This is an installment of Bryant Backyard Border Bouncing (BBBB).  For more information, please see the bottom of the About page.

I failed a bit on this report, as we learned about Ethiopia in January, though I’m just now in May catching up.  We also didn’t study it as extensively as I’d like, as we had a busy weekend.  So therefore, it’ll be a short one!

I was very excited when Ethiopia was pulled from the hat, as I have worked with several people from the country both in the hotel and airline industry, and they’ve been some of the warmest and kindest people I’ve ever met.  Also, I love the food!  While I’ve made Ethiopian food at home before, I’ve never found it to be nearly as good as what’s found in local restaurants, with a big part of that being that some of the main seasonings and spices used are not found in stores, but are instead made at home using long, involved processes.

As always, I had the girls find Ethiopia on a map.  The oldest is getting to know the globe better, so with a few hints, she found it herself!  While we didn’t find any books at the library, I did find some facts about the country that I shared with the kids.

• The official language is Amharic, though there are 286 languages spoken by 86 ethnic groups!
• Famine and drought are huge problems, with over seven million people not having enough food, and as a result, life expectancy is very low.
• Teff, the grain used to make the staple bread of Ethiopia, called injera, is believed to have originated in the country between 4000BC and 1000BC.
• Some animals in the country include camels, elephants, and baboons.

On a cold night in January, we visited Major Restaurant, located less than 15 minutes from our house on the west side of Indianapolis.  We were happy to see another family there enjoying a meal.  Always nice to see other parents exposing their kids to different cultures!  As an appetizer, we ordered sambussa, which are thin shelled pastries stuffed with beef, chicken, and lentils.  They were served with two sauces, both of which were delicious, though too spicy for anyone but me.  For dinner, we ordered a combination plate that included two kinds of meats, along with salad, collard greens, two types of lentils, and cabbage.

I taught the girls that in their culture, it is custom to eat with one’s own right hand, using the injera (thin, soft, spongy bread made with a sourdough base) to scoop up each bite. We also learned that “gursha” is an act of friendship and love, and is when a person used their hand to strip off a piece of injera, wrap it around food, and place it in someone’s mouth.  We girls were big fans of this.

While we didn’t do nearly as much with Ethiopia as we have with other countries, we really enjoyed learning what we did, and found that Ethiopian is a food that they’ll tolerate some of, which is a win, as dad loves it!

After a somewhat lackluster day, our last full day went much better.  It was also the youngest girl’s 3^rd birthday, so that added to the fun.  The weather was much nicer, in the 50s and partly sunny in the morning, becoming clear and in the low 70s in the afternoon, which is right up my alley.  It also helped to put everyone in a better mood.

We started out the day with breakfast at the hotel, which was just as satisfying as the first day.  After helping the older two girls finish up their Junior Ranger books, we got a fairly early start and got into the park, with the plan of doing a few short, easy hikes that are all right off of the shuttle bus stops.  First was a very short switchback trail that led to a viewpoint for Court of the Patriarchs, three rock formations that were named for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The blue sky and low hanging clouds made for some perfect pictures, and was one of the highlights of the park for me.

We then took the shuttle a few stops further to the Weeping Rock trail, which was longer than the last, but still fairly short.  On the way up the trail, we talked to a young man with Purdue shirt on, and learned that he and his family live in Indianapolis, and that he’ll be attending Purdue in the fall to become a pilot, with the hope of working for my company after school.  Again, small world!  The trail takes you up a hill and under a waterfall, where you have to walk by several of the streams of the fall, so we got a bit wet!  The girls enjoyed this trail as it was short, easy, and had a good payoff at the end.

We took the bus one stop to the Big Bend stop, where we tried to find a trail that follows the river south, though we all got our shoes muddy and kept slipping almost to the point of falling at the beginning of the trail. We finally got to flat land, though there were puddles throughout the trail.  We were never really sure that we were on the trail we’d been looking for, though we followed it along the river, eventually making it to the next shuttle stop.  It wasn’t the most pleasant hike, so we were happy to be back on the bus afterward.

