Tuesday- Alcatraz, In and Out, Legion of Honor, De Young, Lemongrass Birthday dinner
This was really our only somewhat structured day. We bought our tickets to ride the ferry to Alcatraz Island. I didn’t really know that much about Alcatraz before we went but I certainly learn a lot while I was there! For those of you like me, Alcatraz is the island where they sent all of the prisoners to stay who were the most wanted murders and deadliest villains. Prisoners are no longer kept there and now it is a museum with beautiful gardens and home to many types of birds. With our ticket we got to have an awesome audio tour which told actual accounts and interviews with some of the prisoners such as the “Birdman” and some of the men who worked here.
This was the first view for the prisoner and the walk of shame as they entered Alcatraz. They walked down what was called Broadway to be laughed at and sheered at by the other prisoner.
The cells were very small and the bars were very thick!
The view of San Francisco from Alcatraz was beautiful. It was hard for the prisoners to see this sight everyday but not ever be able to reach it. They said that they could even heard the New Years parties going on when the wind would blow the sound in the right direction.
Here’s a view of the Golden Gate bridge from the island.
Here’s is a picture of John and I being nerdy with out audio tour head phones on. :)
Besides visiting the prison the island has also attracted visitors because of the gardens. They have made beautiful garden beds where the houses used to be that were the homes for the wives and children of the men who worked at Alcatraz. It was crazy to learn that some children grew up on Alcatraz where all of these prisoners were kept. Yikes!
And finally this is what the island looks like from afar.
After we took the ferry back to the main land we decided to get lunch and what a better lunch in California than In-N-Out burgers. I don’t have it that often, but it’s kind of a must when you visit the west coast. The burgers are pretty darn tasty and about as good for you as fast food can get.
On our way to In-N-Out we stopped at Pier 39 which has great shops and its own atmosphere. We got to see the sea lions basking in the sun on the docks. There weren’t as many this day as there usually are but it was still fun to see them just chill’n there all big and lazy. :)
Since it was the first Tuesday of the month a bunch of the museums were frees o we planned to hit as many as we could. Our first stop was the Legion of Honor. This was a smart art museum that had a variety of art work from multiple periods. I had fun seeking out some of my favorites that I could remember from my art history class. We didn’t spend too much time here but got a few funny shots outside in the court yard.
This is John posing pensively next to the Thinker done by Auguste Rodin.
This is me peeking out from around the pillars.
This is John showing off how strong he is. :)
Once we had seen enough art we thought we’d see some more at the De Young museum. The De Young had a few more contemporary pieces that were interesting to see and then we went up to the top of the building. From what we read the few of Golden Gate Park is just spectacular so we didn’t want to miss that. Thankfully we found the entrance just in time to be one of the last ones up the elevator before they closed it for the day. It was pretty sweet even though we really only got to stay up there for not even five minutes.
This is John walking around the glass room checking out the view.
This is the Academy of Sciences building. We were 8 stories high! It was so cool to look out at the city!
For dinner this night I took John out for his birthday. I made him have to figure out which restaurant we were going to by putting together a puzzle. It was called Lemongrass which was a recommendation by my roommates sister. It was this small Thai restaurant in the Nob Hill district. It was really cute and excellent food! There couldn’t have been a better place to go!
Wednesday- Lost second muni pass, Chinatown, Palace of Fine Arts, Exploratorium, Frozen Yogurt along Union Street Shops, Presidio, Golden Gate Bridge at sunset, walk along Crissy Field and Fort Point, late night sushi
This day didn’t start out on the right foot because I woke up and found out that I had lost my muni pass. Gees! We were doing really great. We had both managed to loose our muni passes in less than a week. Pretty comical if you ask me? So we walked to the internet and to the information center to purchase our fourth muni pass for the week!
This was also our last day in San Fran so we tried to hit all of the must sees that we hadn’t gotten too yet. We walked around Chinatown for a little shopping and fun pictures. :)
Here is the main street in Chinatown with all sorts of shops and restaurants.
This is John in his new summer hat. Doesn’t quite fit. :)
This is me trying a summer hat. Mine doesn’t fit either.
John tries a Chinese hair style. What do you think?
Ah! Finally some shade from the bright sun! :)
Once we had concurred Chinatown we headed to the Palace of Fine Arts. Here they had a beautiful park which you can see in the photo below. Behind this building is the Exploratorium. Since it was the first Wednesday the admission was free so we wanted to be sure to check it out. It was basically like the science museum in Minnesota but it had a lot more of the interactive and hands on activities. It covered all aspects of science like wind, sound, light, etc. It was really fun! There were a bunch of kids there with their parents since it was spring break and all but it was fun to watch them explore and figure the exhibits out.
