Yosemite- Friday, July 14, 2006

We awoke in Hayward and were ready to go. I had locked our keys in the van the night before, but AAA paid for itself when we called them to help. Our poor van is taking quite a beating.

We grabbed breakfast at a coffee shop and went on towards the east in order to go to the West. Our first stop, after lunch at a Jack in the Box, was at the state park built around the town of Columbia. Columbia was a gold rush town, built in the 1850s. It was interesting walking up and down the streets, but most of the buildings seem to be housing little private businesses. That's ok, to an extant, but it hurt the atmosphere a little. We did all have a sasparilla (spelling?) in the City Hotel's saloon. Anna enjoyed dipping a candle to make it different colors.

From Columbia, we went on to Yosemite. Julie's nerves were getting frazzled on the roads to the park, but the views were great. When we got to the Yosemite Valley, we were all really impressed with the views. We had a little picnic lunch in view of Bridal Veil Falls, with El Capitan nearby. We searched for a good view of Half Dome. We had arrived late, though, and the sun was going down. As much fun as it was, we had to continue on to look for a hotel. We succumbed to temptation and spent the last few minutes of daylight in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia's. The trees were nice, but less impressive than I expected. I suppose we would have seen more if we had more time to explore the trails. In the end, the girls will probably remember the small deer that came very near to them during our time there.

We went on to find a hotel, and were stuck in a little dive that had cinder block walls, no carpet on the floor, and only a curtain to pull in front of the bathroom. It was clean, though, and was a place to flop.

Leaving San Francisco- Thursday, July 13, 2006

We started the day going to a few more sites from, "So I Married an Axe Murderer," including the two places where they filmed the cafe scene at the begining. ("Excuse me, miss. I think there's been a mistake. I ordered the large cappuccino. Hello!") Unfortunately, neither was really a place where you could actually order a large cappuccino.

We went on to the Haight Ashbury district, where the Summer of Love and the hippy movement was centered. Julie didn't understand why I wanted to go there. She said I was "anti-hippie," but I eventually convinced her that "un-hippie" is probably more apropriate. Either way, we went to some tie-die shops and I actually got to get a large cappuccino. I went to Amoeba music and bought some Greatful Dead and California tunes.

Then Julie pointed out that I hadn't really listened to her when she told me when he had to be at Pier 39 to catch the boat to Alcatraz. We wolfed down our food at McDonald's and scooted out to try to catch the boat. You might remember that we had to buy these tickets two days before, and everything else was sold out. The boat left on time at 12:15, and we arrived at the pier around 12:25. We had to get into the stand-by line and wait for about an hour and a half more.

We did get to Alcatraz, and it was quite an experience. Emma slept through most of it, but Anna was trying hard to understand what it all was. The winds were really gusty, but the view of the skyline was great. We saw all of the main cells and Anna was very intrigued by what life would have been like for them. "Where did they go to the bathroom?" was her most commonly asked question.

After Alcatraz, we went to a few more Axe Murderer stops. We got into the church where they were married and finished at the house where the family lived. It was a great way to end the day.

We agreed that we could easily fill another day in San Francisco. We hadn't ridden the cable cars yet, or seen the fortune coookie factory. Still, it was getting late, and there was more of California waiting for us. We reluctantly left SF behind and went to look for a place to stay. We only made it as far as Hayward, where we ate dinner and found a place to stay.