Fall Vacation

Last week was Sean's fall break from school before he starts his last class this year. Mark and Carol came out to visit and to pick up the Mini and take it back to Utah. While they were here we were able to take a fun trip and do some sight seeing.
First, we visited the Jelly Belly factory where we took a tour and learned about how Jelly Bellys are made.

Next we drove to San Francisco where we found a beautiful spot that overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge, the bay, and all of San Francisto. It was a nice sunny, warm day so we could see everything from this spot.

Next we drove to Lombard Street, the street famous for being the windiest street in the country, and then to Coit Tower.
After we checked into our hotel, we spent the afternoon doing some shopping. We went to Ghirardelli Square, home of Ghirardelli chocolate, Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39. We ate dinner at Bubba Gump's on Pier 39 and did some more shopping.

When Logan started to get tired and fussy, Grandpa took him for a ride on the carousel. Logan didn't know what to think of it.

On Tuesday morning, we walked to pier 33 to catch our ferry out to Alcatraz. The previous evening had gotten quite cold once the sun went down so we expected a chilly morning, but we were pleasantly surprised with another beautiful, warm day. We took the audio tour of Alcatraz then caught the ferry back to the city.


After lunch in San Jose, we took a tour of the Winchester Mystery House. It is a house built by the wife of the son of the man who invented Winchester rifles. After her husband and child died, a medium told her that to appease the spirits of all those killed by the Winchester Rifle, she needed to start building on a house and keep up continuous construction. Construction continued 24/7 on her home for 38 years, until the day of her death. The house and grounds are amazing. In the house are several strange things such as a staircase leading to the ceiling, a 2nd story door leading to the outside without any stairs, a window in a wall that all you can see through it is the wall, etc. It was very neat!
The picture isn't turned, this is a window that is built into the floor.
Grandma and Grandpa with Logan in the courtyard of the Winchester house.


On Wednesday morning, we drove to Danville and toured the Blackhawk Auto Museum.

After that it was back to Sacramento to take a break from all of the walking we had done so far that week.

Thrusday we went to the Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. Logan loves to see the trains, but he doesn't like the manequins, they scare him. Every time he sees one, he will hide his face until we are far away from it. We don't know why they bother him so much. The upper level of the museum is Logan's favorite because it is where all of the model trains are and there is an area where there are toy train sets that kids can play with. He would play there all day if we let him. After lunch at the Rio Cafe located on the bank of the river, we walked through Old Sacramento and did some shopping.
We had a full week full of a lot of walking and by Friday all o four feet were sore, but we had a good time and got to see a lot of interesting things.
Now Sean is back in school, working on his last class that he will take here in California.