California take two

The kids' first trip to California was in 2018. Paul's parents joined us for that trip to San Diego. That was also when we began getting our National Park passports stamped and started earning Junior Ranger badges. I think the farthest north we made it on that trip was Disneyland. On this trip we entered the state at the northwest part when we crossed the border with Oregon. We spent the first day in the Redwoods. We saw some sea lions at the harbor near our hotel in Cresent City, and then we did a hike to see some of the trees. After that we drove farther south and went higher up in the trees at Trees of Mystery through walking on nets and riding a skyride. We also drove the SUV through one tree. After driving on a scenic road through another section of the National Park, the kids turned in their Junior Ranger booklets and received their badges. We did another small hike in that part of the park before we started driving toward Redding, California. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park

The next morning, we explored Lassen Volcanic National Park for a couple of hours before we drove to Reno. After spending three days in Nevada, we drove back to California as the final portion of our vacation was in San Francisco. On our way into the city, we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory for a tour and also had dinner at Panera Bread. My cousin, Brent, had warned us that it has become a prevalent problem for people to break into vehicles to steal things in San Francisco. When we noticed the surroundings of the Rodeway Inn, we were even more nervous. I had chosen the hotel because our room had three beds (one king and two queens) and was a reasonable price. Although I had paid for two nights at the hotel, we only ended up staying one night. We did however leave our belongings in our room there until about 7pm since we saw many signs around the city saying not to leave anything in a parked vehicle. Evidently, they don't prosecute people who break into vehicles. Never in my life have I paid for lodging for the five of us at two different hotels on the same night. Hopefully it will be the only time I do that! We viewed that as better than dealing with our belongings being stolen or the rental car windows being smashed. 

On our first full day in San Francisco, we started our morning by watching our church's 10:45 service online. Then we drove to the Oakland Zoo. We would have driven less if we could have gone there on Monday as planned, but it turned out the Zoo was closed on September 11 for maintenance. Part of the zoo was closed on the day we went, but we still were able to walk through most of the zoo. After we came back into the city, we parked our vehicle in a garage near Pier 39. We visited the San Francisco Maritime National Park (one more Junior Ranger badge for the kids), saw more sea lions, shared one chocolate milkshake from Ghirardelli Square, explored the Exploratorium (great science museum that we got into for free with our ASTC membership), and had pizza at a restaurant at Pier 39. After we got our vehicle, we picked up our luggage from the hotel we weren't fond of and then drove to where we had planned to spend the following night. The hotel we switched to was MUCH nicer although Nadia only had a sofa bed. She actually just slept on the couch. This was one VERY spacious though with a full kitchen and living room so we actually had room to blow up our air mattress for Ian so that he and Oliver didn't have to share a queen size bed. We got some ice cream at Safeway for our dessert. The kids opted not to swim in the heated pool or sit in the jacuzzi the first night we were here, but the boys did make use of them the second night. Neither hotel offered a free breakfast. The first morning in the city we ate donuts and bagels that we brought from Reno. The second morning I made a run to McDonald's for some egg McMuffins. 

On our second full day in San Francisco, we started the day at Fort Point which is very close to the Golden Gate Bridge. The previous two days we hadn't been able to see much of the bridge due to smoke from fires in northern California. Thankfully on Monday the smoke had cleared. We had gorgeous views! The weather has truly been amazing for our entire trip. The temperature was quite different today. If you travel 30 miles the temperature can be up to 50 degrees different according to the park ranger! It wasn't that big of a difference on Monday, but it was much hotter as we traveled east. The kids earned a second Junior Ranger badge at the Presidio (for the Golden Gate Bridge's 50th anniversary), a third at Rosie the Riveter, and a fourth at John Muir's home. John Muir is considered to be the father of the National Park Service. We had dinner at Golden Corral before the boys went to the pool at our hotel. 

