We began our journey by meeting up with eight others {Ben's brothers, Kol and Josh, sister-in-laws, Agi and Stacia and their four kids, Maya & Christian and Caen & Lillian, respectively} in San Francisco. We rented a condo near Van Ness and Lombard Street and experienced Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park, China Town, the cable car, Lombard Street, Union Square and the Painted Ladies. We walked, ate, drank, laughed and walked some more.
On Wednesday we rented a 12-passenger van and headed south to Monterey & Carmel where we strolled Cannery Row in Monterey and ate a delicious lunch of fresh seafood including, clam chowder and Pacific Coast oysters and toured the amazing Monterey Bay Aquarium. We also spent a decent amount of time playing on the beach and climbing rocks to peek in the tide pools for sea life. We continued with a short drive to Carmel-by-the-Sea, which is by far the most quaint and cutest little town in the U.S. Walking around, you feel like you are in village in Epcot. I would definitely return to both towns and spend a full week shopping, dining and drinking wine, sans kiddos!
Thursday, we left our condo in San Fran and headed north to Sonoma to the Alexander Valley Lodge. On our way, we made side trips to Sausalito & Muir Woods for lunch and shopping then hiking among the redwoods.
In a previous post, you saw the place that we stayed at, the Alexander Valley Lodge. It was a little more rustic than the photos conveyed, but that's probably a good thing because we had a raucous time with 16 grown-folks and 10 pint-sized-folks. AVL was just outside the little town of Healdsburg, yet another quaint shopping, dining and wine-tasting mecca that I highly recommend anyone visit.
While at AVL we visited wineries, shopped and ate in Healdsburg, tasted more wine, hiked, more wine, and visited with our abundant family, all while drinking wine!!
We left the AVL and headed south to Bodega Bay with a slightly paired down crew. We whale watched and hiked along the cliffs. Then drove into town to buy some oysters that were as big as my hand! We carried them back to my brother-in-law, Steve's house, to grill up then proceeded back to SFO for our last night before boarding a 6 am flight eastbound.
It was a whirlwind trip, but we saw and experienced so much in our time out there! And best of all, we got the chance to catch up and spend quality time with family members that we hadn't seen in a long time.
Here are a few lessons that I learned along the way...
1. Skip the cable car in San Francisco. Unless you like being squeezed in next to sweaty, fat men, being barked at by cable car operators for not knowing what to do or if you are just a glutton for punishment. For everyone else, it's not worth the hassle and you'll be looking for the quickest way off of the car. One caveat, if you can be one of the people that can sit on an outward facing bench or hang off the side of the car and if it isn't 90 degrees that day, it may be worth it.
2. San Francisco will never be able to boast the nickname, "friendliest city". Maybe it's being in a big city, maybe it's because it isn't the South, but either way you cut it the people there aren't really that nice. Know that before you go and it won't come as a surprise.
3. When traveling with little ones, always have Cheerios and wipes on hand. Either can be a lifesaver in a pinch!
4. Don't visit Union Square after dark, unless you care to see bums peeing on the sidewalk with private parts out in plain view. And if you want to commit a crime, do it San Francisco, you won't find a cop anywhere in sight. At any rate, go during the day and save yourself and your kids any unnecessary trauma and future psycho-therapy.
5. San Francisco isn't a city for the faint of heart {literally}. Climb a few stadiums before you go to get in shape or rent car and climb the hills just for fun, not out of necessity. Do climb at least a few for the view {and to laugh at how out of shape you really are}...it's worth it when you get to the top!
6. Which also leads me to...pack lots of good walking shoes. Even the best shoes after one day of good walking will hurt or rub somewhere, so pack a variety of walking shoes to avoid painful puppies.
7. Do see Alcatraz and book your tour early. It sells out and don't be like me and wish you would have gone.
8. Don't trust weather forecasts. The weather changes overnight, so bring layers to San Francisco...everything from tank tops and shorts to coats and scarves. We were planning on 50s-60s and got 60s-90s – who knew?!?
9. If you happen to get to San Fran and it is 90, be prepared to sweat a lot. It is rare to find a place with A/C, but a mall is always a good bet. Or find the nearest basement restaurant or watering hole, it'll be the coldest place in the city.
10. Never miss an opportunity to taste wine. You may miss out on the best experience of the trip.
11. Always have a supply of bottled water, you never know when the water coming out of the faucet might be brown.
12. Take lots of pictures even if your husband complains...you'll be glad you did.
13. Do bring a backpack baby carrier or other means of toting a baby. There are plenty of places that a stroller just can't traverse.
14. When traveling or sight-seeing with small children, be prepared to be a pack mule. Between all of their stuff and their short little legs, you'll be carrying a lot of extra baggage.
14. Be prepared for everything or be prepared for nothing. If you come prepared with clothing, expect that you'll never use it (i.e. if you bring a raincoat you'll never use it, or the moment you don't have it, you'll wish you did).
15. If you travel with a large group, plan where you are going or what you will eat before you head out {and don't deviate from the plan}. You'll save yourself exorbitant amounts of wasted time and energy.
16. If you plan to eat out with a large group, call ahead to reserve seating or you may get laughed at by the staff.
17. Don't ever agree to get dropped off and meet up with the group later...you'll never find each other again. And for heaven's sake if you do, don't bring a cooler with you and drag it all over the place {or do, you may need the food and water in it}.
18. Abalone is rare and expensive, but it tastes a lot like calamari.
19. Pacific oysters get enormous, don't try to eat the big ones raw...you could choke yourself to death.
And drumroll please....
20. Have fun and be willing to laugh at any mishaps or stressful events along the way...there are sure to be some.
Enjoy the photos {or don't...other people's vacation photos are usually pretty boring anyways}.
Looks like a great trip with good memories to last a life time. I like lesson number 10 the best!
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