the Liebhardt's: Road Trip! {Part III}

After our stay in the Hyatt, we spent the majority of the next day in San Fransisco... doing the things that tourists do! ;o) We realized that Braeden had shed his jacket at the little park we had gone to the evening before, and then LEFT IT THERE, so we had to return to Cow Hollow! And then we went to the Golden Gate Bridge... on the other side! We walked around for quite some time, taking in all the scenery we could before moving on. Then we spent some time driving up and down the STEEP streets in the city! So funny! Our kids still hold up their hands and squeal like it's a roller coaster ride! :o)

Then we headed to Fisherman's Wharf for a while, wandered around there, and had lunch before we hiked up the streets to Hyde so we could purchase tickets and ride the CABLE CARS!! Worth the wait, I think... but then... I wasn't the one actually waiting in line! Damian waited in line while I took the kids down to the water (where they got soaked despite my telling them it wasn't a good idea right before we went for our cable car ride...) and then let them run around on the little grassy hill right there! I admired the giant Ghirardelli factory behind me and wished that I could go, but to be honest, I don't think that I could have even stuffed ONE chocolate in my tummy at that point! I was STUFFED... and gaining weight fast from eating such fun food for so long! Yikes!

As it turned out... the kids LOVED the cable cars, but we sat inside on the way back to where we started and they didn't think that was as fun as the outside. It was loud in there, and without much room to look around and enjoy the sights. Boo. A lesson well learned!

We left later than we expected, but had a great time there! So much to do... not enough time spent, but... oh, well! We headed from SF down the coast highway to Monterey Bay! We didn't get there until it was DARK... but when we pulled in to the Navy Lodge and got to our room, we found that it was much more our style than the Hyatt. Cozy, much more comfortable as far as roomy goes, a kitchenette, no valet or parking charges, friendly people, no millions of floors and elevators, just PERFECT for us! (Remember I am from a VERY small town, and though I love the cities... with 3 kids... I remember why I loved growing up in a simple place so much!! And the Navy Lodges turned out to be just what our family needed... rather than the expensive name and the commotion that comes with the bigger hotels... does that make sense??)

Seriously?? How did they EVER do this? Can you imagine the stuff required to hoist all of these... especially back then??

STILL covered by fog. BOO! But, it's magnificent to see anyway. And to have Damian with us... YAY!!!!!!! {I know that sounds silly, but for us it's such a TREAT! When you have a husband that works as much as mine does... it's always a celebration when he GETS to come with us!}

Um... Ella's face is almost as priceless as the background! Haha!

Lexi is getting much better at this, don't you think?? :o)

We found a little spot where NO ONE was and enjoyed our time there. There was even a picnic table and some room to run around. Most people are up at the store or on the trails down to the fort...

A morning look at Alcatraz! And to put it into perspective you can see the sailboat right in front of it... NOT the closest boat!

Look familiar?? Yep.. my rock, stick, leaf, etc. collector's are hard at work and looking for new things! These trees look a little different from the ones we're used to, so... they must FEEL different, too! Let's CHECK!

And now Braeden must check!

Damian looking into one of the bunkers at Fort Point. (The actual fort is at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, and we didn't make it all the way over there, but we were able to enjoy these!)

Through the tunnel to more bunkers.

Whoa! That's heavy!

That is one serious chain link!

It's true... we wasted coins in these! Haha!

Lexi was really the only one who got it to work properly for her eyes! It's hard to tell little ones how to use these and be able to actually see out of them!

Yay for people who can take amazing pictures of EVERYONE smiling!! We traded favors!

Walking out onto the bridge... this didn't last for long because they kept looking over the edge... and I couldn't handle it. I can't breathe when they do that... even at the mall, let alone on this bridge! Eeek!

Lombard St. This is a crappy picture, but you can see the front of our car winding its way down the zig-zag to the bottom!

This is a look from the bottom. CRAZY! (And I didn't have a picture of it like this, so I had to steal this off the internet!!)

This is how it looks in the afternoon from the wharf. It had cleared off and it's actually not that far away.

Behind us you can see the top of the Transamerica Pyramid. It was the tallest building on the West Coast until 1974. {In other words... its reign as such only lasted 2 short years. It was built in 1972.}

We found so many nice people to take our camera and capture a FAMILY moment for us! Here we are at Fishermen's Grotto waiting for our yummy lunch! Behind us through the window are a whole BUNCH of fishing boats docked right there!

3 of us had fish!

And the other 2 had pasta! Of course! But I bet you can't guess which other had the pasta...

...not ME! Damian actually doesn't like fish very much. So he opted for a pasta dish with Ella! :o)

Eeek!

Um... really strange, really SPARKLY man.

We love the beach! The kids just couldn't resist!

Getting in the water despite my warnings that they would be wet for the ride through town on the cable cars. And... despite the fact that we rolled up their pants so they KNEW how far their feet could go in... they were WET. Especially Braeden. Hmmm...