Happy July 4th! We woke up today at the Samuel Taylor State Park near Point Reyes, CA. It was a beautiful morning. Josh and Zev ran off almost immediately to play in the creek. They’d come back for something to eat and to check in. Before we knew it, though, the morning got away from us. It was after 11 am before we were able to get on the road today. Our intention was to get a much earlier start. But the kids were having such a great time in the water. They found some other kids and were catching fish and building dams.
Anyway we finally got on the road. After a stop for food and ice we headed south toward San Francisco. The kids were very excited about going over the Golden Gate Bridge. Both have read about it in books or seen it in movies. Finally, there it was. We were driving over the bridge. It’s been very foggy in northern California and today wasn’t much different. But it was fun to see the kids excitement. I decided to park the Westy on the San Francisco side of the bridge. One, we could take a better look at the bridge and the bay, and two, we could regroup and figure out where to go next. This is as far as I planned and I wasn’t sure how to get anywhere or what we’d do today.
After some figuring out, we decided to take public transportation to the Fisherman’s Wharf area. I know there’s lots to see and do in San Francisco, but this really isn’t a San Francisco trip. I just wanted the kids to get a taste of the city. So we figured out the buses and the fares and the transfers and made it to our destination. We just walked around at first, still trying to figure out what we should do. There were a couple of free museums, the San Francisco Maritime Museum and some Municipal Museum. Randi got some clam chowder. We did a lot of walking. You can’t go to San Francisco and not do the cable car so we bought tickets for that, and waited and waited and waited… our turn finally came and we took the cable car through town. It was a great ride, I really enjoyed it and I know the kids did too. We walked to the section of Lombard St. where the road switches back and forth down a steep hill. We went to Ghirardelli Square and ate some chocolate. We saw the Trans America Building and also Alcatraz from a distance. It seemed like we packed a lot in for one day… not even a whole day. The evening was drawing near and the kids wanted to see fireworks. We still had to get back to the van at the Golden Gate Bridge. We grabbed a quick bite for dinner then figured out the buses we’d need to get back to the van. Once back I realized it was way too foggy to see fireworks by the bridge. It was also getting late and we had no place to stay at this point. Earlier, Randi and I discussed that we’d head down route 1 to Santa Cruz and try to find some camping there. So that’s where we went.
It was a relatively quick drive to Santa Cruz, but the sun was going down quick and I wanted to find some fireworks for the kids. As we pull into Santa Cruz we can see glimpses of fireworks along the beach. The city seems packed so we keep heading south toward the know campgrounds. As we do the kids keep their eyes open for more fireworks. Finally we get to the first campground and its completely packed – I mean completely. There were cars and people everywhere. There was, of course, no where to camp there. I stopped a ranger and asked about any chance of us staying and he said all these people made reservations 6 months ago. I thanked him and moved on. There was no chance of us getting a campsite anywhere tonight. We started looking for hotels. We quickly found that the hotels were also completely booked. We tried quite a few places and drove up and down the coast quite a bit. Now it was approaching midnight and still no place to stay. Wait, we have a van we can sleep in. We just need to park it. So, with no other options, we parked on a dark street near the last hotel we tried and closed up our curtains. I didn’t want to pop the top because I thought it would bring too much attention to us and I figured camping on the street was probably not completely legal. So I had to arrange all the junk in the Westy so we could open up the bottom bunk and make enough room for the four of us to sleep. Let’s just say that it wasn’t our most comfortable night’s sleep, but we did get some sleep. We’re still not certain about our plans for the remaining days, and though we had a great day in San Francisco, I hope we have better luck finding places to camp for the night. I’m sure, however, that this will be something the kids talk about when they think about our road trip!
Anyway we finally got on the road. After a stop for food and ice we headed south toward San Francisco. The kids were very excited about going over the Golden Gate Bridge. Both have read about it in books or seen it in movies. Finally, there it was. We were driving over the bridge. It’s been very foggy in northern California and today wasn’t much different. But it was fun to see the kids excitement. I decided to park the Westy on the San Francisco side of the bridge. One, we could take a better look at the bridge and the bay, and two, we could regroup and figure out where to go next. This is as far as I planned and I wasn’t sure how to get anywhere or what we’d do today.
After some figuring out, we decided to take public transportation to the Fisherman’s Wharf area. I know there’s lots to see and do in San Francisco, but this really isn’t a San Francisco trip. I just wanted the kids to get a taste of the city. So we figured out the buses and the fares and the transfers and made it to our destination. We just walked around at first, still trying to figure out what we should do. There were a couple of free museums, the San Francisco Maritime Museum and some Municipal Museum. Randi got some clam chowder. We did a lot of walking. You can’t go to San Francisco and not do the cable car so we bought tickets for that, and waited and waited and waited… our turn finally came and we took the cable car through town. It was a great ride, I really enjoyed it and I know the kids did too. We walked to the section of Lombard St. where the road switches back and forth down a steep hill. We went to Ghirardelli Square and ate some chocolate. We saw the Trans America Building and also Alcatraz from a distance. It seemed like we packed a lot in for one day… not even a whole day. The evening was drawing near and the kids wanted to see fireworks. We still had to get back to the van at the Golden Gate Bridge. We grabbed a quick bite for dinner then figured out the buses we’d need to get back to the van. Once back I realized it was way too foggy to see fireworks by the bridge. It was also getting late and we had no place to stay at this point. Earlier, Randi and I discussed that we’d head down route 1 to Santa Cruz and try to find some camping there. So that’s where we went.
It was a relatively quick drive to Santa Cruz, but the sun was going down quick and I wanted to find some fireworks for the kids. As we pull into Santa Cruz we can see glimpses of fireworks along the beach. The city seems packed so we keep heading south toward the know campgrounds. As we do the kids keep their eyes open for more fireworks. Finally we get to the first campground and its completely packed – I mean completely. There were cars and people everywhere. There was, of course, no where to camp there. I stopped a ranger and asked about any chance of us staying and he said all these people made reservations 6 months ago. I thanked him and moved on. There was no chance of us getting a campsite anywhere tonight. We started looking for hotels. We quickly found that the hotels were also completely booked. We tried quite a few places and drove up and down the coast quite a bit. Now it was approaching midnight and still no place to stay. Wait, we have a van we can sleep in. We just need to park it. So, with no other options, we parked on a dark street near the last hotel we tried and closed up our curtains. I didn’t want to pop the top because I thought it would bring too much attention to us and I figured camping on the street was probably not completely legal. So I had to arrange all the junk in the Westy so we could open up the bottom bunk and make enough room for the four of us to sleep. Let’s just say that it wasn’t our most comfortable night’s sleep, but we did get some sleep. We’re still not certain about our plans for the remaining days, and though we had a great day in San Francisco, I hope we have better luck finding places to camp for the night. I’m sure, however, that this will be something the kids talk about when they think about our road trip!
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