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July 26-31, 2004
For our first official family vacation, we decided to fly south to Northern California and do some sightseeing in San Fran. This was my first trip to California and Gianna's first airplane ride. Despite having two young kids in tow, we managed to see quite a bit of the city and even took a day-trip. I was especially excited to see the Golden Gate Bridge and to cruise through the famous intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets, the center of the 1960's hippy movement. We gawked at all the hip clothing stores and cool, equally-hip twenty-somethings milling about, all while trying to forget that we were sitting in a Dodge minivan. The times they are a-changing!
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| The Golden Gate Bridge is usually foggy, especially in the mornings, though this day was also cold, windy and overcast. | |
 At Fisherman's Wharf downtown. You can see Alcatraz Island in the background. |
 All the outdoor restaurants have giant heaters to keep you warm. San Fran is not your typical sunny California city! |
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| One of the few hot and sunny days during our visit was spent at Golden Gate Park, which is over one thousand acres! At the kids playground, Gianna and I sampled the yummy sand while Jayden and Daddy played. | |
At the park's botanical gardens (where we looked for a geocache)
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| The Japanese Tea Garden is also located within Golden Gate Park, though you have to pay a small fee to enter. At the cafe, Jason and I sipped some green tea and noshed on some oriental nibbley things; Jayden had a "Japanese" tootsie pop. | |
At the foot of famous Lombard Street
 Somewhere near our hotel in South San Francisco. |
 At the top of Russian Hill downtown (near a cache) |
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| At the top of the Marriott hotel. |
Geocaching on Treasure Island
 Gianna demanded hands-on room service and a business-class highchair. |
 It also doubled as Jayden's bed. Here's Jayden eating a book just like little sis does. |
Thank God for VCRs and Baby Einstein videos!
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| On a beach in Monterey, which is an hour and a half south of San Fran. This was one of our stops along the famous 17-mile drive, which eventually took us to Carmel where we stopped for espresso and shopping (and a cache, of course). | |
Birds and seals populate this tiny island
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| We thought it would be fun to take the kids to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Jayden loved all the kiddie rides. Jason enjoyed a deep-fried Twinkie on a stick. So much for those health-conscious Californians. | |
Other Travels:
