San Francisco

On our last day in San Francisco, the fog finally cleared off so we could see the Golden Gate Bridge. We were camped in Marin County on the north side of the bridge, so ended up driving (and Mike biking) over the bridge many times. We only crossed over it once where we could see the ocean and the bay. All the other times the fog was too thick...even when it was warm and sunny everywhere else.

This is a jewelry store at Fisherman's Wharf...Amy couldn't get over how big the store was (this is only half of it) and how much jewelry there was.

Amy's date! At one of the stores on Pier 39.
Three lefties at Lefty's! This store was great....sold lots of stuff just for left handed people...and, you have to be left handed to work there!

The sea lions of Pier 39...they were so funny to watch!

San Francisco - Alcatraz

The day after we arrived in San Francisco, we took a tour to Alcatraz. This is the view of San Francisco from there. The tour was very informative and we all really enjoyed it. It was especially interesting to learn about the families who lived on Alcatraz and hear about how life was on the island from the viewpoint of the children of the staff at Alcatraz.
Mike and I in a typical cell....five feet wide by nine feet deep with a sink, toilet and bed.

The view of Alcatraz Island.

Showing some of the original paintings left behind by one inmate when the prison was closed.

View of the dock and officer's quarters with the prison in the background.

Waves at Big Sur

We arrived at Big Sur, CA on Wednesday, May 26. Thursday it rained in the morning so we headed to Carmel by the Sea and Monterey. By mid afternoon the rain stopped so we spend the balance of the afternoon at Carmel Beach. Mike and the kids dammed this river made by the rain. They had a great time!

The following day we headed to Phieffer Beach which was a quick 10 minute drive from our campsite. The water was cold and it was really windy but we found a sheltered spot around some rocks and all had a great time playing in the waves. The beach was absolutely beautiful!

Braden and Amy having fun catching a wave on their boogie boards.

Braden at Sand Dollar Beach which was about an hour south of Big Sur. Another beautiful beach.

Mike and Amy were building a "fortress" to withstand the incoming tide. It lasted for quite a while before the surf took out half of it.

Big Sur, CA

A view of the coast at Big Sur. The whole area was absolutely beautiful and we had amazing weather considering the time of year!

This view shows the Bixby Bridge, built in 1930 along Highway 1 - the coastal highway.

Amy standing in our campsite at Big Sur Campground and Cabins. The redwood tree in our site was too big for two of us to reach around with our arms.

This beach was a private beach that belonged to a neighbor of Julia Pfieffer Burns. When the lady's husband passed away, she moved away from Big Sur and donated her land to the state to be made into a park in honor of her good friend, Julia Pfieffer Burns. The condition was that the beach was to be closed off to public access and for her home to be destroyed. Falling to the ocean is McWay Falls, and 80 foot waterfall.

I can't imagine being able to live here with this view...the family who owned the land at the time had a cable car that took them down to the beach.

Enroute to Big Sur, California

While enroute to Big Sur, CA, we stopped by Murray Farms to pick up some fresh fruit. We bought a whole flat of a fruit they had which was a cross between a plum and an apricot. They were SO delicious...the flat only lasted a day a half!

The whole farm was amazing...they had a petting zoo, several corn mazes, etc.

Amy in a swimming pool of corn!

This picture doesn't really do justice to how many oil wells were in this field. It was crazy...we've never seen so many wells, so close together and all pumping oil.

Hiking Gold Strike Trail near Hoover Dam

Our last day in Vegas was spent hiking down to some natural hot springs near the Colorado River at the base of Hoover Dam. This is looking from the back side of the dam (little bit of Lake Mead showing) and viewing the new highway bridge in the background. When the bridge is finished later this year or early in 2011, vehicles will no longer be allowed to drive over Hoover Dam. The current road is full of curves and there is a security check for each vehicle going over the dam. The new highway will be faster and will allow people a view of the dam as they drive over...plus will get rid of the security risk.

Hiking down into the canyon. It was a six mile hike round trip to where we went and you could go a bit further down right to the river. We were thankful for a day where the temp was 75 degrees and not warmer.

There were many places along the trail where you had to use ropes to lower yourself down over cliffs and through crevices to continue on. It made the hike even more enjoyable!

Mike and Amy having a good time in one of the warm pools.

This pool was the hottest....felt just like our hot tub at home. The only thing that was a little unnerving was that there was a long crevice in the rocks behind where Mike and the kids are. We couldn't see the end of it and it felt a little creepy wondering if some "creature" would slither out through that crevice into our pool! All-in-all a great day!

More from our time in Las Vegas

While we were in Vegas, we did the CSI Experience. In order to save some money on the tickets, we opted to preview a pilot CBS TV show that will air in the fall if it receives enough good reviews and we previewed Sony's new 3D television which will be available on the market in the next year or so. All of that was fun to do....plus then we were shown into our crime scene, collected evidence, took some of it to trace, some of it to the lab, went in with the coroner and at the end had to file our report. We all thought it was neat.

Braden leaning in for a closer look at some bloody footprints at our crime scene. What you can't see in the rest of this photo is a car that came through the window of a townhouse. There's a body in the driver's seat and a couch with blood on it to the left of the car. There's blood on the left side of the car as well as bloody foot prints and drag marks on the floor on the right side of the car....which is what Braden is looking at. Hmmmm....wonder what happened here?
Mike and Amy analysing the blood spatters and dna.

On our 22nd anniversary we went to the Tournament of Kings. It was a great night of eating without utensils, cheering for our king and watching jousting, sword fights and all other kinds of medieval things.
22nd Anniversary