Fisherman's Wharf

Everyone had a San Francisco sight that needed to be visited before we could leave. Next stop: touristy Fisherman's Wharf. So many people loathe this spot, and if Tomcat and I were here for a weekend alone, we'd probably skip it. But if you have little kids, Fisherman's Wharf is a great place to be.

Doodle wanted a carriage ride. Done. We were told we could pet Susie, one of the horses, anywhere but the nose. They didn't understand and the driver said, "What if everyone always walked up to you and just kept petting your nose?" They got it after that.

Grandma and I wanted to go to the Musee Mecanique. It houses antique games from carnivals and World's Fair type amusements. Most of the games are in working order, for a mere 25 cents. Who knew the kids would be so enthralled? Grandma took a walk down memory lane and I just enjoyed seeing what used to make people laugh (Laughing Sal). The oldest item was a praxinoscope -- a truly fascinating artifact of human laughs.

Peanut wanted to go to Ripley's. Grandma and I had our doubts about this place, but it turned out to be a wonderful, engaging and highly educational stop.

None of the kids were freaked out, especially Doodle. When she went missing for about 5 minutes, I nearly lost my mind. Not so much that I feared someone had snatched her, but the thought of her being terrified in the life-size kaleidoscope or the simulated earthquake, or any number of bizarre exhibits we'd passed through was more than I could handle. Guess where we found her? Grandma saw her ahead of our group, hunched over on her elbows, staring eye to eye with an African mummified face, teeth and all. She couldn't wait to show me the treasure she'd found, completely oblivious to the heart attack she'd given her mama.

Little Man wanted to run free. So we hired a pedi-cab to take us down the Embarcadero to see the Cupid sculpture. I'd seen in a magazine on the airplane and just had to see it. From there he ran from one sculpture to the next all the way back to the bus stop.

Something we all needed was a stop at the Ghiradelli ice cream shop. Now that we've eaten a scoop of Ghiradelli ice cream, we can officially say we've been to California!

Chinatown

Just outside the gates of Chinatown, we stopped at the sweetest little church where Green got married. They were actually in the middle of a small service so we sat for a minute. (My kids have a new fascination with different churches in different states.) We only lasted about 5 minutes because Little Man got frustrated not knowing when to say, "Lord hear our prayer".


If Peanut called Muir Woods home, Little Man wanted to move into one of the gift shops in Chinatown. Each kid ended up with a fun Chinese outfit souvenir, but none so appreciated as Little Man's warrior hat and sword.

We had to have a big lesson on the history of ivory because the endless Chinese antique stores are full of ivory figurines (mostly in kama sutra sex acts) that most Americans won't buy. Even with the history lesson, Peanut found her prize: a tiny ivory bunny. I let her buy it with her own money.

Peanut and I wanted to check out the galleries. I was on Cloud Nine with the number of originals in this town. I kept telling the kids, "You guys, this is like walking into museums!" Our favorite by far was the Weinstein Gallery. They have more original Miro's than I remember seeing in Barcelona! The kids were intensely interested in discovering new artists (Becker) and discussing their art in a meaningful way.

Pinnacles National Monument

Bravely, I rented a car so we could take a day trip to Pinnacles. Have you heard of it? I highly doubt it, because no one in California had any idea what I was talking about!

What should have been a 3.5 hour drive turned into an all-day adventure. At one point I asked the kids if they wanted to turn around and head back or if they wanted me to continue the quest for the funky land formations. They wanted to keep searching! I love these kids.
We eventually found Pinnacles -- a spot on the San Andreas Fault where the plates collided and sent the earth upwards into a volcano and spiky fingers of land. Sounds cool, right? It was pretty hot and the kids' legs were so tired from our San Francisco hills, that we chose ONE hike. It just happened to be an uphill, mile-long hike to a big cave. The search was worth it! The formations were really cool, especially after just visiting Volcanoes in Hawaii last month. (This is what Kona will look like in millions of years!)

Peanut and I had our own thrill, though. We saw a tree covered in holes and then a Pileated woodpecker showed up. We felt like it landed there just for us and we watched it for as long as we could (we have a lot of patience when it comes to bird-watching). Little Man's thrill was having his snack in a huge, dark cave and having free use of the flashlights. It was really fun. Grandma adds that her thrill was making it to the top and down again in one piece!

Muir Woods

Oh, if only I'd allowed us an entire day to hang out here!

The kids were so enamored with Muir Woods, and I'd forgotten what a special place it is. In fact, Peanut lost herself in imagination picturing how she could make these woods her home: bedroom over there,

living room over here, a little place to sit and be alone under that tree, a nice place to read on that pile of moss, etc.

We were linking experiences here which thrilled me; we learned all about John Muir in Alaska and Henry Thoreau in Massachusetts, and it was all discussed here in San Francisco. Is this called Home Schooling?

Did you know that Redwoods bark is extremely thick -- so thick it protects them against bugs, disease and most importantly fire? That's how so many lovely homes (see my last post) survived the 1906 fires after the earthquake! They were built from old growth Redwoods. Cool.

We stopped in Sausalito on the way back -- a foo foo community where we toured some galleries and indulged in a fantastic seafood lunch.

We took the ferry home, adding to our many modes of transportation on this trip, getting a good view and quick lesson on Alcatraz. (We opted against this tour, by the way, preferring instead nightmare-free bedtimes.)

