SF part 3

Just before getting back on the road to travel home we stopped in at Japantown where they were having a Cherry Blossom Festival. There were many artisans donating their profits to the tsunami disaster in Japan. 

The girls bought little polymer clay charms. Aren't they cute? You're allowed to choose a scent for your charm. I think this one is vanilla cake flavor. 

And one last pit stop before we got home....a beach somewhere near Pismo. Pretty uneventful, but got some cute pics. 

Grand sum of all the parts....DOPE TO THE MAX!
 Er, um...I mean DOPE TO THE MAXXX!
(Thanks Les for increasing my cool factor x 2)

This vacation was loved by one and all.

SF part 2

Todd loves the Conservatory of Flowers at Golden Gate Park, so we had to check that out. Ana had the reigns of the camera and she took about 8 billion photos of flowers. There were some that were really quite impressive. I'm dedicating a later post to those, but here's a little teaser. The conservatory was really neat. Mother Mary would love it.

They have an exhibit there right now called "Wicked Plants: Botanical Rogues and Assasins," (which Lily seems to blend it well with, don't you think?) Isn't that a great title? It was about deadly plants. Check this little pepper out. A jalapeno pepper measures about 5,000 Scoville heat units. This pepper is 250,000 units. Ay caramba! That's one hot little tamale!!!

And of course, no trip to San Francisco is complete without a journey across the bridge, whether by car, bike or foot. We chose the bipedal experience.

Lily was "reading braille" here. HA!

100% fascinated at the engineering of this.

Have I ever told you that the Golden Gate Bridge is my favorite structure on planet Earth? It's science. It's art. It's international orange (that's the paint color). And it's mine. True love.

At the recommendation of a friend, we had to try the Mexican hot chocolate at this little coffee shop. It took an unusually long time to make, so I snapped some slightly grainy photos. One of these days I'll figure out how to use the manual settings on my camera and not have low-qual pics in low light. I swear...

Little iTouch glow on her face.

The same friend insisted we have dinner at Burma Superstar!. (FYI, the exclamation point is part of the restaurant title, not a typo). Holy moly. The food was to die for. And I loved this ceiling decor. I might try to mimic it in my dining room one of these days.

 Okay, if you ever find yourself at Burma Superstar!, you MUST eat the Tea Leaf Salad.  It will blow your mind. Seriously. Right off your neck. But you won't care because you'll be in gastronomic bliss.

That is if you're not asleep because you just drug your short 10 year old legs across the Golden Gate Bridge. Twice. I stuck my camera under the table for this little gem. 

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay

Can't say it enough. I love this city. It enchants me. I'm sorry to be so cliche, but Tony Bennett said it true...regardless of where I am on this globe, my heart is in San Francisco.

Look at my goofball husband. My bridge is out there on the horizon. Yes, it's mine. I claimed it and I own it.

Ana had the camera much of the day. For some reason she had put herself on kissing patrol and would get faux-cranky when Tod & I would smooch. Of course we had to egg her on...

They say the sign of a great city is that it offers many free activities. SF's got free covered. In the morning we walked over to the wharf from our hotel. We expected to get to Pier 39 within 30 minutes. Ended up taking us 'til late afternoon to get there because there was so much to do along the way.

We stopped at this ship yard. Tod was like a hog in fresh poop. He's gaga for anything that involves the ocean, whether above or below.

We had lunch at Ghirardelli Square. Yes, that means we had banana splits and brownie sundaes for lunch. I don't know if this makes me the best or worst mom in the world.

We stopped in at Musee Mechanique for a while. They house hundreds of antique arcade games that have been collected throughout the city over the past century or so. We got a kick out of the old games. Check these out. And they were especially fascinating in light of the fact that they paved the way for our current video games, which, of course, we were intrigued by since Tod's employed in the video game industry.

Race car game - had to crank the wheel to move your car. Note the next sign over..."See what the belly dancer does on her day off." I saw. It was not nearly as scandalous as it sounds.

For a quarter (probably a penny in it's day) you could buy Dan a drink. Okay....

Mario Kart has nothing on Road Racer.

 Finally, the Pier we were searching for. These sea lions are mesmerizing. I could have watched them for hours.

The cable cars were one of the girls favorite activities. So fun to ride up the insanely steep hills. Ana & Lily were excited that they got to stand up at the edge and hold on to the rails. We caught the line at Powell Street and got off at.... 

