Gentle People With Flowers in Their Hair

 

Where do I even start???  I've wanted to visit San Francisco FOREVER -- and it did not disappoint!  I've decided there's no perfect way to present this portion of the road trip, so I'm just going to bullet point my way through it.  Hahaha.  Let's get started, shall we?

• The funniest moment of the pit stop would have to be Sophie's suitcase going AWOL while we were unloading the car at the hotel.  San Francisco is famously {very} hilly and hills plus wheels plus gravity set the perfect stage for hilarity and hijinks to ensue.  Hahahahaha.  Seriously though -- seeing the suitcase slip away from the group and start to gather speed while Sophie tried in vain to run after it was a laugh-out-loud moment for the whole family.  (Even Sophie.)  Hahaha.  Thankfully, the suitcase finally veered off the side enough to come into contact with a tree (or something) and was stopped before it went ALL the way down the hill and into the intersecting street.

Unfortunately, I didn't whip out the camera in time to record the flight of the suitcase, but this at least gives a visual to the hilly-ness of the sidewalk.

• Despite the fact that I frequently reminded the kids that San Francisco would most likely be very cool if not downright chilly, a certain child did not heed the memo.  As a result, Alex was freezing half the time and ended up begging, borrowing, and borderline stealing any of the others' jackets or sweatshirts that they were willing to give up for a time.

Waiting outside a Starbucks while we grabbed some breakfast on-the-go.  Grace was kind enough to let him use her jacket at that point in time.

Grace and Jane were killing me with the poses while waiting for the bus.

😂😂😂

• Bus Tours are the best.  Haha.  Knowing we only had one full day in the city, and wanting to get the most out of it that we could, we opted to go with a hop-on/hop-off bus tour that took us around the city and filled us in on all kinds of interesting facts and anecdotes about the area.  I mean, if I had my druthers, I would have spent several days in the city and explored everything in much greater detail, but since we were traveling with 6 kids (ages 18 down to 5 1/2), a one day bus tour was in everyone's best interest.  Hahaha.

Complimentary sunglasses = perfect felfie photo op.  Hahaha.

• Our first "hop-off" spot was to see the Painted Ladies -- ie the row of victorian houses that are famously spotlighted as the backdrop in many a San Francisco movie/tv scene.  (Like the opening credits of Full House, for instance.)  The park across the street from the houses was probably the favorite stop of the day for Isaac.  Haha.

We loved this mosaic wall that we passed on the way to the park.

LOL.

I loved this tree.  According to my plant app, it's some type of cedar.

The Painted Ladies -- or Seven Sisters, as they're also called.  

Fun fact, Ethan didn't realize that the "painted ladies" I told them we would be seeing were houses.  It wasn't until we were leaving the park to head back to the bus stop that he asked where these painted ladies were supposed to be.  Hahaha.

Having some fun with the mural.

Hahaha.

• Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge while sitting atop the bus was a vibe.  Especially since I had so graciously given up my jacket, at that point in time, to Alex who was sitting next to me and freezing.  It was cold, WINDY, and loud, and the sky was foggy and grey, but it was certainly an experience!  Haha.  For the return trip across the bridge, however, I wisely moved down to sit inside the bus with Alex -- who still hadn't given me my jacket back.  

(That's my hair blowing in the wind.)

Grace continuing her poses with random statues throughout the trip...

It was Scott's turn to sacrifice his jacket for Alex at this point in the day.

Felfie with the {barely visible} Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Fun fact -- the color of the bridge is actually "International Orange."

• I would have loved to have more time to explore Fisherman's Wharf, but by the time we got there, kids were getting tired and hungry and ready to head back to the hotel.  Womp womp.  After grabbing some souvenirs -- including a sweatshirt for Alex -- and grabbing a bite to eat, we hopped back on the bus for the last leg of the route.  Once "home" for the evening, everyone was more than happy to just chill.

Staying put in the same place for two nights in a row was definitely an added bonus to our San Francisco stop, and I think it helped to make the stay even better.  By the time we said good-bye to the city, we had already been on the road for 8 days and the exhaustion of being constantly on the go was starting to catch up with us.  Stay tuned for the next installment of the recap to see how we modified the next couple of days to make the journey more enjoyable.  Until then, peace out my gentle people...