Our Bucket List Trip out West….
After taking a trip to Italy in 2014, I got really excited about travel and started saving airline miles to take my three kids on a trip. I wasn’t ready to take them overseas yet and being from Florida I thought it would be really cool to take them out West. I asked them each to make a bucket list, of items big and small that they wanted to do while we were there, and I’d do my best to make as many as I could happen. Their requests ranged from things as big as whitewater rafting, to as small as having an In-N-Out burger. Once I had their lists, I started saving and planning. Since we wanted to spend three weeks out West it took us a couple of years to save, but by 2016 we were ready to go!
Both my girlfriend Debbie and I got United Credit Cards (and United Bonuses) and started saving for the trip. When the time came, I had enough points for three of our tickets and Debbie had enough for two – so for $112 total (the taxes and fees) – we were able to book flights from West Palm Beach, Florida to Colorado Springs, Colorado and a return flight from San Francisco, California back to West Palm Beach. I’m going to be completely transparent here and tell you this is the most expensive trip we’ve ever taken – something I’ve never done before and will probably never do again. But I spent many hours researching our trip, getting the best deals and bargains, that the trip should easily have cost us triple what it did. There were a few things we completely splurged on, and if you took those out the cost would have been much less. I have zero regrets though, as we got to do so many cool things that I know the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. It was truly a once in a lifetime family trip – so join me, and let’s see what we did!
We decided to fly into Colorado Springs and rent a car to do our tour out West. We arrived at about 11:00 a.m. had lunch at Bunkhouse Burgers restaurant which was a cute little western looking restaurant with amazing – you guessed it – burgers lol! After lunch we drove directly to our first stop for the night, the Starlite Campground near Canon City. I forgot to warn you that one of the things I love about vacations is finding cool and unusual places to stay. This place definitely fit the bill! The Starlite rented out vintage campers on a beautiful piece of land overlooking the Royal Gorge Bridge. For us city slickers it was pure heaven to have the river and the mountains as a backdrop! They had bikes to ride around the campground and a little store for any provisions you might need. Each camper had a different theme, and we chose to stay in the “Tikibago” because it was a bit bigger than some of the others. The Tiki was decked out in wood and bamboo, with a grass skirt fringe and hanging lights on the awning. It even came with a tiki bar, a hand crank blender and a limbo stick. It was a great place to land after a long flight and gear up for our adventure which started the next day.
The following morning, we headed to Canon City for Bucket List Items #1 and #2 (all) – ziplining and white water rafting. We used Royal Gorge rafting, and this was one of the most expensive activities on our trip. It cost about $800 for the Zip Line/Rafting combo for the five us and included lunch. I really wanted to start the trip out with a bang and Royal Gorge looked like the place to do it. If I had priced the activities separately it would have cost much more, so I still felt like this was a good deal. We started the day with zip lining. I was a little worried about Aislyn paying attention, but she held her own and we had a good ride. They took a bunch of pictures (which of course you had to pay for) that we bought to memorialize the occasion. We even saw some deer underneath us! Lunch was at the 8-mile grill and the food was pretty tasty, there were a lot of games to keep the kids occupied. The view of the Sangre De Cristo mountains was amazing!
That afternoon it was time for white-water rafting. Since there were 5 of us, they put us in our own boat with a guide. I’m pretty sure that guide came to regret it as there were times that a few of us weren’t paddling lol! To this day Kaleigh claims she saved her sister’s life after she grabbed her and kept her from falling out of the boat on a particularly fast rapid. We did the Bighorn Sheep Canyon half day raft which was billed as a family trip with some exciting rapids. The rapids were awesome and were supposed to be Class II & III but due to the amount of rainfall they were running at a IV in some places. It was just the right amount of exhilaration without thinking you were going to die lol!
We did a lot of driving on this trip because we had a lot of ground we wanted to cover and on our way out we stopped for Bucket List Item #3 (Aislyn) – snow Well, technically it wasn’t much more than a patch of snow but for those that hadn’t seen it before, it did the trick. In order to break it up we left Canon City that afternoon and drove 2.5 hours and stayed at the Alpine Inn in Gunnison, Colorado. This stop was really just the halfway point to our destination the next day, Gateway Canyons. The only reason we picked the Alpine is because they had a room with three Queen beds which made sleeping arrangements much more bearable for a family of 5! We ate at the Gunnisack on Main Street and had your typical ale house fare. Gunnison was ridiculously cute and looked like the movie version of a small Western town.
