Conser Family Vacation 2012 - First Leg of Trip
On Saturday, Sept. 8th, The Conser Family headed south! We had a blast! This was our first big trip as a family of five. Living in the wonderful place we live, we always have the opportunity for a mountain getaway, or a beach weekend, or a visit to the River Grandparents. We haven't take a week long vacation in a very long time! And with the kids, we have never left Oregon! WOW! So, we had some special events happening and took advantage of the timing and headed south to vacation, celebrate, and enjoy our time together as a family.
The week before we left was very crazy-- the kiddos started school, we had a birthday, I was working extra hours, we had some car troubles, and other things I am sure I have forgotten! We ended up borrowing my Mom's Honda Pilot and got that cleaned up and ready to go on Friday Night-- Saturday morning we packed up and were ready to go bright and early. The drive was nice, the kids did pretty good, and we ended up in San Francisco that evening!
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| Packed up- ready to go! |
Uncle Chris was an amazing host- we had so much fun at his house. The kids LOVED SAN FRAN! We arrived on Saturday and walked around Chris' area-- he lives up by the big radio towers. We had some pizza and then tried to somewhat settle down for our next day.
Sunday, September 9 we headed in to see the sights! And boy did we! First stop COFFEE! Or Cocoa in most of our cases... And I thought Portland had a lot of coffee places....
We visited the Cartoon Art Museum,
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| We visted the Cartoon Art Museum- they had a lot of interesting comics and graphic novels. They had some specific San Francisco Cartoon Collections that were pretty neat. They had an exhibit of ParaNorman, which was created by a Portland Studio-- how fun for us! |
These cool hearts are all over San Fran-- I loved them. The kids only humored me a few times with photos.
We had lunch at Lori's Diner (French Fries, Hot Dogs-- we KNEW the kids would eat here!)
And then, it was time for the ride of our lives.... The CABLE CAR!
Which took us down to the pier
We stopped at the Musee Mechanique-- a fun penny arcade type place that was fun to explore and visit.
We had dinner at Scoma's-- some of the best seafood EVER!
On Monday, September 10th, we went to explore Golden Gate Park. We heard how amazing the California Academy of Sciences is-- and WOW! It was amazing. We spent close to 5 hours exploring. If you are ever in the area, its an investment well worth your time and money.
We learned about Pierre, the penguin and his cute little wet suit. We learned all about earthquake safety as well as lived through one. We literally watched, on an imax screen, the coast of California. change before our very eyes. We got to see the cutest little ostrich babies every! We saw Nemo, Dori, and all the others. We met the Albino Croc. And don't forget about the butterflies and fishes in the 4 story rain forest! Oh-- and they had a cool living roof-- very eco friendly.
It was a beautiful sunny day in San Fransisco. We were excited to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and spend some time over in Sausalito. Everyone tells me how foggy San Fran can be, but when I visited last April with my friend, we had perfect weather. The day we rode our bikes across the bridge was beautifully clear. So far our visit this time had given us beautiful weather as well, so I was starting to think San Franciscan's were lieing ot me because they don't want me moving down there.
However..... as we started driving towards the bridge... something started happening. We drove right into a cloud. It was a little spookitydoo! And super windy and cold too!
We drove down into Sausalito and by that time we had a sleeping 3 year old, so we stopped at McDonalds for some ice cream for those of us awake and kept driving around, exploring California. Jeremy and kids pulled over and got out and did some exploring up in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area-- at that point Kathryn woke up and we headed back towards Uncle Chris' towers.
I will continue on another post our pictures and experiences at Disney-- but I have to say, our time in San Fransisco was amazing. Not only spending time in such a beautiful, diverse city, but spending time with our Brother was a lot of fun. The kids love their Uncle Chris- and now when they think about him, they will be able to picture him his home.