This is the Palace of Fine Arts.
This is John and I playing around in the mirrors exhibit. It was a little creepy to see yourself from so many angles. :)
After playing in the museum until they kicked us out we then made our way to finally see the Golden Gate Bridge. This was basically our last day in San Fran and we were just now going to see the bridge that makes it so famous. :) I guess we just thought it was always going to be there so what was the rush? We planned to see the bridge around sunset and so we had a little time to kill before we needed to go over to the bridge so we walked around to find a bite to eat. We topped and got some frozen yogurt which is one of the greatest California sweet treats! I’ve only seen these kinds of yogurt shops in California and they are all over! It’s always self serve and there are always crazy flavors PLUS you can on all sorts of different toppings! The possibilities are endless!
The Golden Gate Bridge! Finally!
We started walking across the bridge and ran into a bunch of runners. Wouldn’t that be something to have your daily jog be across the Golden Gate?
This picture is the reason why we went to the bridge at sunset. Picture perfect! I would highly recommend it!
John and I at the bridge.
Walking along the Presidio and Crissy Field, which had this really nice path were a bunch of people come to walk there dogs and such since no one really has backyards.
Once the sun went down I got really cold and this is what happens to my hands. They basically turn purple and other funky colors. John thought it was pretty funny and wanted to take a picture. :)
This is such a gorgeous picture! Good job John!
Walking back to the bus we went by the Palace of Fine Arts again. This time it was all lit up and John got this great shot.
Thursday- Check out, wait at Amtrak Station listening to the Oakland game, arrive in Davis, Walk around tour with Matt, get yogurt and see the Davis campus, dinner at Oz – Korean BBQ, play 500 over some beers
John and I checked out in the morning and then headed out to the Amtrak Station. We were going to take the Amtrak to Davis to meet our friend Matt. We couldn’t purchase tickets ahead of time so that made us worried about actually getting there, but it all worked out. The Amtrak station was just outside the Oakland stadium so we got to listen to the game while we waited for the train.
Once we pulled into Davis we called Matt to pick us up and he of course gave us a walking tour of Davis. Matt is our mutual friend from college. He is studying as grad student at the University of Davis. When he gave us the tour he walked us around his campus and down the main street. It was really cool to finally see all the bikes everywhere. The town of Davis is known for biking. There are bike paths and bike racks everywhere! Pedestrians always have the right of way in Davis. I which Minneapolis could do that much biking but I guess the freezing cold winters don’t really encourage people to bike all year. Matt took us to his favorite place in town, the frozen yogurt shop. It is definitely the place to go in town because there were a ton of people there. It was great as usual. :) Yum!
After our tour we went back to Matt’s house and met his roommates. He lives in a house with two other grad students. We hung out there for a little bit before going to dinner. Matt wanted to take us to this Korean BBQ place called Oz. He and his roommates go there often when they want to eat a lot and man was there a lot of food! It is an all you can eat place where they just bring out all these different kinds of marinaded meats that you put on the grill at the center of the table. Matt and his roommate did most of the grilling. They were masters at it and of course wanted to make sure to cover the most surface area so that more meat could be cooking at once. It was really fun and crazy to see how much meat those guys could eat!
Davis doesn’t really have much for night life so we decided to grab some beers and play cards with his roommates after dinner. Matt loves cards and is really good so this was going to be fun. We taught his roommates how to play 500. It was a great night and fun to hangout and get to know his roommates.
Friday- drive to Napa in Matt’s Mazda Miata, Bothe hiking trail, St. Helena main street , winery tour Sutter Home, grill out at Matt’s , hamburgers on the grill Yum! Play cards Big 2, guitar hero, and watch a movie
In the morning Matt helped us with tips and directions to Napa Valley. He recommended some hikes and great wineries to check out. We got to take Matt’s car which was really nice and really fun to drive! He has a Mazda Miata convertible and I was so glad I knew how to drive stick! (Thanks Blue Beauty!) We drove the highway 128 which was beautiful and scenic! While I was driving John took a nap. He got pretty sick sometime after dinner and just didn’t feel well. Poor John always gets sick whenever he comes to see me. :) I blame it on the kids I work with. They bring up all these illnesses every week!
Look John was a wake to take one picture. :)
Our first stop was in Bothe. Matt recommended this beautiful hiking trail which was inside of this camp ground. It was amazing! Everything was SO green! I loved it! We had out picnic lunch there and then started the hike. Check out the pictures below they really show the trail better than I can tell it.
This is John looking extra happy on this cool log that was over the creek.
This is my favorite picture! It was so green along the trail! I felt like we were in an oasis or something!
