~San Francisco~

 Well......we just had the most amazing day in San Francisco!   We were told that we had to take the public transportation but we decided to try and take the van in - good choice.   We had no problem finding parking......3 times!

 The roads are very up and down and sometimes very steep - so interesting to see.

 The houses are all built very close together or in most cases actually joined together.

They are brightly coloured and beautiful.

 It was still a little foggy when we arrived but the views were incredible wherever we went.

 A view of the city and of Coit Tower in the background.

 We started off going to the "crookedest street in the world" - Lombard Street.   This road has 8 sharp turns on a 40 degree slope and was built in the 1920's to allow cars to descend the steep incline.  Cars line up consistently to go down this road.

We walked down to the piers - starting with pier 45, then 43 and 41.   There was so much to see and lots of tourists everywhere.

Of course......Fisherman's Wharf was a must.

We all really wanted to go to this old arcade on the pier.  This museum has over 200 antique arcade machines as well as a large collection of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments that you can still play!!!

The girls were excited to see this machine that Julie Andrews used in the "Princess Diaries"

(this is the scene from the movie)

These sourdough bowls are all over Fisherman's Wharf.  They fill them with chowder.   There are seafood vendors everywhere.

San Francisco wouldn't be complete without the famous cable cars.

Next on to famous Pier 39.

We enjoyed watching these loud sea lions lying on the docks

We had an amazing view of Alcatraz Island.  

All day we kept looking at the Golden Gate Bridge and were hoping that the fog would lift completely.   It is almost there is this photo.

We enjoyed walking around the busy pier with all its souvenir shops, shows, restaurants etc....

Then on to Ghirardelli Square where the famous chocolate factory once was.   They have a store there now which still serves huge ice-cream sundaes.......they also give you free samples when you walk through the store.

They have a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum there too.   The boys had just read about this guy who can put his bottom lip right over his nose!!!!   :)

Well.....the fog lifted - yay!    After we finished in the city we took a drive to Crissy Field where we had an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Looking back at the city.

We tried to get as close to the bridge as we could.

We took the scenic drive "home" which gave us a chance to see the Cliff House, Sutra Bath Ruins, Seal Rocks and Ocean Beach.

What a fabulous day!

The boys were pumped with their souvenirs.................

..................as were the girls!!!    :)

~Jelly Belly Factory and a glimpse of San Francisco~

 We have been to the Jelly Belly Factory before but since it was on the way we just HAD to stop again!!

 You have to wear these delightful hats before being allowed to go through the factory.  The 1/2 hr tour is very interesting and they give a few samples along the way.   The factory was in operation when we were there so there was lots to see and smell too!!

You are allowed to go through the sample line as many times as you wish - these are some of the "beanboozled" flavours - just gross!!

YUM........YUM 

Then it was off over the Bay Bridge into the San Fransisco area.   This is the bridge where the upper deck collapsed in the 1989 earthquake.   We are driving on the new part of the bridge in this photo.......

.......but to the left as you drive across you can see where the bridge is no longer there !!

It was a little foggy so the Golden Gate bridge was just barely visible.

We still got to see Alcatraz through the van window though - too cool.

This was the view of the piers and the Coit tower in the distance.

From what we could see a lot of the people living in San Fransisco live in these type of houses.

We stayed at San Fransisco RV Resort which is right on the coast.   Behind the fence is where some of the rv'ers park.  The sites used to go much closer to the edge until it started .............

.......eroding away !!!!!

This guy was paragliding right over our heads as we walked.

This was the view from the campground looking the other way.

~Sunny Days~

 We had quite the drive through the Auburn Canyon - very windy, very narrow and so up and down.   This took us to a little town called Lotus, CA where we stayed at another lovely park right on the American River.

 This river is used for river rafting in the summer time.   It is so low at the moment so when they have rafters they open the dam up and let in enough water to make the river rise enough to make it safe for them.

 The river was so still. The sky always so clear and blue. Everything was so beautiful

 These wild turkeys were walking through the park.   They also had wild grapes growing on the hill which we enjoyed eating.

 We ate dinner outside every night.

 As always, having a pool is a must for us and cooling off every afternoon is wonderful!

~Lake of the Springs~

We just stayed at such a lovely Thousand Trails Park in Oregon House, CA.   There are hundreds of deer that wander through the grounds.  We had 5 deer right in our site!

The weather has been incredible with temperatures mostly in the 30's!! They had a lovely pool which we enjoyed every afternoon.  Strange though.......park almost full and we pretty much had the pool to ourselves!!  

It was right on a lake and the views were amazing!  They rent all types of boats - kayaks, rowboats, fishing boats, patio boats etc....

The kids enjoyed some fishing off the dock.

Beautiful views from all over the park.

We decided to go kayaking one morning before it got too hot.  It was so much fun!  The lake was so calm and we saw tons of Canadian geese and other birds.

As you can see it was a tad warm!!   This was at 96 degrees in the shade!!!

Nothing the pool can't fix!

The next morning we hiked up over the dam and down the river trail.   So pretty.

Of course we brought the fishing rods along  :)

It was so hot that Shae decided she would swim across this little lake.

It was suggested to us by many people at the park that we HAD to go to Collins Lake to get ice-creams.   We couldn't let them down !!!   The ice-creams were HUGE.   At least 4 scoops in the bowl and that was the kids size!!!  And....only $2 !!!  Now....how could we pass up on that deal????