Intentional Fun: Day #7- Atkins Go West 2.0 –Adventure of a Lifetime Continued…(May the Forest Be with You)

Day 7: June 15, 2017 – Yosemite National Park to San Francisco, CA

Atkins Go West 2.0 –Adventure of a Lifetime Continued…(May the Forest Be with You!)

Weirdest thing we saw: Our server, Holly, at the BBQ restaurant in San Fransico. She was pierced in places I didn’t know you could pierce and she had dozens of tattoos. She was as sweet as she could be though. She and the owner came to our table and sat down and came up with a list of places we needed to take the kids with only two days in the city. She even served us a family sized banana pudding on the house! Precious person!

Most memorable moment of the day: Sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge

Captain’s Log:

We had a great night’s sleep after such a long week of adventures. Chris and the kids got breakfast in the hotel as I added things to our blog while I had good internet coverage. I forget how lucky we are to hava a cell signal and service just about everywhere we go in Knoxville (well except on my way to and from The Ridge!). We packed up, and Chris graciously stopped by the Oakhurst McDonald’s to get my breakfast and MUCH NEEDED Unsweet tea! The next town over was Mariposa, CA where our friend Erin Clark grew up. We snapped some quick pictures of her town along the way.

We had a long drive ahead of us so I napped on and off during the day. As we drove to San Francisco, we passed countless farms and ranches along the way. What we saw most were perfectly groomed rows of citrus trees.

They were in stark contrast to the light yellow grasses and brown canyons all around. We didn’t really stop for lunch that day because of our McDonald’s snack and random road trip snacks. We decided to head on into San Francisco. The traffic was heavy, but not unbearable like we had read about…yet. We crossed over a HUGE toll bridge across the bay and could see the Golden Gate Bridge and city way off in the distance to our right. Chris won the prize for seeing the bridge first (17 points!). Near the airport and not quite into the city, we found our hotel, a Homewood Suites, and checked in. After settling all of our gear, we headed on into the city.

Chris had researched this 49 mile driving trail that takes you through most of the key highlights of the city. This sounded like a good place to start. However, the kids had already been in the car for hours by that time and the traffic in downtown was insane. So we hit a few of the first stops to see the port and other interesting buildings before calling it quits to find dinner instead.

Kayden had googled family friendly places in San Francisco and found a BBQ place that had great reviews. Chris navigated us to a eccentric little neighborhood in the Mission District to find Kayden’s family friendly pick. We found free parking which was amazing in this town! So the saloon/bar/bbq place didn’t seem as kid-friendly as the website or the lady on the phone when we called made it out to be. The boys were somewhat unnerved with the bar and unique looking staff at first. Holly, our totally tattooed and pierce server could not have been more welcoming and friendly. We quickly realized that this was the perfect place for our dinner. Holly took our orders and the kids were fascinated by the Coke and Orange drink served in “real glass bottles!”

I really need to take the kids grocery shopping more (less internet shopping). Anyway, we had some amazing BBQ ribs and pulled pork.

The Mac n Cheese was a little weird, so none of us really ate any of it. Holly noticed and took both orders off of our check and brought us a Sequoia sized portion of their homemade banana pudding instead!

It was an amazing dinner. I loved the décor of the place and the friendly folks. A local outside took our picture for us and laughed at the southerners coming to SF for BBQ! She thought it was hilarious.

Our next stop was for the boys. Thanks to Nickelodeon at Night, the boys love watching Full House. Chris and I grew up watching this show so it is so interesting the boys love it now too. Chris had located the “real” Full House House and made our way to the neighborhood.

I downloaded the Full House theme song on Youtube, and we did a sing-a-long on our way to the house. After some quick pictures, we headed on to find the park where Chris wanted us to watch the sunset. We never drove more than a few blocks in this city without taking a wrong turn!!! After many attempts to find the right park entrance, we finally just pulled over in a parking lot to see the sun setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge. It was stunning! It is so amazing that the same sun sets every night and looks different and amazing at differing location on this trip.

We played our favorite “find the bathroom” road game and found restrooms near this outdoor festival in the city. It was a huge grassy area like at our own park near the Sunsphere. There were a couple of dozen half dome tents and fire pits set up in rows. We figured out that these tents were for rent and when families wanted to have cookouts or an evening around the fire pit, they go to this park. This makes sense because none of the houses in SF seem to have a yard at all. Anyway, we found the bathrooms and continued on our way. Next we drove to a small overlook called Inspiration Point. It was a beautiful view of the bay, bridge, and Alcatraz Island.

Chris’s next stop was atop a huge ridge top called Twin Peaks where we had a panoramic view of the city. The wind was so strong, but the view was splendid. This really is a neat city, even at night.

Our last stop was a drive down the road that drives right along the Pacific Ocean.

The kids and I had never seen the Pacific Ocean, so this drive was very exciting. The beach was deep and sandy at this beach.

The sun had disappeared down the horizon so it was time to head back to our hotel. After an interesting GPS/WAZE tour of some SF neighborhoods, we made it back to our hotel just in time for hot chocolate and bed!