Playing with the trees and other fun things

We left Napa around 5:30 this morning and headed northwest. We stopped for breakfast in Garberville, before pushing on to the Redwood Forest, which was some combination of  lovely, amazing, and awe-inspiring. We got out to examine some of the trees more closely and to snap some photos, and when it was time to move on down the road, Clay whined, "But I want to stay and play with the trees!"

Not even close to filling up the stump

Peek-a-boo

 My gang and me in a cool hideout

Majestic Monsters

Even our monkey couldn't climb the redwoods

Out on a limb

He just wants to play with the trees.
Is that too much to ask?

As we continued our journey, we came across Elk Meadow, which was actually a meadow filled with elk and not just a clever name for a wide spot in the road.

So many elk!

Many hours later, we arrived at Crater Lake in Oregon, only to find it almost completely obscured by fog. But the bigger adventure may have been tromping around in the substantial amount of snow, dressed for 90° Napa. We were quite a sight!

Inappropriate weather for mid-June, if you ask me!

Foggy Crater Lake

The boys loved the huge snow drifts
 and wanted to stay and play for a while.
It should be noted that they never once talked
 of putting on pants; they only wanted their gloves.

We finally made it to our campground in Crescent, OR, around 9:00 tonight, thrilled to have checked another state off our list but tired from the long day on the road.

Sonoma and Napa

We left San Francisco yesterday morning and made the short drive to Sonoma County. Our first stop was the Boon Fly Cafe for a late breakfast, which lived up to the many glowing reviews we had read online. Weston was pretty pleased with himself for managing to order off both the breakfast and lunch menus, because he was still hungry when he finished his breakfast, but by then, the restaurant had stopped serving breakfast items and had switched to lunch. From there, we drove to the Benziger Winery for our first sample of the famous wine country. This winery wasn't as flashy as some, but the wines turned out to be our favorites of all the wineries in the area that we visited. After that, we made our way to the petrified forest for a shirt hike and a brief education in geology. We really loved the park and were fascinated with the process of petrification.  After that stop, we got back on the wine trail and visited two more family-friendly wineries. The first was Castello di Amorosa, which is built to look like a real medieval castle. The next was Sterling Vineyards, where the kids were given their own goodie  bags and we got to ride a gondola up to the winery. When the tastings were complete, we stopped to check in to our yurt at the Bothe-Napa State Park, before heading into Calistoga for dinner at Pacifico Mexican Restaurant. After dinner, we had a nice little stroll around the main street area of the town, stopping for ice cream along the way.

Boon Fly Cafe

Boon Fly's famous bucket of donuts

Benziger Estate

Mt. St. Helena

Ash flow from Mt. St. Helena's
eruption 3.4 million years agi.

New tree, old tree

Petrified giants

Castello di Amorosa

Waiting for the gondola
with goodie bags

Gondola ride at Sterling

We lost Clay, but this nice young
 man did the tour with us.

Barrel room at Sterling

Our first time to stay in a yurt

Before we set up the cots

Meditation path in Calistoga

Some of us started our day with a challenging run through our hilly campground. Then, we collected the rest of the group to go hiking in the beautiful state park. Around lunch time we headed in to St. Helena to grab sone burgers and soak up some of the gorgeous weather at Gott's Roadside. After lunch, we visited V. Sattui Winery and spent much of the afternoon lounging in their lovely picnic area. Eventually, the troops got hungry again, so we walked down the road to Pizzeria Tra Vigne.

Hiking in Bothe-Napa State Park

The road less traveled

Trailblazers

Lunch at Gott's Roadside

V. Sattui Winery

Pizzeria Tra Vigne

Ridiculously Awesome

We slept in this morning and had late workouts, so we didn't head out until 10:30 or so. Our first stop was the Boudin Bakery to pick up sandwiches for a picnic lunch. This huge bakery/cafe/store/museum in Fisherman's Wharf claims to be the first baker of San Francisco's famous sourdough bread, and it has been calling to us every day we've been here with its heavenly scents. Clay was also particularly interested in watching the bakers work and loved the animal-shaped loaves they were producing.

Boudin Bakery

Watching the baker make a crab

Once our lunch was purchased, we took an Uber over to Golden Gate Park, where we spent a lovely afternoon, soaking up the gorgeous weather and creating special memories. We visited the Japanese Tea Garden, had our picnic on the steps of what Clay called The Temple of Doom, rented a surrey bike which provided lots of laughs and was deemed "ridiculously awesome," watched a bit of lawn bowling, played at a really awesome playground, rode a fun indoor carousel, and saw many lovely plants and flowers.

Japanese Tea Garden

The waterwheel bridge in the
Tea Garden was the little boys' favorite!

Assembling in the "Temple of Doom"
for lunch

Our best memories of the day
were probably made in the surrey.

Carousel Riders

 Eventually, we made our way back over to the wharf for dinner at Pier 39's Crab House. And after dinner, we killed an hour in the puzzle and game store Think Out of the Box, where they encourage customers to try all the products, whether they buy them or not.

Crab House at Pier 39

Crab enchiladas

A skating dance group was
practicing at the pier.

Working on a puzzle at
Think Out of the Box

Playing a game

Last night in San Francisco
(Golden Gate Bridge on left, Alcatraz on right)

San Francisco

We arrived in San Francisco yesterday, around lunch time. We are staying in the Fisherman's Wharf area, so we immediately went down to the piers to grab some seafood. Then, we wandered around Pier 39 for a while, before stopping to watch the sea lions wrestle for position on their little sunning platforms. After that, we came over to the hotel to shower and rest for a couple of hours. Around 5:00, we headed back down to the piers to catch the evening boat to Alcatraz. We really loved the tour and learning about the history of this unique prison and some of its colorful inhabitants. By coincidence, we were visiting on the 55th anniversary of the mysterious escape of three convicts, which made it even more interesting. When we got back to the city, everyone was starving, so we popped into Fog Harbor Fish House for some more seafood.

A selfie on Pier 39,
with Alcatraz in the background

Sun bathing sea lions

Welcome to The Rock

Less-than-cozy accommodations

Checking out The Hole in D Block

We spent this morning riding around town on The Big Bus (a hop on/hop off bus) and learning about the city. We saw many sights, but I think the highlight for our group was driving over the Golden​ Gate Bridge. When the tour was over and we were back at Fisherman's Wharf, we headed over to Pompeii Grotto, on my mom's recommendation, for more seafood. (Maybe you're starting to see a theme?) After lunch, we made our way to Ghirardelli Square, where we spent the afternoon indulging in sweet treats, sipping coffee, shopping, and playing ping pong and Cornhole. Around 6:00, we called an Uber to take us over to see the famous "Painted Ladies" houses and to drive us down Lombard Street, "the crookedest street in the world." Besides just being a very steep street with eight hairpin turns, it is also like a drive-through botanical garden. It was truly breathtaking! When our ride was over, we returned to our hotel to watch the old movie Escape from Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood. Then, we caught the last five minutes of the NBA finals. It was fun to see Golden State win while we are here in their fair city. Finally, we went over to China town for a late dinner.

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge

Crab melt at Pompeii Grotto

Chocolate works at Ghirardelli

Salted caramel brownie sundae

Ping Pong in Ghirardelli Square

The Painted Ladies

Lombard Street

Dinner in China Town