Artichoke me any time you want.

I gotta get this roadtrip narrative under the bridge. Time is marching on!

Prius Count 70

When we left our weary campers, they were at a KOA in Santa Cruz freezing their booties off. We rose that morning to the click and clank of the campers across from us, some speaking an unrecognizable, if pleasant, European language. It wasn't too loud though and the kids slept through it (as you can see here).

We readied ourselves for the day's journey which was to include the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium and then the final leg of the drive to San Francisco.

The Aquarium was magnificent. The kids enjoyed it. Since it was our first time there, though, we didn't know about the cool new interactive, "wet," play area until we had been there for a few hours and were getting antsy to be leaving. The kids, then, had the best time at the place we felt the most rushed at—one of the many vacation ironies.

We then hit the road (after squishing a souvenir penny—the thing that Seth was the most interested in doing and also the thing that only costs $.50 and is OUTSIDE of the aquarium) a little before lunch.

In between Monterey and Santa Cruz is artichoke country—and we had to, therefore, stop for the local delicacy: deep-fried artichoke hearts. Holy Crap (do you capitalize the C in Crap when you use the exclamation "Holy Crap"? I never thought of that phrase as blasphemous until this minute.) Let's just leave it at that. Holy Crap.

The drive to SF was lovely. We opted away from the one for those few miles and probably saved a few hours because of it. We still got to see Crystal Springs, a favorite sight of mine, of the 280. It was very interesting noting the climate/environment change as we passed into SF county. Just a few miles south it was sunny, but Pacifica, Daly City, and SF were totally foggsville.

We made it to the motel in time to get over to my old friend Jeff Freebairn's house for a yummy Thai dinner. It was fun to see him struggling with similar child-raising issues. We met he and his wife Millan at Fisherman's Warf the next morning after a really cool (if windy freezing) cable car ride from Powell and Market. We et crab, walked around a bit, enjoyed the beautiful sites and cruised back up the cable-car and to our car. Due to a recent Little Einsteins, Seth knew many of the sights, including Coit Tower, which loomed in the distance.

(You gotta love that lady up there who smiled for our picture. They were very nice and understanding of our squirmy family.) Our next destination was Tina's aunt Tricia's house in Berkeley. This stop was a definite highlight for me and Tina (and the kids!). Let's hit that tomorrow—it deserves it's own entry.