Spring Break! Awesome! We decided to take a family road trip to a big city (San Francisco) just for the fun of it, and we were not disappointed! So many adventures...
First we stopped at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield...
They have free tours so--BONUS--family of 6 gets to go on a tour! The coolest part was the one rule: everyone must wear something over their hair. Some of us opted for the cool-mo-dee Jelly Belly hat...
...while others went with the hair net.
We concluded the visit to the factory by going through the tasting line--they give you two or three beans of the three flavors of your choice. If you want more, you just get back in line! And there wasn't really a line, so that was cool. What was NOT cool was one of Ed's choices to sample: canned dog food. He bit into it, and tried to get me to taste it. There was no way, but I did agree to smell it. And then I dry-heaved.
So we continued on to the big city. Driving in on the Bay Bridge was exciting--the kids loved it! We checked into our hotel, and decided that we wanted to eat dinner at The Stinking Rose. It's a garlic restaurant, and you'd think the bad breath would be a turn-off, but Archer sure loves his mommy!
So we're waiting for our food, and interestingly enough, our table has mirrors on two sides--you can see them in the picture above. Well, if you know Bauer at all, you know that he is slightly fond of making faces at himself in the mirror. So he's entertaining himself, and of course, the chair he's leaning toward the mirror on slips out from under him! He knocks his face real good on the back of it on the way down, and his front tooth--which was already pretty loose--starts bleeding. It's just dangling there! So Ed has to take him to the bathroom to pull it out. Not fun...
That was almost enough excitement for the Morenos for the evening, but we had to at least try to get some dessert at the gelato place across the street. But alas, they only took cash, we didn't have any, and we headed back to the van and back to the hotel. Once in the lobby, however, we realized something wasn't quite right. It might have been the short Arab yelling at the shemale behind the front desk, or it could have been the woman trapped inside the elevator, screaming her head off. Or it could have just been garlic breath. Regardless, the elevator was "out of order", and we had to use the stairs. ALL EIGHT FLIGHTS.
The next morning, we decided to go to our favorite breakfast restaurant off of Union Square--the Olympic Flame Cafe. As we walked down the hill and through Union Square, we marveled at the big city sights: the tall buildings, the busy streets, the picket line in front of the Westin Hotel, the homeless guys arguing over a backpack...but breakfast was great. And they only took cash, too. Good thing for me they had an ATM right next to the counter. And a nice $2.00 surcharge.
The Cafe
Union Square
One cool FREE activity I had planned for the trip was to go on the "49 Mile Scenic Drive" all over San Fran. This was actually a good idea, since it rained part of the day and we were safe in the van, NOT paying for parking, and did I mention it was FREE? We were well on our way when I spied a large, black mass hovering over the grass at a park we were passing...
Newfies! Of course we had to stop!
There were seven full-sized Newfies out for a walk with their two breeders. There was plenty of hair and slobber to go around.
Yes, on the sleeve and the pectoral area of Ed's sweater--slobber.
Part of the tour was to get up to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we actually crossed it! It was beautiful!
Back in the van, and more of the 49-Mile Drive...we ended up for lunch at Pier 39--it was just about to rain, so we were glad it was time to eat.
We decided to eat at Bubba Gump's Shrimp restaurant at the end of the pier. We had a great view of Alcatraz and the ferries. There were some cool signs on our table:
And Archer said, it's OK, Mom. You can order the Shrimper's Heaven fried shrimp sampler. No one has to know...
We decided to go sleep off the shrimp at the hotel, and eat dinner late. By 8:30 we were ready to go find something. First we tried to find a Mediterranean food restaurant, but by the time our GPS got us there, it was just after 9, and they were closed. That's OK, let's try a different one. Oh, that one doesn't exist anymore. (Keep in mind we are using the GPS to find the restaurants in the first place.) OK, well, it's getting late--let's just go to the Cheesecake Factory at the top of the Macy's in Union Square. So we find parking underground across the street, get the baby in the stroller, get us all up to the restaurant, and...there's a 45 minute wait. Argh. I'm about ready to lose it--I'm not even hungry, everyone's tired, and we won't even be seated until 10 at LEAST. So Ed read between my frown lines, and decided we should go.
No one is happy at this point. We are almost decided that going back to the hotel would be best, but by the time we get back in the van, we think we should try ONE MORE place. There is a cute one called the Fog City Diner, right across from Pier 39. By the time we get there, it's 10, and they are not seating anyone else. DARN! ARGH! Will this night ever end!??!? NO, it won't, not until we find some poor restaurant to parade our 4 exhausted children into. We found a cafe that was still open, and as I'm looking at the menu of coffees and sandwiches, I ask, "Can you make a grilled cheese?" The guy replies, "We aren't cooking anymore tonight. Just drinks and pastries." This time, I think Ed was about to unload. He told me just to get a couple cookies, and he'd meet me at the van with the baby. I ordered 3 chocolate chip cookies. $9.37. Excuse me? Oh, and we only take cash.
As I left, I saw Ed a couple doors down talking to a man in a modernly strange Italian place that could make us a cheese pizza in about 10 minutes. Cool, we'll stay. We were the only ones in there anyway. Well, us and the 3 vampires who worked there.
Everyone slept really well, having stayed up so late. We were out of the hotel by 10:00, and went looking for a place for breakfast. We headed back to the Fog City Diner to give it another go. The were closed. Say what? Have you EVER heard of a DINER that doesn't serve breakfast? Whatever. Back to the not-so-trusty GPS to find another restaurant. Nothing real close, so we start walking, cuz I didn't want to waste the $4 I just paid the parking meter. We had to cross a big street, and found the Alcatraz Landing Cafe. Cool, they serve breakfast sandwiches. And they have a Krispy Kreme display. Can't be that bad...but oh wait, those breakfast sandwiches (egg mcmuffins) are $7.50 each....5 times $7.50....$37.50? Plus juice and coffee...I don't think so. So it's like the morning version of last night. Can't find a stinkin' place to eat. We decided to drive home. But first...one last picture:
Overall, this trip was one that we'll never forget!
