We flew JFK to SJC on 9/28 for our big west coast trip, culminating in the Long Overdue (as they named it) wedding of Annie and Jimmy. We got our rental car and headed into the city to meet up with Shane for lunch/dinner at the Ferry Building.
The next day Jody and John prepared a delicious brunch for us at their beautiful apartment in Berkeley. Thanks, guys, it was yummy!
Then we drove up into the hills for a ride on the Redwood Valley Railway, aka the Tilden Steam Train.
After that we fed some animals at the little Tilden Farm nearby, and then we drove down into Berkeley and fed ourselves at Top Dog.
Our last stop of the day was at this “Adventure Playground” that Jody recommended, where the kids could hammer, saw, and paint. It was pretty cool! And no one got hurt!
The next day was Monday, and we were meeting up with Jody for a trip to Muir Woods. But first we went for some coffee, and admired these Lyft bikes (nice work, Reece!).
We picked up Jody and headed to Muir Woods to see some redwoods, which was one of Blaine’s top goals for this trip.
They were beautiful! The kids were also impressed that it was in forests like these where the Endor scenes were filmed in the Return of the Jedi.
After that we had a tasty lunch at a fish place (I believe it was called “Fish” actually) in Sausalito. Then we planned to stop and walk out a bit onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately the convenient parking lot right by the edge of the bridge was closed for repaving! So we parked way down at the bottom and got to enjoy these beautiful views during the long walk back up.
On the way back out to Berkeley/Oakland, we drove through the city and enjoyed one of the highlights of my trip, driving down Lombard Street. It was so much fun! The kids were less enthused. We had dinner that night at a well-known pizza restaurant near our vrbo, called Zachary’s.
Tuesday was our last day in San Francisco, so we decided to drive back into the city for another one of the kids’ top priorities: riding a cable car.
After our ride we went to visit the Cable Car Museum, which turned out to be Blaine’s favorite thing from the entire trip! The museum was actually the place that operates the cables for the whole system, so we could see the big wheels turning and all the pulleys underground. Very cool!
Then we went for lunch in Chinatown. Sarah was getting pretty good at using her chopsticks!
After lunch we walked through the city over to the Exploratorium, which was packed full of cool science exhibits.
We had dinner that night back out in Oakland with Jody and John, and celebrated the kids’ birthdays early with some brownies a la mode. It was so much fun seeing you guys, thanks for showing us all the sights!
