Number of Miles Driven: 222 

Drive Time: 9:00 am - 11:00 am (to San Francisco); 5:30 - 6:30 (to Santa Rosa) 

States Driven through: CA (1)


When we first put in directions to San Francisco, Waze told us it would take 3 hours 45 minutes to get there. We were shocked - we assumed it would be around 2 hours. Turns out Waze had remembered our preferences from the day before and gave us the directions to San Francisco using the scenic route. We got our fix of scenery yesterday, so we definitely took the highway to San Francisco and arrived right at the 2-hour mark. 


Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. We went to Crissy Field for our first viewing. San Francisco was overcast and very foggy which made it hard to get a picturesque view of the bridge, but the kids still thought it was great and they liked the beach part too. We headed toward Battery East park and took several touristy photos of the kids/family with the Bridge. 


First "viewing" of the Golden Gate Bridge at Crissy Field





He got a kick out of doing this - all his idea...



It was quite cold and windy so we ate lunch in the car. While we were eating, Michael decided to get some more landscape photos (apparently, I only take photos with people in them). I was in the driver’s seat eating lunch when a strange man knocked on my window. Normally, I’d roll down my window and see what’s up, but he was just standing there looking at me - not odd at all. After I yelled through the window with a quizzical “yeah?,” he said we should take the stuff off the top of our car. Right at that time, Michael came into view, so I felt a little better, but I also realized maybe he was just trying to be helpful. I said “Thank you” and he walked back to his car and got in. After that, we saw signs everywhere we went that said “Prevent theft…take everything valuable with you” - so I do think it was a good citizen trying to be helpful. At least that’s what I’ll tell myself. 


After the kids were tired of me asking to take their photo from different vantage points around the Bridge, we headed to Ghirardelli Square. Although the full chocolate factory isn’t there anymore, there are lots of shops and they still have a chocolate/ice cream shoppe. Because it was so cold, Michael and I got Sea Salted Caramel Cocoa. Carolyn got cookie dough ice cream in a waffle cone, Andrew got Black Cherry ice cream in a waffle cone, Matthew got vanilla in a waffle cone and Dani got Strawberry ice cream in a cup. The cones were huge! As we were eating/drinking, I commented to Carolyn that I bet the ice cream is a huge hit when it’s summer in San Francisco to which Carolyn confusingly replied “Wait…it’s not summer here?” I had been so cold and was drinking cocoa that I had temporarily lost my awareness and thought it was winter. 




Watching the chocolate being made




Next, we took a ride down the iconic switchback section of Lombard Street. I had never done that before and thought it was fun. To get to the top, we had to go up a very steep hill. There was legitimate concern (at least from some members of the family…ahem…Michael) that we wouldn’t make it up the hill. It’s a really good thing Michael had the foresight to remove our trailer from our van before we entered San Francisco - we definitely wouldn’t have made it through San Francisco without bottoming out! 


After Lombard Street, we headed toward Muir Woods - about 35-45 minutes north of San Francisco. One the way out of San Francisco, a car rolled up next to us at a stoplight blaring music with lots of expletives, and Dani said “I love that song!” Of course you do, Dani. We got to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to get there and the kids loved that. They commented that the bridge looked even bigger up close. After getting across we stopped at the vista point to get one more round of photos from a different angle, and we even got a family photo. It was also a great vantage point to get a pic of the whole city, but San Francisco was still under significant fog, so it wasn’t that great of a shot anyway. 





The trek to Muir Woods was a little scary. It was switchbacks with NO shoulder but we made it safely into the woods. Like others before us have said, it was beautiful. The trail was easy to follow and we were making great time, so we decided to do the longest loop with more difficult terrain that took us higher up a mountain and we could overlook the forest below. The trees were large but not as big as I was expecting, but the canopy of green was still impressive and serene. The kids enjoyed finding the trees with knots in them, or exposed roots, or openings in the trunks that they could squeeze their bodies into. They also climbed on every fallen tree that they could. They each wanted to be the “leader” of our hike and took turns leading us through the woods. We got to the Cathedral City section and it indicated that that was the “quiet” part of the woods. Admittedly I was a little anxious for the Griffin family to enter that part of the park, but it looked like it was going to be the  most beautiful part and provide the most interesting hike around the main loop. There were so many “off-trail” trails and we just didn’t have time to explore any of them - so doing the the unpaved section of the main loop was a nice compromise. We found a banana slug along our journey - we hadn’t seen one of those before. It was a great time at Muir Woods and I wish we would have had longer but we were meeting my Dad in Santa Rosa for dinner and it was already 5:00. 


Our trek to Muir Woods - lots of curves...and no shoulders
















Andrew worked hard to finish his Junior Ranger workbook before we left - it was probably the most involved one yet - and he secured his third badge of the trip. The Ranger talking to him seemed genuinely interested in hearing Andrew’s answers to the questions and learning about where Andrew was from. Once he was sworn in, we were on our way to Santa Rosa. 


Getting his 3rd junior ranger badge on this trip


It was beautiful leaving Muir Woods - 5:30 the sun was finally shining and the fog was lifting. The traffic wasn’t too bad and we made it to Santa Rosa by 6:35. We got a prime parking spot in front of Russian River Brewery and enjoyed meeting up and having dinner with my Dad. In fact, this morning, Dani asked if we were going home (uh-oh…have we reached our limit…) and we told her “no” but that we would be meeting with Grandpa Jon for dinner. Her eyes got bright and a huge smile crossed her face. All the kids were excited to see him and jockeyed over who would get to sit next to him. We ordered a couple of pizzas and got a couple of drinks. I got a “Blonde sour” (Temptation) which was Blonde ale aged in a chardonnay barrel. It was okay but I definitely didn’t think it tasted like a traditional sour. It had more of a traditional beer flavor but Michael said he could definitely tase the wine flavoring. The waitress said her favorite was the “Brown Sour” (Supplication), but its major flavor profile was sour cherries and I’m not a huge fan of cherries. Michael and my Dad got Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig - two of their most popular brews. My dad also clarified how to pronounce “Pliny” - apparently, the man was pronounced with a short “i” vowel sound and the beer is pronounced with a long “i” vowel sound. 


Russian River

After a great dinner (the pizza was delicious!), we headed back to our hotel and basically crashed. San Francisco wore us out, but it was a great fun-filled day seeing iconic sights.


Next stop: The Redwoods (Fortuna, CA)