Come Visit Cali (Angel Island)

You've probably heard of Alcatraz, well, Angel Island is another island in the San Francisco Bay.  We went last summer with my mom.  Taking the ferry to get there was one of the best parts of the day. 

It's so nice to be on the water watching the fog roll out. 

And again at the end of the day watching it roll in.

Don't we look like great adventurers with our packs on?!  Of course, one is for the baby and the other is full of things like goldfish and graham crackers.  All great adventurers take the essentials.

Once you get there, you can hike, bike, walk, run, beach comb, etc.

The views are amazing all around the island.

You can also visit the Immigration Station. 

Angel Island was the Ellis Island of the west from the 1800s into the early 1900s.   Immigrants from hundreds of different countries had to pass through here before going on into the United States.  They could be detained for days, months, or years!  Can you imagine after traveling thousands of miles under all sorts of circumstances (think small boat, big ocean) only to be stopped here with a measly one mile of water separating you from freedom.

They were packed into barracks like the one below.  Something like 80 people slept in this one room wooden building.

Also found at the Immigration Station is a bell to ring.

And geese to talk to.

Elsewhere on the island you can find out about local (present) wildlife.

And some wild life stories from the past.

I would love to go back and try climbing Mt. Livermore (the highest point on the island) or renting a bike to ride around the whole thing. 

Who's coming with me?

Come Visit Cali (San Francisco)

Reason #3 to

There are so many places to explore in California and many of them are within driving distance of us.  San Fran is only about 3 hours away and it has something for everyone.

Golden Gate Bridge + Crissy Beach

Trolley Cars

(Abby will show you how to act like you've been doing this your whole life.)

Seals at Pier 39

The Presidio

where I will force you to play the statue game with me.

we are totally awesome!!!

And so many wonderful museums.

The Zeum (below) where you can make your own claymation movie or music video, the California Academy of Sciences has an aquarium and a living roof, the Exploratorium is every little scientist's dream, or the de Young Fine Arts Museum.

There's still more but you'll have to wait for the next post.

In the meantime, give us a call, tell us when you're coming so we can put you on the calendar! 

The Official Food of San Francisco

Possibly one of the best discoveries we have made in California.  

The It's-It.

"a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two old fashioned oatmeal cookies 

and then lavishly dipped into dark chocolate coating"

mmm, m-mmm, MMMmmmm!

Here is how to eat an It's It...

 Here is how you feel after eating an It's-It.

 And, let's be honest...

He learned it by watching you, ok?!

For most of the 20th century, these were only available in the San Francisco bay area.  However, my non-Californian friends, you can now order them online and have them delivered to your front door!  Just click here.

San Fran Sanity

My darling, sweet, loving husband surprised me last weekend! 

I thought we were just going on a lunch date with a couple friends into Sacramento, which we did.  Our friend, Maury, was confused.  He thought we were going to San Fran for lunch but I straightened him out real quick.  I told him San Fran was a little far for a day trip.  And another friend, Karyn, just happened to join us because she needed to get off the mountain, too.  Well, of course, she does, I thought, please tell her to come.  (It was still snowing when she left Woodleaf, by the way.) 

So we have a lovely lunch and walk around downtown Sac a bit.  We are walking back to the cars (we had two cars because Karyn "had some other errands to do after lunch") and trying to decide what to do next when Jonathan says "well yall should probably get going if you're going onto San Francisco"  Ha ha.  I thought he was referring back to Maury's silly idea that we would go all the way there for lunch.  Then I see everyone else looking at me like "no really."  Really?!  I don't have to go back to the snow today?  I get to hang out with some cool girlfriends with zero kids in tow?  In the city?  Really?!!!

Yes!  He throws me the bag he packed for me and snuck into the car while I wasn't looking and the girls head off in Karyn's car that is so conveniently there!

We had a cute little hotel room near Union Square.  It was so fun to be out at night in the big city!  People were bustling all over the place.  Some guy was fighting with the bouncer at a nightclub because he wasn't on the list.  The nightclub had a list!  We could have been on the list if we wanted to but instead we walked over to get dinner at this little sushi place. 

Sunday we shopped.  And I don't mean the grocery store!  Anthropologie, JCrew, H&M, Gap, a tea shop, Urban Outfitters...  Julie and I were trying to figure out how we could make all this stuff instead of having to buy it at those lovely prices.  It was so inspiring.  I found pics of some of my favorites.  (I couldn't fit the entire Anthropologie building here, but you know.)

I hope I can try out a few things like these soon.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Anyway the weekend was amazingly refreshing and by the time I got back home the snow had stopped falling. 

Thanks, Jono.

San Francisco Zoo

Last week we went to

San Francisco

(ooh, that's fun to say!)

Jono had something he needed to do so the fam decided to tag along.  While we were there we went to the zoo.  It was a great day to be there.  The weather was just right and it was a weekday so it wasn't crowded.

And, of course, all the kiddos LOVED it!

The first animal we saw was this duck, who Dylan tried his hardest to catch.

We took bets on the penguin races. 

We watched the gorilla family for the longest time.  The little guy is about Trek's size.  They have a lot in common.  And the daddy was very intimidating sitting there alternately glaring or ignoring us.

This sleeping koala was just too cute!

The macaws were very chatty.  Pretty sure one of them said my name.

I loved watching this little baby hang out.  Anteaters apparently eat more than just ants.  This momma was slurping up an avocado.

Another popular feature you might be interested in if you ever get to the San Fran Zoo...they have free-range peacocks.  They were just about everywhere.  A lot of them were hanging out with the kangaroos and the flamingos.  Did NOT see them chillin' with the big cats.  However, whenever we saw them out on the walkways, they were seriously hunted by our four wildcats.  It was pretty hilarious.  Maybe I should have taken that opportunity to lecture them on humane treatment of animals, but I didn't.  I laughed at that bird!  (my justification:  i don't think the bird was in any great danger of being caught)

I think everybody's favorite was the lion house, but I'll let Joe Friday tell you about that tomorrow.