The Crowders Go West 2017: Part 3

Thursday dawned as the sunniest and warmest day yet. It was our last full day in city and the kids and I had a couple of stops left to check out. We started at the Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum. It was impressive. But also a little overwhelming both with the number and complexity of the exhibits and the number of school kids that were there on field trips. We stayed for awhile but eventually decided to move on. We took a tram back to the Ferry building and explored the food halls and shops. Ben and Julia tried steamed pork buns for the first time (thumbs down meant more for me!).

From there we headed back to Pier 39, we walked a good distance before hopping on another tram. We had ice cream to round out our lunch of crackers and granola bars (not as much luck with food as the day before), watched a magic show, and rode the two-story carousel. The three of us were all a little tired and needed a break from the hustle and bustle so we found a table at the bakery and snacked on sourdough and lemonade while playing a few rounds of Pokemon.

Andrew met up with us and the kids showed him the sea lions and proudly showed the way to Wipe Out so he could experience the "best restaurant ever" too!

Friday morning Julia and Andrew went and picked up our rental car and then we loaded up, headed over the Golden Date bridge and wound ourselves towards Muir Woods. We spent the morning in the forest with Andrew's cousin, Annie, and her daughter, Chloe. The kids made fast friends when they realized they all spoke the common language of legos and Minecraft!

And after catching-up some more over lunch at their place we got back in the car and headed north.

The Crowders Go West 2017: Part 2

Wednesday we awoke, after a full night's sleep, to another day of beautiful clear skies and 60 degree temperatures. The kids and I got ready to hit the town while Andrew headed to work.

Stop 1. We walked from the hotel to our first stop, the Cable Car Museum. It was only about a half mile walk but it included a climb of one of San Francisco's famous hills. The kids were amazed and only complained a little. I think they were distracted somewhat with their awe over the size of the hill and impressed with themselves once they had climbed it. They couldn't wait to point it out to Andrew later on.

waiting for the cable car museum to open

We all enjoyed the museum and were amazed by what it actually takes to run the cable cars but it was noisy and the kids were eager to move on to our next stop, an actual cable car stop. We had seen them the day before but today we got to ride them! And for our first ride we were incredibly lucky and had a private ride! The car was just coming into service for day and we were aboard right behind the gripman. 

Inside the cable car headed down to the piers

Stop 3 was an impromptu ride on a bay ferry tour. We made it to the pier just before the ferry was leaving and hopped aboard. The onboard audio tour kept un entertained for the next hour, especially and somewhat surprisingly to me, the discussion about Alcatraz Island and its history. Julia and Ben were enthralled by the Alcatraz tales and spent the next couple of days talking about "The Rock" and all they had learned!

"the most boring picture ever" according to Ben... but he asked to take it! lol

escape from Alcatraz!

After the ferry tour it was lunch time. I'll be honest and say that lunchtime is my least favorite meal on vacation. At home we each eat our own things - leftovers, sandwiches, etc. and can rarely agree on an acceptable meal for all. That doesn't change on vacation. It's best when we can bring picnic things and make our own meal. But that wasn't really an option for this part of the trip so I was left trying to find a compromise between two kids that never agree. Julia said "pizza", Ben said "burgers", I said "what about sushi?"(usually a favorite), nope. As I was beginning to lose my patience I just happened to look over the railing from where we standing and saw a restaurant called Wipe Out with a banner that advertised "pizza, burgers, tacos!" Thank You!! The kids are still talking about and the food was better than expected. We managed to have a great lunch and recharge a bit for the rest of our day.

Just upstairs from Wipe Out was the Aquarium of the Bay. This was truly the hit of the day. They focus on fish that are found in San Francisco bay and the surrounding waters. There were two highlights; first, the shark tunnels! Downstairs you walk through glass tunnels while sharks and rays and other fish swim around you. We listened to a lecture on sharks and all learned some new facts. Then we headed back to the upstairs where we found the touch tanks. Julia loved touching the sea anemones, leathery starfish, and sea cucumbers... mostly the anemones - they tickle your fingers! She made sure not to traumatize the sea cucumbers because we learned that their defense for predators is to puke up a portion of their guts - yuck!

jellies!

anemone, leather sea star, and sea cucumber

After the Aquarium of the Bay we meandered from Pier 39 back towards Fisherman's Wharf. We made a few stops to check out street performers, watch the bakers at Boudin, and buy souvenirs.

Julia learning the bongos

bread - yum!

sourdough turtle. Julia's new favorite bread!

Ben morphed into a Pikachu after purchasing a souvenir hat!

And finally there was chocolate and journaling. A perfect end to a beautiful day.

The Crowders Go West 2017: Part 1

This past New Year's each of us wrote a list with goals and aspirations for the coming year. I believe that when you vocalize your dreams they start to come true. And Julia's list included going to Glass Beach (located in Fort Bragg, CA) while Andrew and my lists included prioritizing family vacations. Well, shortly after we made those lists, Andrew found out that he would be attending a work conference in San Francisco in May. Perfect!

San Francisco is one of my favorite cities and it's a relatively short drive to Glass Beach from there. So our first big family vacation in a while was born! The kids and I would spend a few days exploring the city while Andrew attended the conference and then we all would head north to see the redwoods and sea glass.

We left very early on a Monday morning. Our flight took-off at 5:40am necessitating a 3:30 wake-up! ugh. We arrived at the airport groggy but excited. The flights were uneventful and we arrived in San Francisco around lunchtime, headed to the hotel, and went out to find some lunch and explore. The kids were thrilled to finally see the cable cars in person and to have a familiar first lunch at Chipotle (something old, something new!).

After a short nap we headed back out for dinner but we needed some way to keep us all awake until a reasonable bedtime so we found an unusual spot. UrbanPutt. An indoor miniature golf course and restaurant. It was in the Mission district about 20 minutes from our hotel but well worth the drive! We all loved it. Each hole was innovative - there were earthquakes, skeeball, a wooden maze, a Rube Goldberg contraption, a submarine, and even a musical hole! It was the ideal destination for our golf lovers and the food was good too. 

We also had an extra treat when we found out that Andrew's conference didn't start in full until Wednesday which meant that he could accompany us on our adventures the next day.

We did manage to keep the kids (and us) awake until about 8. Ben woke up at 3:30am but did very well staying in bed and resting and Andrew and Julia slept through til 5 or so. 

We started our day heading to the west of the city to see the Pacific and to take a stroll along the beach (because nothing else was open yet!).

Ready for CA!

It's the other ocean!

North end of Ocean Beach

Windy but clear and sunny skies!

I loved the wildflowers - a result of the rain they have finally gotten after 5 years of drought

this cutie adopted us on the beach for a bit

From the beach we hopped on a bus to Golden Gate Park and the Academy of Sciences. Hits of the Science museum were the albino alligator, the rainforest exhibit complete with exotic butterflies, and the penguins (although their enclosure did make me a little sad). After some lunch we stretched our legs with a walk over the children's playground where Ben and Julia tried out the concrete slides and took a ride on the carousel.

wheeee!!! children's playground slides

carousel #1

At that point we had pretty much reached our limit for the day! One more bus ride and we were back at our hotel. Andrew and Julia picked up Indian takeout for our dinner while Ben and I relaxed with a Pokemon game and refreshments in the lobby.

Pokemon happy hour!

Ben's Gallery: The Circus

Clockwise from top left: a rabbit in a hat, a jester, a seal balancing a ball, the big top!

The artist and his work!

Ben Milestone: Library Card!

It was a big day for this 5 year old! He can FINALLY check out his own books!