We all really enjoyed spending time with Kim’s mom in San Fran. The kids were loving it! Saturday was a huge day which went like this:
1) Met Nana at the airport, complete with signs the kids made.
2) Farmers Market near Fisherman’s Wharf.
3) Shopping/Lunch in Chinatown.
4) Trolly Ride and visit to Fisherman’s Wharf.
5) Junior Ranger program and tour of the Maritime Museum.
6) Papa Murphy’s Pizza for dinner. We had planned to cook Salmon and Clams, but got home too late.
She was coming in on Southwest.
There she is!
We love you Nana!
Kat showing Nana the sign she had made.
Nana’s #1 request… City Market!
Buying honey stix!
Nice produce… never saw purple bell peppers back home?
Sampling some pastries.
Vegan Donuts!?
Shrooms, so we could explain to Nana some of our hunting conquests.
Shanties! You gotta try them.
Walking to Chinatown, hand-in-hand.
Never mind that Kim made us walk an extra mile, to enter Chinatown via this gate.
You’re not in Hannibal anymore, Nana!
Looking for Lunch, in all the wrong places.
4 stars on Yelp, and close, it’ll do. Capital Restaurant
The place was pretty busy, so good sign.
Known for wings, and they were the highlight. This Bass might be a good choice!
Cool market with dried seafood.
Riding the trolly.
First trolly experience.
Maritime Museum
Blocking and Tackling
Nana checking out the clipper ship under re-construction
On the deck of the Balclutha.
1886 Square Rigger, Balclutha.
Kat ejoying the nice weather and view of the Golden Gate bridge.
Nice day, winding down.
Kids love to have Nana read to them.
Sunday, the kids made breakfast (pancakes and eggs). Scott watched the Chiefs game, then we all went downtown to Ghirardelli Square. We cooked Salmon (Kane caught in Alaska), and Fried Clams (We dug them on Oregon Coast) for dinner.
Old Ghirardelli buildings nicely rehabbed.
Chillin, waiting for ice cream.
A $2 cone and a $6 shake. Kane chipped in the extra 4 bucks.
Kids made breakfast!
Fried Razor Clams… battered in saltine cracker crumbs.
Monday, Scott hung out at home, and Kim, Nana and our kids went to visit the Jelly Belly factory. Much needed time for me to update the blog, and the kids loved the factory. Kane and Kim decided that Dog Food Jellybean does taste like Dog Food! After dinner that night, we had a tasty treat… Nana’s homemade Cherry Pie!
Jelly Belly Factory… amazing these things are made here, when the company started in the Midwest?
Uh oh… the gift shop! Kane bought a “jelly bean machine”. (gumball machine for jelly bellies.
Ready for some samples.
Loving it!
Kat brought money in her new purse (Nana bought it for her at the wharf).
Every Flavor beans for tricking somebody… me!
Nana brought her own cherries from home to make this bad-boy.
We made it to San Francisco! We were so excited, with big plans here. Back in Cape Outlook Oregon, we met some interesting folks, the Trojac family from Philly.
It was early evening, and we were working on dinner, when we saw a Tiffin Class A RV with the same color scheme as us pulling into the campground. I felt bad because we had just pulled in, and I knew we got the last spot with hookups. I felt really bad when I noticed that they were towing a Honda Van on a dolly, and their stairs were deployed. (folding stairs leading to front door were extended). Knowing how tight the loop was, I flagged them down and told the driver that their stairs were deployed. He said “oh, my sensor…”. We saw them pull around the loop and take off.
The next day, we were doing the cape lookout hike, on our way back, we passed a family of 5, and I recognized the Dad as the guy with the Tiffin. We started talking, and it turns out the Trojac’s are also on a yearlong sabbatical. They are from Philly, and started their trip in June. We chatted for a few minutes, exchanged contact info, and vowed to connect later.
