Goodbye Monterey, Hello San Fransisco!

Friday was our last full day in Monterey, so we made the most of it. We slept in, and then went to a wonderful restaurant by the bay called New Beginnings; what a scrumptous breakfast! The pancakes were a foot in diamter, I ordered a stuffed breakfast burrito that was almost a foot long - and no, I didn't eat it all! The coffee was tasty as well. We then waddled over to Cannery Row, the kids really wanted to do the "penny mutilation" thing. While E.L.I and Eva ruined their pennies the mom's did some shopping. After awhile the guys and Lydia went back to the vans to hang out while the mom's and E/E finished up.

During naptime I headed out to a quaint and stuffy old bookstore tucked away in a small side street. I had some books I was looking for, but I was hoping to be surprised by what I found. Maybe I'd find a good philosophy or theology book, maybe a good history or biography. I ended up with two novels and a biography. I found a 1930's copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, a 1951 James Michner Return to Paradise, and a 1960's copy of Dag Hammershkilglehlged's biography. Fun. Then back to the hotel to swim with the kids - it was sunny and beautiful outside. Once we got dried off and cleaned up we went out to eat at Bubba Gumps. This was the third time Jerm and Maria had eaten there, but they didn't mind. I was a bit skeptical of the place, but they didn't disaapoint. It was a fun atmosphere, we sat outside on a deck overlooking the bay, a great tasting meal and good music - surrounded by my family...ahhh. We had to waddle out of this restaurant as well, over to Starbucks for a drink and a fudge shop for ice cream...I tried the fudge and I was very disappointed. But Emma's cottencandy ice cream wasn't bad.

So now all we had to do was drive to the local Wells Fargo bank for Tara to transfer some money, and we could get the kids in bed and have a few hours to ourself. All I had to do was get to the bank. I knew right where the bank was. We had gone by it a few days earlier. I took us down a street that was supposed to take us right to where the bank is supposed to be. But the street didn't take me there, and we missed the turn off, and next I know we are stuck in the middle of nowwhere, with nowwhere to tun off. Needless to say, S&F and Tara were very annoyed with me. But then they got even more annoyed when I didn't listen to their directions on how to get back to where we came from. I just kept driving, and we ended up along the bay under a fullmoon - a pretty view of the dark ocean. So we slowly wound our way up the bay to Monterey, and Faye got us to the bank forty-five minutes later. We were laughing about it after Tara transfered the money.

Saturday (yesterday) was our last morning in Monterey, the agenda was to leave at a reasonable time so we'd have some fun time in San Fransisco. Well, the kids slept in till after 9am, and then by the time we got them up and ready to go, as well as he van packed and ready to go, it was after 10am.
By the time we were all checked out of the hotel it was 10:30, and then we had to head down to Cannery Row - Tara needed to exchange a t-shirt and I needed Starbucks. So it was after 11 till we headed out of Monterey. The scenic drive to San Fransisco was beautiful; sandy hills and dry rolling fields; forest studded mini-mountains and lots of ocean.

We were impresssed with San Fransisco, once we entered the city proper we were delighted by all the multi-colored homes stacked on the steep streets, everywhere we looked. Exiting on King Street we drove by the Giants Stadium and then crawled for forty minutes to Fisherman's Wharf. Eli was screaming for too long, so Tara jumped in the back to feed him the rest of the way. Good idea. People were everywhere, we found a place to park by wharf 45, and then slowly weaved our way to the main area - there were people everywhere. Three strollers can make an imposing line, but we kept getting cut off. Finally we made it to No. 9 Fisherman's Grotto for a tasty dinner, overlooking the bay, the yachtes, the Golden Gate bridge.

With full bellies we walked around for a bit, finally ending up on a wharf dock to gaze upon an authentic WW2 Submarine and a Merchant Marine ship. Neat. Never seen one up close like that, very imposing. Levi and Isaac thought they were cool. But now we decided it was time to find the park at the base of the bridge; we'd let the kids get out and play while we took some neat pics of the city. But we never really found the park, though we had fun driving through the Presidio and seeing some neat streets. Finally we crossed the famous Golden Gate, we all decided it'd be more fun to walk it next time. And now it was off to Fairfield for our next night of blissful sleep.