San Fran and Monterey

Last week we took our first vacation of 2012 to San Francisco and Monterrey, CA. We took advantage of every minute and saw quite a few sites, many of which we didn't take pictures of, but we made the most of our time there. Above are the famous "painted ladies" that you see on the TV show Full House. Below is a view near Lombard Street (the really curvy one). We did a lot of walking up some steep hills, our calves and buns were feeling it that night.

Our hotel was right down by Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square, we couldn't have asked for better weather either while we were there, especially since it is cold and rainy this week.
We took the Trolley to China town and to Union Square.
There were beautiful views of the bay, the bridges, and Alcatraz almost anywhere you go...even behind a hungry seagull.
We ate bread bowls and sourdough pizza at Boudin's at the wharf, it is a cool place, as you can see they bake all kinds of things. Ellie was really good most of the time, but that cold wind off the bay wasn't always the most inviting. Actually Ellie just wanted more than anything to get out of the stroller and jump into the ocean to swim with the seals.
We stayed in the Argonaut Hotel which was a fun place, our favorite thing was the hot chocolate bar they have every afternoon. Ellie was in her own little world with a cup full of marshmallows in her lap.
Here we are at the bottom of Lombard Street...
...and walking through China Town.

We also spent some time in Golden Gate Park, we loved the Japanese Tea Garden. It just happens to be free on MWF from 9-10am.
We feel very lucky to live so close to such a beautiful place, just a 3 1/2 hour drive.


We were really excited to take Ellie to the zoo, but it was a letdown because she had a meltdown right as we pulled in. All of the big animals were not out in the open, but it is a really cool zoo and fun to walk around and see the animals.

Of course after paying the big admission, all Ellie cared about was playing in the fountain and going for a ride on the train. I can't remember the last time I was in a zoo. On the way down to Monterey we checked out the Stanford campus.Our first day in Monterey we went straight to Dennis the Menace Park. It is worth a stop if you have kids, totally free, and lots of big toys to play on. I almost broke my tailbone going down the slide made of little rollers. Ellie thought it was hilarious so she wanted to keep going down, all I could do was distract her with the other things cause Daddy wasn't going down that slide again.
The Aquarium in Monterey is DEFINITELY worth the money. As soon as we walked in the place Ellie was mesmerized, she had white knuckles while holding on to the edge of the stroller. I could have spent half the day just standing, staring, and looking into the huge tanks.



We all loved the jelly fish, they made it all look really cool with fluorescent lights in a dark hallway. Believe it or not, that is a Sea Horse that looks like a floating plant, craziest living thing I've ever seen.
The lone Cyprus on the 17 mile drive. This is the trademark for the Pebble Beach Golf Resort. There were some HUGE houses along the drive.

The last night we went down to Carmel and played on the beach. The town is really fun with all the little house shops, and there is a perfect view of Pebble Beach Golf Course from the beach.Joni and her pregnant silhouette. I forgot to mention another little girl is on the way, we are very excited.



We ate at some fun restaraunts and made some pretty good memories. Thanks Mom for coming along with us.