Vacation!

We are on vacation in California!

After several exhausting weeks of preparing for pack-out/moving to Mongolia, we are enjoying a well-deserved rest and lots of fun activities in California. We flew from DC to San Francisco and spent a day touring the city last Friday including a cable car ride, Ghirardelli Square (mmmmmm ... dark chocolate ... my favorite), Fisherman's Warf, the Golden Gate bridge, Golden Gate park & the scenic drive through the Presidio. Over the weekend, we rode the Skunk Train from Ft. Bragg to Northspur station and feasted on a BBQ salmon dinner. Then at sunset we gazed at the amazing California Redwoods along the 90 minute return trip to Ft. Bragg. We had time for a round of mini-golf and then we meandered down Highway 1 along the picturesque Northern California Coast (stopping to tour Ft. Ross) all the way to Solvang, CA. We've spent the last couple days in the San Diego area and were able to attend the San Diego Concert Band's season finale concert at the Spreckles Organ Pavillion in Balboa Park last evening. Before the concert we spent about 2 hours exploring the Ruben H. Fleet hands-on Science museum. Brian, Ian & Ashley all loved that! Today we braved the traffic and parking to enjoy several hours at La Jolla Shores ... a *real* beach!! It was lots of fun and we fortunately applied enough sunscreen to avoid any serious sunburns (although several of us have rosy pink cheeks now). Tonight ... some *real* Mexican food and a good night's sleep.

playing the DS on the airplane

sharing the comfy pull-out sofabed at the Embassy Suites
waiting in line for a cable car ride -- Powell St. to Fisherman's Warf (Hyde St.)amazing cliffs & rocks of the Northern California coastline

ringing the bell at Ft. Ross
playing at La Jolla Shores