We flew out of Cincinnati on a nonstop flight. Frontier has a lot of delays so I'd be hesitant to use them for a connecting flight as we had a 1 hour delay but Stella kept us entertained:
Overall a smooth flight....but I felt like someone was watching me....
It was great to see William after 5 months! His twin missed him most... I think.
Will treated us to dinner at a great Japanese restaurant -
http://kemuri-baru.com/
William gave us a tour of Facebook. They take great care of their employees! He couldn't remember if he was allowed to bring us in the arcade so he didn't enjoy it as much as we did.
The cafeteria gives him 2 meals a day. We got to join him for french toast Friday!
The pop up libraries were cool
Here is a parking lot, and they have a bike repair shop on site,too.
Food trucks pull up everyday for variety
And they have an ice cream shop
The maps in the gift shop showing where the visitors are from was fun.
The street art as we drove around downtown was also cool.
We enjoyed the visit to the California Academy of Sciences.
http://www.calacademy.org/ William wanted to check it out and it did not disappoint. The earthquake re-enactment was pretty cool along with some great animal viewing.
Butterfly house in the rain forest-
Why do the meanest eels look like the friendliest?
Cool sea horse
After we stayed a night in downtown San Fransisco we headed west towards the ocean a bit. Wes really wanted to see the ocean, but it was cold. Beautiful. Highway 1 had some closures due to the landslides, but it was a gorgeous drive:
Because of the music festival (3 hours to get in and 3 to get out?!) We skipped the Napa tours . This is as close as we got to a vineyard:
We relaxed for 2 nights at this great little hotel:
Courtyard San Fransisco Larkspur
It had a market across the road with a brewery, a Starbucks, a farmer's market and great little eateries. This photo is in :
Marin Brewing
Remember the Donner party?
Donner Party We didn't stop there for lunch!
We couldn't believe how blue the water was-
Wes thought it was funnier to take his picture than ours....
A beaver seemed to enjoy this tree:
The Lake was gorgeous and there was still snow on the mountain. The next weekend they had a rare late snow storm and people even had to break out the chains to drive...in June!
Jim & William really wanted to experience Lake Tahoe and they did! Pants were soaked and we had to buy American flag themed swim trunks at a Rite Aid.
It was a 3 hour drive from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco- Wes slept well. We did get to see Reno Nevada too!
We did find a great Italian restaurant in Vacaville though called
Pietros No. 2
We originally planned to spend the night in Vacaville after visiting Sonoma and Napa Valley, but there was a big music festival so we just drank their wine from a distance....next time Napa...next time!
We drove over the Golden Gate bridge a few times. I am all for toll roads if they are well maintained, and they were!
We ended our trip by visiting a great Peruvian restaurant in the Mission district called "Limon" We highly recommend it!
http://www.limonrotisserie.com/
We flew a red eye back to Cincinnati on Frontier and the stewardesses were incredibly loud for the entire flight. Wes asked them if they could be quiet and he was told "Well, like we have to talk to stay awake so , like, um....no!" Very underwhelmed with Frontier for a red eye (hint: Sit in the middle not near the staff!) .
It was a great trip and I cannot wait to get back there!