The next morning, we got up and drove another 2.5 hours through the Rockies to Bucket List Item #4 (all) – Stay in a Luxury Resort … Gateway Canyons. There really isn’t much in Gateway besides the resort itself, but the resort is all you need! When we visited in 2016 the resort had just been named #1 in Colorado and #3 in the United States by Conde Nast. We stayed in the Signature Hacienda Casita which was absolutely gorgeous! The Casita was 1200 Square Feet, with vaulted open-beam ceilings, artisan furnishings, breathtaking views of the Palisade, a fireplace, and a private patio with a shower, hot tub and fire pit. Rates at the time we went were about $900 a night, so this is NOT the kind of place we would normally get to visit – but one of Debbie’s best friends was married to the General Manager and they were kind enough to invite us to stay for a few nights. The property was beautiful with amazing views, horse rides, restaurants, pools and even a Classic Car Museum. When we arrived, I immediately told the kids to NEVER expect to stay anywhere like this again lol! The food was amazing, and we spent two days relaxing and lounging around the pool. Here’s a link to their promo video – this place is AMAZING! The only bad thing about it was that we eventually had to leave. This is not a place that fits into my budget – but if you can afford it, GO!
After our two days of heaven we drove 2.5 hours to the town of Cortez, Colorado where we stayed in Bucket List Item #5 (mine) – a Yurt, quite a difference from the night before lol!. Don’t ask me why, but I had always seen them and thought it would be fun to stay in one and figured this was the perfect opportunity. We rented from Jolly Rancher Yurts on Airbnb and found it a great place to stay for the night. There was an issue with the A/C when we arrived, but the owners were very responsive and had it fixed in a jiffy! The views were gorgeous and right next door was a beautiful two story home complete with friendly neighbors who invited us to sit on the front porch with them and drink wine as the sun went down. While we were there, we logged in to snag tickets to the First Preview of Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway – you always have to be planning that next trip lol!
The next day we visited Bucket List Item #6 (Debbie) – Mesa Verde National Park and went on the Cliff Palace tour. At about 150 rooms the Cliff Palace is the largest Cliff Dwelling in the park. It’s incredible to see the dwellings and imagine how much work it took to make them. The tour takes an hour and requires you to climb 120 uneven stone steps, five 8 to 10-foot ladders and walk about ¼ of a mile. I was a little nervous watching the kids to make sure they didn’t fall and to be honest didn’t enjoy some of it because it I was watching them. It always amazes me how many things they don’t allow in the US because of safety, but at National Parks they’re like, “here, walk down this 3 ft walkway with no railings and a sheer cliff on the other side – just be careful”. We actually had tickets for the Balcony House Tour as well, but it was so hot, and I was so nervous about the kids that we opted to take a drive up the mountain to see the views instead. That night we stayed at the Ute Mountain Casino pretty much because it was $55 a night – but you get what you pay for lol! It wasn’t horrible, but not something I’d recommend. It did have wi-fi and an indoor pool though, so the girls were happy.
The next morning, we drove to Bucket List Item #8 (all) – The Grand Canyon, and on the way out we made a quick stop at Bucket List Item #7 (mine) – Four Corners. My ex-husband and I had visited Colorado years before and when we arrived Four Corners was closed. Really?! It’s a spot on the ground why does it need to close lol?! I decided I was actually going to see it this time so we took the girls and had them each sit in a different state with a deck of Uno cards, and put the draw pile in the fourth state and took a picture of them playing cards. Four Corners is great for a picture if you’re going that way, but I wouldn’t make a special stop for it.