Golden Gate Bridge

We made it across the 1.7 mile long Golden Gate Bridge! Little Man said, "I got so tired I didn't think I was going to make it, but then I did make it."

Doodle promptly collapsed. She wins the prize for best 4 year old walker!

Peanut described the walk like this, "It was really hot, but the air was cool

blowing over us, and we got really dizzy up there. I mean, it was scary to be up there, but it was

cool to see the porpoises leaping at the bows of ships under us and the sea lion just hanging out."

I knew it would be fun, and we

discussed the fact that the bridge was actually orange, but the thrill of traffic buzzing past us was a bit unsettling. The weather was gorgeous; there wasn't a hint of fog or wind, or any jumpers for that matter.

We took a Double Decker bus back to town which gave us an entirely different perspective, with far less whining.

up and down, up and down

Well, give us a day of sunshine and we love San Francisco! The in-your-face novelty of stepping over homeless people on the sidewalks and witnessing P.D.A. in every nook and cranny, we got down to the business of exploring and climbing hills.

Cable cars were at the top of our list and they maintained their rank through our entire stay.

(I should have anticipated the thrill for a 6 year old boy and bought the 3 day pass.) We stayed at a hotel in Union Square -- just a few blocks to the cable car turn-around!

We walked down Lombard Street peeking in the lovely street-side doors to see the hidden gardens within, found real lemon trees and freesia actually growing in flower beds and saw amazing views

of the city.

While riding the cable car, I overheard a mom say to her kids, "Did you know that some people go on trips and do absolutely nothing? They just lie around -- no exploring whatsoever!" We were facing opposite directions, but I really wish we could have met that family!

California - Take Two

Our last attempt at seeing California involved a picture under the state sign followed by a quick walk in the Mojave Desert with a locally made bag of jerky. The emergency room in Las Vegas was calling my name -- darn infected eye -- and that was the end of exploring one of the most diverse states in our
country.

So we're going to try this again!

It's been a decade since I was in San Francisco (45 years for Grandma!), and with kids in tow it was an unrecognizable city. So seedy. It took me a while to figure out the secretive game Little Man and Peanut were playing: Count the Homeless People.

Needless to say, our first day left me wondering why I chose the Golden Gate Bridge over the La Brea Tar Pits.

California - State #7

I've had a renewed interest in ghost towns since seeing the awesome flik 3:10 to Yuma. I've tried to get the kids interested but they since they've never seen any Westerns, they only focus on ghosts and miss the appeal of the Wild West. Still, Grandma and I thought the tourist trap near Barstow, CA, Calico Ghost Town, would be fun for them so we headed once again for Historic Route 66.

Two young Native American boys were selling beef jerky on the side of the road so I supported their cause with 3 bags for $20 plus a bag of dried apricots and a jar of wildflower honey. But where was the Welcome to California sign? Another traveler told me California was too cheap and not interested in welcoming people to the Mojave Desert. Ha! Always watching to see when we'll actually drive over the "water" they see on the road up ahead, they have a clear understanding of optical illusions and what a desert mirage is. Woe to those who think they can cross the Mojave desert! And the kids love hearing stories about how the cops find these fools and just how shriveled up they are.

You know how sometimes everything seems fine but you know something isn't quite right? Well, that's what's going on with my left eye. It's watery and wants to shut which is making me very road weary. I talked to Grandma about it, and she's not overly excited about me crossing the Mojave desert with tired, watery eyes, so we decided to skip it and head into Nevada. The two bigger kids have already been to the Red Woods so I feel justified in saying we've been to California on this trip. Incidentally, I finally found a proper welcome sign, too!

Change of Plans

We gave up on the weather and packed up a day early for California. After driving through snow, sleet and another rainstorm, we didn't quite make it. Instead we found ourselves crossing the real London Bridge into Lake Havasu! Who knew?

This place is a mecca for Suburbanites -- I've never seen such enormous chain stores before or so many identical houses crammed together. It's incredible. Everything surrounds the beaches at Lake Havasu and that's just where we are: The Nautical Inn. You could easily call this a splurge, but considering every place is jammed with sand-seeking Memorial Day vacationers, we consider ourselves very lucky (again) to have any room at all.

It's been awhile since I was in the middle of a spring break scene -- drunk, bikini- clad horny girls surrounded by drunk, macho irresponsible boys with boats. It's hilarious to watch and the Security is busy doing just that. The kids haven't even noticed them, but there's still no way we'd let them anywhere near the lake (hundreds of party boats and their exhaust) so we found the pool. Surprisingly, it was completely empty! A dream come true for all of us. No stormy weather, a nice pool to ourselves, music from afar and a nice view of the beach.

Grocery stores and restaurants have been our main source of fuel, but we have indulged in some fast food along the way. Anyone traveling these desert highways can attest to the nasty tasting water (iced-tea when bottled water isn't available), the shear lack of food options (no grocery store for hundreds of miles) as well as the salt cravings (Grandma says it's the desert's way of making one drink more water). Usually, I search for a Subway. Next choice is a Taco Bell or a Wendy's. Today our only choice was Burger King and I'll never go back. Disturbing as hell, I noticed that the menu has added super-sized options for kids: double cheeseburgers, large fries, large sodas. I was shocked and disappointed although I guess I shouldn't be. Marketing to kids...CurlyTop could go into a rage everyone, but I'll get off my hind legs for now because we're having a really sunny afternoon.

California License Plate