We saw the light...

...the neon light, that is, that says "Hot Doughnuts"! Even on the west coast my K-Dar was up and that light beckoned me from afar! We scarfed down a dozen there and took a dozen back to consume on the bus tomorrow. The perfect ending to a perfect day!

Muir Woods National Monument

Muir Woods is the beginning of the Redwood Forest and is an amazing place. A battle in Star Wars was filmed in the Redwood Forest where the troopers were flying in and out of the tree trunks. We picked a random tree and all five of us tried to hold hands around it and we did not come close to touching. It is just impossible to capture in a picture what these look like. In the picture with the kids, they are all inside the tree; it is not two trees! We hear our next stop, Yosemite National Park, has the giant Redwoods too!

The Trolley Ride

The kids had a blast on the Trolley. I had forgotten just how "white knuckled" that ride going straight up and straight down can be! I was surprised that there were no rules about how old you had to be to hang your body out of a moving vehicle with traffic all around!

Ghiradelli Square

We spent part of today in downtown San Francisco walking, eating and riding the trolley car. It was cold, sunny and FUN!

Time with old friends

We met up with Tom and Maureen Hudson this evening. Tom and Ted met about 20 years ago on the island of Martinique and have maintained contact all these years. Tom is a native of San Francisco and was a wealth of information. He and Maureen grow their own grapes and make their own wines. How California! It was so good to see them and catch up.

Daddy's Home!

Ted returns from his day at the AAOS meeting in San Francisco. This is the largest orthopedic meeting in the world. The kids are hovering around, just waiting for him (the fun parent) to get back!

Deadliest Catch - California Style

I guess too much Discovery Channel made the boys want to try Alaskan King Crab legs, so here they are! Unfortunately for us, they loved them. Dad...does this remind you of anyone at that age? I guess it runs in the family. We told them that if they wanted to make it a habit, they can do it on their own dime!

Cupcakes in Pacifica

Lacy and Evan enjoy treats at a local bakery within walking distance of where we are parked. Today, we saw a pod of porpoises slowly swim in front of our bus. It was beautiful to see them swim..

Can you say "rock slide"?

We learned tonight that Pacifica was the location of those severe rock and mudslides back in January. Remember the pictures of that house that broke in half on top of the one below? Yep...that was here. Maybe that is why there are so many spots available ocean front at this RV Resort!

Bridge over Hwy 101

The kids went biking over a bridge that crosses the main highway, 101.

Aesculap Reception II

Dale Liebert, Dr. Mark Wolgen, Merele Santos, me and Ted enjoyed the reception on the top floor of the beautiful and historic Westin St. Francis. What a view!

The Aesculap Reception

Tonight we enjoyed the company of a great surgeon in Albany, GA; Dr. Mark
Wolgen (pictured next to Ted) and his companion of 13 years, and an OR nurse at the hospital in Albany, Merle Santos (Pictured next to him). Merle is originally from Manila. On the far left is a new friend Dr. Eda Van Dyke, who is a doctor of Sports Medicine, currently taking a break to raise twin, ten year olds! She is a fascinating lady originally from Denmark.

I'm up, they're down!

This is really an amazing picture. Ted took the kids on a bike ride while I stayed at the bus. I got a call from Evan to step out of the bus and look down. If you look in this picture, my kids are down below, and that dot above them at the end of the fence is me standing in front of the bus! I knew there was no access to this beach and when I asked the kids how they got down there, they only said "what happens with Dad, stays with us and Dad"!

Ted at the West Coast Office

That is not a bad view for a day at the office! Ted spent the day at the AAOS meeting at the convention center. Here, he is home and about to enjoy some downtime before we go to the reception.

Tin Can Economics

Ted and I have had a good time watching a lesson in supply and demand economics unfold in our family. Lacy bought a box of sugar cubes at the store with her own money. She has almost spent all of her spending money for the trip so she wanted to figure out how to make more. She began selling sugar cubes to her sugar-loving brothers for a quarter each (they had to put the money in her tin can because she liked the sound of the money in the can). After a while they started complaining that she paid $1.50 for the box and she has made so much money off them. Connor announced that next time we go to the store, he will buy a box and charge a dime; thus, putting her out of business. Once we broke the news that there will be no more purchases of sugar, we were able to give them a great lesson in economics!

Alcatraz Education

Did you know that Alcatraz was a military instillation before it was a prison? Union troops had 300 soldiers and 100 canons on the island pointed at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. Since the war never made it to San Francisco, I imagine it was a boring job! After the prison closed, the island was taken over by Indians (as in Native Americans) in the 60's as a protest of the land that was being taken away from the Indians. They occupied the island for 20 months before the National Guard stormed in and kicked them off. There were results though because much of the land was given back to the Indian nations. We really enjoyed our day at Alcatraz and walking around San Francisco.

Our First Family Picture

Someone offered to take a picture for us so this is the first one of all five together. We took a ferry over to the island of Alcatraz. It began with a really great Discovery Channel video about the prison.

Before Heading Out to Alcatraz

Evan does his schoolwork in style and Ted brushes his daughters hair before we start our day. Ted got his work done before, during and after our visit to Alcatraz!

The Most Beautiful Spot Ever!

I don't think we will ever be able to top this location. We are parked atop a 90 foot cliff looking out with an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean! You can see what it looks like out our bus window. The waves below are crashing against the hill and we can hear the loud wave action. It is just lovely.

Hilly San Francisco...but what a reward!

I knew San Francisco was hilly, but you don't know hills until you are 60 feet long, going down a 17% grade with cars parked on both sides of the street and oncoming traffic trying to get past you! This picture does not do justice what we came through to get to this campground! I think if poor Ted heard me say "slow down" and "watch out" one more time, he would have pulled over and put me behind the wheel! Oh, but once we arrived the campground is well worth it! You can't see it because it is too dark, but over Evan's shoulder is a 90 ft cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. We got parked at sunset and it was so beautiful! Tomorrow, we go to Alcatraz.