We got home from California on Saturday. Our time there was great. The weather was amazing and we did lots of fun things. One of the days it was 85 in the city. 85, that is not a typo. That, my friends, is highly unusual for the city. We took the BART to the trolley and ended up at Pier 39. It's not my favorite place but it is where the boat that we were taking jumps off. We saw the Sea Lions too. They are so much fun...for us, not the boat owners ;-)
The Bay Tour was with the Blue and Gold Fleet. I have seen those for years and I think the last time I took one was about 1975, SERIOUSLY! The weather couldn't have been better for this little trip. The cruise takes you out along the waterfront toward the ocean, under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. Captain Nemo or Ahab or someone tells tales of the city over a loud speaker. It was fun, informative and beautiful. I loved it! I wasn't expecting much so it was a great little surprise. Coulter was miffed that we didn't get off on Alcatraz. Kees fell asleep. Poor baby....we'd been going hard.
Next we went to the Aquarium of the Bay. Don't bother. It was small and not very well done. There is a tube you walk through to see sharks and such but other then that....yawn. If you have never been to any sort of aquarium it might be alright. It was part of our City Pass so I guess it was worth it. 'Nuff said.
After we were done with that Nancy and I laid out on the grass while the kids played. We people watched and relaxed. It was really fun to just be.... Man there are some interesting characters in that city. We saw some break dancers that defied gravity and broke about 25 other natural laws. Our last thing to do was hit the Musee Mecanique. It is so much fun and reminds me of when I was a kid. We blew about $20 in there.
We took a cab to Chinatown. The wait for the cable car was about 2 hours long and we were not that patient. We went to dinner at the usual spot and the kids played in the park again. I love that park. Watching the little old Chinese people is wonderful. There was a group of ladies playing some card game on a card board box.
The old guys were all bantering about something of another and laughing. It's like being in China, I swear.
We wrapped up our day with a short cable car ride to the BART and then went home. It was a great day.
We spent one more day in the city at the Exploratorium. The kids love that place. After that they were done. The city was cold that day and we knew that in Martinez it was 20 degrees warmer and there was a pool waiting for us. We also were having dinner with Nancy and Dave and needed to celebrate Kees' birthday. We went home.
The boys went swimming, Sophia and I made glass art (Nancy has a beautiful glass studio where she puts out great art. So cool.) Nancy made dinner and we generally had a great day. Dinner was terrific and after dinner....STAR WARS PARTY. Kees turned 5. He got a Zu Zu Pet and a remote control Jeep. He was thrilled. And we had a carrot cake with Star Wars guys on top. Nothing says "Star Wars" like carrot cake.
On Saturday we packed up and headed for home. We were missing our daddy, dog and home. We left at about 10:30. Man, I can't imagine how quiet their house seems after we've been there. Anyway.... We made it home by 9:00 even with 12 potty breaks and a 45 minute lunch break. The kids were fabulous and didn't complain once. We did about half books on tape and half movies. I was very proud of them.
It is great to be home. Period. We are glad to be back in our own beds and our own digs. Nancy and Dave's house is great and the beds are really comfortable but it isn't home for us. I don't know how they stood us for almost 10 days but they did. I am grateful for such nice and generous friends.
So that is remainder of our SF trip. It was great fun and we only did about half of what we wanted. Maybe we'll go back next year....we'll see.
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