Road Trip Part #2 - San Fransisco

For the next few blog posts, I hope to turn it into a travel blog.

 Because of airplane points, our family had the opportunity to fly to California during the two week long spring break. Adam spent many months researching for this trip but at times it was hard to find information on what would work best for this type of a road trip - tourist reviews weren't written with numerous children in mind. So here we go: Reviews from a family of seven - almost all of them being the male gender.

The plan was to spend a day touring San Francisco and then rent an RV for the remainder of the trip, travelling across five states and ending in Colorado. 

We were able to see the most beautiful parts of God's creation during this trip but we also had some  real "lows." Our trip to San Francisco started with a "low."

After travelling through airports and boarding planes for most of the day we landed in San Francisco late in the evening. We got onto a  subway (this sounds so easy but think counting kids, luggage, carseat, stroller, empty stomachs, and train doors that shut real quickly, possibly separating a child from the rest of his family).

The train let us off fairly close to our hotel but unfortunately we still had to cover many blocks before we arrived at the hotel. We ended up walking, late in the evening, on some of the most horrendous streets of San Francisco. I was certain crime was lurking around every corner as we stepped over filth and garbage. We were exhausted when we finally reached our hotel after trudging uphill (most of the way) with our luggage and five weary children, but not tired enough to notice the rats and garbage littered around the hotel. The area smelled dirty and it was loud compared what we were used to. Culture shock for myself and the boys hit.

All night long we heard police sirens and noise outside of our room. When morning finally arrived, Caleb reported, "bad dreams daddy, bad dreams!"

We were thankful when it was time to start touring San Fransisco.

 

We started our day with walking through China town. There were cool nic naks for the boys to see but it still felt like it was dirty there.

We found this amazing park in the middle of the downtown area. The boys who had a hard time walking through out the morning, suddenly had a burst of energy.

As we made our way up a huge, steep hill we came to the world's curviest road, ......

The boys gathered at the bottom of the road while I took a picture from across the street. To my surprise, a Chinese lady came, dumped her camera in Adam's hand and motioned for him to take a picture as she stood with her arms around the boys. And then the next lady came and another lady. I was gasping for air from laughing so hard.

Lombard street

Cars parked along the sides of road look lopsided, as if they are about to topple over.

The first feel of the Pacific Ocean while admiring the Golden Gate Bridge.

We ate our lunch on the famous Pier 39 while the dozens of sea lions entertained us.

Alcatraz!!!

A fascinating audio tour led us through the jail cells in Alcatraz.

We learned about the conception of the prison, life for the inmates, prison riots, and the escapees.

Somehow I pictured sharks with their sharp, razor jaws swimming in circles around the island but the waters seems quite peaceful.

We all agreed the tour was worth the money and as an added bonus you get a boat ride in the ocean!

Here is a picture of a former prisoner signing a book he wrote. We read that he was a master counterfeit artist, a trade he perfected while prison, for over 50 years. He was a sensation, signing for happy buyers and posing for pictures.

We finally reached our hotel late at night, walking about 15km that day along the steep uphill roads. Our first impression of San Fransisco was bad but we grew to admire the city during the day. The homes, with the famous front bay windows are beautiful.  Gardens are kept neat and tidy. The steep roads through out the city make San Fransisco unique, ready to be explored.