We continued on to the Grand Canyon and the girls were impressed at the first Grand Canyon overlook, but their interest waned the more we stopped. I felt like Chevy Chase in Vacation when he walks up to the edge, takes a look, shakes his head, and says, “ok, let’s go!”. One of Debbie and my bucket list items (Bucket List Item #9) was to fly over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter. This is extremely expensive and initially we did not plan on doing it due to the cost, but the “once in a lifetime” bug got the best of us and we added it on at the end. My oldest daughter is scared of heights, and we knew she wouldn’t be happy about it, so we didn’t tell her what was happening until we arrived. She finally agreed to go as long as she could sit in the middle and not look out the windows. All was well until we were getting on the helicopter and the pilot told us that the weight had to be distributed evenly and since he was the heaviest and she was the lightest, she had to sit up front with him! We all looked in every direction but directly at her and to her credit she got on, but I think she clutched the seat the entire time lol! Of course, the pictures she posted to Instagram made it look like she had the time of her life 😉 We did the 30 minute South Rim tour with Papillon and flying over the canyons and getting to see it from a different perspective was definitely something we’ll always remember
The next day we drove to the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock and took it easy spending an afternoon by the pool. But first we made a stop at Slide Rock Park to perform Bucket List Item #10 (me & Brynna) – jump off a cliff into the water. OK, maybe it was only 10 feet and maybe Brynna was the only one who would go with me, but by god we did it! On the list of the Travel Channels Top 10 Swimming Holes in the US, Sedona’s Red Rocks form an 80 ft long slippery chute making it the Ultimate Waterslide. The slide gets deeper and wider as it goes and there are plenty of rocks for the brave ones to jump off of into the water. There is a natural pool at the end for wading and swimming. The park does fill to capacity quickly though so it’s best to go early if possible. As a reward for our bravery, we hung out at the Sedona Bell Rock resort pool for the afternoon drinking Prickly Pear Margaritas – yum!
The following morning, we did Bucket List Item #11 (all) – a Pink Jeep Tour of Sedona. The Pink Jeeps take you through the forest and on the Broken Arrow Trail. You even drive the jeeps on the iconic red rock formations which I have to admit was a little bit scary as they raced around the top near the edges and drove down steep cliffs We have a video of Kaleigh looking wide-eyed every time the driver would stop at the edge and laughing to herself as she kept saying, “oh my god, I’m gonna throw up!” We watched the insane bicyclists riding the “white line” which is a small bike path high up on the edge of the red rocks with a sheer drop where one false move will most certainly result in your death. Talk about thrill seekers!
From Sedona we headed over to the Hampton Inn in Anthem, AZ. The girl’s Aunt Maura and Uncle Dean live in Anthem, so they took them out for dinner and what Maura dubbed, “Bucket List Item #12 – dinner with the cousins”, while Debbie and I got to have an evening on our own. It was an early night because the following morning we had to be at our launch site at 4:30 a.m. for lucky Bucket List Item #13 – Hot Air Ballooning with Arizona Balloon Safaris on the largest balloon in the US. If you’ve never been Hot Air Ballooning, they typically go up very early in the morning because the winds are not as strong then. You can drive around for an hour waiting for the wind to be just right before you go up, if you get to go up at all. Luckily after driving around for a while they found the perfect spot and set up the balloon. We had a great lift off and got to fly over the desert. It’s surreal to be up in the air and hear absolutely no sound. We had a small mishap on the way down and took out a cactus, but everyone was fine, and we had our champagne celebration on firm earth. When we talk about the trip the one thing everyone says is, “hey, remember when we hit that cactus?!!” Balloon trips are pretty expensive, but we were able to find a groupon and discount code which made it a lot more affordable.
Bucket List Item #14 (all) was driving to Scottsdale to visit my Dad, Stepmom and sister for a few nights. We hadn’t seen them in a long time, so we just hung out and went to the mall. We didn’t step outside much because it was 115 degrees when we visited – and whoever said, “but it’s a dry heat” is an idiot… When you walked outside it was like stepping into an oven! To escape the heat we visited the Sugar Bowl, the ice cream parlor that was a favorite of cartoonist Bil Keane and features a number of his Family Circus cartoons. It was great to see them, and a nice break in our go, go, go trip.
The next day we got up and made the drive to Vegas. Along the way, one of Kaleigh’s bucket list items (and I have no idea why) was Bucket List Item #15 – to stop at an Alpaca farm in Kingman. Stop we did and the girls got to make friends with some Alpacas and now we have some warm Alpaca socks. While in Kingman we stopped for one of Brynna’s requests, Bucket List Item #16 – eating an In-N-Out Burger. Of course, we had four regulars and Debbie went Animal Style! Bucket List Item #17 – The Hoover Dam was mine and Deb’s, and it was painfully obvious the girls were uninterested. Until that is, Brynna decided that she would make an excellent tour guide. I don’t think any of us will forget her greeting each tourist as they came through saying, “Welcome to the Hoover Dam!” 😉
On our way into Vegas (Bucket List item #18, Deb, Brynna, Kaleigh & Aislyn) we of course stopped at the iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. I’d always seen pictures but didn’t realize it’s actually in the middle of a median! Be prepared to wait though, there’s usually a bit of a line. We ended up parking at Harley Davidson and walking over.
