San Francisco Here We Come! (California Part 2)

When we found out the Jelly Belly factory was on the way to San Francisco, we just HAD to stop.  Candy is a major food group in our family and the kids were excited.

They don't let you take pictures inside the factory, but here we are getting ready to start the tour (please take note of our EXCELLENT hats):

Ok, so the tour was boring.  The only good part was the free jelly bean samples along the way and the bag of Jelly Belly's that they give you when you leave. Ema had fun figuring out different combinations of flavors and what they would taste like.

 After lunch at In-N-Out

(which, by the way tasted SO much better than it does here in Utah), we left for our next destination:

SAN FRANCISCO

Entering old SF by way of the Golden Gate Bridge:

It was SO COLD and FOGGY in San Francisco.  What a drastic drop in temperature from Sacramento and St. George.  We weren't used to needing sweaters.  My husband embraced the cold weather and wouldn't even wear a sweater.

Here are some of the highlights from our trip to San Fran:

Driving down Lombard Street

Visiting the Seals at Pier 39

Fisherman's Wharf

A view of the city from the wharf:

This is our favorite picture from the wharf.  We were taking a picture of Ema against the scenery of the water and a seagull landed on the fence.  As she sat there posing for her picture, it kept getting closer and closer to her head.

The Hotel Whitcomb

We stayed at this quaint hotel on Market Street.  The hotel was built in the early 1900's and still retains a lot of old charm.  The rooms are not huge and the bathroom was small, but it has such a vintage feel that we didn't mind.  After the big earthquake in the early 1900's, the building actually served as a city hall.  It has a lot of history and although we cringed at paying the $28 a night parking fee, we were glad we had a safe and comfortable place to stay in San Francisco.  Sometimes hotels in SF can be scary.

Chinatown

Funny story about Chinatown.  A few days before we left, Bracken was with my mom and found these Chinese Stress balls that she had bought in Chinatown years ago.  He wanted them really bad.  I told him that we were going to go there and he could buy some for himself.  Because of this, the entire trip leading up to San Francisco, he was consumed by the goal of getting his Chinese stress balls.  He was completely excited for Chinatown (partly because we'd just seen Karate Kid too).

Ema left Chinatown with money still in her pocket, but Bracken found his stress ball and is returning to Utah with a "treasure" as he calls it.


Here we are at the gates of Chinatown: (feel like you're playing 'Where's Waldo'? We're pretty small)

 

Here we are after a grueling walk up one of San Francisco's many hills:

After Chinatown, we drove through Golden Gate Park before hitting the beach.  Because our beach experience is so completely memorable, I am going to devote an entire post just to the beach.  

Here is a preview of tomorrow's installment:

The Beach