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| Away, we go! |
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| I left my heart in San Francisco |
With Christmas
and family visiting, this visit seemed to fly by… unfortunately. We had a list of the highlights we wanted to do (and eat) and we were able to tick most of them off. Disclaimer: not all the adventures below are Bay Area.
Our first adventure was to a local favorite, CuriOdyssey and Magic Mountain park. We really enjoyed our last visit here (in 2012) so with a few free hours before lunch, we ticked it off. Funnily enough, at the park I ran into 2 friends from middle school with their kids!
Day Trip: Monterey
After Christmas, we went on a day trip (2 hours) to Monterey to see a dear friend who I have been missing since she moved back to America. It was a beautiful winter day so we hired a people mover bike - all 8 of us on one!
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| Adventures by the Sea |
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| Safety first! |
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| Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail |
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| Reunited! |
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| Looking for otters |
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| All I see is ... Calvin??? |
Unfortunately it was time to say goodbye again. Hope to see you all again soon!
Golden Gate Park & San Francisco Zoo
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| Buffalo Paddock |
After a dim sum lunch in San Francisco, we went to the zoo via Golden Gate Park to after saying hello to the bison.
We always really enjoy the zoo. Firstly, admission doesn't cost as much as Disneyland (okay, I am exaggerating but it's very expensive now), it's flat (I've pushed a stroller too many times up the hills at Taronga) and you can actually see the animal in the enclosure.
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| Monkey see, monkey do |
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I like to move it, move it
(being lemurs) |
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| A family favorite: giraffes |
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| King of the Jungle |
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| Penguin feeding |
On New Years Day, we had a big San Francisco tourist day starting with driving down Lombard Street, the Exploratorium, walking to Pier 39 for clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Boudin's, a ride on the carousel, and watching the sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge.
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| Lombard Street |
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| Exploratorium (new location) |
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| Thirsty? |
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| My favorite exhibit: water drop photography |
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| Spinning patterns |
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| Angie and Miss E |
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| San Francisco clam chowder in a sourdough bowl |
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| Sea lions |
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| Eden waving at the Blue & Gold Fleet |
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| Pier 39 carousel |
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| Sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge |
Always on our 'food' list is Sam's Chowder House... yes, more clam chowder! And Off the Grid events. We had a food truck dinner with Laura, Ian and Roxy, the dog. It was a short visit, but so glad we got to see each other.
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| Cousins at Sam's |
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OTG Johnny Cupcakes
(bigger than his head!) |
A favorite for date night is La Fondue with one of our favorite couples: Mr & Mrs Martin. We needed to be rolled out of the restaurant!
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| Le Freak with a taste of everything on the menu including boar, alligator, antelope |
We squeezed in a solid 3 hours of outlet shopping; tag teaming as we also had the kids with us. Luckily Mr E was tired and spent most of the time like this:
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| Mission accomplished! |
On our last day for sightseeing, we saved the best for last: California Academy of Science.
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| From the original Steinhart Aquarium |
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| I see you too, Mr Octopus! |
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| Patting the starfish |
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| Naked mole rats |
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| Monarch butterfly |
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The butterflies were attracted with Eloise's red coat.
She did not like them landing on her. |
Finally, with 1 day to go we squeezed in a mini-reunion with high school friends. The saying is true, you can go months without talking and when you reconnect, nothing has changed.
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| Mat-eo, you know! |
I didn't get to see everyone this time, but I hope to see you the next time! And here's to it being less than 2.5 years to our next visit!
My back-track posts aren't done yet but I think I've given you enough reading for now. Still to come: Lake Tahoe, Eloise's 6th birthday, Disneyland Surprise, and Bangkok.
