Everyone had something they wanted to do in SF - Paul wanted to see big trees, YiYing wanted to go to Chinatown, both kids wanted to see Golden Gate Bridge, I wanted to go to Muir Woods, and David wanted to go to Coit Tower. Today David and YiYing got to do their things.

We started the day with a lovely breakfast with Marge, a dear friend from Geva. Then we were off to Chinatown for shopping and sesame balls! The drive to Coit Tower kept David on his toes. Everyone enjoyed the views and the lovely murals. The drive down Lombard was as good as a roller coaster - but with better flowers. Our last stop was the Japanese Tea Garden where we met up again with the Simpsons. Many thanks for their hospitality - dinner at their house gave kids and grown-ups a chance to be with one another and have age appropriate conversation.

Tomorrow we will leave San Francisco and drive north. We won't have electricity at our cabin at Mt. Lassen so we'll take a day off from our blog. More on Tuesday!

Today we are staying in a log cabin that's in Northern Cailfornia.The Log cabin is in Cailfornia but you want to be more specfic it in Lassen Volcanic National Park.            Paul McGraw 9 years old the adventurer            

Today we went to the science Exploratorium and met friends Rachel, Jason, Sophie and Asher. We ate lunch with them at an Italian pizza and noodles restaurant. Then we went back to the Exploratorium and around the museum there was a big climbing space that I liked to do and I could get up on the top a lot. So did Paul. One surprising thing was we had to measure how tall we were to go on the climbing space and I was on the red line, because that marked how tall you had to be. What a fun day!

(As dictated to Mommy)

I almost forgot: we visited the Golden Gate Bridge today. Or at least the part that was visible.

My lovely wife is also not visible due to a dislike of towering heights that sway in the wind. We can't wait for the Space Needle!

It was sad to leave the Santa Cruz beach and boardwalk (they have Dole pineapple whips!), but we needed to head north. First we visited our friends John, Brynn, and their adorable daughter Hattie for breakfast. Then it was off to one of our favorite parks, Muir Woods:

Both kids became Junior Rangers, an honor that AmyRuth fondly remembers from her own childhood.

We are spending the night near the SF airport before venturing into the city tomorrow!

We did the aquarium from end to end...twice. It's an amazing place. We saw otters and penguins being fed, schools of sardines you'd have to see to believe, and sea horses that looked like they were straight out of Jim Henson's workshop.

Both kids stuck their toes (and ankles and knees) in the Pacific and the big kid got to play at the Santa Cruz boardwalk.

We should all be exhausted so with luck we'll all sleep past 5:30 am tomorrow morning.

We arrived safely on the west coast, collected the rental car and started heading south. When we realized how close we would be to Stanford we decided that would be our dinner destination. College towns have the best food and Sprout did not disappoint. Tomorrow the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

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