Our first night in Vegas we stayed at Four Queens on the old strip. We spent the night walking around the colorful underbelly of Vegas, Fremont Street, watching the street performers and viewing the Fremont Street Experience. If you haven’t been, a portion of Fremont Street is covered in LCD screens and psychedelic light shows are beamed on the ceiling in time to music. There’s even a zip line with people flying overhead. It’s really cool if you can time your zip to the show. The people watching in this area is unreal. Make a stop at Binions and you can even get your picture taken in front of a million dollars!
The following day we made our way down the strip stopping into most of the major hotels so the girls could see them. It was probably a bit too much because it was 100 degrees and our steps walked had never been higher, but we hit all the majors trying to walk through as many as possible to stay cool. Prior to coming to Vegas, we researched the attractions on the strip, and the best coupons for each one. I scoured coupons and Groupon to make it cheaper, but one of the best things we found was MyVegas Slots. It’s a game you can play on-line, and the more you play, the more coins you win. You can take those coins and actually earn prizes including room upgrades or buy one get one certificates. At the time we went we won enough to get several BOGO coupons including one for the New York, New York roller coaster, the LINQ Eye, and Madame Tussauds as well as the MGM buffet. Debbie and I each earned them, and this DEFINITELY help cut our costs. We visited Circus Circus which has a domed theme park inside and let the girls ride a few rides. We also did all the free exhibits such as the Flamingos at the Flamingo, the Fountains at Bellagio, the Pirate Show at Treasure Island, the Venice canals at the Venetian, and the volcano at the Mirage. Dinner was at the MGM Grand to have Bucket List Item #19 (Kaleigh, Brynna & Aislyn) – A Vegas Buffet. There is a lot to choose from, but it’s still pretty pricey so try and get those half-off coupons. Most people don’t realize there is a people mover that stops at some of the hotels on the strip. It’s not free, but if you look for discounts and time your rides right, you can use it to walk one way down the strip and then use the people-mover on the way back. It gets expensive when you have a lot of people, but for 2 it’s not so bad. The last time we went we stayed at SLS which had a stop right at the hotel and used it to ride to the other end and make our way back. There are also a few free trams that go between certain resorts like Treasure Island and Mirage, one that goes from Mandalay Bay-Excalibur-Luxor, and one that runs between Park MGM/Aria, Crystals Shopping Mall and the Bellagio. Plan your day so that you’re using these to your advantage.
Our entertainment for the evening started with Bucket List Item #20 (On my list to take Aislyn), David Copperfield at the MGM Grand. I LOVE good magicians and his show was utterly amazing. I am pretty skeptical but there are some of his tricks I could not figure out for the life of me how he did! Bucket List Item #21 was Kaleigh’s request, Cirque Du Soleil’s Ka. I find myself on the fence with Cirque, I have seen a few of them and some I like, some I don’t. I think I’m not a fan of the crazy costumes and stories, but really love the feats of skill that the contortionists and acrobats can do. I enjoyed this one and the moves on the tilting stage were very cool. We paid full-price for the Copperfield tickets because we knew we wanted to see it and had to go that night, but since there were several Cirque shows in Vegas we opted to stop in a Tix4Vegas booth. Tix4Vegas takes the unsold tickets to that evenings shows, and sells them at a discount, sometimes even half price. We were able to score cheap Ka tickets this way. One tip is to view the website several times prior to your visit on the same day of the week you would be going to get an idea of what shows are typically availble and at what price. There are Tix4Vegas booths all over Vegas including in front of Ballys and Planet Hollywood on the strip and one near Circus, Circus.
That evening we opted to stay at the end of the strip at Stratosphere. If you’re looking for a hotel on the strip, this one is a little far as it is just past the end. But since I knew we’d be taking a taxi there and leaving Vegas directly from the hotel the next morning we opted to stay there for one reason – Bucket List Item #22 – Insanity (Brynna & Aislyn). The Stratosphere has a great viewing platform, and there are two rides at the top AND a bungee jump. Brynna and Aislyn decided they wanted to ride Insanity, which is a ride where they put you in little cars that are in a circle. At the top of the circle is a long arm which picks up the circle of cars and moves them 64 feet out from the building while hanging 866 feet over the strip itself. To make it worse, the ride then spins in circles at a speed of 3Gs while tilting the cars so that it feels like you’re looking straight down! That’s a big hell no for me, but Brynna & Aislyn both were brave enough and gave it a try. The rides, viewing platform and bungee jumping were all pretty expensive, but you got a discount for staying at the hotel – thus our reason for staying at the hotel. Honestly though, the rooms were pretty average and if it weren’t for that I would definitely stay elsewhere.
