San Francisco

A Merry Christmas to us all! Thanks to Dad and Mom for the great present :) We headed off to San Francisco on the 8th of July.  I was sick as a dog with the flu, and in the airport I had to get a wheelchair, I felt really cool (not!). I think it helped though that before the flight out I threw up because I sure did not want to do that in the airplane bathroom.  Luckily by the second day I felt a whole lot better and was able to enjoy the vacation.

I've always heard people talk about this play so I was pretty excited to actually get a chance to see it. Les Miserables used to be my favorite until I saw this one.  I loved it! Thanks Charlyn, for doing all the grunt work and planning the trips activities, this was definitely one of my favorite things that we were able to do!

Travis was pretty intrigued with the public restroom facilities on this trip.  He tried to enter one every time he saw one just to see what they were like, but they were all usually occupied.  Finally on the last day he was able to enter, but he didn't stay in there for long :)

The second day was the most we walked and we kicked it off with a trip out to Alcatraz. 

I know Travis will be mad that I posted this picture of him, but he would never cooperate with picture taking.  At Alcatraz they had a really cool audio tour that we could go on, and the thing that impressed me the most was how well time out it was.  As you listened and moved to different areas, it always gave you just enough time to walk to one area to the next and to read all the displays.  I know it is funny to be impressed with that but I was :)

This is one of the cells that the prisoners would stay in.  It was crazy to imagine that they were so isolated from the rest of the world, but they were only about a mile and half away from San Francisco.  The tour mentioned that on New Years Eve the prisoners could hear all the parties that were going across the bay and the laughing like it was just in the next room.  Even though the island was pretty, it would have been pretty miserable staying there for too long.  I can see why some tries to escape.

After Alcatraz we stopped down at Pier 39 for some clam chowder and then headed up to Ghirardelli Square for some ice cream.  Ignore our pictures we had a rough time making them work :)

Travis enjoyed the mermaid fountain at the top of Ghirardelli Square.

After Ghirardelli Square we tried to catch a cable car, but it almost seemed impossible.  So we decided to hike it the 3 blocks to another cable car stop, which ended up being a longer wait. We decided to walk 6 more blocks to a different cable car stop, which ended up being an hour wait. So Travis and I decided to walk the six more blocks up to our destination "Lombard Street" or Crooked Street, which is the most crooked street in the world.  It ended up being a tough hike the last three blocks that were straight up hill.  I tried walking backwards, and sideways, but it was tough no matter which way I took it, especially being 32 weeks pregnant.

Travis for some reason really got a kick out of my pain walking up these hills. The best part of this day was when we met up with Ryan and Charlyn at the top of the hill and decided to get a taxi to take us to the cable car museum, best sic bucks I have ever spent.

China Town was our next stop, in which we were able to find some accessories so that we could fit in a little more.

I thought they named this store well for the area we were in. I definitely got a chuckle from this.

By the end of this day Joe had been wearing his new shape up shoes, and his feet were killing him.  Which they are suppose to be like walking in sand, so I don't blame Joe for being a little sore, but it was pretty funny when he was complaining and Charlyn told him to "Shape up."

The third day kicked off with a walk in the woods, Muir Woods that is.  This was Travis' first time seeing the red woods which was cool for him. I remember seeing them when I was younger and we drove our family suburban through one of the trees. They are pretty amazingly large trees.

This was one of my favorite spots, Sausalito (I'm sure I spelt is wrong) but it was fun to have a sandwhich and watch the boats out in the bay. It was pretty nostalgic.

You can't go to San Francisco without seeing the Golden Gate Bridge. Been there, done that!

Our last day, and yes Trav's eyes are closed... We stopped by for a look see at the Oakland Temple.  Met a missionary from Utah, Panquitch, Utah to be exact.  Small world...

And this is our group, minus Ty. I'm not sure where he went for this picture.

Just before the flight. Charlyn had to brown bag whatever it was that she was drinking, she had had enough of the family j/k, well maybe not.  But thanks again parents for the great trip, it was a blast!