Well we had a few near misses with meetups with the Trojacs and it finally happened in San Fran. We decided to meet them there, camp in the same campground, and do Halloween together. It was great to socialize with another family with kids, and naturally, we have a lot in common to talk about wrt our trips. They are trying to hit all 50 states, and as such are going to Hawaii from LA. They also took a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska, which was neat to hear about.
At any rate, it made for a fun Halloween. We went to Alcatraz (which is run by the National Parks), and the kids were able to take advantage of the “Junior Ranger” program there. Once we got back home, we went over to the Trojac’s house for dinner. Mike T had asked around about places to trick-or-treat, and we considered going downtown, but didn’t want to fight traffic and/or parking. One of the full-time campers at our campground, suggested a neighborhood 10 minutes away and gave us directions. It was a really nice, older neighborhood, evoking memories of Webster Groves, tucked into the city of San Rafael. Lots of young families, and a tight knit area. The place is called Grestle Park.
Several of the houses were totally decorated in themes… huge spider web, with the spider from LOTR, including dead trick-or-treaters (skeleton bones in costumes). The French Revolution, with Marie Anionette in the guillotine. GhostBusters theme, actually playing the movie on a 20 foot screen. It was great fun.
Alcatraz was great, and even though Kim and I had visited 16 years ago, I still learned some things (or re-learned perhaps). I love the audio tour, especially the stories of escape attempts. The kids really enjoyed it too, and didn’t seem to be scared at all, just fascinated.
The following day, we moved Campgrounds to a place closer to the airport, and got ready for our first visitor, Nana Kane (Kim’s mom) was coming Saturday morning and staying until Tuesday Morning.
Alcatraz pics:
Our ship. These guys get over a million visitors per year. At least 3 of these boats.
Our Tickets… expect to spend 100 bucks for a family of 4
Cool scale model of the island with info on each area.
Learning something over there.
Model of the guns originally outfitting the island to defend the bay during the Civil War. They were never needed.
Love this quote. “Chew on the bitter end of treason”.
Old watch tower.
Still fascinated by the Indian occupation after the federal prison closed.
National Parks!
I wonder how many times they repainted this and re-painted the indian graffiti?
Typical cell, empty
Audio Tour! Love it!
The guards who narrate the audio tour.
Kim, working on Kane’s audio tour which got out of whack.
Photo op
She LOVED the audio tour.
Copy of the rules/regulations for Alcatraz
Interesting, that the inmates became obsessed with Bridge, and figured out how to play by themselves with dominoes?
Rec Yard. Nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge, but they only got 2.5 hours on Sat and Sun
From the door of the rec yard
Cell Block “D”. Nobody wanted to be here because it was dark, wet, and cold. The Birdman, Robert Stroud stayed here.
Famous cell block “D” inmates.
Story of this escape attempt is amazing.
Example bar spreader.
The gun gallery, where it all began.
Floor where you can still see grenade damage from the battle.
Pipe chase where the found the escapees after the battle. (dead)
The much desired sunny east side of the prison.
View of the city. They say on New Years eve, the inmates could hear the party at the yacht club.
Guard Uni… called them red ties.
Stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.
They never found two of these guys… brilliant escape.
The movie “Escape from Alcatraz” was based on this one.
Jr Ranger Program!
Jr Ranger!
I don’t think Kim would have agreed to go if not for these badges!
Waiting to board the boat back to the city
Golden Gate Bridge from the boat
Bye Bye Alcatraz
I thought this was sweet. Kat was tired (we all were).
Great view of the Golden Gate bridge on the way home
Halloween Pics:
At Trojac’s for dinner
Kids in their “Goodwill” purchased costumes. Ghost Face Zombie, and Ladybug
With their jack-o-lanterns… Kane carved his own, Kat designed her own.
Our kids with Trojac’s… ready for action
First house
Kane’s mask is genius, squeeze a bulb, and blood runs down, but it also runs back down into the bulb… unlimited blood!
Spider house
Dead trick-or-treater at the spider house.
French Revolution House
These guys had a real haunted house… incorporated the backyard, basement, and garage!
Loved the haunted house
Counting loot and deciding what to trade back to Mom and Dad for cash.
