The Ambitious Odometer

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

{Road Trip} Day Six - San Francisco, What a Treat!

This morning, we took the Bay Bridge and headed in to San Francisco...

I was immediately reminded of my first time in the city. I went with a couple of friends, and we stayed aross the bay in Alameda, at a Bed and Breakfast owned by friends of my parents. Only one of us was 25 (and able to rent a car), and I was so glad it wasn't me! My friend, B, had to drive us in and out over the Bay Bridge each day! Fast forward to today, and I did it for the first time at 49! You better believe I had Hubby videoing it to send to my friend, B!

While I have visted the city a couple of times before, most recently for a conference back in 2012, I was excited to get to show just a bit of the city to Hubby and the kids. We started off with a couple of things the kids wanted to do (and that I had never done before). We made our first stop at Alamo Square Park...

to see the famous view of the city's Painted Ladies...

This view has been used in various media, but is most recognizable to my children and me from the opening credits of both Full House and Fuller House...

We quickly realized that we couldn't see the actual Full House house from there, so we made our way over to it...

as well as the house from the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire...

From there, we headed over toward the famous Golden Gate Bridge...

and crossed it...

where we continued over to a beautiful overlook...

that got more and more beautiful the further we drove on it!

After crossing back over...

{...and, how about this google map of the bridge???}

we enjoyed lunch at Sears Fine Food...

got to see a cable car pass by...

and enjoyed walking through part of Chinatown...

on the way back to our car...

We drove down the famous Lombard Street...

also one of the most beautiful, in my opinion...

and drove by the Plaza Hotel where Preisdent Warren G. Harding passed away...

before heading into the Silicon Valley...

{again, the google maps were quite stellar here, understandably}

and swung by the home of the San Francisco 49ers...

before continuing south to Carmel-by-the-Sea for a delicious dinner at Cultura...

The churros game was STRONG!

More California tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2024 Fun

Day One - Meet Me in St. Louis, Later on Tonight?

Day Two - CITY Fun in St. Louis!

Day Three - A Prime Time in Kansas City

Day Four - Denver to Salt Lake City, and Beyond

Day Five - Operation #CapitolStepsChallenge Completion

Day Seven - A Beautiful Drive

Day Eight - A Univerally Good Time

Day Nine - Heading South and Then East

Day Ten - A Day at the Burning Bush...Errr, I Mean the Joshua Tree(s)

Day Eleven - Four Corners, Four States, and a Four Gazillion Hour Drive

Day Twelve - Going Nutty and Covering a Lot of Ground

Day Thirteen - A Little Bit of Elvis and HOME!

Monday, June 10, 2024

{Road Trip} Day Five - Operation #CapitolStepsChallenge Completion

After driving through the night and watching the sun rise over the Nevada desert...

we arrived in Carson City and stopped at the Nevada State Capitol Building where, after a nearly 5 year hiatus, B was able to run up his 49th set of state capitol building steps...

From there, we continued on and made the short drive over to Lake Tahoe, and it was beautiful!

We grabbed lunch at Bert's Café...

where the hostess that seated us was from SOUTH CAROLINA!!!

Then, we made a (not so very) quick stop for an oil change before making the drive up to Tahoe City...

stopping for a bit at a viewpoint along the way...

We grabbed an early dinner with a gorgeous lake view at Sunnyside...

before continuing on to Sacramento to COMPLETE the #capitolstepschallenge that was begun nearly 11 years ago...

That's right... We arrived at the California State Capitol, and B was able to run up his 50th, and FINAL, state capitol building steps. He (make that, WE) did it!!!

Who would've thought that the goal a little 7 year old made "to run up the steps of every state capitol building" (albeit AFTER we had just gotten back from a family road trip to Maine) would be met over a decade later...

{possibly the best part of this is getting to deflate and toss these left over graduation balloons (that's an upside down "2" from "2024") that have made the trip from SC along with us!}

Wow! Now, this is a bit emotional. I sure am grateful to our B for giving purpose and direction to all of the family road trips we've taken and the miles we've driven. I sure have enjoyed showing our children what a beautiful country we live in!

Now, to get some sleep...

More {Road Trip} 2024 Fun

Day One - Meet Me in St. Louis, Later on Tonight?

Day Two - CITY Fun in St. Louis!

Day Three - A Prime Time in Kansas City

Day Four - Denver to Salt Lake City, and Beyond

Day Six - San Francisco, What a Treat!

Day Seven - A Beautiful Drive

Day Eight - A Univerally Good Time

Day Nine - Heading South and Then East

Day Ten - A Day at the Burning Bush...Errr, I Mean the Joshua Tree(s)

Day Eleven - Four Corners, Four States, and a Four Gazillion Hour Drive

Day Twelve - Going Nutty and Covering a Lot of Ground

Day Thirteen - A Little Bit of Elvis and HOME!

Sunday, June 9, 2024

{Road Trip} Day Four - Denver to Salt Lake City, and Beyond

We slept in a bit this morning and then made it over to the very first Chipotle restaurant...

{a very favorite of these two, especially}

We had attempted to eat there the last time we were in town, but it was closed for renovations! So glad it worked out this time!

From there, we made a stop at the Denver Selfie Museum...

and it was a lot of fun!

On the way out of town, we made a stop at the home of the Denver Broncos...

and then hit the road for a looong drive ahead.

We drove through the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I love watching how the landscape changes through this area!

We grabbed a quick dinner on the way and made a couple of photo op stops in the area around Salt Lake City. First up, the real life "Up Movie House"...