We awoke early, refreshed, and excited for our boat trip across the bay and onto the infamous rock island that is home to Alcatraz. Brian and John had arrived safely at the hotel and we met them there after our grueling 9 hour travel day from Los Angelos. Most of us agree: We NEVER need to see that city again! The mini camps of tents filled with homeless people shocked and frightened us. We searched out a $20 a night parking spot, atop a building, in which we could park safely (and protect our valuables: a tent and sleeping bags!) After a fairly sound night sleep in my young friends' apt (Peter and Alden Egan) we began the day.
I should say that a sound sleep for me included transferring the early bird Ben into a closet (the only enclosed room) and laying on the concrete floor with him using a stuffed duffle bag as my pillow). The torture ended about 6:30 when the other younger kids awoke....
We loved the cute loft apt in the heart of the city.
I visited with Alden as she prepared to start her nursing shift, and then yummied down some ofPeter's amazing homemade yogurt....I'm going to start my own business too. Of course in LA he can sell 4 oz for about 3 bucks... or more!!
Peter soon awoke, too early I'm sure since he had returned from his job as a chef at a swanky LA restaurant, INK, at around 1:30 AM. He made me my second cup of wonderful coffee. We visited a bit and finally the ravenous kids persuaded us to find breakfast.
LA is NOT NYC, and bagel shops don't exist. Peter found a cute diner where we ended up after a spectacle filled stroll around the city. (Don't let anyone tell you some homeless don't talk to imaginary people....) I got Ben his first homemade pop tart at the 5 cent diner. John is always on my heart, so I got him and Brian one too! (Blueberry and Strawberry)
We headed up to San Francisco after a 345 turn exit from the parking lot.....my van sustained NO scratches or dents...no courtesy of the parking attendants.
The kids and I have no desire to ever return to LA. What a bust! Dirty! Mean! Traffic laden! Yuk! The weather was beautiful, though, I have to say.
The drive up to San Fran involved a 90 minute stretch up from southern CA at 15-20 mph!!!! I was scared to death that I'd be driving 320 miles at that speed! Seriously, from LA to Santa Barbara we creeped along.... Ventura highway had us singing to the America song of the same name that we played on utube, but that barely lifted our spirits.
We focused on the gorgeous coast flanked by steep mountains and the houses perched atop them attempting to slide into the Pacific! But for the haze, the sight would have been perfect. It reminded Kirsten of Cinquetera in Italy, albeit the homes were less colorful.
I wanted to visit the Santa Barbara visit so we got off to visit. It would've cost us a pretty penny, so we just prayed in front of the church, which we couldn't even enter for free, ran around the rose garden in the public park, took some lovely pictures, and stuffed ourselves back into the van! (How come John could manage to get FOUR more sleeping bags into the cartop carrier? Argh!
After Santa Barbara, we made good time for the remaining numerous hours. Hwy 101 turned inland and we rolled over beautiful mountains covered with vineyards. I white knuckled the steering wheel as high winds buffeted the van. I even stopped on the road side for a --very sick--Michael to tighten the car top straps. Kirsten distracted me by reading "And The Mountains Echoed" in a voice louder than Grace's rendition of "Hansel and Gretel". I told her she had a 3 hour time limit to get in all her details!
About 2 hours outside of SF, John called to say he had landed. I guess his 9:30 arrival time was Eastern Standard time!! (It's a good thing we had sick kids and didn't hit the wedding I wanted to attended in the LA area...we would've arrived in SF many hours after him....although, prayed for the newlyweds, it was disappointing not to be able to make that impromptu Nuptial Mass...congrats Mr and Mrs, Stephen Flemings!)
about 45 minutes outside of SF we came upon a recent accident of an overturned car. The passendgers were trapped. We prayed for them, and I redoubled my concentration on the highway, and lowered my speed, as I drove directly into the setting sun.
With great joy we ran into the arms of John: Daddy and Husband! We hugged Brian tightly too, and then settled into the Vagabond Inn that overlooked the Bay. We actually paid for two rooms, so most of us got a great night's sleep...along with a warm shower, and complete breakfast: gotta love those waffles!!
We somehow figured out a place for Brian and John to fit in the van, along with their stuff, and headed for SF.
35 bucks got us a safe parking spot for the day, that didn't involve scarping the car top carriers off the roof!
Once in SF we hiked around, found Lombard Street after a few false alarms that involved climbing the wrong 85 degree angle road, and began our trek up the famous zig-zag road--on foot! Grace and Annaliese were troopers, even if they weren't too happy with us at first. Michael, sick with a fever and stomach something or other, didn't even attempt it.
Brian took some amazing pictures of us and the hydrangeas, and us with the bay as a backdrop. The extremely foggy day, and intermittent mist, reenforced that we were ACTUALLY in SF and not Phoenix!!
We decided not to venture down to Chinatown so that we could make our 2:40 boarding time to Alcatraz! After a quick lunch of "In and Out" burgers and fries, we raced to Pier 33. As the family waited in line to board, still huffing after a mile run, I received the news from "Will Call" that "Yes, your ipad confirmation does show that you have a reservation for 9, except that it is for TOMORROW!"
Just hearing you talk about the winds on the van while you are driving makes me ill! I tried one time to drive our big van out of Fort Mill to HH, and i was white knuckled! I am praying for you and so happy John and Brian are with you!
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