Month: August 2014

The last of our planned adventures for the day was to visit Muir Woods. I was impressed with how close it was to the city, yet when we went up in the mountain it was quiet and felt like the rest of the world was far away. The drive up and down the mountain was still quite nerve racking though. The road was narrow and very curvy and I totally expected a tire to go off the edge with every turn. The parking lot was full and we had to drive a ways to find a bit of road that had enough of a pull off that was big enough to park in, and hope there was a space because apparently lots of people wanted to be at Muir Woods today. 🙂

We asked at the ranger station about a junior ranger program and they gave us some booklets for the kids to work in while we walked around. Not too far into the woods we came to a huge cross section of a tree.

The kids were impressed with the massive size of some of the trees.

I had noticed this tree laying on it’s side. Apparently it fell over, but it’s roots were able to keep it alive, and now the branches are growing straight up with smaller branches growing out like they are totally separate trees. I found it very interesting.

The perspective of just how big these trees are compared to us:

At one point Dinah decided to give the tree a hug.

So Chloe wanted to hug a tree too.

A couple of the kids found some roots sticking out of the hill and thought they would make the perfect chair.

One of the kids called this the “rainbow tree”:

We saw several trees that were hollow, this one happened to be along the patch and therefore, got explored.

As it was getting later and some of the kids were getting grumpy, we decided it was time to head back and find something for dinner. Liesl offered to run ahead and get the van and meet us in the parking lot, while we made our way to the gift shop and bathrooms. The gift shop ended up being closed by the time we got there, so we just made the kids use the bathrooms. While we were waiting for everyone to be done, some of the kids were attracted to these bear statues.

When everyone was gathered back up, we met up with Liesl and got loaded up in the van. As we headed down the mountain a fog began to settle too. We were just hoping to make it down the mountain before the fog got so thick that it would be difficult to see. Thankfully we did make it down, and the fog didn’t go all the way down the mountain.  Then we had to drive back through San Fransisco. Kyle was using his phone’s gps to guide us back to the freeway that we needed, but it’s wasn’t a very good route. It took us right through a whole bunch of hills. Between every intersection we were either going up a hill or down a hill. I really don’t like driving on those hills, and I was totally grabbing the arm of my chair and the handle on the door in anxiety the whole time. Kyle then made the comment that we just stay on this road for another 15 or so intersections (I don’t remember the exact number, but it was enough that I was NOT pleased with the thought of having that many more hills to deal with). I replied in a very unhappy tone “Are you kidding?” Liesl thought that was totally funny, but having to go down these hills in a large vehicle like ours, when our brakes were being funny was just NOT fun! We got on the freeway and we had to head back toward the Oakland Temple since we left Liesl’s car there. Since we were originally planning on starting our journey back home at some point today she drove separately to the temple, then to avoid paying two tolls on every bridge she came in the van with us. But we weren’t able to pickup Liesl’s car. She left it in the temple parking lot, but it was now quite late, and the parking lot gates were closed and locked! We had a good laugh over this. It was funny, just because it added to our adventure. Liesl was saying that Ian won’t be happy about going to pick it up tomorrow though. We went to McDonalds to get some food, and then it was so late that we decided to just spend the night at Liesl’s and leave first thing in the morning. 🙂

Our next destination of the day was the Golden Gate Bridge, better known to the kids as the bridge that George of the Jungle jumps from to save the guy. 😉

It was was rather cold and quite windy when we got out of the van. So we didn’t stay very long, but we walked around a bit and got some pictures.

After the temple we had a mini-adventure trying to find someplace to buy a new SD card for my camera. We finally came across an Office Max and Kyle took a few of the kids in to buy a card for my camera and to make a quick potty stop. We also used this stop as an opportunity to feed everyone some lunch. Then we were back on our real adventure.

I tried to take a picture of San Fransisco while we were driving across the Bay Bridge. Every one of my pictures, has the bridge cables in it.

Liesl wanted to take us to see Lombard street, so that is where we headed. When we got there, Kyle wanted a picture of all the people standing in the road taking pictures. 😉

I remember these super steep roads from when my family visited San Fransisco years ago. We were in the motorhome and it was terrifying to drive through town, feeling like the motorhome was standing up on it’s nose as we went downhill. It felt just about the same driving through town this time, even though we were only in a 12 passenger van. It was totally awkward to park so we could get out and walk down Lombard street. Liesl parked, and it felt like the van was going to fall over. As Dinah unbuckled her booster seat it did lean over. Then when she got out of the van, she still felt like she needed to hang on.

Here we are at the bottom of Lombard St.

Standing ON Lombard St.

Here is a view of the city from the top of the street.

We also had a nice view of Alcatraz Island, and a pretty neat looking boat.

We are having so much fun!

And here is our view as go drive downhill in the van.

This morning Kyle and I made a run to Trader Joes to get some snacks, and things for our road trip home. We have pretty much eaten up most of everything we brought along! While we were gone, Liesl curled Tyra’s hair.

When we got back to Liesl’s place we got our stuff cleaned up and loaded into the van, since we were hoping to start the trek back home after seeing some of the sights. Kyle and a couple of the girls helped to deflate the air mattress.

Then we headed to the Oakland Temple.

The first thing we came to on the grounds was the fountain, and no surprise, all of the kids were attracted to it.

We weren’t at the temple long before I realized that the SD card for my camera was almost full. There just was not going to be enough room for a full day of adventures worth of pictures. 🙁 So I had to stop taking pictures and let Liesl take them for me.

Kyle pointed out that Liesl had got a picture of Ethan, so Ethan responded by spitting out his tongue. What he didn’t realize was that Liesl was getting him again!

As we were walking back to go to the van, I noticed that this rose tree is shaped like a heart from one angle. How cool is that?

That was our visit to the Oakland temple. Next stop…somewhere we can buy another SD card for my camera! 😉