California: Part 5

Kirk, Meki, Kaiya, and Kirin left super early the next morning to drive back to Utah. Reilly, Hunter, and Karson also left early to drive back to Spokane. Then it was just the Johnsons, Party of Four, with still another day in San Francisco. I am so glad that we took an extra day. It was so nice to relax and decompress but still have fun in such a great city.

We all wanted to go back to the Oakland Temple to take more pictures, go to the rooftop garden, the visitors center, and just soak it all in. So we did. It was so peaceful, beautiful, and calming after a wild and exciting week.

We absolutely loved this beautiful temple and grounds!

After that we went to get lunch at Fenton's. One of Kameron's friends had recommended it to us. It was awesome! They are known for their giant ice cream creations. It is absolutely darling inside too.

Their handcrafted sherbet was out of this world! They handcraft all of their ice cream in 10-gallon batches. We watched them making their specialty ice creams. So interesting.

We loved the gorgeous California weather! We walked around in this area because this is where Tyler lived when he was little. Tyler was born in CA and his parents lived not too far from Fenton's when Tyler and his sister were little. His dad worked for IBM back in the day. We drove around the area where they used to live.

We couldn't get over the beautiful giant plants! After that we drove to Berkley to check out the campus. That was fun and interesting! So many things to see and do. 

Then we drove to the San Francisco Bay area to show the girls the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove across it and then parked and walked on it and all around. Again I have to state how amazing the weather was the entire trip! Nothing but blue skies! My friends from SF were incredulous!

We walked across 2/3 of the bridge. It was so cool! The view was spectacular!

It really is such an architectural marvel!

There were old naval batteries and tunnels all over that were once used to protect San Francisco and the harbor from potential naval attacks. They were interesting to see.

I love these trees!

We had planned to go to Alcatraz and to Muir Woods but forgot that it was Labor Day and everything was booked. So we drove around some more and looked at a few other places. There is no lack of beautiful sights to see in SF. That night we got take out and headed back to our Airbnb to pack for our flight home. It was another sensational day in San Francisco. We flew home the next day. It was technically Bryn's first day of school and she missed it. Oh well. It was worth it. What a trip! What a wedding! What a time for all of us! A new beginning.

California: Part 4

The day after the wedding while our newlyweds were honeymooning; the rest of us had a fun day to play in San Francisco. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Luke early that morning who had to drive back to Sacramento for work. Reilly, Hunter, and Karson headed out to spend the day at the zoo. The rest of us headed out for a day of sight-seeing. First up was breakfast at the famous Tartine. Kirk and I love Tartine! We came here with my mom on our last trip. She was so excited to eat at this famous spot. On our trip with our mom, we miraculously arrived at the perfect time, and avoided the insanely long line that immediately formed after us. The same thing happened this time! We were even able to get a few seats to share before the line was out the door and down the street!

I love their quiche (truly the best I have ever had) and their almond croissants.

Then we were off to sight see. Our next stop was the Painted Ladies. Our girls are big Full House and Fuller House fans so this was a must stop. 

We walked around and looked at the beautiful architecture and neighborhoods. We also drove down Lombard Street the "Crookedest Street in the World" and we drove down the steepest street in San Francisco and it was crazy! 

Then we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf. We walked all over and watched the sea lions at Pier 39. We did some shopping in the tourist shops. We all got Christmas ornaments and some other touristy things. In our mom's memory, we stopped at the little crab shack that she loved. We got some crab in her honor. After that it was onto the cable cars and trolleys. 

I love this picture of Kirk and Tyler. Brothers for the last 32 years. Kirk is more of a brother to Tyler than his own brother and Tyler's has truly been a brother to Kirk. Tyler came on the scene when Kirk was 10 years old and Kirk adored him on the spot. They are the best. Two of my favorite guys.

We all hopped on and rode to Chinatown.

It was so fun walking all over in Chinatown. We went into a whole bunch of little shops and enjoyed the sights, sounds, and the whole bustling atmosphere.

The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.

 

We walked right past the LDS church.

We had a great time!

We loved all of the Waymos. The self driving cars that are robotaxis. We really should've hopped in one. I regret that we didn't do it. "You say Waymo... I say Waymo!" Then we hopped back on the trolley and rode back down and headed to Boudin's for sourdough.

Tyler was excited to get his favorite clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl!

Then we were off to Japantown which is one of my very favorite places in San Francisco. I took a lot of videos there but no pictures. :( Japantown has such good food... plus boba and mochi. Our girls love Daiso (there is also one in Seattle). We roamed all over, shopped, ate, and completely wore all of the kids out! They slept all the way back to the Airbnb.

That night we all hung out at the Airbnb and stayed up late talking  and eating all of of our leftovers/groceries that we had before most of our group left the next day.

Kirin with his new shirt that he bought. It was such a fun day with some of my very favorite people making all kinds of fun memories together.