Chinatown!!

I loved Chinatown as a kid. I loved to look through the shops for the perfect Chinese fan and at all those creepy porcelain masks. My kids are equally enthused by cheesy Chinese loot. They would be happy browsing through the shops for days at a time.

Cutest Fu Man Chu EVER

The Coast

We took an excursion to Tod's favorite place on the planet...the Redwood Forest. I caught him down on his knees worshiping a few times. It's that sacred to him. ;)

This tree is really old. But I can't remember how old. 1,000 years? 150,000 years? 180 years? Something old.

Barb taught me the thrill of hugging a tree. It really was an experience to feel it's energy.

Ana and Lily were in lala land discussing a play they are "going to direct." I had a few minutes alone to chat with Grandpa while Tod and Barb had a nice talk too. It was great to walk through those sacred, majestic woods and have a chance to get to know our family better.

Next we headed to Santa Cruz. I've been to SC 4 or 5 times in my life. All of them with Chuck and Barb. It was pretty chilly this day. Spectacular though.

What the heck were we doing?

This is where we parted ways with Chuck and Barb. They headed home and we headed up Highway 1 to San Francisco. It really was wonderful to see them. Ana and Lily loved visiting with them (they've got to be pretty awesome to have their great-grandchildren adore them so much!) and we decided that we'll have to make their house a regular on our travel list. They are the closest family to us in proximity and were super hosts! THANK YOU CHUCK AND BARB!! Hope you enjoyed us because we'll be back. And maybe you won't have to send the pup to away next time we're there. (He's very young and was a little too excited/yelpie/rambunctious.)

The coastal drive was mind blowing. So gorgeous. We stopped at this lighthouse for a minute. Some other people there saw whales. We tried to find them, but never did. :(

I gotta say it...when I see this picture I am self-critical about my bushy eyebrows. "My word, Rachel! Trim those things!" If ever you needed to know from whence they come...enlarge some pics of Chuck.

We are amazed at the beauty of this state we live in. It has so much...beach, mountains, skiing, camping, agriculture, big cities, small cities, the entertainment industry. Did you know California is the 8th largest economy in the world?! How about that! (Too bad they're doing such a crummy job managing it.) It was really cool to drive up and down the state and experience all of it. John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors and I was totally channeling him as we sped through California. I loved it!

Up next....San Francisco. Easily my favorite city on the planet. Yahooo!!!!!

North by northwest

I've intended to visit Chuck and Barb (my grandpa and his wifey) for years...at least since they moved to their new home (which it turns out was 13 years ago).  : /  When my Grandma Polly died a few months ago I decided it was time. Once they're gone the opportunity is irretrievable. I was also going off the advice Grandpa Chuck once gave me when I expressed envy over his world travels. He told me I better get traveling then because there's nothing worse than living with regret. So when spring break arrived we packed up the car and drove north to their house. It ruled. Days 1 and 2:

When we arrived we took their new puppy, Cognac, for a walk around the lake. They live in such a beautiful area of the world.

And we got a little silly

Grandpa fed us dinner on their back porch. It's soooo lovely back there.

The handsome and well coiffured Grandpa Chuck.

Ana and her mama

Chicken and potato salad. I'm not a tater salad fan, except for my mom's and now Grandpa's. Mmmm.

Ana and Lily showing off their dance moves for a captive audience.

We visited a massive cavern. It went down to 165 feet underground. We had to hike down a gnarly spiral staircase to get down there. I was freaking out. It was SCARY. It was really neat inside, though. Amazing what happens when you combine water, geology and millions of years. People have been falling down the shaft for thousands of years. The remains are on display in the visitors center. Morbid!

After our mining adventure the girls rock climbed. They are exceptional climbers, btw.

Then Todd got harnessed in and was literally up the face in about 20 seconds. Have I ever mentioned I have a huge crush on this boy?

Barb took us to see a vinyard that had some incredible flowers. 

And a huge chunk of gold

When we got back to the house we walked down to the river, which supposedly houses gold. Gold is going for $1,450/oz so I told the girls we couldn't leave until we'd found at least one ounce.  Lily asked me if she found one ounce if I'd buy her 4 bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Sure thing Lily.

Lily disappeared for a while and came back down to the river dressed like this. Keep in mind it was about 55 and the water is probably 6 degrees or something ridiculous. 

 
Todd found this rock for my mom. She collects heart shaped rocks.