3 Little Monkeys . . .: San Fran

After months of planning (and debating...should we fly or drive or go on the train? Should we not go and just save the money? Should we wait till our kids are older?) we went to the San Francisco area for a long-awaited vacation! I had carefully saved some of the money I earned from teaching preschool with the hopes that we could use it on a family vacation. After realizing that just flying there and back would cost nearly $1500, we decided to drive. Our old clunkers wouldn't pass the test of a long drive through the middle of nowhere, so we rented a car (Quentin got his dream of driving a 2011 Dodge Charger!) We split the drive into 2 days each way and it wasn't that bad - it was part of the adventure! After we got home and tallied up our purchases, we realized that we were able to do the whole trip (car, gas, hotels, food, souvenirs, entertainment, etc.) for hundreds of dollars less than it would have cost just for plane tickets. Yeeeahhh!

Of course, it helped that we stayed with Quentin's uncle Mike and his family (thanks again guys!) They live near San Jose, about 45 minutes from San Francisco. We stayed with them during our honeymoon 14 years ago and it was fun to show the girls some of the things we remembered from way back then!

So...this is a long post of our 10-day vacation. Maybe it's boring to you readers, but it's a journal/scrapbook record for our family. After sorting through over 900 digital pictures, this is actually really pared down! But we had such a fun time and made some good memories!

SATURDAY, JUNE 18
Picked up rental car and left around 6:00 p.m. Drove to Battle Mountain, NV (a dinky little town) and arrived at our hotel around 11:00 p.m.

SUNDAY, JUNE 19
Father's Day! The girls had hidden their present - a Willow Tree figurine of a dad with 3 girls - to Daddy in their suitcase and surprised him in the morning. Swam in the hotel pool, enjoyed the free continental breakfast, and drove the 9 hours to Mike and Faye's house.

MONDAY, JUNE 20
My birthday! Drove to Santa Cruz and spent a couple of hours at the Henry Cowell Redwood Forest.

Went to the Wharf in Santa Cruz and ate pizza on the beach. Then the girls played in the water. They loved it!

TUESDAY, JUNE 21
Went to San Francisco to the Exploratorium - coolest hands-on science museum ever! We spent 4 hours there and only got halfway through it before it closed. So fun!!

Walked down and up Lombard Street, then drove down it.

Drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (we were going to walk across it but it was cold and windy) to Sausalito - that's what I imagine heaven to be like!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22
Had a quiet day at "home" with the Baker family. Swam in their neighbor's pool, had dinner and hung out.

THURSDAY, JUNE 23
Went back to San Francisco. Went to the Cable Car Museum.

Toured Mee Mee Bakery in Chinatown - we got to watch how they make fortune cookies.

Then we browsed at Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf - the girls picked out a souvenir.

Had dinner at Boudin's (known for their sourdough bread) - Q had clam chowder in a bread bowl and I had a yummy veggie sandwich.

FRIDAY, JUNE 24
Drove to Fairfield to tour the Jelly Belly Factory - yum!

Had a BBQ with the Baker family, then walked around the Great Mall in San Jose.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25
Spent the day in Monterey with the Bakers. Went to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

(This is a "Leafy Seadragon" - how cool is that?!)

Went to the beach even though it was only 55 degrees out. Jason taught Quentin how to "skim."

While everyone else bundled up and watched.

Went to Dennis the Menace Park

And had dinner at Fisherman's Wharf - check out our lemony grins!

SUNDAY, JUNE 26
Headed homeward via Lake Tahoe - so beautiful! Reached Reno by 8:30 p.m. but decided to drive a couple more hours to stay in Battle Mountain.

MONDAY, JUNE 27
Drove 5 hours from Battle Mountain to home. Met Mom and Grandma for dinner, returned the rental car, and began unpacking, doing laundry, and reminiscing!

Jason and the girls