The water in the creek was really interesting. The color was this murky gray which in this picture just looks like the camera is funny but it’s actually the color of the water. I’m not sure if it was water coming from snow on a mountain near by?
This is was my proud moment on the hike. If you look close enough at this picture you should be able to see a black lizard and a coiled up snake. Yes, a snake and I didn’t freak out! :) Did you find them?
If you couldn’t find them in this next photo I’ve helped you out by blowing it up and circling them for you. :)
This is me doing a silly yoga pose on another cool tree. I felt like Dirty Dancing. :)
I took this picture because John was joking that he was going to fall. I told him that he was just going to scare his mother so this one is for you Kathy. :)
Our second stop was to tour St. Helena which is this tiny town within Napa. The main street was really cute and hand little shops to look around in. My favorite was the olive oil shops. They had great olive oils of so many different varieties and they also had lavender! OH! I love lavender! I wished I could have bought something but since neither of us checked a bag there was no way we could take it home. Stupid 3 oz fluid rule!
After we did enough browsing we went to our first and last winery. Matt recommended going to Sutter Home which is a well known winery that we would be able to recognized and brag about when we got back home. It was fun and totally different than the wineries that I went to in France. John and I did the tasting and the woman who helped us was every understanding that neither John nor I knew all that much about wines. I can tell you ones I like but I can’t describe the “nose” or the flavors that’s for sure. :) It was still fun and we ended up buying a bottle to give to Matt as a thank you for being such a great host.
We couldn’t go any other wineries because they were all closed by the time we were done. Bummer. So we headed back to Davis and picked up some groceries to grill out at Matt’s. Yum! Hamburgers on the grill! They were delicious! Then we just had a low key night after that. His roommate taught us a new card game called the Big 2 which is kind of like PA. After that we played Guitar Hero and watched a movie. It was nice.
Saturday-Farmer’s Market, Crepéville, drove to Sacramento, got lost, Olive Garden for dinner with the family, settle in and go to bed
Saturday morning we went to the Farmer’s Market in Davis. It was wonderful! I loved it! It was so big and I couldn’t believe that it is always that big! Wow! They had so many things! John, Matt, and I then grabbed brunch at this awesome crepé place called Crepéville. Yum! I loved it!
Then it was time to head to Sacramento. We had plans to meet John’s great aunt and uncle for dinner. We got a little lost but finally pulled into there house to meet them. They’re names are Jack and Terry. Because we were late we didn’t have time for drinks and instead just got into their car and headed straight for the restaurant. We went to the Olive Garden where we meet the rest of the family! It was great so many of them could make it! The whole group totaled 11! :) We meet Jack and Terry’s kids, Julie who’s married to Don, and John who’s married to Suzie. Plus all of the grand kids which were Donovan, Shawn, Katie, and Adam! Oofta! That’s a lot of names to learn! Good thing I get practice at my job. :)
Dinner was great! John and I sat across from Julie and Don which was nice because Julie just had so many stories to share about John’s grandma. It was fun to learn about the things that made her so special. When ever Julie made a family connection or reference I didn’t get I knew I could always look over at Don and know that he didn’t know who they were talking about either. :) It was fun swapping stories and catching. I had a great time! Afterward we went back stayed the night at Jack and Terry’s house which was really nice of them.
Sunday- breakfast and Mass, drive to Granite Bay to visit Julie, Don, and Donovan’s place, 10 acres, lot of animals! lunch and then headed out to beat the rain, back to San Fran
In the morning we got up and went to mass with Jack and Terry and then drove to Granite Bay. This is where Julie and Don live. The night before they had told us so much about there place that we just had to check it out. They live on 10 acres and it was just beautiful! Julie loves animals which is why they need so much land. They have Frisian horses, swans, Wood ducks, geese, Kookaburras , mallards, whistle ducks, French roosters, cranes, Troy the dog with arthritis, and a cat with cancer of the ear so Don operated on him since he’s a plastic surgeon(poor kitty). Just to name a few! :) It was awesome! Their son Donavan gave us the grand tour and told us all about all of the animals. It was so fun! We even got to see them feed the Kookaburras who eat frozen mice which they thaw and feed them. They call them “micicles.” Hehe. Don showed us his collection of Japanese maple trees. They were really pretty!
After the tour we had lunch and then drove back to Davis. It was supposed to rain all afternoon so we wanted to get out before it got bad. Matt drove us to the Amtrak station and we made our way back to San Francisco. We stayed in a hotel close to the airport and had a nice dinner there. We got up the next morning to got to the airport and then had to say good bye. :) It was an amazing week and we had some great adventures. We saw a ton and did a lot! Now it’s just waiting until May 30th and then we’ll get to see each other again! :)
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