Road Trip 2006

Our first-ever family vacation was to the foggy destination of San Francisco, California. We went to visit Gina's aunt, who took us to see many wonderful things that Lucy enjoyed immensely. (And we did too, for that matter!) Lucy rode 5 trains, 3 merry-go-rounds, and a bronze dog. She also crossed more bridges than we can remember.

Here are some pictures from our trip (with a little commentary, of course).

Day 1

San Francisco ZooWaving good-bye from the train.

Real or stuffed? You make the call.

Gina's favorite animal.

Day 2

Ardenwood Farm

I'm cute. Just ask me.

Checking out the sheep checking her out.

Ardenwood Farm was awesome. It is a working farm that is part of the Parks Department in that area. We saw beautiful gardens, farm animals, old tractors that they still use to harvest the crops, a blacksmith's shop, the turn-of-the-century family home, as well as riding a train pulled by a horse (who can reportedly pull 4 train cars, each holding 30 people).

Day 3

Central Park

The famous bronze dog.

Central Park not only has a nice play area for kids, it also has a little train, a very tranquil Japanese Garden, as well as the bronze dog that just about every person in Gina's family remembers sitting on at one time or another.

Day 5

Steinhart AquariumUp on the second floor of the 2-story aquarium,
where, apparently, no fish like to swim.

"Petting" a starfish.

Lucy also held a hermit crab,
which she promptly dropped back into the water
when the legs and claw came out.

The aquarium has moved from Golden Gate Park to downtown San Francisco while repairs are being made to the original building due to the last earthquake. We took BART into the city and walked a few blocks, which we learned is much easier (and possibly takes less time) than trying to find a parking space at Golden Gate Park.

Although I think there are less exhibits (because the building is smaller), we all loved the different types of fish, lizards, snakes, and other sea life that were on display. There's even a fish called the "Koran fish". (Called such because of the tail, which looks like it has Arabic script on it.)

This is probably only of interest to Grandma P.
But I thought it was cool too.

Merry-go-round #1, just down the street from the aquarium.
Lucy rode a horse first, then chose this giraffe.

Day 6

FairylandLucy as Dorothy, who I think also wore sunglasses
through the majority of "The Wizard of Oz".
Anyone else remember that?

Lucy with Aunt Dee Dee.

Fairyland was really cute. Lots of nursery rhymes and stories featured in the displays; what Lucy really loved was the train, merry-go-rounds, and ferris wheel--all kid-sized. On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant called "Mimi's" for lunch. The food was DELICIOUS.

Day 7

Half Moon Bay & the Pacific OceanBefore.

During.

After.

For some reason, we didn't get any pictures at Half Moon Bay or Phipps Ranch. Lucy liked the animals at the ranch. There were two geese guarding their babies who would honk vociferously at Lucy whenever she came too close to the fence. She thought this was really funny. We saw an irate turkey, a couple of stinky pigs, and a peacock, I think. There was also an old sway-back donkey and a sheep who needed a haircut that preferred showing us their backsides.

On the way to dine on chicken nuggets and french fries at "Old MacDonald's Had a Farm", we made a stop at the beach. Lucy was very excited to put her feet in the water, until she actually got wet. You can watch her face change from the "Before" to the "After". Fortunately, a little reminder about McDonald's, and a dry set of clothes turned her frown upside-down.

We had a marvelous time, and can't wait to visit the Bay Area again. Although the drive was long, it was well worth it. We liked getting to see so many different things and loved watching Lucy's enjoyment, but most of all, we loved spending time with Aunt Dee Dee. This was a great trip we will talk about for a long time.