a little bit of San Francisco

As soon as Dan got back to us on his days off, we took a little drive up the California coast.  I had been wanting to go to San Francisco and it was finally time :)!  We took the scenic route, Hwy 1 all the way up, and it did not disappoint.

We didn't get a very early start, so we decided to stop for lunch in Half Moon Bay.  On a whim, we decided to try Thai food for the first time ever...so glad we did!  We all got something different and it was all delicious.  Over lunch we realized that there was no possible way we were gonna be able to see everything in the city we (I) had hoped to see that day, so we narrowed it down to just two things...a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge and then to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for the kids to participate in at least one of their Jr. Ranger programs.

I had seen the Golden Gate Bridge in so many movies and things throughout my life that I gotta admit, I was pretty excited to finally be there - on the bridge!

Growing up in a very small town in the deep south, California seemed worlds away.  But it's really not...not that far I mean...

I'm glad that our kids are growing up with pretty much the entire country as their back yard.  Pretty special :)

I took sooo many pictures as we crossed the bridge.  My family got a good laugh out of it ;)

Here's a little peek of Alcatraz...

Just past the north end of the bridge was the beginning of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  We went into the first visitors center we came to, the one at Marin Headlands, for the kids to get their Jr. Ranger booklets.  After a tour of the exhibits in the vc, we set out to explore as much as we could.

At the trail head to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, we had an awesome view of the bridge with the city behind it...

We were too late in the afternoon to go to the lighthouse, the trail had already closed for the day, so after soaking in the view we headed over to Rodeo Beach.

This beach had sand like none I have ever seen before.  It was made up of teeny, little colorful rocks!

It was nice to just hang out for a little while enjoying the scenery as the kids worked on their books...

 
There were a few people surfing at the north end of the beach...

...until whales started breaching!!!  We had been staying on the coast for a little over a month and had yet to see a whale actually jump up out of the water...until this day!  Dan was the first one to spot it, he got to see one jump entirely up and out of the water :)!  He pointed to the spot and just a minute later a whale pushed half its body straight up out of the water and straight back down.  Wow!  I wasn't able to get a picture, I was too busy gawking, but you can google it if you've never seen it and there are tons of pictures online.

It was time to go back to the vc so that the kids could go over their books with the Ranger.  With all of their activities completed, they were each awarded a Marin Headlands Jr. Ranger badge that is made of wood instead of the usual golden ones.  The kids were happy :)

We didn't have time to go to Muir Woods like we had hoped and didn't really want to go into the city at 5pm, so we started the drive back to Monterey.  As we were leaving, I took a couple random pictures of some row houses.  I know these aren't the well known Victorian ones, but still ;)...

California is just so pretty...

...don't you think?