Our Family Vacations

Eclipse day! We checked the weather the night before and made a plan to go to a park near Petaluma, which was supposed to be sunny, and an easy 45 minute drive away. In the morning, it was cloudy, but we weren't worried, since we knew the weather was usually so different inland. So we started on the route we had planned on. But the clouds didn't thin out - in fact, they were so thick, we couldn't tell where the sun was at all. So I checked the weather again and saw that the forecasts had completely changed from last night, and in fact there was no sun anywhere within a close enough drive of us to catch the eclipse. I was getting constant texts from Gina, Raquel, Michele, and Judy about their experiences. Gina found a good viewpoint quickly. Judy and Michele were fogged in, the way we were. Raquel had a great view at her kids' school. It was really sad for us, and the kids were disappointed, but they bounced back quickly. We drove back west and south to Point Rey...

We had gone back and forth many times trying to plan a time for Judy, Raquel, Michele and me to get together, but getting the details done was tough. In the end, after talking with Gina, we decided to meet in between, leaving out the kids and husbands. In retrospect, given the condition of the Bolinas house and the lack of anything to do there other than tidepooling and the Rt. 1 closure, it's a good thing we didn't decide to meet in Bolinas. We met for brunch on Sunday in Mill Valley, at a place called the Dipsea Cafe, or something like that. It took me almost an hour to get there, over the dreaded Panoramic Highway, but it went by quickly. The beautiful scenery helped.  After a lot of intense catching up over omelettes, we went for a hike close by. And then we went to a Whole Foods type grocery store (Good Earth?) for more coffee, and I bought yet more groceries. It was so great to see my friends! We hadn't all been together for 7 years, when we rent...

Woke up early and got on the road for San Francisco. Rt. 1 was closed, so we had to take a detour on the Panoramic Highway. It was a steep, windy, 15 mph road, complicated by cyclists crawling up and bombing down. Evie got carsick. Eventually, we made it to San Francisco. Parked near Fisherman's Wharf, and walked to the closest cable car terminus. It  took a long time to get on, and it was packed. But so fun! We got off in Chinatown and walked to a place to see how fortune cookies were made. Dim sum for lunch, at supposedly the first dim sum restaurant in the US. It was good, but not as good as New York, and more expensive. No carts! Then off to the Cable Car Museum, which Evie said wasn't really a museum (the way Fern Canyon wasn't really a hike), because it was interesting.  The actual mechanism that pulls the cars through the city More walking up and down hills... To the SCRAP escape room on Polk Street, where we tr...

Friday morning, we met our guide, an odd man with a gigantic white beard and a pronounced limp named Robert. We walked around the grounds, looking at the animals in small enclosures first - lemurs and other monkeys (like the one that looked like a skunk - skunkey), crested porcupines, tortoises. Then we saw giraffes, antelopes of various types, and cheetahs (the only big cats they keep, because they don't climb and so are relatively safe). Guinea hens ran free with their tiny chicks - so cute. Safari West's animals have never been in the wild - they are all bred and raised in captivity, leading to behaviors like this: Bird taking the tour with us Bird hanging out with Anna The aviary was very cool - a big area that felt open, in spite of the mesh on all sides. Scarlet ibis Then we got into the truck and saw the herd animals. The landscape was like the Serengeti - dusty, sunny and dry - except very, very hilly. Lunchboxes of the Serengeti ...

This was the day we traveled back south, but we started it by going north and doing one last very short hike - the Yurok Loop, near the Klamath River. The Klamath River bridge had some cute golden bear statues on both ends. The Yurok loop had a beautiful coastal view, but in retrospect, we could have skipped it, given the amazing coastal scenery in Patrick's Point and Point Reyes (at the end of our trip). After the hike, we drove south, pretty much straight, though we stopped in Arcata at a food truck, where we had burgers.    Then we parted ways with Gina and continued to Sonoma and Safari West. There, we met up with Judy, Edward and Anna and had dinner (not a culinary high point) together. Safari West is kind of kitschy and funny - the "rooms" are tents like the permanent tented camps in safari parks. But they're very nice - with comfortable beds and showers. It was actually our best sleeping set up, as there were a big double bed bunk an...

The day before, we had done two pretty decent length hikes, and so I guess Wednesday was come-uppance day. The kids threw gigantic temper tantrums about doing more hiking. It was a warmer day, although still quite cool, so maybe that was part of it.  We drove to Elk Prairie State Park, found the world's best parking spot thanks to Gina, and took the Cathedral Trees Trail. It was a beautiful trail, though there were some open, sunny parts, so perhaps being hot added to the tantrums.The cathedrals start as a cluster of connected trees that sprout from one redwood in the center. Eventually that center redwood dies and leaves  a ring of trees, so closely packed together that they do resemble a structure. Selfie of the short arms We were determined to hike Fern Canyon in the afternoon (considered a must do hike), even though the kids were still being rotten. As a (undeserved) concession, we decided to do the short half-mile loop instead of the longer recommended hike. ...

As is always the case things look better in the morning. We had a lot of fog and it was still really nice and cool. So we spent a leisurely morning getting to know the house better, reassuring ourselves that there were no mouse attacks in the middle of the night and having breakfast. We packed a picnic lunch and set off for our first stop, which was Patrick's Point State Park just south of Orick. It was just passed low tide when we got there so the first thing we did was drive out to the the point and go down a very steep cliff face to the rocky beach far, far, far below to go tide pooling.  We saw starfish and lots of snails and little crabs but the big highlight was sea otters! We saw a family of three playing in the water and on the rocks. They kind of looked like weasels, but the way they played and had fun chasing each other up and down the rocks and into the water was so cute.  David and I went further down the beach, following the otters. While I was watchin...