By this time, it was just after noon, so we got back on the shuttle and took it back to the nature center toward the entry to the park, and arrived just in time for the 1PM ranger talk for kids, which was about geology and the rock layers in Zion Canyon.  The younger two girls were starting to get cranky at this point so stayed with mom inside the nature center, but the oldest and I sat there for the 30 minute talk, and really enjoyed it.

Having done a couple of easy and fun trails, and gotten a nature talk in, we headed back to the hotel for a break, and then in the mid-afternoon, went in search of food.  The natural choice was to go to Zion Brewery, just outside the park entrance.  The youngest slept through most of the meal, but the rest of us really enjoyed the perfect weather on the patio, the good food, and the nice views of the rock formations just off the patio.  The beers were nothing to write home about, but enjoyable in the setting.

After this, we walked over the bridge across the Virgin River back into the park in order to have the girls present their Junior Ranger activity books to the same ranger we’d met on our first day there, and the girls took the Junior Ranger pledge and earned a Zion NP badge.  We were very proud that they were so interested in the books and the park, and that were they were off on the right foot of becoming stewards and promoters of the National Park System.

We then headed back to the car and into Springfield to get what every three year old wants on their birthday…ice cream!  We sat outside on a park bench while the girls enjoyed their cones, and as usual, I ended up finished each one of them.  We capped the day off by hanging out by the firepit at the hotel.  I chased the girls around in the grass while Laura went to store next door for a few things.  When she came back, the youngest opened her gifts, which included a stuffed unicorn and a tablet matching her sisters,’ good for long car and plane rides.  It was the perfect end to a very good day.  After they went to bed, I grabbed one last cocktail across the street at Bit and Spur before getting sleep for the drive back to Salt Lake City in the morning.

The next day consisted of breakfast at the hotel again, the long drive back up north, and an uneventful three hour flight home.  We knew we were flying into a late spring snowstorm, but luckily clearing off the car and driving home wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  A long but uneventful day, and a good end to another fun trip!

Not every day on vacation goes as you plan, and this was one of those days.  Rain was forecast most of the afternoon, so our goal was to get to the park early.  We were very pleasantly surprised with the breakfast at the hotel.  There was a pancake maker just like the one we used at the Bavarian Lodge in South Dakota, and the girls loved it.  There were also several kinds of omelets, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, cereal, fruit, pastries, etc.  The staff was also very friendly and helpful.

After filling up on breakfast, we waited a while, hoping for the rain to clear up.  During that time, I walked a half mile up the street to a grocery store to look at getting some food to go for our lunch that day, but didn’t have much luck.  Finally, around 11, we made our way into the park, where we parked by the visitor’s center and boarded a bus.  The buses weren’t too full today because of the on-and-off sprinkles.  We took the bus to the last stop, Temple of Sinawava, where we planned to take the one mile long Riverside Walk, which follows the Virgin River, and stops at the beginning of The Narrows, a trail that goes through the canyon via the river itself.  We walked the trail on our first trip in 2012, as its flat and an easy hike.  Before starting out, we got some “then and now” pictures that recreated one of my favorite pictures of myself and the oldest when she was 6 months old on our first trip.  We’d only gotten about a quarter of the way down the trail when we came across a large puddle that the oldest decided to try to jump across, getting her feet and shoes soaked.  We made the decision to turn back soon after, as everyone was getting cranky, though we stopped along the banks of the river for some pictures of the group and waterfalls.

2011 and 2018:

Even though we didn’t do much in the park because of the rain, it was clear everyone was done for the time being.  We headed back to the hotel, where we got naps and were lazy for several hours.  I got hungry while waiting for everyone to wake up, so I grabbed some chips and salsa and a couple pints at Jack’s Sports Grill, which shared the parking lot with the hotel.

