San Fransisco

We had a great day just walking the streets of San Fransisco! We started it off by having lunch at In and Out Burger. We were told this was the place to eat! The line was out the door! Next, we walked to Pier 39 and enjoyed seeing the Sea Lions all over the docks! They were loud and stinky but fun to watch! Ghirardelli was next up on the list! We all shared "World Famous Hot Fudge Sundaes" After that we walked up and down Lombard Street. Crookedest street in America! I loved walking up the steep streets and seeing all the homes side by side. We drove by the Mrs. Doubtfire house too! We had to have some time at the Pacific Ocean, it was a bit cold but this did not stop Faith and Scarlett. We ended the day at the Golden Gate Bridge! Awesome! Here are Alaynea and Emma's take on the day as well.

~Today we went to San Francisco. I think that it is very cool to see all the different cities and towns, all the different sceneries, and people on our trip. We walked around the city for awhile, it was very crowded and busy, busy, busy. There was lots of people singing and playing instruments on the side of the streets. One man played a whole band all by himself!! We were walking by this light pole and there was a "statue" of man that we all were convinced was fake but as we were walking by he moved to scare us all!  We all jumped and screamed!! We also went to the ghiradeli square and all shared "the worlds most famous sunday" It was very good. After that we walked up the long steep roads that seemed like they were never going to end to go see the famous Lombard road. My mom wanted to go to the beach to swim but the only ones that did were Faith and Scarlett. I do not know how they did though because it was freezing! I did not even want to put my feet in. We got to drive over the famous Golden Gate bridge. It was huge and there was lots of traffic. Once we were on the other side of the bridge we stopped to take pictures, as always. Overall it was a fun day and I am glad that I got to see and experience San Fran. ~ Alaynea

~Today we woke up and got ready for a fun day at San Francisco. When we got there the first thing we did was eat at in-n-out. Then we went and walked down to pier 39. We saw this pretty cool looking statue standing on a light pole all painted grey and he looked just like a statue. Even joel was like "that is not a real guy" but then the guy jumped out at us and we all screamed so loud! He was amazing!! We saw the Alcatraz prison and it looked pretty cool but it was from a distance. Around the corner was tons of sea lions just laying in the sun. They would roll all over each other and fall off the docks rolling over from there nap. They were cute but ugly at the same time! We ended the day by seeing the golden gate bridge and it was a massive bridge! The view was great but the pictures don't give it justice.  ~ Emma

Day 22

      

Today we drove Northwest to the Redwoods. We took another “scenic” route. Corey is not going to allow me to choose the routes anymore, ha! It was slow, up, up, and curvy… and then down… but it was beautiful, we saw an Eagle flying and land by the water, we drove on the coast for a while, and we finally made it to Redwoods RV in Crescent City, California. Corey actually let me drive the last hour today. We were both having anxiety with the curves and mountains. When we finally hit the coast it was a sigh of relief! I guess going on 6000 miles, I could drive 80. J I told him not to get any ideas for the drive back east. When we pulled into our site we were thrilled. This is actually the first time we have actually felt like we were camping. The weather is very cool (sweatshirts and socks are a must), we started a fire right away (with twigs because all the places were closed that sell firewood), we are surround by lots of trees, redwoods of course, and we put our lights on our camper! I could stay here for weeks, maybe forever! I had to run and get some hotdogs! We cooked hotdogs and dough boys over the fire and enjoyed the night! No AC needed here! Oh. And I caught up on some much needed laundry. 

California Friends

Another travel day. We are heading toward San Fransisco! I realized that we were driving through Turlock, California. A friend of mine lives there! Erin and I met at Word of Life. I flew out to visit her in Utah in 1995 or 96, not sure :). She sang at our wedding. We figured it has been about 16 years since we have seen each other! She and James along with their 4 children invited us for lunch! What fun to visit these sweet friends of ours! James made Tri Tip on the grill. Oh my word, it was so good. I guess this is a common cut of meat in the west. Any of you had it before? Erin also made broccoli, mashed potatoes and salad. We were excited to visit a "real" house and eat a home cooked meal! She topped it off with the best homemade brownies ever! We also got to catch a little bit of the Olympics! The kids were a little too comfortable on the couch but we had to keep going. Thank you Gehrkes!

We had a much needed relaxing evening at our campground. The kids were able to swim and enjoy their eno's for the first time since we began this journey of ours. We also played a round of our favorite game TRAINS! "Ticket to Ride" We all are looking forward to a fun day in San Fransisco!

Yosemite Day 2

Waterfalls are the keyword for today. I was determined to see some. We picked a hike on the Strenuous list. The thing about this park being so huge. Once we enter Yosemite, it is still an hour drive to the visitor center and the area we needed to be. We wanted to start this 7 mile hike early so we had to leave the camper at 6am. That was tough! But it felt great when we were heading to the car at 12:30 having accomplished this amazing hike as a family! This hike was called the Mist Trail. We were able to get fairly close to TWO amazing falls. Vernal Falls and then Nevada Falls. I love the sound of the rushing water over the falls! Obviously the hike up was the hardest. It was very steep. Guess who was in the lead? The little girl who says she is going to be a stunt girl or a rock climber! Scarlett! :) The trail was a nice loop so we did not have to go back down the way we came. This completed our time at Yosemite National Park! Faith and Scarlett earned another Jr. Ranger badge along with a couple of patches. Day 19. This trip is a dream. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be able to bring our children on a trip like this. Beyond Grateful.