Thanksgiving

Over the Thanksgiving break, Megan and I originally were trying to figure out what we were going to do.  For the past few years, we had always hosted our families' thanksgiving dinner at the parsonage.  Throw in the traditions that we had with the youth, I think I can say we were both not looking forward to a Thanksgiving without a big meal and spending time with family. 

When we first moved out here, Megan mentioned that she had some "family" that lived out in California, but more central/northern California.  When they found out that we were not going back east for Thanksgiving, they invited us up to spend Thanksgiving with their family.  Now, even after hearing it explained several times, I'm still not exactly sure how Megan is related to the Bell's... but we will just go with the fact that they are somehow related.

We decided to make a trip out of it, instead of just going up for Thanksgiving dinner.  The Bell's live in Galt, CA, which is like an hour and a half from San Francisco.  On the way up, we were going to stop at Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park.  This is where the huge redwood trees are, and there is a connecting road that makes it a three hour drive.  We headed off, and as we approached the park, we found out that the connecting road was closed due to snow.  We also didn't have any tire chains, so we couldn't even go into Sequoia at all.  The trip was not getting off to a good start. 

Thanksgiving at the Bell's was great.  The food was great, the fellowship was great.  There is nothing like a holiday get-together spending time with new people and enjoying each other's company.  Megan got a chance to catch up with some of her "family" that she hadn't seen in almost ten years.  I'm glad we had the chance to go, and who knows, if we can't go back east next year, maybe we'll get the opportunity to head back up there.

After we left the Bell's, we headed to San Francisco for three days.  San Francisco is a very cool city.  We tried to cram as much in that short time as we could.  Friday we got up early and rode the trolley down to the Fisherman's Wharf.  We walked around there and went to Ghiardelli Square.  We then took a bay cruise and rode around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge.   One of the most memorable parts of the day was at lunch.  We ate at one of the seafood stands at Fisherman's Wharf.  Megan must have been waiving her shrimp around a little too much, because a sea gull came down and stole a shrimp right out of her hand! Very funny for me to watch, probably a little scary for her... when SEA GULLS ATTACK! 

Not Megan...just a representation of the "attack".

We then decided we would walk around the city and see some of the other sights.  Word of warning for those who might want to do that... San Francisco is EXTREMELY hilly.  We walked forever trying to find a street up to Coit Tower, only to find out when we got up there that it was closed for maintenance.  We then walked over to Lombard Street. ("the crookedest street in the world").  We then hopped on a trolley and headed back to the hotel.  We decided to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and head over to Sausilito.  A very cool little town right on the other side of the bay.  Great views of San Francisco at night.

Saturday was a rainy day, so we tried to do things that were more indoors.  In the morning, we headed out to the Golden Gate State Park and went to the California Academy of Sciences and the DeYoung Museum. We then drove around the park for a little bit, and then the sun came out surprisingly.  We then decided to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and "beach hop".  There are some stunningly beautiful beaches all up and down the San Francisco area.  Once we returned to the hotel, we decided to walk through Chinatown and headed to eat at a GREAT restaurant, the Franciscan down at Fisherman's Wharf.  It is a little pricey, but the food was amazing.

Sunday morning, we got up and headed out for our trip to tour Alcatraz.  Alcatraz was an interesting tour, partly because of its place in American lore.  There is just something about Alcatraz that forces everyone to think of something.  Once we got back to San Francisco, we headed back home.  What should have been about a six hour drive, turned into a nine hour drive.  However, it was a great trip, and we can cross off one of the places that we wanted to go while we are on the west coast!  Hopefully, we'll be able to cross a few more off in the upcoming year.