The following day we drove across the Desert to Los Angeles stopping at Peggy Sues Diner and went straight to Bucket List Item #23 – Warner Brothers Studios (Kaleigh, Brynna & Aislyn). The Warner Brothers tour is a bit expensive but keep your eye out for Groupons. They have a whole Harry Potter collection, the Gazebo from Stars Hollow on Gilmore Girls, the Café from Pretty Little Liars and of course Central Perk from Friends to name a few! The girls were very excited because they saw Noah Centineo drive by in a Golf Cart. Aislyn also did the Harry Potter experience where they film you with a green screen and make it look like your flying on a broomstick around the grounds of Hogwarts.
We chose an Airbnb in LA that was cheap, but close to the downtown area. We didn’t know that short-term rentals were technically illegal back then (even though they were on Airbnb) and when we arrived, we were told to, “say we were visiting friends if anyone asked”. It made me a bit uncomfortable and going forward I will definitely check the short-term rental rules for each city I visit.
The next morning, we drove to Bucket List Item #24 – Beverly Hills (all) and walked/drove around the city. We of course took our pictures in front of the sign at Beverly Gardens Park, as well as the Beverly Hills Street Signs. We stopped at the Spadena house from Clueless which looks just like a witch’s house. Back home in Florida the former owner of the Spadena house took up residence and until she died used to wear all black clothes when she went out, so she was dubbed the Witch of Wellington. We walked down Rodeo Drive and saw the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard (we made the girls watch Pretty Woman before we left so they’d know what they were seeing), and the Rolls Royce Phantom Drop-Head Coupe that is usually parked outside of the Bijan store. For the reality junkies we peeked into Pump and Sur, and the girls went into Dash to see the Kardashian’ s store. Years later the girls got hooked on Vanderpump rules and lamented that they didn’t know what they were
In the afternoon we drove down to the Santa Monica Pier and did Bucket List Item #25 (Brynna) – a Segway tour with Segway LA. Santa Monica is one of my favorite places in LA, and such a cute little city. We chose Segway LA because they had a Groupon out at the time, making the tour really cheap. The tour started out ok, and all the girls were doing well. All of a sudden, I’m not sure what happened but Aislyn lost control of her Segway and went flying down the beach. I felt like a cowgirl in an old Western movie as I had to race to catch up with her on my own Segway and reach over to slow her down. The other two girls thought it was incredibly funny and couldn’t stop laughing about it. We toured through Muscle Beach and Venice and the girls had fun people watching. We of course stopped and took their pictures at the Route 66 sign and then spent the evening near the pier.
The next day we walked from the hotel to visit downtown Hollywood. The girls were in a bit of a shock at some of the “colorful” characters we saw, it sure doesn’t look like the Hollywood they show in the movies. We went down the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Bucket List Item #26, Aislyn) and visited the Kodak theater. We also stopped into Bucket List Item #27 (Aislyn) the Sweet Candy store where Aislyn made her own chocolate bar. Next up was Bucket List Item #28 (Kaleigh) – The Access Hollywood Celebrity Home Tour. We also found this one on Groupon which was a money saver. The tour was 2 hours and drove you by the Hollywood Sign, Rodeo Drive, & the Sunset Strip. They showed the homes of Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Tom Cruise and many others. As we were driving by an outdoor café Brynna swears she saw Future having lunch! After a day of touring or nighttime entertainment was Bucket List Item #29 (mine), seeing a show at Pantages theater. Lucky for me Beautiful was playing which made it that more memorable. Even the girls liked the show.
We started the next day off at the Murder House, from American Horror Story. In real life it’s known as the Rosenheim Mansion and it’s a beautiful 10,440 square foot, 6-bedroom, 5-bathroom home. Apparently, the people who bought it had no idea it had been shown in the opening scenes of AHS as the Murder House, and they attempted to sue their real estate agents for not disclosing this information. They promptly put up a chain link fence to keep the tourists at bay, but it doesn’t stop them from coming by anyway.
Next, we went to The Grove, an upscale shopping center to buy some souvenirs, and do some Celebrity spotting. Then we headed over to Bucket List Item #30 – The La Brea Tar Pits (Debbie). You can actually walk around the Tar Pits without going into the musuem and paying admission, so we opted to do this since we had such a busy day planned. Bucket List Item #31 (Kaleigh’s) was right next door at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). LACMA had some amazing exhibits and at the time there was one Kaleigh wanted to see called the Rain Room. It was a square installation that imitated falling rain, but when you walked through it the rain stopped wherever you stepped. It was very cool. You had to have tickets to both LACMA and the Rain Room exhibit itself. Tickets to the popular exhibits are usually hard to get, and you have to be ready when they go on sale. As for LACMA itself we found out that if the kids joined their NexGenLa club they received free admission, so we did that before we left for the trip. LACMA may have figured out that loophole though, as it looks like you now need to live in LA to join.
