Since we didn’t get to see everything on our list during our first stay near San Francisco, we decided to make a second pass through the area.
We kicked the week off with a trip the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA, home of delicious jellybeans and creepy inflatables (am I wrong?):
Inside was a magical wonderland of confectionary goodness:
..like this:
Here’s the crowd in line for the factory tour. The hats were mandatory:
…a requirement some visitors were not too happy about:
Like at jumbo jet factories, photography in this jellybean plant was strictly forbidden. It was a cool tour and, hey, we got free jellybeans at the end!
This is the only surviving photo of our campsite from last week. More on that in a second.
There was a big wind storm Wednesday night that knocked out the power, so the next day we drove to Berkley for work/school:
I’m starting to really like getting out of the RV to do my work, and libraries are my new favorite place. You can’t beat the quiet, and not having to “buy a ticket” in the form of overpriced coffee is a nice bonus.
Here’s my family helping me with a work project on Friday morning; I needed some video footage of a girl’s head (it’s complicated).
This was my latest attempt to get this footage after a couple previous failures and many, many tests. But, finally, the weather, the lighting, the moods, …everything came together, and after 45 minutes I had what I needed. I previewed the shots on the camera, and everything looked great.
But when I went to download the files to my mac, the card was blank. I tried another computer; blank! I put it back in the camera; BLANK! And not only was the footage I just shot gone, my trip photos that I had accumulated since my last post were gone too.
All.
Gone.
A primal scream escaped my lips (among other things). Startled birds everywhere flew out of trees. If you’ve ever lost data, you know: it’s a sickening, soul-crushing feeling.
At this point, it was time to leave for Alcatraz, but I wasn’t about to use my camera until I figured out what its problem was. Unfortunately, that meant all I had to shoot with was my iPhone. Ugh.
We took “the Bart” (which I’m guessing stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit) from Castro Valley to downtown San Francisco:
…then hopped “the Muni” (a bus) and took that to the pier:
…and then took a boat out to Alcatraz:
LOVED the audio tours; they were great. (Natalie chose not to listen to hers, however, as the sound effects of slamming doors “made [her] jump.”)
San Francisco, as viewed from Alcatraz:
I loved Alcatraz. I was pleased (and a bit surprised) at how much my girls got into the whole experience too.
Taking the Bart back to Castro Valley was a different experience than the initial trip, as it was now rush hour and very crowded. We stood most of the trip.
We returned back to a dark campground…still no power after 2 days. Grrr…
That evening, the Chabot Science Center (about 10 miles away from our campsite) was open to the public to come and look through their really fancy telescopes. It was a nice clear night, and we got to see Jupiter, its moons, and a few other outer space curiosities.
This is the best my iPhone could do of the breathtaking view of San Francisco and the Bay area from upon high:
Our campground really was a beautiful place — I HAD photos to show that — but between still not having any electricity and still fuming about losing my photos and videos, I was ready to pack up and move on. (Here’s Carrie showing off a large piece of debris from the wind storm…glad that didn’t land on the RV!)
But this place had one last challenge up its sleeve, this time in the form of brown water gurgling up from the sewer:
Eww. I did the best I could to hose it all off, but it never did drain. So if you’re camping in Chabot Regional Park any time soon, don’t use spot #2 (appropriate number, don’t you think) because, as Uncle Eddie would say, “the s***ter’s full!”
We’ve been casually keeping an eye out for a bigger RV, and Amy found this one on Craigslist. We checked it out and really liked it, but I’m not sure it’s the right one for us (two girls would have to share a big bed). But we’ll at least do some research to find out how an Indiana resident buys (and sells) vehicles in California to see if upgrading to another RV is even worth the hassle.
Today, we drove to Salinas CA, birthplace and childhood home of Nobel prize-winning author John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, etc.):
Before today, I knew very little about John Steinbeck. Amy, however, is a big fan and had shared bits and pieces with me of East of Eden (her favorite) and Travels with Charley as she read them a year or two ago.
Travels with Charley was his last book (he died in 1968) where, having become disenchanted with life and his career despite his multiple successes, travels across America in a pickup truck camper with his dog to rediscover America and his own self.
All of this really resonated with me, as there are definitely similarities between his trip and this RV trip that I am on:
John Steinbeck’s house where he grew up:
We’re settled in Morgan Hill, CA for the week. Other than the typical work and school stuff, we need to have some work done on the RV (I’ve got an air-shock that needs attention). Other than that, the major objective for the week is to get our Christmas card finished up and mailed out.