On our last full day of the vacation, we started our morning at Muir Woods. Parking reservations are required. I had paid $9 that allowed us to enter between 8:00-8:30. This national park features redwood trees. When we were in Redwoods National Park, we were allowed to walk off the trail. At this park the trail is smoother and there are fences to keep you on the trail. Also, many of the trails were closed due to a construction project involving the stream. All that to say, of the two parks we visited that featured tall trees, we liked Redwoods better. More people come to this one due to its proximity to San Francisco. The kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. Due to all of the signs warning us not to leave any belongings in a parked vehicle, we left our luggage at the hotel that morning since we could visit Muir Woods before the check-out time. Our next stop was Marin Headlands. I had printed out the Junior Ranger booklets at the hotel that morning because no park rangers are there on Tuesdays. We drove around the park and stopped at various locations. It would have been nice to walk to the lighthouse and the Nike missile site, but those two can only be visited when a park ranger is there. When we walked toward the lighthouse, we saw some harbor seals which was exciting as the other times we only saw sea lions. It was very foggy when we were driving to Muir Woods. The fog continued to lift and we were able to see the Golden Gate Bridge from a different side at Marin Headlands. Of the four days we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, the day it was the clearest was definitely on Monday. I am so thankful we had one very clear day when neither fog or smoke impaired our view. 

Our third stop was the California Academy of Sciences. Paul didn't end up using his ticket. Instead, he drove over an hour round trip to deposit our luggage at the airport we stayed in near the airport on the last night of our trip. The reason we did this was to protect our vehicle from being broken into while we were at Alcatraz. Although we've had a good visit, I really doubt I'll ever want to return to the city given the fact that they don't prosecute things like breaking into vehicles. Paul had trouble checking in because the reservation was in my name. I couldn't assist Paul while the kids and I were watching a planetarium show about coral reefs, but after that show ended, I contacted Priceline, and they were able to add his name so Paul could deposit our luggage in the room. Our ASTC membership wasn't any help at the California Academy of Sciences. It wasn't really what I would call a science museum. It was a planetarium, aquarium, and natural history museum. The rainforest area that usually features a variety of birds and butterflies was closed due to renovations. We enjoyed seeing some dinosaur fossils, gems and minerals, fish, penguins, etc. The planetarium was featuring three different shows. The one that worked best for us schedule wise was also best for Nadia since she's studying marine biology this year. 

After Paul picked us up from the California Academy of Sciences, we attempted to find parking near where the cruises to Alcatraz left. I made the same mistake I have made in the past. I didn't make a specific plan for parking. I knew of one garage where it was only $10 after 4pm. I had a coupon code for another lot, but we ended up back where we had parked two days earlier. The difference was that the previous time I had prepaid for our parking which was $25 for the day. This time we paid $10 per hour, which came to $40. Ouch. Hopefully I've learned my lesson and won't make this mistake again. We had dinner at the same pizza place where we ate on Sunday. The pizza wasn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but it was tasty and still probably the cheapest option for buying dinner for five people at Pier 39. Our last activity for the vacation was visiting Alcatraz. I chose an evening tour. They cost a bit more as they offer some additional things on that tour than they do on the daytime tours. We didn't really take advantage of those extra activities, but I did it because very little is open in the evenings. I had originally planned for us to tour Alcatraz on Saturday evening. but on Friday I discovered I had never actually purchased the tickets (oops!), and they were all sold out. Thankfully, that Friday night while I was in Reno, I was able to buy tickets for Tuesday night. Whew. Honestly, our dinner and tour of Jelly Belly would have been very rushed if we had gone on Saturday night. I think it all worked out for the best. 

During our time here on the west coast, we drove the SUV a total of 2,390 miles. The next time we plan to rent a vehicle is in February in Florida. We plan to get a minivan that time, and I know we won't drive anywhere near as many miles on that trip as we'll only be in southern Florida not driving through four different states. This morning we had breakfast at the hotel (a rare treat on this trip). Nadia slept on the air mattress last night. We aired on the side of caution and arrived at the airport much earlier than we actually needed to. Paul dropped us off and returned the SUV while the kids and I checked our three suitcases and went through TSA. I'm thankful that because I'm traveling with kids, we didn't have to go through the newer kind of screening. I like the older type of metal detectors better than the newer ones that seem like you're being x-rayed. Speaking of technology, when I was driving to our hotel last night, I encountered vehicles beside me that were self-driving (no humans in the front seats). It's strange to think that at some point in the future those might become the norm. How will we board an airplane if driver's licenses become obsolete? We had a great trip, and we're all ready to go home. We miss Milo for one thing! I'm going to pick him up tomorrow morning bright and early even though that will be a challenge given our adjustment to the three-hour time change.