I left my heart....In San Francisco....

Independence Day!  Happy 4^th of July!  Today we rode a shuttle from our campground down to downtown San Francisco.  There was so much to see, so we walked.  A lot.  We did manage to take a cable car ride down to Fisherman’s Warf – that was exciting.  Here we are heading down hill.  We had the good fortune to ride with our particular gripman who is the only woman currently serving in that post, and only the second woman to serve in all the time the cable cars have been in operation.  Isa said that was good girl power.

We headed over to the pier and of course we had to take a picture with Alcatraz in the background.  It was chilly and the kids were freezing!  Those kids have such a bum for a mom – when they asked me if they should wear a hoodie or something I said – Nah, it’s July.  Big mistake.

On Pier 39 we found this fabulous 2 story carousel – and the four of us had to ride on the second story – who doesn’t want that crazy experience?  Michael stayed down to take the pictures – if you look really hard you can just make out Luke up there.

Of course, no trip to San Fran is complete without clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl!  Yum!  All of us chowed down on Chowder – except Luke who had a seafood combo sandwich.  He spent all morning eyeing the perfect place to eat.  Of course, he was in the mood to eat a whole Dungeness Crab and a Ribeye– but he settled for the more modest sandwich (Who taught this kid how to eat?  Geesh!)

Michael went off to try and haggle for some warmer clothes for the kids and they did this impromptu pyramid thing so I could take their picture.  They crack me up.

Off we went to Ghirardelli Square – we bought a big, delightful bag of chocolate and watched the chocolate making automation – it smelled really good in there…..

Isa decided she needed to pose with the naked mermaid.  Perhaps I should feel lucky that she kept her own clothes on!

One of the last things we did before we headed back to Chinatown was to walk up Lombard street.  Crookedest street in America, they claim.  Can’t think of one to rival it, so I would guess that they are right.  Really, really steep too.  We of course, climbed up from bottom to top.  The poor residents – they have to put up with a whole lot of tourists every single day.  Didn’t stop us from going up it though.

We enjoyed our tour of San Fran by foot - and we are all totally worn out.  We headed back to the RV long before it was time for fireworks – but lucky us we are near a state recreation area where people have been shooting of fireworks for HOURS now.  I am pretty sure San Francisco didn’t have three hours of non-stop fireworks, so we ended up with the better deal!

We have an easy day tomorrow with a visit with friends, some laundry, and some chilling out before we head off to our next destination on Sunday.

Monterey and San Jose

Yesterday we drove from Pfeiffer Big Sur to Monterey to see the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The kids were so excited once we got inside – especially Luke, who was just about bouncing out of his skin.

This exhibit was called the splash zone, and it roared water over the glass every few seconds.  Really cool.  It simulated a tidal environment, I think.

I love the wonder in her face!

We were all fascinated by all the different life in the sea.  We were especially fond of the jellyfish, octopus, and all the touch tanks.

Jellies!

More Jellies!

Gabi insisted I take a picture of these tiny jellyfish.  They were so small.

Learning about the deep sea.

Octopus! 

Beautiful Monterey.

After the aquarium we headed to San Jose for a long overdue visit with Michael’s college roommate, Mike Moody.  We met his wonderful wife, Jennie, and their son, Sean.  Our reunion was very graciously hosted by Moody’s mom, Amy, whom we knew from our college days too.  Reuniting with these friends was great fun, and they treated us to a fabulous barbecue!  We even had a chance to have San Jose’s famous Burnt Almond Cake.  Oh my goodness – that cake is on my “I have to learn to make that” list now.  It is divine.

Michael and Moody

Big Sur - by Gabi

This is a picture of our campsite.

We went to the Pacific Ocean. 

  It was very, very cold. 

Our campsite from the back - look at how close we were to the ocean!

We had a lot of fog.  We had fun anyway.  

We went to Sand Dollar Beach.  There was barely anybody there.  

This is Luke jumping into the ocean because he was so excited.

We found lots of sand dollars.  

We were building a sand castle.

We played in the sand and built a sand castle.

