This summer we showed the kids the beautiful American West! Oma and Opa booked us all in for a week at a dude ranch in Colorado to help celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and we added a few more weeks beforehand to explore the other coast.
First stop, California so that we could spend time with my Copeland relatives and catch up with friends in the area.
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| 11 hour flight to San Fran! |
Jenny and Geoff generously let us use their house in the Berkeley Hills for the week. Having our own place to recover from jetlag and host some friends and family made the start of our trip so enjoyable. The views out to Marin county, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges and the twinkling lights of San Fran at night were spectacular (when the fog cleared!).
Margaret and Claire met us at the house shortly after we'd arrived with dinner in hands! A warm welcome. The following day, we drove into San Fran and met up with them to explore Golden Gate Park. First, we had some Full House spots to check off our list (The kids recently watched Fuller House and we have gone back to start watching the original series from the beginning).
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| I was excited to see the Japanese Gardens in the park! |
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| Traveled half way around the world to visit a Dutch windmill in Golden Gate Park! |
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| Kids first time seeing the Pacific Ocean! |
After horrendous traffic getting out of the city onto the Bay Bridge, we met up with Becca and got to meet her wife Liz. They brought delicious pizza over to the house for dinner.
We planned to spend Friday exploring Berkeley with my cousin Chris and his family who were going to visit from Arizona, but sadly they had to cancel their trip. With a free day, Pete convinced us to drive up to the Russian River taproom in Santa Rosa. Margaret, Claire, and one of her friends made the trip with us as well.
I'd found an inflatable water play area at the nearby Spring Lake Park and we all happily spent a few hours enjoying the warm sun there.
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| Took the scenic route back through Sonoma. |
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| Dinner and card games back at Margaret's |
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| Loving on doggie Ella |
On Saturday, we drove up to Marin county to see Paul, Andrea and kids at their new home in San Anselmo. Maeve wanted to see redwoods and there was a park just down the road from their home where we marvelled over their majestic beauty.
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| The temperature switch between the East bay and Marin is wild. We enjoyed the sun and had a lovely pool afternoon and BBQ lunch at their house. |
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| Mexican for dinner to end a great day |
Sunday, we headed back into San Fran, this time using BART, to hit up the tourist spots we missed. We patiently (??) waited our turn to board a cable car. We definitely could have walked 2 blocks and got immediately on a cable car, but we wouldn't have gotten the prime outside spots to lean out and have our Full House moment.
We got the cable car we wanted, the Powell-Hyde line, which dropped us off at the start of Fisherman's Wharf. Right in front of us was a brand new branch of See's Candy, which was having it's grand opening on what was apparently National Lollipop day. Some very sweet ladies gave us free chocolate lollipops and then had us spin a wheel for prizes. We got my favorite, chocolate covered caramel marshmallows and Maeve won an entire box of candy! Kids (and let's be honest, I) were very excited by our luck.
We went into the visitor center to use the bathrooms and found a really nice museum showing the history of Fisherman's Wharf. Then it was time for lunch at In and Out Burger!
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| Satisfied kid |
We checked out the mechanical museum and then sent the kids into Magowan's Infinite Mirror Maze. They took my phone and snapped some cute pics.
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| We said hello to the sea lions who were very vocal before hailing a Waymo self driving car to take us back to the BART at Embarcadero. |
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| We'd seen all the Waymos driving around and had to try it. It took a really long time to pick us up. Seemed to be turning in circles for 5 minutes nearby. It did feel very safe though! |
Pete peeled off to go back to the house to meet his former coworker and bandmate, Adam, to catch up and jam while the kids and I took the BART out to North Berkeley to spend the afternoon with my family at Sue and Nick's. My uncle Tom had flown out from Minnesota to see us and the kids had fun showing and learning card tricks with him. Sue showed the kids their unique instruments and then we all walked to Codornices Park where the kids played and went down the terrifying stone slide on cardboard pieces. Sitting with my mom's siblings, they recalled how they would go on that same slide as kids visiting their grandparents who lived on Cragmont Ave.
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| The Berkeley Rose Garden was across the street from the playground |
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| Nick, Sue, Margaret, and Tom. Just missing my parents and Diane. |
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| Lovely gardens in Berkeley |
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| Playing Oh Hell, a family tradition |
The next morning we all met up for a foggy hike in the Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve. I don't think I'd ever had a Huckleberry before! They were ripe and delicious.
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| My aunts are amazing, identifying every plant and tree that we passed! |
In the afternoon we met up with Kevin and kids at the Adventure Playground in Berkeley, which reminded us of Jeugdland here in Amsterdam. We didn't think a place would exist in America where kids are given hammers and nails and let loose (though we did have to sign a waiver at the entrance, which you don't in the NL). Kids had a lot of fun while we caught up. When the work day was over, we went to their house where Jess helped to kids make some cookies before we headed out for a pub quiz night.
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| Pete was thrilled with the beer selection |
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We did not win (by a long shot), but had a lot of fun!
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One final day in the Bay Area. Our Mexican cravings had not been fully satisfied so we found a local spot for tacos. We were sightseed out and ready for a chill day at Jen and Geoff's beautiful house so we invited my family over to hang out at the house for the afternoon.
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| Friends taught us that the Bay Are fog is (affectionally ??) named Karl. He parted for us to have a final day of views and a pretty sunset. |
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| Uncle Tom dominating the puzzle. By the time we came back from a walk around the neighborhood, it was complete! |
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| I always wanted to try Burmese food so we ordered a feast from Burma Superstar |
We loved our time in California and it was so nice to spend time with family and friends. A great start to our trip home!
