California, Here We Come
About This Page: This is a discussion on California, Here We Come within the DL: Sharing the Adventure: Disneyland Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Thursday, August 2
Today was our San Francisco day! We started out in China Town where we ended up eating ...
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Today was our San Francisco day! We started out in China Town where we ended up eating because Maddie vetoed Italian that everyone else wanted. That was the last time that the little one got a vote because she barely ate anything. We finally figured out that the only reason she wanted Chinese food was so that she could eat with chopsticks and out of a take-away container. We let her hop up and ask for her own box and then she was happy as could be.
We then walked down to Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square for dessert. A line was out the door at the big store, so we went around the corner to a smaller location and soon were all sitting in front of huge ice cream sundaes. Apparently we were all feeling territorial because none of us shared a dessert . . . as a result, a lot of ice cream was wasted, but it was so good!
Once fortified, we headed across the street to one of the cable car stops. This was by far the longest line of the entire trip, but we hung in there and finally found ourselves on a cable car after a good hour wait. Of course, we’re good at filling time with talking, but the problem was that it kept getting colder and colder. Zack was a sweetheart and even gave Mary Devall his jacket.
It was a hilarious ride back up to our car because we were packed in like sardines. At least we all had a seat and everyone really enjoyed the ride.
Maddie requested one last picture on the way back to the car.
You can be sure that we all relished in the warmth of the car on our drive back to San Mateo. We stopped at the house long enough to feed the dogs and then we turned around and headed out to a wonderful Italian restaurant. I think we all decided that we really wanted Italian after Maddie put the kibosh on it at lunch.
When we weren’t touring or sleeping, you could usually find us in Karen’s breakfast room. That’s exactly where we ended up that night after dinner . . . drinking some more wine while we watched the kids play video games and watched a bit of the Olympics.
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A trip to remember . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 12-09-2012 at 10:28 AM..
Love Chinatown in SF! Especially since Chinatown here in DC has shrunk to nothing.
Sounds like another fun day. But I just noticed Thom's beard - is that new, or am I completely unobservant?!
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DisneyLand too many times to count; DisneyWorld: ('82; '94; '00; '04; '05; '08 - twice!; '10;'11 - twice); DCL (3 ships): ('00, '05, '06, '10, '11); DVC Hilton Head Resort ('06, '07, '08, '09, '10, '11, '12, '13)
After a leisurely morning, we ventured over to Palo Alto to tour a little place that Karen calls “work”, Stanford University. We loved walking around this beautiful campus and taking in the sites.
Karen escorted us up to the top of the tower where we took in the incredible views from that vantage point.
She then took us to her building where we were able to see her office, meet several of her co-workers and then take a peek in Condoleezza Rice’s office which was full of treasures.
We ended up at the bookstore so that we could all buy our Fear the Tree t-shirts! Maddie has had so much fun sporting hers around Columbia and answering questions about what it means.
Karen had a little accident with her iPhone at Disneyland so next we headed to a swanky mall where they had an iPhone store. We grabbed a quick late lunch at a French bakery and then browsed around while Karen got a new phone. With one last stop at a cupcake store, we hopped in the car and went back to their house.
Once again, we choose to have our dessert before dinner and dug into our cupcakes before we went out to eat. Karen read my mind by pouring glasses of wine for us to go with our cupcakes.
That night we went to Rainbow pizza which is Zack’s favorite place. They specialized in Greek and Italian food and had the biggest menu that I have ever seen in my life.
Everything was big about this place - - my glass of wine was filled to the brim and my water glass was ginormous. I think I was the only one who went with Greek food and it was so good.
We relaxed again that evening in the breakfast room before turning in.
We had waited until today to try and see the Golden Gate Bridge since the fog had quickly rolled in on Thursday afternoon when we were in San Francisco. Unfortunately, today no was better but at least we got to see the top. We went up to an overlook spot where we seemed to be at eye level with the top of the bridge. The wind was pretty fierce, so at times I felt like I was going to fly away - - or watch little Maddie fly away. Despite the cold, foggy and windy conditions, it was a great experience.
Once back down, we drove to Golden Gate park. After stopping for pretzels, we found a play ground and let everyone - - including Thom and Zack (see first three video clips for evidence) - - play until their hearts were content.
Zack was constantly telling me that I was filming in the wrong ratio perspective or perspective ratio or something like that, so I turned the camera mid way through filming.
We then headed for the coast and drove down a piece of the Pacific Coast Highway. I’ve heard about it, read about it and seen it on tv, but seeing that beauty is something else entirely in person. We stopped once on one of those hairpin turns and got out quickly to take pictures.
Karen then took us to a bar/restaurant at Half Moon Bay that had an outdoor seating area. We each got a drink and then got everyone else hot chocolate. I honestly could have sat there in front of that fire pit all afternoon, but eventually we drug ourselves away.
We stopped by a public access beach at Half Moon Bay to stick our toes in the Pacific Ocean! It was sooo cold! Poor Maddie took a dive at one point, but we quickly got her covered up.
We went out for seafood that night and had another great meal before settling in at our usual spot at Karen’s house. I couldn’t believe that tomorrow was our last day.
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A trip to remember . . .
Last edited by Jillybean; 12-12-2012 at 11:49 AM..
About This Page: This is a discussion on California, Here We Come within the DL: Sharing the Adventure: Disneyland Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Thursday, August 2
Today was our San Francisco day! We started out in China Town where we ended up eating ...
We let her hop up and ask for her own box and then she was happy as could be. 
DisneyLand too many times to count; DisneyWorld: ('82; '94; '00; '04; '05; '08 - twice!; '10;'11 - twice); DCL (3 ships): ('00, '05, '06, '10, '11); DVC Hilton Head Resort 
We loved walking around this beautiful campus and taking in the sites. 
Despite the cold, foggy and windy conditions, it was a great experience.
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