Week 3

So, to re-cap: During Week 1, John and and drove out to California.  Week 2 was in San Clemente and San Diego, enjoying the company of the family who lives there and the family who traveled to be there.

Now, I'll recall Week 3.  Early, very early, on Sunday morning, Sept. 29, five of us (John and I, along with Jim, Kitte, and Mary) drove from San Diego to San Francisco.  All the Californians we asked said we were crazy to do that drive in one day, especially on a Sunday.  This was always said with great emotion.  However, I was sure we could do it, and we did, with no problem whatsoever.  The first fun thing we did in the city was to go to the Painted Ladies, the iconic Victorian homes that are on the edge of Alamo Square. The day was clear, with no fog to hinder the view of the city in the background.

Mary and Kitte, in front of the Painted Ladies

Our second fun activity was driving down Lombard Street--the crookedest street in the world.  It is such an attraction!  Driving down the twisty street is fun, and standing at the top or bottom of the block, and watching the cars drive down, is just as fun.  John drove down it a couple of times.  :-)

That's John, in the white Explorer.  

We rented a house in San Rafael, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, for our two days in SF.  The home was so lovely and welcoming, we didn't want to leave when we finally arrived there that evening.

Mon., Sept. 30.  The five of us played in San Francisco all day.  What fun that was!  John is fearless about driving in big city traffic, so we drove up and down (and I do mean up and down!) every street and neighborhood that looked interesting.  Our first stop was at the Palace of Fine Arts, which is the only building left from the very opulent 1915 World's Fair.  It's now a park, and is so beautiful.
The next activity was a ride on a cable car!  That was so fun!  We've done it before, but I had forgotten how fun and how long the ride was.

 

Chinatown was eye-popping--not just the many colorful shops, but also the very, very narrow streets that we managed to drive on.

We spent a few minutes in the Fisherman's Wharf area, and then went to Ghirardelli Square for some chocolate shopping.
The city looked beautiful as we were leaving it.  The early evening sun was lighting it up and the fog was rolling in.

 

Tues., Oct. 1.  This was our Redwoods day!  We were all very excited about this.  :)  A picture speaks a thousand words, so here are some photos to describe our day of perfect amazement.

 

Wed., Oct. 2.  On this day, we drove up the coast of northern California and southern Oregon.  "Wow" was a word we all said several times.  There's really nothing else quite like those views of blue water, enormous rocks, and sandy beaches.  Again, the photos describe the scenes far better than I could.

Thurs., Oct. 3.  We continued driving up the coast of Oregon for awhile, seeing many more beautiful scenes, and then drove inland.  In Eugene, we stopped at Voodoo Donuts, which had been put on our must-do list by Chris and Barb.  The donuts were amazingly diverse--and so were the people we saw in this eclectic and free-spirited city.  From there, we drove to just south of Portland to spend the night.

Elk!  Lots of elk!

Fri., Oct. 4.  We drove from Portland to Seattle today, and spent the day playing in Seattle.  I had read that the best place to see the city is from Kerry Park, so we went there first.  We liked that perfect spot so much, we went back several more times that day and the next.  We also went to Pike Place Market, another must-do activity.  It's a really big market, several blocks long and two or three floors high, in the middle of the downtown.  There are shops that sell fish, flowers, produce, t-shirts, and many other things.  The Rachs went up to the top of the Space Needle, but John and I opted out of that.  They also took a ferry to Bainbridge Island.  Mary was meeting a friend of hers there; in fact, that's where they said goodbye to Mary on this trip.

Mary and Kitte shopping in Pike Place Market

The Rachs are in the ferry on the left, heading to Bainbridge Island

Beautiful sunset in Seattle, with Mt. Rainier in the background

Sat., Oct. 5.  On the last day of this 3rd week, Kitte and Jim flew home to Michigan, and Joe flew to Seattle!  In fact, we picked Joe up and dropped Kitte and Jim off at exactly the same time.  We took Joe to Kerry Park and to Pike Place Market.  All of our other attempts to tour the city were not very successful. The traffic was unbelievable, with construction all over the place, blocking our routes and causing backups for blocks.  We finally gave up, and decided to take a ferry to Bainbridge Island.  That was very nice and peaceful.  We had dinner at a marina, and then took the ferry back to the city.

Kitte and I, saying goodbye after a wonderful, fun week

John and Joe and Pike Place Market

Joe and I in Kerry Park, enjoying a Seattle sunset