San Francisco

In the middle of November we went to San Francisco.  We found $40 flights so we took our whole family from Friday to Monday.  Grandma and Grandpa met us there, which made it even more exciting.  We had a wonderful time.  We stayed a few blocks away from Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.  We rode Bart and buses. We crammed 6 of us in the back seat of a Ford Explorer taxi. Grandpa drove 9 of us to church and across the Golden Gate bridge in Grandma's 5-seater BMW. We played uno and skipbo and chinese jump rope. And we marveled at how awesome it was to not even need a stroller for our 5 fairly self-sufficient, fun kids.

Saturday we went to Pier 39. We got there right when everything was opening, which was awesome because it wasn't crowded yet.  We did the 7D experience game and laser maze, watched the seals play king of the hill, did the mirror maze, watched a magic show and looked in lots of shops.  We ate lunch and then walked over to Ghiradeli Square for dessert.  Then we took a bus over to China town.  We saw fortune cookies being made and the kids loved to point out weird vegetables and look at all the cheap china toys. 

Sunday we went to church. We drove down Lombard street on the way back to the hotel.  Then we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and walked out on it a little ways.  We came back to the hotel and walked some of the big San Francisco hills to the street car museum by Chinatown.

Monday we went on a tour of Alcataz.  Everyone loved that, except it was so cold out there! We came back and did the Musee Mechanique by Fisherman's Wharf.  It was an arcade with all kinds of old and newish coin-operated games.  The kids had a lot of fun there. We went back to Pier 39 and the Cal State marching band was just setting up so we watched that for a while and then looked through a few more shops and had dinner.