Next up we took a trip to The Last Bookstore (TLB). I LOVE visiting bookstores and wandering around, and there’s nothing like the smell of a new book. TLB is the largest bookstore in California and voted one of the top 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the world. There are over 250,000 books on two floors along with an Artist’s Collective at the top. They have a bunch of artist displays made with, you guessed it, books, that make the place seem magical.
We ended the night with Bucket List Item # 32 (mine) – Seeing a new Disney release at the El Capitan Theater. The El Capitan was originally opened in 1926 and showed plays until the late 1980’s when Disney purchased the building. They spent 14 million on a renovation restoring most of the buildings original décor and reopened in 1991 with the premiere of Disney’s, The Rocketeer. The theater features a large Wurlitzer organ which always begins the show, and there is usually a Disney short and live entertainment prior to the movie. I think the kids were a little embarrassed their mom wanted to go to see a “kids show” as they called it, but we were lucky enough to see a showing of Finding Dory and I definitely heard them laughing along! Next door is Disney’s Soda Fountain where customers can indulge in ice cream with themes based on the moving playing at the time. As we were walking out, we bumped into Hailee Steinfeld who was doing an interview which made their day.
The next day was the longest drive of our journey, we took the 12-hour scenic route from LA to San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway (Bucket List Item #33, Debbie and Brynna). We stopped for brunch in Avila and walked on the beach, then visited the elephant seal rookery in San Simeon. We stopped a lot to take in the views which were gorgeous. Our only mishap was locking our keys in the car at the rookery and waiting an hour for someone to come unlock the door. This was a really long drive, and if we had more time, I would definitely have split this up into a two-day trip.
We drove to our final destination, San Francisco where we stayed at the Opal Hotel. San Francisco is VERY expensive, and this was one of the few places that we could afford that had two queen beds and a pull-out couch. The hotel was very nice and was connected to a Mel’s Diner, which was an old-timey Diner decorated with celebrity paraphernalia. The girls loved the burgers and fries, and we were able to find a Groupon, so we ate here a few times during our stay. The next morning, we did Bucket List Item #34 – A tour of San Francisco on the Love Bus (mine). The Love Bus is an adorable VW van that looks like it came straight from the 70’s complete with beaded curtains and orange shag carpet. We did a four-hour private tour that showed us all of San Francisco including Lombard Street and the Golden Gate Bridge. We even dressed up in our best hippie outfits and used this as our Christmas Card picture that year. The bus itself was a tourist attraction and most people stopped to take pictures as we drove by. After the tour we wandered over to Fisherman’s Wharf and did some shopping, eating and seal watching.
The next day we visited Chinatown (Bucket List Item #35, Kaleigh, Brynna & Aislyn) and saw Fortune Cookies being made.
We also stopped into Tony’s Pizza Napoletana for one of their famous pizzas. They were so busy that we had to wait for 45 minutes, but it was worth it. We sat in Washington Square Park while we waited and did some people watching.
That night we visited Alcatraz (Bucket List Item #36, Debbie & Kaleigh). We chose to do the night tour, and because we did the first one it wasn’t really dark for most of the time we were there. The cool thing about the night tour is it is limited to a certain amount of people so there are far less people on the island than normal, and there are a few areas that aren’t open during the day tours. The night tours don’t cost that much more than the day tours, but they sell out fast so if you want to do this tour make sure you plan ahead and grab tickets as soon as they go on sale. One thing we didn’t realize about San Francisco was the weather. We were there in early July and it was COLD, so make sure you bring a jacket. We ended up having to buy the girls sweatshirts to wear.
The next day was the last day of our trip. We decided to take a tour to Bucket List Item #37 – Muir Woods and Saulsalito (Debbie) to see the Giant Redwoods. The trees are so old and so tall that there are some you could drive an entire car through.
We drove to the airport after the tour for our 9:00 p.m. flight home. I do not regret a thing about this trip, how long we took, or how much it cost. I know that when my girls get older they are going to have amazing memories and I’m glad I had the chance to do it before they move out on their own.