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After everyone was up and ready to move again, we headed to Zion Pizza and Noodle Company, where Laura and I split veggie pizza and Thai Chicken Pizza, and the girls had their usual of pepperoni and black olives.  We headed back to the hotel and let the girls run around in the grass for a bit, while I enjoyed conversation with other guests by the fire.  I talked to a woman who is from Victoria, Canada, which we visited during our 2014 trip to Olympic National Park, along with a woman who is a pilot for FedEx, and another who is a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines.  Small world!  Overall, it was a fairly dreary day, so hard to do much outside, and everyone was a bit cranky.  Not every day on vacation can be perfect.

On day three, we carried out our plan of getting packed up fairly early and heading into the park for the morning before finding lunch and continuing our trip south to Zion.  We first stopped by the Visitor Center, where each girl put a National Park stamp in our passport, a tradition we’ve carried out for several years now.  After spending some time looking around the museum, we drove about 30 minutes to the end of the road in the park to Rainbow Point.  We climbed about one thousand feet in altitude, so there was more snow up there, and it was cooler and windier.  After parking, we had to change parking spots because of what the girls deemed to be large, threatening looking ravens.  We got some pictures here, and made our way back north on the park road, where we stopped at several pull-offs, though mostly only Laura and I got out to get pictures and check out the view.  The one natural bridge in the park was a highlight.

By this point the girls were getting cranky, and everyone was hungry, so we made the drive back through the Dixie National Forest and south on 89, where we again found a town of several restaurants that were mostly closed for the season.  Luckily we found one restaurant open in Hatch, Café Adobe, where the girls split some mac and cheese and a cheese pizza, while I had a Navajo taco, and Laura had a chicken wrap. The girls had fallen asleep in the car prior to our arrival, so we went in to order and waited back at the car, where they promptly woke up just in time to wait 20 minutes for the food.   After eating, we continued to drive about an hour to the east entrance to Zion.

Upon entering the park, we made our way through the winding roads behind a line of traffic, and through the tunnels carved through the rock, which the girls loved.  The temperature had climbed as we drove south, so we went from the low 40s with cloudy skies to around 70 with clear skies.  Upon entering the park, we visited the Visitor Center, where we talked to a ranger who had a table set up to show kids bighorn sheep hooves and get them started on the Junior Ranger program for the park. The oldest two were old enough to partake, so they each got a booklet to fill out while in the park.

After making our way to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express (purchased mostly with IHG points) in Springdale, changing to cooler clothes, and settling into our room, we made our way back to the park, where we got the obligatory Zion National Park sign photos.  Our first visit to the park was in 2012 when the oldest was about 7 months old, so it was fun to come circle and get the picture again with the whole family.  We then parked at the Visitor Center again and hopped on one of the many shuttles that take visitors to one of nine stops in the park.  As everyone was wide awake and in a good mood, the weather was about perfect, with clear skies and temperatures in the high 60s in the canyon, we decided it’d be a good time to complete the largest hike we’d completed on our first visit, the Emerald Pools trail, which starts across the street from the Zion Lodge.  Luckily the girls were mostly enthusiastic about hiking, and did a fantastic job on the almost three mile trail.  Towards the end they were ready to be finished, but overall, we were very proud of them.  The trail takes you up in altitude and along the canyon wall, under a waterfall, and the further into a crevice in the canyon to a lower and upper pool from which the waterfall flows.  While on the previous trip we completed the entire trail, on this one we decided it’d be safer with small kids to skip the upper pool portion, as there’s a lot of places where footing is difficult, and it is steep.

The last portion of the trail coming back downhill offers some of the most amazing scenery I’ve seen in a National Park, overlooking the valley floor and the Virgin River. It’s the view that got me hooked on the place on our first visit.  Back on the canyon floor, we came across several mule deer right along the trail.  They’re not afraid to be near humans!

We were ready by dinner at this point, so we headed to Zion Lodge to have dinner in restaurant there, which has as nice patio with views of the canyon.  Laura and I each had salads, and the girls had quesadillas, which the barely touched, because they were “too cheesy.”  It got cool while we ate, so we headed back to the car via the shuttle, and back to the hotel.  I wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep, so I ducked into Bit and Spur, a restaurant across the street, to try a couple of High West whiskeys from Park City.  Tasty stuff!

