Monthly Archives: June 2026

Bloggings, Travel

Muir Woods

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Today was my dad’s birthday. And we got to go to one of the places he wanted to see the most, Muir Woods. Lucas was up around 5 am. We ate breakfast at the hotel at 6:30. Then we all walked over to Fisherman’s Wharf to get our 9am tour with Dylan’s Tours.

We set up a guided tour to Muir Woods to see the Redwood Trees. Our bus tour started with a little tour around San Francisco. I really didn’t expect that, so that was pretty cool. Dylan drove to Chinatown and showed us some stuff. Then he showed us some very expensive houses and let us walk a couple blocks to look at them. He drove by the house from Mrs. Doubtfire and the house from Full House (even though tour buses are not allowed to drive by it). Then he made a 15 minute stop so we could take pictures by the Golden Gate Bridge. I really thought the bus would just go straight to Muir Woods so this was a nice surprise.

We got to Muir Woods around 10:50 and we had to meet back at the bus at 12:20. The trees were awesome. The walk was easy and fun. We made it to the Cathedral then we turned around. Lucas worked on his junior park ranger book and earned his badge. The woods were really awesome; I have never seen trees like that. On the drive back we had the option of being dropped off in Sausalito or taking the bus back.

We decided to get off and have lunch. We had lunch at Napa Valley Burgers. It was very good but very expensive. After lunch we walked over to the ferry terminal to buy tickets for the 3:10 ferry. While waiting Lucas played on rocks near the water and looked at crabs. Then he played in a fountain. We had asked Dylan where the ferry from Sausalito would drop us off and it sounded like it would be close to Fisherman’s Wharf. But on the ferry Don and I discovered it was actually going to be much further away from our hotel than Fisherman’s Wharf.

This stressed me out because we were supposed to meet my cousin Mark for dinner at 6. When we got to the ferry station in San Francisco it was already approaching 4. We had wanted to stop by the hotel to get a banana bread that my Aunt Patti had made for Mark, but then my mom decided let’s just go over to the park with the Painted Ladies before dinner.

So, we figured out the bus and made our way to Alamo Park. Our bus driver was very friendly. Mark met us at the park. After walking a bit and seeing the Painted ladies Mark told us we should take a Waymo to dinner. A Waymo is a self-driving car. So Lucas, Don, and I got one and my parents and Mark got another. Kelsey, Jared, and Adeline took an Uber because we were unsure about the rules for kids in Waymos. The Waymo was pretty cool and a super smooth ride. Lucas loved it.

We ate at Boiling Hot Pot. It was a really cool experience for everyone. It was good to see Mark. After dinner Mark came back to our hotel and he was able to get some banana bread. So it all worked out! He even was able to play chess with Lucas.

Bloggings, Travel

First Day In San Francisco

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Yesterday was Lucas’s last day of school. He rode his bike there. When I picked him up he wanted to ride around the playground with his friend Matti a few times. I can’t believe he’s done with kindergarten. When we got back to the house my parents were there. We went to dinner at The Ivy, which used to be The Piggery. It was pretty good. Then we got ready for bed and watched the cubs for a bit. They were losing bad but somehow made a miraculous comeback in the bottom of the 9th.

Kelsey, Jared, and Adeline were staying the night in Austin because they are flying out of there tomorrow. Adeline had a tough time sleeping in her tent they brought, and they eventually had to get a pack N play. Hopefully she sleeps better for the rest of the trip.

We woke up around 4:30 am. Lucas watched the cubs highlights with Papa and Gigi. Then we made our way to O’Hare at 5:30. The airport was crowded! By the time we made it thru we only had about 50 minutes to eat. So we went to the food court. Our flight was delayed by 20 minutes because of air traffic control in SFO. When we eventually boarded we were on the runway for probably an hour. Lucas was so tired and cranky. He couldn’t get comfortable to sleep. When the plane took off, he finally got to sleep.

The plane ride was ok but it felt long. Lucas slept for maybe 40 minutes. Once we got off the flight, we easily got a taxi to our hotel, Comfort Inn By The Bay. Kelsey, Jared, and Adeline had been here for a couple of hours already, so we met up with them. We were really hungry, so we went to a Pizzeria across the street called Chico’s. It was pretty good.

Then we walked over to Fisherman’s Wharf. The walk felt long but we made some stops and we were tired. We made our way over to Pier 39 and saw the sea lions. There were so many of them. Then we looked at some shops. Adeline and Lucas rode the carousel. Then Lucas and I watched a short magic show. I was holding a balloon sword that Lucas got and one of the balloons popped. It made me jump and say, “oh my gosh!” the magician stopped and said, “are you ok?” 😂😂

We ate dinner at Pier Market Seafood Restaurant. It was pretty good. Lucas and I had fish and chips. Don had clam chowder. Of course we had calamari. Then we made the trek back to the hotel. We made it back around 7 and got Lucas to bed. He did very good for waking up at 4:30 am, having a 40 minute nap, and gaining 2 hours.

11/21/25 I got the day off last minute today. As I was about to walk out the door Becky texted me and said I could be off. Later Lucas and I were sitting at the dining room table and we heard a big bang and he was like “what’s that noise” and I said “that’s someone hitting a car, a car accident” so there was a fender bender in front of our house. It was the highlight of the morning. Lucas went into Don’s room, (he was on a work call) and said “there was a car accident outside!” people on the call were like “oh no I hope it’s ok”