Day 2, 3, &4 of San Francisco

Friday morning we got up early to start our trip. Our plan's were altered a little because of the riots that were going on in Oakland due to the white cop claiming that he accidently shot a black guy instead of using his tazer gun. So instead of going to the fairyland park in Oakland after the Jelly Belly factory we went to the one in Sacramento instead. The park was supposed to give the kids a chance to get their wiggles out in between the jelly belly factory and the Winchester house, but o'well. This is just a cute little park that is based on fairytales. Very cute and fun for the kids.
Paul was so good to help take the twins down the big slides!

After the park we drove to Fairmont to the Famous Jelly Belly factory. Anytime there is a free attraction, in California, in the middle of the summer...WATCH OUT!!! We waited in life for about an hour and a half. Preslee and Payge were not about to just stand in line for that long. This is the point of the trip I realized that we had made the right decision when we chose to leave them with my sister when we went to Disneyland in Feb. I no longer feel guilty about that:) The jelly belly tour was very interesting. 1 thing I learned is that the reason jelly belly's have such a strong flavor is because they have flavor through the whole jelly bean and not just the shell. Also, cherry and buttered popcorn are 2 of the top 3 selling flavors (silly me...i can't remember the 3rd one:) After we spent a little time in the gift shop. This was really fun for all of us. We bought bags of belly flops (jelly belly's that aren't "perfect") beandoozled jelly beans, jelly belly flavored soda, and some cute jelly belly dispensers. A little side note, when we got home we did a taste test with the beandoozled beans. Maycie was so daring!!! She was the only one that ate pencil shavings, booger, barf, skunk, and rotten egg. She did put her foot down when it came to the dog food. She started gagging when she smelt it. We never new that we would laugh so hard watching someone eat jelly beans. Try it sometime, it's a great family activity:)After doing a little driving to San Jose, stopping by a HUGE mall to do a little shopping, it was finely time for our Winchester Tour. The house was very intersting and my girls loved it. The only bad thing was that our tour guide was horrible and I won't go into details but John's sister, Beth, let the manager know of our dissapointment in the tour guide and he refunded our $78. So even though the tour guide wasn't good, we still got to learn, see the house, and the kids didn't know any different. I had to buy a book in the gift store after so I could learn even more about this crazy house and the crazy lady who built it. If you ever get the chance to go to San Jose, make sure you take the time to visit.If you aren't familiar with the Winchester house go to this website for an brief overview. www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/sarahwinchester.cfm

This is the ball room. Mrs. Winchesters elegant Grand Ballroom is built almost entirely without nails. It cost over $9000 to complete at a time when an entire house could be built for less than $1000. It is said that she would come play music here at midnight to entertain the "Good Spirts."This was her main bedroom and also where she died in 1922. At the time of her death the home rambled over six acres. The mansion contained 160 rooms, 2000 doors, 10000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens. This room was very creepy. It was her seance room. This room had 1 entrance but 3 exits. She had a closet in there where she kept her 13 robes that she would wear during the seance. This is where she would speak with the spirts and they would tell her what to build. She would ring them in with the bell at midnight and dismiss them at 2 a.m. She was the only one that was ever allowed in this room. She used the number 13 throughout the entire house. Many windows have 13 panes and there are 13 bathrooms with 13 windows in the 13th bathroom. There are also 13 wall panels in the room prior to the 13th bathroom and 13 steps leading to that bathroom. The #13 is found everywhere in the house including 13 holes in the sink drain covers, 13 ceiling panels in the rooms, 13 gas jets on the ballroom chandelier (she had the 13th one added) Her will also 13 parts and was signed by her 13 times.
There is so much more that I could tell you about the mansion and you are always welcome to borrow my book if you would like.

That completed the 2nd day. We drove into San Francisco and stayed again at the Hampton Inn.On Saturday we drove into the city and did a lot of driving around while Paul (who served his mission in San Francisco) gave us very detailed tidbits of info. I didn't take a lot of pictures this day but a few of the most famous places.

Lombard street is the most crookedest street in the world. It consists of 8 sharp turns. The switchback design was instituted in 1922 in order to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade, which was to steep for most vehicles to climb. The speed limit is a mere 5 mph and the street is paved with red bricks.

The kids walking up the stairs on Lombard street.Just a cute pic of John and PresWe then headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Yep, six buckoroo's just to cross the bridge!!!The rest of the day we spent mostly driving around. At end of the day we were all excited to eat dinner at a authentic mexican restraunt that Paul enjoyed while on his mission. We parked a few blocks away, enjoyed walking down the streets of San Francisco, ate lots of yummy mexican food, and started heading back to the car. Payge was determined to run so Brilynn, Maycie, and Myself ended up about a half a block ahead of the others. All of a sudden I hear cars screaching, and yelling. I stopped, grab the kids and looked back. John, Paul, and Beth all had the look of fear on their faces. I just stood there and waited for them to come to me. John told me to just keep walking and didn't want to explain. After a few minutes I finally got the story. While they were walking a girl came up beside them. She must have gotten out of her boyfriends car. At that point her boyfriend slammed on the brakes jumped out of the car and started to beat her up in front of them. Paul, being the good citizen that he is, put his hands up and said, "whoa, whoa, whoa." The guy then stuck his hands in his pockets, started backing up, and yelled, "I'll shoot you Nig$r" There stands John holding Preslee wondering if he is going to have to dodge a bullet. Thank our lucky stars the guy turned around and ran off. We decided we had had enough excitement for the day and returned early to the hotel:)

Sunday morning we were headed into the city to ride the muni (the subway and public transportation) We did a quick drive by of the painted ladies.After riding the subway into the city we were all excited to ride the trolly cars. You can see the trolly car in the background while we wait for it's arrival.Our first stop was china town. For some reason Brilynn was so excited for this. The whole trip she talked about how she was going to buy her a real "fan." Her and Maycie spent a lot of time in the car drawing fans with different designs. They were able to find chinese fans, umbrellas, and lanterns while in China town. We also went to a little tiny shop where they made fortune cookies by hand. We were excited to see that the Sea Lions were back at Fisherman's Wharf. We all loved Alcatraz. Very interesting and a lot of historyPreslee's own little peep hole.Very windy on the boat ride and a little chilly. I never knew that California was chilly in July. We were sweatshirts a lot of the time.

The tour was self guided and you listened through a headset. In the bookstore I bought a book on the prisoners and a one on the history of Alcatraz. I was able to read most of my book on the ride home and learned a lot. We were a little worried about taking the girls on a trip where it was mostly sight seeing and not D-Land, but they loved it. We were so sad when our trip came to an end. There's nothing better than a family road trip!!!