As always, I woke up around 6am Eastern Time, so 4am Mountain.  Everyone else was still at least a couple hours from being awake, so I typed up day one notes for the blog and walked around the hotel a bit, enjoying a few minutes by the warm fire in the lobby.  It was nice to have a fire considering it was 17 degrees outside.

Upon returning to the room around 630am or so, I found the oldest, our early riser, to be awake.  I asked her if she wanted to go into the park with me to watch the sunrise, and she did!  I got her bundled up, threw her in the car, and drove just a few minutes away to the park and chose Bryce Point as a spot to get out, walk up a short path, and watch the sunrise over the canyon with about a dozen other people, mostly photographers.  As it was still in the high teens, she was cold, so we only stayed a few minutes.  We returned to the room to find that everyone else was awake and ready to start moving.

As it was so chilly outside, we decided it’d be a good morning to make use of the indoor pool, and head in the park after lunchtime, as the forecast showed temps in the mid-40s by then.  The difficult part of this was that the hotel consisted of about half a dozen separate buildings, and we were a several minute walk from the main building which housed the pool.  In order to make it work, we dressed them in their swimsuits with their clothes for the day on top.  We had the pool to ourselves most of the time, and the girls had fun swimming.  The logistics of getting everyone dried off and into clothes for the day were interesting, but eventually, we were all ready to go.  The hotel has a very large general store that has clothing, souvenirs, and a grocery store. Prices are a bit high, given high demand and low supply in the area, but it’s better than nothing. The girls wanted hot dogs for lunch, so we grabbed one for each, stopped at Subway (again) for lunch for ourselves, and headed into the park for the afternoon.

I’d read online about the Navajo Loop Trail, which starts right inside the park near where we’d parked the night before.  It has slot canyons that don’t require any canyoneering equipment, so I thought it would be fun for the girls.  The trail starts with fairly steep switchbacks, though the girls were having fun going down them.  We got some good pictures on the way down, but only got about halfway down to the canyon floor when the ground became quite muddy from previous snowfall.  Because it would have been difficult for the girls to continue, we made our way back up the trail to the top.  It was still fun, and a beautiful area of the park.  We’ll have to do the rest when we return in later years.

As there aren’t a ton of easy trails for kids in that area of the park, we drove back through town and into a separate part of the park off of State Road 12, to the Mossy Cave Trail.  All three girls were pretty energetic, and led the way along the trail.  It was less than a mile, and with only a few areas of hills to climb.  The trail split at one point, leading to Mossy Cave in one direction, and to a small waterfall in the other.  We went to the cave first, which was more of a large overhang with no visible cave entrance.  The waterfall was small, and we walked along the creek, hopping over it a few times to continue along the bed. We came to an icy area pretty soon, and headed back to the car.

We made our way a few minutes south into the town of Cannonville to try out IDK Barbeque, a food truck that had good reviews on Yelp.  We found that it was closed for the season, and as there are only two restaurants that looked lackluster in Bryce where our hotel was, we drove about 25 minutes to the Panguitch, where we ate at Big Fish Family Restaurant.  While basic fare, it was hearty and tasty.  Afterward, we made the drive back to the hotel, and had a fun time singing along to music and dancing.  Another highlight was when Laura thought it’d be a good idea to let the girls play with the makeup before bedtime.

It’s worth starting by saying that this is the first trip in a long time (with the exception of planned trips for events) that we actually were able to go to our originally planned location, without having to change because of flights filling up, weather, etc.  It didn’t quite go as planned, as we had to drive from Salt Lake City, instead of flying to St. George (which is closer to the park), and the order of hotels and parks changed accordingly.

We took an 8:20am flight to Salt Lake City, and we were lucky enough to get the next to the last row to ourselves, with the last row empty, even though I was afraid only middle seats were open.  I sat with the oldest, while Laura sat with the younger two across the aisle.  One of the reasons we love Delta is that most aircraft have TV screens in the back of the seats, so the girls were able to watch movies on the way, with some naps here and there.  The oldest started with an upset stomach and feeling groggy, but luckily was fine by the time we landed.  I spend an hour and a half watching a documentary on the making of Hamilton.  Overall, one of the best flights we’ve been on as far as the girls behaving themselves.

