Californiacation.

We left Soda Springs at about 6:30 AM Thursday morning (August 14th), just near the end of a beautiful rain storm. Everything has been so green lately from all of the rain that we are getting. There were so many beautiful colors and we were even lucky enough to see a double rainbow.  Destination: San Francisco, California.

We were about 30 miles from our hotel in San Francisco when traffic completely stopped. It took us nearly 3 hours to get to our hotel because Paul McCartney had a concert at a football stadium that was going to be demolished in the near future. The traffic was so congested and just slowwww. We moved a foot per minute it seemed like. We all did a pretty good job being patient, but the last 30 minutes was difficult because we were all very discouraged and tired. Thankfully while we were stopped we could look around at the tall buildings and very different surroundings than what we are use to in Idaho. You can see the fog that sits above the city in these pictures below.

Friday morning (August 15th) we headed down to the Golden Gate bridge, where we then hiked down below to Kirby Cove. There were some beautiful outlooks of the bridge as you drove along the ridge toward it. The Eucalyptus trees were beautiful.

Kirby Cove Hike

After we hiked back up to the car, we drove down to the Fisherman's Warf, walked through Pier 39, and adventured for blocks and blocks. We were able to see and experience some really neat things.

One of my most favorites here was the Sourdough bread! They have what is called a mother dough that gives the bread it's unique taste! So they take a piece from this mother dough (that's been around for ages) and incorporate it into each batch. They had a pretty neat system there and were making some pretty fancy bread. We ate lunch there and also brought some rounds of it back. We absolutely LOVED it!

We could've spent hours watching these sea lions because they are so fun to see. However, since we had a lot more things to see and do still -watching them sun bathe & be lazy only took about about a half hour at most.

Emma had to have her picture taken in front of CHOCOLATE HEAVEN of course! The kids loved going up and down the piano stairs! Each stair played a different note, they were pretty cool!

Then when we had enough fun at the warf, we decided to ride a bus to China Town. It was very neat and we had an exceptional time walking through there and eating pigeon and duck for dinner!

Then we rode the bus back to our car and drove down Lombard street, the most crooked street in America. The houses are really neat down town. They are all joined together and really neat colors. If you've never been there, but you've watched full house, you probably have a general idea of what they look like. The the cost to live in some of these places amazes me. Honestly, I wouldn't live there if someone payed me a million dollars. Afterward, we headed back to our hotel so we could be ready for Micah and JoAnna's wedding the next morning!

Micah and JoAnna's wedding was in Oakland, California- at the Oakland temple. WOW was that temple beautiful!! It was probably one of the neatest temples that I've been to. It was surrounded by a billion beautiful flowers and the gorgeous engravings on the outside of temple blew me away. It was a fabulous wedding and the neatest part of it, was surprising Micah and JoAnna in the sealing room because they had NO IDEA that we were going to be able to make it! They were super excited to see us, it was fun.

Micah and JoAnna's reception was held at a rustic venue. It was super beautiful and we had a yummy dinner and enjoyed dancing. There was a fun photo booth with frames that Samuel really enjoyed! The kids had such a blast. I don't think I saw Wesley but once that night because he was off catching lizards and "wild" Peacocks (or so he believes)- I tried to tell them that they belonged to the people that owned and lived right next to the venue, but he refused to believe me. HaHa. They were really filthy by the time they were done playing.

The next morning we decided to drive down Lombard street again. It was very busy this time, but you could see everything a TON better.

Then my favorite part of the trip: Muir Woods. These were the biggest trees we've ever seen- a famous 600-year-old, 225-foot-tall "walk-through" tree had fallen in 1971 and we could see it as well as the remains of many as we crossed the trail. There were many trees that you could easily find shelter in if necessary because at the base they were sort of hollowed out, forming cave like shelters. The paths were formed because several popular big trees had fallen due to root damage from soil compaction- which basically meant overuse. So now the paths, fencing, and boardwalks have been built as a modern effort to reduce soil compaction. The forest is in such an isolated valley that the difficulty of access protected the trees from loggers. New logging technology later threatened the forest, so a couple bought it and in 1908, donated it to the nation under the terms of the Antiquities Act. The couple decided, along with President Theodore Roosevelt's agreement to name the forest in honor of John Muir, an explorer and naturalist who was one of America's earliest environmental activists. The National Park Service has preserved this redwood forest as a park for public use and enjoyment. Muir Woods National Monument is among the country's oldest national parks and is one of the last stands of old-growth redwood forest on Earth. The forest was cold, damp, and covered with the neatest ferns. Coho Salmon and Steelhead Trout span in the creek and Spotted Owls and Steller's Jays live high in the branches of the trees. There was a peace about this forest that was amazing and refreshing to me, even among all of the many tourists that were hiking around us. We had an absolute blast!

After we were done at the Redwoods, on a whim we ended up going through some windy roads (not my favorite) but the destination was a beautiful one! Thankfully we had swimming gear in the car for the kids.

We ate some fish for dinner and went to bed. The next morning I woke up these bums and headed back to Soda Springs, IDAHO... which I much prefer over the traffic and stimulation in San Francisco! What a fun trip though. So many new fun things to see and experience. These lucky kids get to have so much fun at such a young age. I love taking these mini-fast vacations together as a family!