SF

So we went up to SF this weekend to hang out with mom and dad. We also met up with some extra night in a hotel, we got to go to Disneyland with friends on Friday night, we would have gotten their pretty late on Friday had we gone up then. By driving early in the morning the kids slept until we got there. I stopped once to get gas and they woke up just before we got to Dublin, just east of Oakland. We met up with the Fords, our friends from BYUH who now live about 30 minutes away. We set out from Perris about 3:45 in the morning for a couple of reasons. There were no potty breaks as everyone was sleeping, less traffic, kids wake up and we are there, not much to see between here and San Fran, and I can listen to the radio.

Our first stop on our trip was Walmart. Not that we are die hard Sam Walton fans but we had to pull over and change a diaper and get the kids dressed for the real world and not their mobile beds. After the parking lot pit stop it was back on the freeway that was not going to be that free much longer. We took the 680 and went north up to the Jelly Belly Factory. we finally found the place that I thought i knew where it was at and eventually had to ask directions. we had driven by on our way up for Christmas in Oregon and I thought that I knew where it was but obviously not. Cherisse was very patient with me through the whole back and forth in either direction.

This is where it all goes down for the kids, for makenzie this was like Graceland. It was not like the tour of the Tillamook cheese factory but what do you want. I would say cheese is somewhat healthy for the fact that is mentioned on the food pyramid. Besides the jelly beans that are flavored after some fruit I would say that they don't count. So we toured the factory with our hats, we all looked like we just got off our shift at In-n-Out and then headed over to see how they make beans and other sweet treats. The first jelly belly art work that you see when you walk in is Ronald Reagan. He helped put them on the map. They had a ton of flavors and so were nice and some not so nice. At the end of the tour they gave us 2 boxes each of some ant bully the movie. In their there were some flavors like grass and ants to name a few. They also had some Harry Potter ones that had some great flavors from bertie bott. Some others that cherisse tried but I did not were the sport beans ones that she said were not that good. they also had a sample stop where you could try anything that they had and I had a toasted garlic, cinnamon toast, buttered toast, 7up, kiwi, and pomegranate. some were good and some were not.

After the factory we grabbed some late breakfast and what should have been lunch and headed into the city via the Golden Gate Bridge. The rain continued and we made our way across the bay on a bridge north of the Golden Gate and over to the 101. Coming down the 101 we got off right before crossing and headed up the hill to where the gun turrets were. We got some great pictures of the bridge and the city from up there and the whole bay opened up at times. We were getting blocked out with the clouds and rain that would come and go. Some times we could see all the way to Oakland and when the clouds would roll over the hills that we were on it was tough to see the freight ships waiting to enter the bay.

Once we got done with our picture taking on the north side of the bridge we went over to the south side to meet up with Adrian and Jean. the rain really started coming down then and the idea of walking out on the bridge a little way got washed down the storm drain. a quick consensus of what we were going to do next and we then followed the lead of Rand McNally who knew his way around the Lombard's, Haight, and wharfs. first up was where the hippie movement got started. back to dad's old stomping grounds where he died his first tie died shirt and sold beaded necklaces to earn his first pair of Birkenstock's. not really, i think that was trying to hit jaywalkers, just kidding. so from there we went to those famous houses that are at the beginning of "Full House." the rain was down to a sprinkle then so it helped for pictures. down the curvy Lombard street and then over to fisherman's wharf for a cable car ride.

The cable car ride was something that i always look forward to doing when we go to SF. it has only been a couple of times since being married but it is unique.
part of the reason that we took this trip back to SF was for the simple fact that when it says on your camera to format the memory you should not do that unless you really wanna loose all of the pictures that you have left on that card. here i just want to mention that there are an insane number of tolls to pay just going over the bridges. i thought that for sure they were even going to ding us when we left over the bay bridge the next morning but that was the only time we cross and did not have to pay. four bucks here and another fiver there it all adds up.

Once we got back to the cars the fords went back to the hotel and dad and I went back downtown to rescue moms credit cards, and pick up mom and Cherisse. after getting checked into the hotel, dad and I ventured out on van Ness to find some food. there was no chicken nuggets or any sort of fast food. I think that dad had his heart set on buffalo stew but we settled on some hamburgers and salads for those waiting. the food tasted great and I was finally able to get more than 30 minutes of sleep.

the next morning we took a while to get up and going with the kids and we made our way out to grab some breakfast at Ihop on Lombard street. after finding parking we all ate are way through some omelets, pancakes, eggs, toast, bacon, sausage and that was just all that dad ate. not really we all found something we liked. from there dad and mom took off to grab some sourdough bread and head north on the five and we saw a few more things and then took off south on the five. it was a lot easier traveling in the early morning while the kids were sleeping as our trip home took a few more hours than the trip up. Sadly we saw a horrible accident that required a helicopter to land on the north bound side of the freeway to get those injured to the medical attention that they needed.