 

We arrived in SLC and headed to baggage claim, where we waited over 45 minutes at the belt for our flight, only to find out that somehow they ended up on the next belt.  That was followed by a long walk to the rental car counters and another 45 minutes of waiting, first getting a tiny “mid-sized” SUV that was much smaller than the two crossovers we own.  Luckily we were easily able to exchange it for one that fit everything fine.  Two hours after landing, we finally had our bags and the girls in the car and ready to go.  We found a Thai restaurant nearby where the girls loved their fried rice, and Laura and I were both very happy with our yellow curry and Tom Kha soup, respectively.  Overall it took over an hour as the service was slow, but three total hours after landing, we were finally ready for the long drive.

After a quick stop for a few bombers of beer at a state run liquor store (we thought Indiana had old laws), we were headed south on I-15, with Laura taking the first hour of driving.  I switched after an hour and drove the remaining 3 hours.  We were surprised how far south the jagged, snow covered mountains extended.  That coupled with the 80mph speed limit, and the fact that traffic was light, actually made for a pleasant drive.  Listening to Hamilton for three quarters of the drive also helped immensely.  All three of the girls slept about 3 hours of the drive, which was fantastic, as listening to constant demands and complaints (mostly from the youngest) gets old.

 

Knowing grocery stores and restaurants in Bryce are sparse, we peeked in a grocery store (though didn’t find anything quick and easy for on-the-go meals) in Panguitch, though settled on Subway for our dinner.  We wouldn’t normally eat at a chain on vacation, but with only so many options, so it was a quick and easy dinner.  We took sandwiches to go, made the final 20 minute drive to the town of Bryce, and pulled into the parking lot of the hotel we wanted to stay at, where we booked it last minute for a good rate on Hotwire!  The Best Western Plus Ruby’s Inn is a large complex of multiple outbuildings, and all that was available was a room in a building a ways off from the main building.  The main building had a nice large fireplace, huge general store with high priced groceries and souvenirs, a restaurant that looked very mediocre, and a large pool.

We checked into the room, got settled in, and ate our Subway sandwiches, before piling back into the car for the very short 5 minute drive into the park.  We scrambled up a short trail to Sunrise Point, took in a few minutes of the sunset (ironically), got some pictures, and headed back to the car.  The temperature was in the high 40s during the day, but was dropping quickly, with an overnight low of 17 that night.  Back at the hotel, we wound down, much more quickly for the adults who’d been stressing about travel logistics all day.  The highlight was being sung happy birthday to and presented with pre-packaged cupcakes, each with a candle in it.  The oldest has been under the weather, so was out in no time, with the adults not too far behind.  The youngest two played together and watched some TV before finally crashing.  Overall, a long and stressful day and birthday for me, but worth it in the end to reach our destination.

 

The trip home was mostly uneventful.  We had until noon to fly out of San Francisco, and were all awake early, so we had plenty of time to pack our belongings, and left for the airport to give us plenty of time.  A quick walk to the BART station, and a 40 minute ride, and we were at the airport.  I had a Vietnamese sandwich and the girls had a pepperoni pizza for lunch, and Laura snacked on guacamole.  We got three seats together in row 8, and 2 together in row 11.  I sat with the youngest, who was tired and cranky, and made it quite clear to us and all the other passengers that she wanted to sit with mom.  Luckily, the flight attendant let us switch just prior to takeoff.  Three and a half hours later, we landed in Indianapolis, where the temperature hovered around -10 Fahrenheit.  I took the shuttle over to the employee lot, and was lucky in that I didn’t have to scrape my car, though a few inches of snow had fallen while we were gone.  Within a few minutes, we had the girls in the car rolling toward the house, though all were uncomfortable from the bitter cold.

