♫ California Here I Come ♫

The first week of July, my wife and I took a vacation trip to California.  I have written before about a number of trips we have taken to San Francisco to visit our oldest son and his family there, but this was a dual-purpose trip.  Our youngest son and his two kids (our in-town grandkids) went with us for their summer vacation.

For this 2-year-old, it was his first ever plane ride.  His delight in the experience was easily visible during our first leg, a short hop from Memphis to Atlanta.  But on the much longer 4.5-hour trip to SFO, he didn’t do so well being constrained in his seat and the last 30 minutes was just too much for him.  Lesson to self.  Don’t fly in the wrong direction with a 2-year-old.

After arriving and picking up our rental car, we made our way to our “vacation home” not far from our son’s house.  In the distance, that is the downtown skyline of San Francisco.  We actually travelled on the 4^th of July and so that night we had a great view from our porch of the fireworks display a few miles away.

On Wednesday, we decided to have a relaxing day after our flights and so first took our Memphis grandkids to a park in the morning…

… and in the afternoon took them to a science museum where there were interesting things to see and do.

Our oldest son dropped by after work and our two sons got together for the first time in quite a while.

Later that night, my wife captured the three of us boys visiting together.

Thursday was our planned 1.5-hour trip to Muir Woods.  Since the national park is north of San Francisco, we decided to stop and get some photos of the Golden Gate Bridge on our way.  Typical of many mornings in San Francisco, it was quite foggy.

If you are not familiar with Muir Woods National Monument, it is a Redwood Forest named after John Muir featuring huge trees well over 1,000 years old.

It has a very nice walkway, some sections being paved and some sections being a raised boardwalk, that winds through many of the largest trees.

There are also majestic circles of trees of similar age that grew up where an older tree had died in the center of the circle providing sustenance for its offspring.

There is even one tree you can walk inside.

For our youngest vacationer, it was a bit of a tiring visit.

After returning to our vacation home, our oldest son brought over his two kids for the first of several cousin get togethers—a first in-person encounter for all four of them.

Friday was another planned road trip, a bit more ambitious 2.5-hour drive to Monterey.

Here our destination was the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  If you have never been, it is a bit on the pricey side, but our Memphis grandkids saw and experienced many exciting exhibits that made the trip worthwhile.  From the slowly pulsating jellyfish…

… to the large sea life in a huge tank…

… to the beautifully colorful tropical fish.

Our littlest traveler once again got in a good nap on the way back to get himself energized for another cousin get together that night, this time at our oldest son’s home.

Saturday, our last full vacation day, we had a chill out morning to rest up from our two road trips and then after lunch, met up with our oldest son’s family at a hands-on science museum and animal park.  Each of the grandkids had fun with the different exhibits.  Our Memphis granddaughter, who was voted most likely to become a scientist at year-end by her fellow second graders, seemed particularly interested.  Then it was outside to visit the small zoo…

… and tree-top rope walkways.

Right next door was a public park and playground where the cousins got more play time together while the adults got a chance to sip on some adult beverages.

Sadly, our time together was ending, and we said our goodbyes there before heading back to our vacation home to pack up for our early morning flight home.

Sunday, we successfully packed up the rental car, made our way to the airport, got through security, and walked to our gate without mishap.

Our youngest traveler, maybe with the previous experience, did great in spite of a 45-minute mechanical delay on our connecting flight.  It helped that both our flights home were in the right direction this time with the longest being just 2.5 hours.  And certainly, a big bag of suckers helped!

After picking up our car at the airport and dropping off our son and his family at his house, my wife and I went out to eat.  Over dinner, we reflected on our trip commenting on the thorns and roses (bad things and good things).  We recognized in several ways; it was quite an ambitious trip and a few of the thorns confirmed that.  But we agreed that the roses far outweighed the thorns and made it all worthwhile.  While a 2-year-old may not have permanent memories of the trip, he still had a great time, and we know our 8-year-old granddaughter created very fond memories during their very first visit to California!