we drove to Golden Gate Park and the Academy of Sciences Museum. Kenny and I had been here before too, when it was recently reopened after a complete redesign ten years ago. Nick and James were probably younger than Riley and Rory are now.
It's a really cool museum. Different than the Exploratorium, though; more like a normal museum, in that you look but you don't touch. But lots to see!
We went to the rainforest exhibit first, where we saw lots of reptiles, bugs, and butterflies. The ant colony display was especially impressive. Then it was on to the aquarium section before we went over to the atrium in the middle of the building for a special presentation. The boys got to touch a rainbow boa. Riley of course wanted to take her home.
Next we went up to the living roof, went back down through a special exhibit on skin, and passed through the African savannah section. The boys played on an outside playground for a bit while others went to check out a few last things, then we all gathered out front to figure out where to go next. Rory even had a new friend, thanks to his Aunt Debbie.
We hadn't seen the sea lions on Pier 39 yet, so Debbie drove us down there. We walked to where they live on floating docks and were instantly made aware of their presence by the smell. But I'm glad we saw them!
Half of the group stayed in the city for a nice dinner out, while the other half went back to the house. Rory was wiped and fell asleep in the car. We were supposed to make homemade pizzas, but we had plenty of leftovers to graze on. And Kenny and I even escaped to a nearby place called Beer Baron for a late night beer.
We also had a family meeting about how to spend our last full day. We were supposed to drive to Tomales Bay Resort, which is an hour or so away from Berkeley. But we scrapped those plans in favor of a more laidback day. We enjoyed a big breakfast out at Rick and Ann's just down the hill (we walked there and back), regrouped at the house, then drove to Redwood Regional Park for one last hike.
We hiked for a couple of hours then headed back to the house for the rest of the day. We picked up a few more things from Market Hall for lunch then hung out playing Nintendo, Legos, and other games. I think everyone enjoyed the break after going so hard for 4 days straight.
We ventured out again around 6pm for a before dinner ice cream treat. The place we went had really crazy flavors, so we had to go somewhere else for Riley. Then Kenny and I ended up going back out to pick up Thai food from Soi 4 for the adults' dinner. However, we discovered when we got there that one of the tires on the Prius was hissing air, so Kenny had to take care of that while I waited for the food. I decided to enjoy a beverage while doing so, and I was impressed with the bartender's level of commitment to his craft. He was fun to watch.
Dinner was great. We got the boys into bed and hung out for a little while longer. Then we had to go back to the BnB to pack. We gathered at the house early the next morning, took some pics, then said our goodbyes. We took the BART to the airport and started our journey home.
We ended up being delayed out of SFO for more than an hour, and we were worried we would miss our connection in Houston. Luckily, that flight was delayed as well. We were supposed to be home around 9pm but didn't get in until almost 11pm. One heck of a travel day, but we made it.
What an amazing trip this was. The boys have asked so many times when we can go back; Riley wants to make this an annual thing. He just loved being out there with his cousins. So thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for taking us. And thank you, Deb, Paul, Nicholas, and James, for allowing us to invade your lives this summer. We had the best time!
After our long hike and playing in the Pacific, we didn't slow down on our second full day in California. We were up and out fairly early. We drove into the city and assembled at Blazing Saddles near Fisherman's Wharf. We needed to rent bikes so we could ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and down into Sausalito!
Kenny and I had done this activity before. And while getting up some of the hills was challenging, it was also super cool. I was really excited for the boys to be able to do it too. I was a little worried about Riley, but he did just fine, with the exception of one meltdown right before we got to the bridge. He said he couldn't do it, but I knew he could. Especially because he was on a tandem with Kenny and really didn't have to do much. Neither did Rory, who was on an attachment behind Steve. I borrowed Debbie's bike since she, Zac, Grandma, and Grandpa elected to take the ferry instead of biking, and Paul, Nick, and James each rode their own bikes. We had a great ride!
We set out from the Maritime National Park, rode right in front of Ghirardelli Square (no time to go in for chocolate, unfortunately), looped around right by the bay (Riley contributed his own little rock tower to a collection by the water), and then took the San Francisco Bay Trail on Marina Boulevard and Mason Street. Then we looped up Long Avenue (mega hill!) until it met up with the Battery East Trail, which we followed all the way to the bridge itself.
Biking across the bridge was a bit of a challenge. There were lots of people, both on bikes and walking, so we had to be really careful not to run into anyone. For the most part, everyone followed the rules: pedestrians on the outside and bikes on the inside. But there were some times when navigating was hard.
There are a few cutouts on the bridge, so we pulled over, got off our bikes, and took some photos. We also got to see just how high we were and were rewarded great views of the city and of Alcatraz.
Once we hit the halfway point of the bridge, it was all downhill from there. We regrouped at the Golden Gate Bridge View Vista Point (super crowded with tourists) and then made our way down into Sausalito. Flying down those hills was so exhilarating after battling the steep sections!
We arrived at our lunch spot, The Spinnaker, about half an hour before our reservation. The boys played on the rocks while we waited for the rest of our group to get there. Oh, and they also pretended to be statues in the restaurant's front windows. Too funny.
We had a nice lunch in the all glass restaurant (great views all around) and still had time to walk around Sausalito before we caught the ferry back across the bay. I just love that town.
We returned the rented bikes, walked back to the garage where we left the cars, and sat in major rush hour traffic before we finally got back to the house. We grazed on leftovers for dinner and enjoyed not moving for awhile. It was even cool enough to light the fire!
The next day was supposed to be somewhat of a rest day, but we ended up walking A. LOT. After spotting a deer outside our AirBnB, Kenny, Grandpa, and I went over to the house to meet up with everyone else. (Paul and Nick unfortunately couldn't join us this day; one had work and the other had school.) The boys were hanging in their fort, but we gathered everyone up and walked a mile down to the Rockridge BART station to catch a train into the city.
We got off at the Embarcadero station and walked over to the nearby cable car, which we rode up to Grace Cathedral. We also checked out the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel, and the boys got to play on a playground in Huntington Park across the street from the church.
We walked back downhill all the way to the Ferry Building, where we ate lunch. Then we walked some more, down to Pier 15 and the Exploratorium museum. When we checked in and bought our admission, they told us, "Welcome to the Exploratorium. Please touch EVERYTHING!" It was such a cool place.
There was so much to look at and discover and learn. We saw things like a giant moving mechanical clock, physics displays, a gigantic moon, a huge curved mirror, illusions, simulated geyser eruptions, animal embryos, blood cells, fish, plants, trees, and much more. My favorite thing by far was the model of popular San Francisco sights made entirely out of toothpicks and glue. It took one guy 44 years to build it. So impressive.
We stayed until the museum closed and then split up: James, Steve, Zac, and Grandpa went on the last Alcatraz tour of the day while the rest of us took the BART back to Rockridge. We let the boys have ice cream for dinner from Smitten, and the adults picked up Middle Eastern food from La Mediterranee. I was secretly glad we had chosen NOT to do the Alcatraz tour because we were all pretty wiped. But James did get some beautiful sunset shots on the ferry ride back.
Last recap coming up next!