Overall, a very good trip, and we learned a few things along:

1. With all that goes on in a city, escapes from the hustle in the form of trips back to the room and playground time are much needed for them along with some sightseeing sprinkled in.
2. People in San Francisco love kids, as we had so many people waving and smiling at them and talking about them to us.
3. City trips seem less intimidating now that we’ve gotten one with all three girls under our belts.  They mostly did well with walking and with taking buses, and did great at staying right by our sides.  It will only get easier the older they get.
4. It’s really nice not having to unload, carry, check, buckle in, etc, three car seats.
5. Last but not least, San Francisco remains our favorite city in the United States, and we are happy that it’s one flight away, and one that is very often open enough for us to get on!

We got a bit of a late start, and initially planned on taking the cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf, and then catching a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge.  However, the line forming for the cable car was already lengthy, and the girls were begging for pancakes.  Not wanting to waste a lot of time and money on breakfast, we found a Burger King on Powell Street and got pancakes for the girls.  After that, we walked a few blocks down Market to catch a bus to the bridge.  After just missing one, we waited 20 minutes for the next, only to learn that it was a $4/person charge to ride.  I then determined via Google Maps that we could take the 5 bus and transfer to the 28 to get to the bridge.  Unfortunately, this entire process, from the time we left the hotel to the time we got to the bridge, took almost two hours.  Luckily the girls were pretty patient.  During the bus rides, Laura told the story of how 11 years ago waiting for the same bus, she wrapped her arms around me and put her hands in my vest pocket, almost discovering the engagement ring I was hiding there.  After I pushed her away, she thought I was mad at her, and figured out the reason a few minutes later when I got down on one knee and proposed to her in a park at the base of the Golden Gate.

We only spent a short time at the bridge, as the girls weren’t too interested in it.  We walked a short ways across, but it was a bit much for the oldest, so we turned back.  We stopped for a few pictures, and got back on the bus after a short time.  The girls had been begging for hot dogs all day, so I found a place on the way back where they could get their fill.  Luckily, it was a few blocks from an Ike’s location.  Ike’s Place is a restaurant Laura and I first saw on Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives years ago, and which we visited on our first trip to the city.  They make a large variety of sandwiches with some pretty unique ingredients.  I made a run to Ike’s while the girls were eating their lunch, and then took a bus back to the hotel, where we enjoyed our sandwiches.  I had a sandwich (Alamo Elementary) that had fried chicken, mushrooms, BBQ sauce, and mozzarella sticks, which paired nicely with the bottle of an IPA that I pick up every time I’m in the area.

After spending some time in the room, with the goal of the girls getting a nap (which never happened), we gave up on that and headed back out to try to catch the sunset over the Pacific.  We hopped on the 5 bus again that took us all the way to Outer Richmond and to Sunset Beach.  The oldest sat by me on the bus, where I caught her yawning.  She told me she wasn’t tired and was just stretching her mouth, and was asleep in my arms within 2 minutes.  The other two also slept most of the 45 minute ride.

We reached the beach, which is very wide from the street to the water, and walked over to the water and watched the sunset.  It was the youngest girls first time seeing the Pacific, though at two and a half, it didn’t mean much to her.  I was jealous of those bundled up by fire pits enjoying the sounds and sites of the ocean.  It was fairly windy and somewhat chilly, so we didn’t stay too long before heading back up toward the street and looking for the next thing to do.

We couldn’t think of much else to do for the evening as it was getting dark and the girls didn’t get much in the way of rest, so we decided letting them play at a playground for a while would be good.  With the magic of Google Maps, I found a playground a few blocks inland called Cabrillo Park.  It had plenty for the girls to play on, and kept them busy until it was mostly dark.

As we had a large lunch, and no one was too hungry, so we decided to head back to the hotel, after which I went to a nearby Whole Foods to pick up some chips and guacamole, sausage, cheese, crackers, and other assorted snacks to serve as our dinner.  By the time I got back, it was just over an hour from the ball dropping in New York to signify the beginning of 2018, and the girls were pretty close to falling asleep already.  We snacked on the food and I had a nice stout I’d been gifted by my friend Nicholas.  The local TV stations were showing the NYE festivities delayed by three hours because of the time change, so at the last minute, I found the countdown on my phone.  We counted down the last thirty seconds, and fairly quickly afterward, were all asleep.

