Spring Break: Day 4

Day 4 was definitely an improvement - no where to go but up! We high-tailed it back to San Fran and just barely made our reservation for our Alcatraz ferry (thanks to Scott's swift driving). Alcatraz was pretty cool - a number of possibilities for island exploration/information. We met an ex-inmate who was not very personable or talkative. Then we took the long walk up to the prison. We listened to a taped tour through headphones, which was quite good, although Katya was a little bored. She did enjoy looking at the maniquin heads two inmates made to lie in their beds while they escaped through their ventilation ducts. She also had fun getting her pic taken with the girls in the cells, but was very upset the potties had been cemented in and could no longer be used. It was a beautiful view of San Francisco from the island, too. We returned to the mainland and did the typical tourist stuff at pier 39 - looking in t-shirt shops, Hard Rock cafe, at some take out seafood, and tried to avoid the rain. The highlight was seeing and listening to the sea lions! We then took a bus over to Ghirardelli Square for some chocolate shopping and ice cream. Then we rode the cable car past Lombard St and into chinatown. We did some shopping there and then took the bus back and headed to our hotel.

Spring Break: Day 3

So we woke up early on Day 3, and after Katya fell in the beautiful, freezing Pacific ocean, we drove down to San Francisco. What a beautiful drive through the wine valleys! We picked Beth, Rachel, and Jessica up from the airport and went to Golden Gate Park after eating lunch on Haight St. The first clue that this day might not go as planned was a police hold up for a drug bust as we were entering the park. This didn't seem to bother the other drug users who lived in the tunnel we went through to enter the park. Jessica thought she might have contracted TB from the hacking coughs as we went by, and Rachel got her first look at a bong. We proceded to the carousel/children's playground that was closed for construction. We then went on to the greenhouse/ plant conservatory which was beautiful. We spent a good time there, and Katya got to play with some butterflies. We then took a long walk (this park is huge!) over to the marine science museum which was nonexistent due to construction. Then we tried the art museum which wouldn't let me bring Jack inside in his backpack! It was only an hour before they closed, so we decided against it. We went down to a small playground where Jack was able to swing and Katya busted her head while climbing on the junglegym. What fun! Then we caught a bus (thank goodness Beth got us passes at the airport) down to the oceanfront (still part of the same park). Here we saw a windmill with a tulip garden around it - very pretty. We then tried to walk over to the windmill on the other side of the park, but it was under construction and we only saw the base of it. Then we walked to a restaurant for dinner - yea! We had a beautiful view of the sunset over the Pacific ocean. We were all exhausted and drove the 30 min to our hotel and checked in at the Navy Lodge.

Spring Break: day 2

no pic for Day 2. We drove all day and finally got to the beautiful CA coast about dusk - so much for the lovely drive down the coast. By then it was dark and super foggy. The Pacific Coast Hwy is super windy (that's curvy, not breezy) at the top of CA. Katya threw up all over the back seat after 40 minutes of non-stop curves. Then we enjoyed our beds and got up early the next morning to enjoy the beach a few minutes before Katya fell in the freezing water and got all her clothes wet! We'll add more about our exciting trip later...already off to a good start, huh?

spring break: day 1

We drove down to Portland, OR on the first to stay with the long lost Craig Nyschens, Rebekah's youth minister when she was just a youngun. His wife Mia was there, but was already gone before we took the picture. You can see his two sons, Micah and Nikolai. It was lots of fun catching up with them and finding out that Craig is a master gardener (among other things).