While we were there another dog came along and he looked like our dog, Sophie!  His name was Grommet.  Sophie and Grommet played and played.  It was adorable.

Sophie and Grommet

The ocean looked pretty where it hit the rocks. 

The rocks in the ocean were really big.

Isa found a green rock.  That is her favorite color.

Look no one is on the beach with us!  So nice.

The next day we went hiking to Pfieffer Falls in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  I didn’t like the hike so much because we had to go from rock to rock and climb and slip, but dad bought us ice cream when we were done.  I liked that part.

We had fun in Big Sur.  

PS - what Gabi didn't mention, but we don't want to forget, is that we saw a whale and a dolphin at different times while we were in Big Sur.  The whale was unforgettable - we were in our campsite talking to our site neighbors and watching all the combined kids run around and all of a sudden there was a the loud blast of a whale spout - and we were all staring at the ocean watching a gray whale swim by.  The dolphin we saw while we were at Sand Dollar beach.  

Yosemite

We visited Yosemite National Park this week.  We loved it, but there were A LOT of people there.  Instead of ranting about how crammed in we were, I will hit on the highlights that we enjoyed instead.  We started out with a bear talk and walk with a Ranger.  Each of the kids got to dress up in a bear skin - they said it was really heavy!

Lower Yosemite Falls

We took a few hikes while we were there.  The first one was to Lower Yosemite Falls.  Super easy hike with a great view!

The second hike we took was to Vernal Falls Footbridge.  We could have gone farther up to the top of Vernal Falls, but that wasn't going to happen - the hike to the footbridge was far enough for the kids!

We found out after we got to Yosemite that they had an LDS service on Sunday at 1 - so we headed over there - and it was only 45 minutes long!!!  Totally fantastic!!!!

Our little shared chapel that we had services in.  Found out that little Mormon kids have a very specific fascination with the kneeling benches so many of the other Christian denominations use since we don't generally use them in our chapels.  Could hear those things thumping up and down all through the service.  My kids had already seen them, so they ignored them.

The view outside the church.

Splashing and cooling down in the Merced River.
 The river was a great spot for Luke to fish - and he waded all the way across.  

The meadows near the campground.

This is my attempt at an Ansel Adams type picture.  I haven't tried putting it in black and white yet because its so pretty in color - and I didn't photo shop it at all - that's exactly what it looked like with the light.  It was gorgeous.

Half Dome

We left on Yosemite NP's 150th anniversary - did you realize that Abraham Lincoln signed the first paperwork to set Yosemite aside as a national treasure?  Well, you do now!


We loved the opportunity to be in Yosemite. So majestic!

Sequoia National Park - by Isa

We went to Sequoia National Park.   Our campsite was huge.  In it was a huge rock that we could climb on.

We saw General Sherman – the tree.  It is the biggest living thing on the earth when measured by volume.  It is taller than the Statue of Liberty!  The bottom of the trunk is 36.5 feet in diameter and 107 feet in circumference.  It was gigantic, and had lots of fire scars.

Sequoia trees usually survive fires – but it leaves a scar.  This picture below is of us inside a fire scar on a different tree.  Look at the humongous pine cone that someone gave me.  

It is from a sugar pine tree.   Did you know that sequoia trees have smaller pine cones than even normal sized pine trees?  That was a surprise!  

We were able to walk through this fallen tree.  I liked that.

The next morning we climbed up Moro Rock.  My feet were tired!  But the view was awesome.

Then we walked to Tharp’s log.  A man had made a house in a log from a fallen Sequoia tree.  It was crazy.

On our way there we saw a bear in Log Meadow!  We also walked by Crescent Meadow.  Our last hike was to Tokopah Falls.  We saw a Yellow Bellied Marmot on the trail.  The falls were pretty.  They aren’t as big as Niagara Falls, but I still like them.  

My mom with two Sequoias that we saw on our hike.

When we got done that day, we were all really exhausted.  Then my mom and dad realized that we had hiked almost six miles that day.  Geez.

The best kind of tree hugging!

My dad tried to be as big as a Sequoia.