Because of the three-hour time difference, everyone was up and going well before sunrise.  Laura needed a shower, so I decided to take the girls on a short walk to kill some time while she did so.  We headed a few blocks over to Union Square, which was pretty dead, as it was early on a Saturday morning.  A few weeks earlier, I showed them the huge Christmas tree and the skating rink there as I walked back to my hotel from my training class via FaceTime, and at the time, they loved it.  It was very cool for me to be able to show them all of this in person.

After everyone was ready to head out of the day, we all left the hotel and took the F streetcar down Market Street to the Ferry Building, where we checked out the Saturday Farmers Market.  The younger two were hungry and cranky, so we didn’t get to see as much of it as I would have liked.  We went inside the Ferry Building to find something quick that they could eat.  The first thing they found that they wanted was a container of six gluten-free chocolate sprinkle doughnuts.  The box cost about the same price as a decent lunch with a drink at a decent restaurant.  Yikes, California.  I got myself two each of two types of oysters and two clams for breakfast to hold me over until lunch, so I guess I can’t really talk.

After our breakfast, we hopped back on the F streetcar and headed to Pier 39.  It’s a busy, congested tourist destination that I love and hate at the same time, but if nothing else, I wanted the kids to see it.  There is a huge Christmas tree here also, and the views of the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz are nice.  The highlight was showing the girls the sea lions that hang out on wood docks in the bay adjacent to the pier.  The oldest was particularly fascinated by them.  We spent a few minutes at the small sea-lion museum.  There was an area where kids could write on a sticky-note heart what they like about the sea lions, and the oldest took part by adding “they are silly.”  Stole my heart.

After this, we headed to Fog Harbor Fish House, one of the few restaurants on the pier amongst dozens of crappy tourist traps that is actually pretty good.  I stopped in on my trip a few weeks back, and wanted to go again for an obligatory sourdough bread bowl filled with clam chowder.  We learned the first day that the girls can only handle so much before needing to go back to the calm and quiet of the room, so we headed back for a nap.

After our nap, we took a bus a few blocks north to the Stockton Street portion of Chinatown, one of my favorite areas of the city.  The middle girl lost her gloves, and I knew that Chinatown was the place to score a cheap replacement pair.  A quick search through a shop that sold tons of odds and ends led us to a pink pair that cost only one dollar.  Score!  We stopped by AA Bakery, where we got a pastry filled with hot dogs and a coconut custard bun for the girls to munch on.  Laura and I were still full from lunch.  The girls picked over their food before we headed out to check out the more touristy side of Chinatown on Grant Ave.  We walked past a band playing Chinese instruments, plenty of Chinese restaurants, and lots of shops full of cheap junk.  After stopping for a couple of pictures at the Chinatown Gate, we walked back toward the hotel.

We had to make a surprise stop at the Ghirardelli location on Market Street, as the oldest had been begging for ice cream.  After a huge brownie sundae that cost the same as the box of gluten-free doughnuts earlier in the day, we headed back to the hotel, where the girls were ready to sleep after an evening of walking.

I’d made plans to meet up with my buddy Nick, who lives in town, so I headed over to Cellarmaker Brewing to hang out with him.  I was able to meet his girlfriend and a couple of his other friends.  He and his girlfriend had to get up early to fly to Portland to visit friends for the New Year, but I made friends with his friends and hitched a ride to Liquid Gold, a beer bar where I visited during my last trip, where Nick bar tends once in a while.  Lo and behold, Nick’s friend Brandon, who we’d hung out with on my last trip, was there bar tending, so I got to hang out with him a bit while I had a beer.  A stop at an Indian joint for some carry out on the way home and I was back at the hotel and asleep quickly.

