June 24, 2014: We just spent the last four nights of our vacation in San Francisco and now it is time to head home. We drove from Tahoe to Mill Valley on Friday the 20th. About an hour outside of the city we stopped in Fairfield, CA at the Jelly Belly factory.
We had to wait in a pretty long line to go on the factory tour but it was free and the kids were excited. James took them through the candy store while I waited in line. Everyone has to wear funny paper hats on their heads for the tour. It started out with several iconic pieces of art work that have been recreated using jelly beans.
Then we walked around the entire factory from elevated hallways looking down on the workers.
I find factories very interesting with all of the machinery and conveyor belts getting the work done. Afterwards we continued the last hour on to Jordan's house in Mill Valley. The kids started playing immediately and were so happy for buddies and toys. James and I worked quickly to unpack the camper and clean it. We left all the kids and fought the Friday traffic to return the camper and pick up a small rental for our remaining days. We used an awesome company called FlightCar that I highly recommend to anyone for a cheap rental. When we finally made it back to Jordan's we rushed into our running clothes, kissed the kids goodnight and left them with Jordan's sitter. We met up at the running store and went for a beautiful 10k summer solstice fun run.
James and I were the only ones to do the 10k and not the 5k, the views were fantastic from the hills. The running store had a big party afterwards with local beers, a taco truck and they showed a movie about a local ultra runner doing her first 100 miler at the Western States. There was a skate ramp in the back that James had fun on.
Later a bunch of my oldest friends all went back to Jordan's and sat around the chimenea. Saturday June 21, we left the kids with a sitter again and went to wine country for the day. We all met up with Robin and Clark and piled into their mini van for the drive to Healdsburg. Our first stop was the Donelan's where Trip met us and gave us the grand tour.
With champagne on the way up and Trip pouring heavy glasses, we were well on our way to a fun day. We went to three other vineyards in Healdsburg and had a delicious lunch at the general store there. On the way home the car died and we were stranded on the highway waiting for a taxi. We made it home and everyone we knew came over to Jordan's for a big bbq. It is so fun to get to see so many old friends in one place. Sunday June 22 James and I took the kids into San Francisco for some sight seeing. We walked along the waterfront, watched street performers, rode a double decker carousel which the kids thought was very exciting,and we tried to go to Alcatraz but it was sold out until mid-July! We walked through Chinatown and the kids thought it was so interesting looking into the fish places with weird looking fish, frogs, turtles, and shrimp for sale. We had pizza on the street, rode on the trolley, where we got to hang out of the side for part of the ride, we walked down Lombard Street because it is now closed to car traffic, stopped in Sausilito for ice cream and then headed home.
Monday June 23 I went for a long run in the morning and James took the kids to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Afterwards we met Wes in Sausilito and went for a boat ride. It turned out to be very windy and we went behind Angel Island and went out to look at Alcatraz but turned around because it was very cold and choppy.
We had lunch on the water and checked out the seals. Afterwards we took the kids to Golden Gate Park to ride the old carousel there. Then we headed home for packing and dinner.
We had to wait in a pretty long line to go on the factory tour but it was free and the kids were excited. James took them through the candy store while I waited in line. Everyone has to wear funny paper hats on their heads for the tour. It started out with several iconic pieces of art work that have been recreated using jelly beans.
Then we walked around the entire factory from elevated hallways looking down on the workers.
I find factories very interesting with all of the machinery and conveyor belts getting the work done. Afterwards we continued the last hour on to Jordan's house in Mill Valley. The kids started playing immediately and were so happy for buddies and toys. James and I worked quickly to unpack the camper and clean it. We left all the kids and fought the Friday traffic to return the camper and pick up a small rental for our remaining days. We used an awesome company called FlightCar that I highly recommend to anyone for a cheap rental. When we finally made it back to Jordan's we rushed into our running clothes, kissed the kids goodnight and left them with Jordan's sitter. We met up at the running store and went for a beautiful 10k summer solstice fun run.
James and I were the only ones to do the 10k and not the 5k, the views were fantastic from the hills. The running store had a big party afterwards with local beers, a taco truck and they showed a movie about a local ultra runner doing her first 100 miler at the Western States. There was a skate ramp in the back that James had fun on.
Later a bunch of my oldest friends all went back to Jordan's and sat around the chimenea. Saturday June 21, we left the kids with a sitter again and went to wine country for the day. We all met up with Robin and Clark and piled into their mini van for the drive to Healdsburg. Our first stop was the Donelan's where Trip met us and gave us the grand tour.
With champagne on the way up and Trip pouring heavy glasses, we were well on our way to a fun day. We went to three other vineyards in Healdsburg and had a delicious lunch at the general store there. On the way home the car died and we were stranded on the highway waiting for a taxi. We made it home and everyone we knew came over to Jordan's for a big bbq. It is so fun to get to see so many old friends in one place. Sunday June 22 James and I took the kids into San Francisco for some sight seeing. We walked along the waterfront, watched street performers, rode a double decker carousel which the kids thought was very exciting,and we tried to go to Alcatraz but it was sold out until mid-July! We walked through Chinatown and the kids thought it was so interesting looking into the fish places with weird looking fish, frogs, turtles, and shrimp for sale. We had pizza on the street, rode on the trolley, where we got to hang out of the side for part of the ride, we walked down Lombard Street because it is now closed to car traffic, stopped in Sausilito for ice cream and then headed home.
Monday June 23 I went for a long run in the morning and James took the kids to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Afterwards we met Wes in Sausilito and went for a boat ride. It turned out to be very windy and we went behind Angel Island and went out to look at Alcatraz but turned around because it was very cold and choppy.
We had lunch on the water and checked out the seals. Afterwards we took the kids to Golden Gate Park to ride the old carousel there. Then we headed home for packing and dinner.
