Day 1 - August 8th
We left DFW right on time that morning and Karie and I figured Samantha would sleep on the plane. No! She bounced on Karie and me the entire flight. She spent most of her time pulling magazines out of the seat and putting them back. This seemed to be great fun for her.
Once we got into San Francisco we got our car and headed up to the fisherman's wharf. It is a lot cooler here than in Dallas. The temperature was around 65, chilly.
We went over to Boudins and got some yummy sourdough bread. Samantha really enjoyed it. As we sat there eating on the patio I noticed Samantha was shivering, so we had to bundle her up. After that it wasn't long before Karie had a sweatshirt on. I was fine in shorts and a t-shirt. I was determined to soak up the cool air.
We then walked down pier 39 and saw Alcatraz and the bottom half of the Golden Gate bridge. The top part was obscured by clouds/fog.
We also walked down and saw a submarine and a another ship down on the docks.
Samantha loved running around on the piers. She would yell and flap her arms and go and talk to people. She is such a goof.
As we walked back I went over to get tickets for an Alcatraz tour and there was a sign out front saying next available tour was on August 20. So we didn't get to see Alcatraz.
Fisherman's Wharf
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Day 2 - August 9th
After breakfast we had planned heading over to do a 3 mile hike on the west side of San Francisco. The trail takes you to a scenic view point of the bay and the Golden Gate bridge. However the fog was so think that we would not been able to see the bridge. So on to plan B.
We decided to head up to the Muir woods and check out some giant red woods. Wow! Those are some big trees. None of the pictures will do it justice. Samantha did a lot of walking out there and fell a lot. The dirt out there must have been really tasty because she kept licking it off her hands when she fell. It was funny at first but then just got kind of gross.
Muir Woods
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After that we went down to the Muir beach. Samantha really enjoyed the beach until the surf came up to her feet. After that she wanted to be held.
Muir Beach
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Out there and back we crossed the Golden Gate bridge. On the way back you could almost see the top of the bridge. And we drove up some of the most winding steep roads I had seen in my life. This made Karie a little nervous, especially on the way out when the fog was really heavy!
On the way back Samantha crashed.
Once she got up from her 2.5 hour nap we drove back down to the fisherman's wharf. We started at pier 29.5 and walked all on the wharf down to the Maritime museum. There were some very cool boats. Samantha really liked Hercules the tugboat. From there we walked up to Ghirardelli square and got some chocolate for Karie. Then on our way back we stopped at Bubba-Gump Shrimp for dinner. They have a huge window out over the pier so you can watch boats go by. We walked about 4 miles up and down the pier this evening.
Fisherman's Wharf
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As we were heading back to the hotel I had to cut through the city to avoid the traffic from the Giants game. So I got to drive on some of the VERY hilly San Francisco streets.
Yet again Samantha crashed on the way back to the hotel.
There is one picture of the bay with some fog. In that fog is the Golden Gate bridge. The fog out here is ridiculous. It flows over the mountains and looks like water pouring over the tops of the mountains. But because of the fog we still haven't see the Golden Gate except when we drove across it
So far all 3 of us are having a great time.
Day 3 - August 10th
Today we decided to drive out to Yosemite National Park. Kevin (my brother) recommended that we go out there if we had time. It was unbelievable.
We discovered that there are two ways to get in or out of Yosemite. You can take highway 120 or 140. One of the roads follows the valley into the park and the other one goes over the valley.
We took 120 into the park and quickly realized that the road was going up and up and up. I knew we were in trouble when a sign on the side of the road said "Turn off A/C". It was basically a warning that you are going to need all your engine power.
To make things worse, our rental car was not the appropriate vehicle for mountain driving. The Dodge Avenger may have a super hero name but it did not have a super hero engine. And it wanted to use its overdrive gear all the time. I discovered that if you smash the accelerator to the floor it gets out of overdrive. I am pretty sure that car hates me now
Over 15 miles, highway 120 went back and forth every 100 yards slowly moving 6500 feet up over the mountain and then slowly back down into the valley. Karie did not really enjoy this part of the trip. I thought the roads going to Muir Woods were steep and twisty. I was mistaken.
Once we got into the park we spent all of our time in Yosemite Valley. That is where you can see the Yosemite falls (upper and lower), north dome, half dome and El Capitan. However they were doing some controlled burns in the park so some of the pictures are hazy. There are pictures of all of these attached.
The pictures cannot do this place justice. The is no way to understand the size of these rock faces and formations without seeing them in person.
Yosemite
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We did a lot of hiking around the park today and wore all of us out. It was quite a bit warmer out there probably close to around 90 degrees. There were a ton of people out there but you could escape them by going out on some of the non-paved hiking trails. Once we got away from the main attractions you didn't see many people. Samantha really liked the waterfalls and this wooden carved bear statue. She kept jumping up and down yelling "doggy". Karie finally had to drag her away from it.
On our way of the park we took highway 140 which followed the Merced River down the valley and was a much more enjoyable drive. Until we reached a section of road that had to be bypassed on the other side of the valley because a massive rock slide covered the road. That was pretty scary looking.
I also discovered that Californians are the worst "rubber neckers" in the world. All it takes to stop 6 lanes of traffic is a flashing light. It was unbelievable.
It was a good day. Samantha slept most of the way home. We ordered room service when you got back to the hotel.
Day 4 - August 11th
We made today a short day because we have had a couple of long days and needed some recoup time. So after we all got up and ate we headed down to the Golden Gate Bridge to check out Fort Point.
It is a 4 story fort that is underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. It was very cool and they allowed full access to the top. It was very windy and cold up there. Samantha enjoyed walking around the fort.
Fort Point
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After that we went over to Ocean beach and played on the beach. Since it was only 60 degrees out we didn't really plan in the water. But Samantha enjoyed chasing the Seagulls with daddy.
Ocean Beach
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On a sad note, someone actually jumped off the golden gate as we were leaving Fort Point. I turned around to look at the bridge and saw a flair drop into the water and wondered what it was. Then it dawned on me that it was to mark the location of the jumper. It wasn't long before a fire truck, ambulance, and other emergency vehicles started to came down to Fort Point and a Coast Guard ship could be seen under the bridge. Karie and I left, we didn't really want to see any more. It was sad enough just knowing what had happened.
Other than that today was a great day. However, I don't think the fog ever leaves San Francisco. As soon we got back to our hotel in San Mateo the sun broke through the clouds.
Day 5 - August 12th
Today we went down to the San Francisco zoo. Since, we have been dragging Samantha around to a lot of non-kid-friendly places, I thought she might like this. And I was right, she had a great time. We saw lots of animals and Samantha got to see her first hippo, which she really liked.
But her favorite place was the kids zoo. They had an open 'barn yard' with ducks, goats, sheep, etc. Samantha touched a goat and a duck. She ran around and had a blast. When it was time to leave, there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.
They also had a pretty good insect and tarantula exhibits. They did have an exhibit of the largest insect in the world. Ugh. It was creepy. They also had on of the largest breed of tarantula on exhibit. It was huge! Karie said I couldn't have one.
San Francisco Zoo
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That evening we went out to downtown San Mateo and had dinner with a couple of Karie's college friends. It was nice to meet them.
Day 6 - August 13th
This marks the end of our vacation and we went home. It was a good trip with no food poisoning. Samantha and I had a good time playing in the kids area in the San Francisco airport.
Playing at the airport
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