The San Fran adventure

Right. So here it is.
The much anticipated adventure of two crazy parents and five well-behaved children traipsing through one of the biggest cities in the west.



Here are a few things you should know.

We are not country folk. We live near a big city and are comfortable in cities.
We are naive, however to the workings of public transportation and the time it takes to get from A to B.

And so with out further ado...

Alright. It really isn't that interesting. I'm sorry for all the build up. But if you want to keep reading, go ahead. There is a little moral at the end, if you're into that kinda thing.

We left Monterey at about 9am and got to SF about 11am. That was our first mistake. We should have left at 7am to get there at 9am.

We wanted to go to the California Academy of Science. Mistake number two.
BECAUSE everyone else wanted to go there too!  It was soooo crowded. And expensive. And we should have skipped it.



We walked out of the Science Center at about 1pm and looked for food. We figured we'd just grab some teriyaki. We did, it was good. But we sat down to eat. Mistake number 3. We spent too long at the restaurant.


Next we looked for Bart.

Yes we got some looks, but hey! it's San Francisco! There's all kinds here.
The escalator was a big hit!

We finally found it and found our way to Fisherman's Warf. But, while waiting and waiting for a transfer bus (several passed by us that were full and when you have a family of seven you can not squeeze onto a full bus) we watched the sun begin to slip down into the horizon and got restless. Our van was parked back at the Science Center. We figured out too late that we would not make it to the Golden Gate bridge if we continued on to Fisherman's Warf, so we turned around and went back.

Along the way, the girls bought some necklaces.


We made it back to our van and headed right for the bridge. Right at rush hour. We got stuck, but hey! we were on a national icon.


(Alcatraz.)
The sad thing is, we wanted to go to the Presidio too. I spent five years of my childhood (from first grade through fifth grade) living on the Presidio. It was magical. I have always wanted to go back and share the place with my family.

We didn't make it. Maybe next time.

By the time we got off the bridge it was dark and everyone was cranky.

We headed back to Monterey, but not before stopping at another California icon:


Even tho we have one a couple of miles from where we live, we have never been. It was delicious. Nothing like burgers and shakes to calm frazzled nerves.

So, nothing bad happened. Thank goodness. No one was lost or got hurt. In fact, we enjoyed people watching, building gawking, and just enjoying the sun in the big, big city. We just ran out of time.



Kids, here's what I want you to take away from this.
Plan better.
But if you don't and make some mistakes, remember your family loves you no matter what.
We stick together.
We may get mad or frustrated at each other sometimes, but at the end of the day we stick together, forgive and love.

Amen.