As always, we had a couple other trips planned out that fell through at the last minute, and the only place I could find that had open seats to somewhere that wasn’t experiencing tundra-like weather was San Francisco!  I’d been in town two weeks prior for a training class, and while I enjoyed my time there, didn’t get to do much for fun as I was in class all day, so I was more than game for a family trip.

What made us apprehensive about our destination is that it would be the first trip we’ve taken without the girls where we didn’t have a rental car.  Most of our trips are to scenic destinations where we spend lots of time in the car, and the girls get naps that way.  This would be the first where we would need to rely on public transportation, and would walk through a large city with lots of traffic, people, and new experiences for the girls.  Overall, they did a really good job and were good sports.

We flew out early on the morning of Friday, December 29, 2017, on a direct flight on United.  We got three seats near the back, where I sat with the older two girls, and two toward the front, where Laura sat with the youngest.  The flight was fairly uneventful, and we got in almost 30 minutes early, getting too the gate around 9am local time, where it was noon at home.   This was also the first trip where we didn’t check car seats or bags, which was really nice, so we were easily able head straight from the gate, over to the train that took us to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station.  We easily purchased tickets for myself, Laura, and the oldest (younger two girls were free), hopped on the train, and made our way to Powell Street station in downtown San Francisco, a block away from our hotel, the Marriott Marquis.  I stayed a few blocks away my last trip, but the training I took occurred at a conference center within the Marriott, so I was somewhat familiar with it and the area.  The girls got their first dose of the sights, smells, and sounds of a big city (unfortunately many of those related to homeless people) at the subway station and on the elevators.

We were at the hotel just after 10am, but they were able to check us in early and get us to our room.  It was on the sixth floor, so no view to speak of unfortunately.  But it had two double beds and a roll-away, which the oldest loved and slept on during our stay.  We ventured across the street to Westlake Mall, which has a very diverse food court.  The girls split a pepperoni pizza, Laura got a sandwich, and I got a Korean short rib sandwich on rice patty buns, along with waffle fries topped kimchi, bulgogi, and spicy sauce.  With everyone in the family having had a flu or cold recently that we were getting over, along with an early morning and long flight, we were all a bit tired and some cranky, so we decided to lie down a bit back at the hotel.

After a nap, we got up with just a couple hours of daylight left, and made a quick decision to go check out the sunset from Alamo Square, including the Painted Ladies – beautiful Victorian houses, with the hilly skyline as a backdrop.  The younger two girls are still a bit young to appreciate a lot of things, but the oldest was as impressed with the beauty of the city, as we are.  I could tell quickly that she was enjoying it so far.  Along with the view, she especially liked seeing all the dogs out and about with their owners.  We got a few obligatory pictures, and headed over to the playground within the park that the girls spotted on the way up the hill.  We spend quite a while there, watching the sun set over the city the whole time.

The playground wore them out pretty quickly, as they all fell asleep on the bus ride we took over toward Fisherman’s Wharf.  The goal was to grab some food and take a cable car back to the hotel, but finding a restaurant we could all agree on proved difficult.  We settled at Jack’s Cannery, a spot that Laura and I ate at on our first trip to the city 11 years prior.  It’s fairly touristy and has a basic menu of bar food, but it had burgers, which is what the girls wanted.  There was a guy playing solo, mostly Beatles tunes, so that was fun.  We tried to go to Ghirardelli for a sundae, but the line was out the door so we decided to pass.

We headed to the cable car starting point to find a 45 minute line, so started walking north toward a bus line.  A cable car came along as we were about to get on the bus, so we hopped on.  Pro tip:  avoid the line at the turnarounds, walk a couple blocks away, and hop on there.  The operators save room for people, and you don’t have to wait in line.  Laura called it cheating, but I call it knowing how to use the system to your advantage.  Unfortunately we were inside the cable car and it was dark, so the girls couldn’t really see much or get the best experience on their first cable car ride.  Once back at the hotel, the girls were ready for bed, so I grabbed a couple local beers from a nearby store to enjoy and watched TV a bit before we all fell asleep.  Good first day!