Today we were going to do some sightseeing of Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and then some beaches, then head up to San Francisco in the morning. However, we were wanting to stop and spend a day with friends that lived outside of San Fran, and so we wanted to arrive early Sunday to spend the day with them. So we decided just to go to Huntingdon Beach which was fairly close to us, then head up towards San Fran in the afternoon and see how far we could get before stopping for the night.
Huntingdon Beach is beautiful, I had been there once before when I was about 14 or so, and it was just as I remembered it. The beach is incredibly wide!
It costs $7 for parking, which we thought was a bit much for the season, since it was pretty cold for beach going and we’d only be staying a few hours. Here’s the lifeguard patrol:
It started to heat up a little, nice enought to be comfortable in shorts sitting in the sun, but you wouldn’t want to be in your bathing suit, or going for a swim. We ended up staying most of the day, and spent most of it with John and I removing my braids! Jorden and Kelsey made use of the massive amounts of bamboo that were washed up on shore to make huts:
jorden fell asleep on the beach for most of the day, and we decided we were really worried now. 
We left the beach late in the afternoon and decided to go for Chinese Buffet. By the time we got on the road it was 6:00 pm. Just north of LA on the I5 there was some mudslides on the other side of the highway from us, and the linup of cars went for at least 5 to 10 miles (of 4 lane traffic!!). Wouldn’t want to be stuck in THAT, we thought. A little further up the road there was what looked like a bad accident off the road with a crushed car, crushed by a semi trailer that was loaded with someone’s belongings, furniture etc. that was now strewn about the highway. yikes.
We ended up making it to Livermore, the town Michael and Rosie live in, but we got there at 11:30 at night, so we just went to the Motel 6 and went to bed.
We got up early the next day and called Michael, believe we woke him out of bed. We headed over to their place, it was great to see them again, outside of Playa this time! The kids (and John and I) took right to their dog Teddy, who was adorable!
We hung out for a little bit, then we all put on our coats (it was cold!!) and headed out. We drove to the BART station and to take the train in to San Fran. It took a few confused minutes to figure out how the pay system works with the machines to get our ticket, and then we were through and waiting for the train. We boarded the train and chatted for the approx. 1 hour ride into SF.
When we got there, we left the BART and walked the short few steps to the lineup for the street trolley.
The lineup was a little long, we waited about 10 or 15 minutes and then we were boarding. How cool is this?!
We quite enjoyed it, and were amazed to hear from Michael how they actually work. Apparently there is a cable that runs under the street, running constantly in one direction. The cable car has a mechanism in the bottom that will grab and close around the cable and then the cable is pulling the car. When the driver needs the trolley to stop, he uses a lever that let’s makes the mechanism let go of the cable, and uses another lever to brake. Very neat.
We got off at the end and walked over to Fisherman’s Warf. This place is also quite neat, with lots of bustling activity.
We went to the peir where the Alcatraz tickets were sold, only to find out that it was sold out for the day. How disappointing. But no worries, we’d save that tour for next time we were in town visiting Michael and Rosie. So we walked down to the peir and took some photos with the island in the background:
We walked down a little ways to where there were a bunch of seals on the docks. The kids thought this was neat, the seals were very vocal. Then we decided we’d walk up to see the Coit Tower:
But not until after some lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (good burgers!)
After lunch we began our walk up the San Francisco hill to see the Coit Tower. Jorden was having some difficulty with the hills, and John and I exchanged a worried glance. Jorden was definately appearing to have some trouble with things that would indicate to us that his heart trouble was indeed getting worse. But we managed slowly up the hill, and took some photos along the way.
The tower was just a couple of bucks to go up, and you travel in a VERY old elevator. Once at the top you have the most magnificent views of SF:
After some great photos, we left the tower and walked down the hill. This home I took a picture of had rounded windows, a feat that I’m sure is neither easy nor cheap:
We really liked the architecture of the homes in this city.
We continued to walk through SF, taking photos along the way.
We then headed into Chinatown, the biggest in North America, which was a great experience. It was huge, and we felt just like we were in Asia!
Rosie, Kelsey and I did a little shopping for some trinkets in a couple of the shops, and Jorden was admiring the little fireworks that you throw at the ground and then they make a big BANG!. As we were looking for them to purchase some, Michael came out of the store with a bag full of some boxes of them. Jorden was pleased as punch!
We continued through Chinatown, and then headed towards the BART. The streets looked cool when you glanced down them with all the tall buildings at each side, made it look like a movie backdrop and not real.
We got on the BART for our return trip back into Livermore. Here’s the kids and I:
and our wonderful hosts, Michael and Rosie:
We went for dinner at Cattlemen’s, which was great except for a few small hitches. Then we returned to Michael and Rosie’s. I put the kids to bed, and we stayed up and drank some Champagne and talked. I began to feel VERY tired, so I retired to bed and John stayed up and chatted for a few hours.
It was a great and very enjoyable day thanks to our hosts!
We woke up in the morning and went downstairs for some coffee. We were able to catch Michael before he left wor work, which was great. We said our goodbyes and promised to come back for another visit in the summer.
We hung out for a while longer, visiting with Rosie for awhile, then decided we had better get on the road. We were hoping to make it to Portland for the night, and wanted to get Jorden home to see his dr.
We did make it to Portland, uneventful. We stayed just outside of Portland for the night, then woke up early and got on the road. We had great weather with no snow or slippery conditions, and we made it to the Canadian border by noon.
The border guard was impressed to hear about our voyage, welcomed us with open arms and a big smile back to Canada and gave us a good old “Enjoy the rain back home!”…..it was good to be back in friendly Canada, with a much different welcome than what we got entering the US!!!
We stopped in Langley on the way to Abbotsford for some chinese food. We were headed to the house we own and rented out to John’s brother in Abbotsford, and arrived around 1:30. Wow, we were home! We plopped ourselves down on the couch, and let out big sighs. What a trip!
It took about five minutes for the kids to find their boxes of toys in the spare rooms, and start unpacking excitedly and reminiscing all their long lost items. So I wondered when the “we miss Mexico” would set it?
We had a great trip and wouldn’t trade in our experiences for the world. It was too bad we had to cut it short, but within a few days of being home our son had seen his cardiologist at Children’s Hospital and we found out he was starting to go into heart failure and would need his open-heart surgery right away, including a valve replacement that we hadn’t anticipated. A week or so later he had his surgery, and all went well.
We have created some wonderful memories for us, and I hope the children will continue to think back on this chapter of their lives.