Our “California Adventure” a Road Trip to the West (Update: Day 17 - There and back again)

[jedijill]

I've seen them in one of the Vans stores her in Toronto and am at the point of wondering one do they have my size, two what they coast, and is it OK for a non skater to buy a pair of vans?

they are $60, they have almost every size (if not they will order) and yes! I bought 3 pairs and I've been a skateboard once.

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

Can't wait to visit the museum. It looks so cool.

Jill in CO

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Wow the museum looks great already.

Must be nice to be able to have Norman Rockwell do you kids' portraits. (On a side note, I now feel justified in having some Rockwell prints up in my office that otherwise has Disney related items)

The old Alice stuff is cool - though that "hunting in Africa" one isn't so PC at the moment

 

[annegirl]

Cool! I didn't know that the museum was on the Presidio. That's where I lived as a baby. (My dad was in the Navy) I don't remember it of course. I think I was almost 2 when we moved.
We have visited the area though and it is so pretty.
I wish we had gone to the museum!
That looks really cool so far. I am definitely putting it on my bucket list for any future trip to California!

 

[MarbleBob]

Isn't that the coolest museum? There's just so much to look at there!

I couldn't agree more. This IS the coolest museum!!!

Wow the museum looks great already.

Must be nice to be able to have Norman Rockwell do you kids' portraits. (On a side note, I now feel justified in having some Rockwell prints up in my office that otherwise has Disney related items)

The old Alice stuff is cool - though that "hunting in Africa" one isn't so PC at the moment

Yeah, it's strange how times change. The hunting in Africa one is totally not PC at the moment. There were quite a few things in the museum that weren't PC then or now...

Cool! I didn't know that the museum was on the Presidio. That's where I lived as a baby. (My dad was in the Navy) I don't remember it of course. I think I was almost 2 when we moved.
We have visited the area though and it is so pretty.
I wish we had gone to the museum!
That looks really cool so far. I am definitely putting it on my bucket list for any future trip to California!

This museum is totally worth adding to your bucket list. It really has a LOT going for it, and location, location, location!!!

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 7 - Thursday June, 18 - Walt Disney Family Museum - Part 2

Next, we moved into a room that has some exhibits related to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse.



Get ready for this….

The oldest known drawing of Mickey Mouse!!!!



Pretty darn cool!!!!

And here’s one of the drawings for Steamboat Willie





I LOVE toys, and I had a blast drooling over all these vintage Mickey items!!!



The next room had a bunch of stuff related to the Silly Symphonies.







We got a copy of the Walt Disney Treasures Silly Symphonies DVD when princes was a toddler. She loved the Three Little Pigs shorts and watched them all the time. It was pretty darn cool to see some of the original artwork and props!







Oh, and original paints too!



The next room started to transition into feature films with artifacts related to Snow White, Pinocchio, etc.





It was beyond amazing to think that Walt actually interacted with so many of these things!!!

Holy cow, a two story multilane camera!!!!!



Next, we moved into an area that showed how the strikes and then WWII affected the studio. The war area had some pretty interesting stuff.





Again, I’m sharing just a tiny fraction of all the photos that I took. There is just too much cool stuff in this museum!!

Anyway, along those lines, there were so many interesting stories and things to read. One thing that really stood out, was a pin-up pamphlet that they created during WWII. It wasn’t overly risqué, but still strange to see Walt Disney staff produce drawings of naked women for service men!!

OK… The next room had some more cool movie related items. I’ve always been a huge fan of Mr. Toad. He’s just too cool!!! So I was stoked to see some of the original artwork for it.





The next room had all sorts of miniatures that Walt had collected. I guess he was really into this stuff, because the room was filled with it. So cool! Here’s a photo of just one of the displays...



Now, we started to head downstairs again, down a slow incline. We are now at the back of the museum with a big glass wall, looking out into the bay!





It was cool to get another glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge!



OK… so now the museum starts to transition into the story of Disneyland and the theme parks!!

There was a bench at the end of the hallway. It was from the carousel at Griffith Park in LA. If you are a big Disneyland history person, you’ll recall that Walt used to take his girls to that carousel when they were little. He’d sit on the bench and wish that there was a place where the adults and kids could both have fun together.





It was pretty wild to sit on that bench… knowing that Walt probably sat on it too!

Next up was my absolute favorite section of the entire museum… The Carolwood Pacific Railroad and Disneyland exhibits!!!

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 7 - Thursday June, 18 - Walt Disney Family Museum - Part 3

OK… so if you followed along with us this far, you know that we are pretty interested in trains. Not the biggest train nerds ever, but big enough to become super excited when we saw the train cars from Walt’s Carolwood Pacific Railroad!!!



So yeah, he built this train to go around his home. (You can see a model of it in the photo above.) They say that this was the birthplace of Disney Imagineering. He kept the train running for a few years until it became a liability… and then he moved on to the idea of making a bigger train… and that idea eventually evolved into Disneyland. Pretty neat stuff. (I was going to say "cool stuff", but I know that I've used that word a gazillion times with respect to this museum. But... it really is cool!!! )



“I have always loved trains” - Walt

I think Buddy could say the exact same thing!!



The infamous Lilly Belle. Oh what I wouldn’t give to go back in time and see it in action!!!

Check out this Youtube clip to see Walt playing with his trains!

I made a panorama of the entire train with my phone. It didn’t turn out perfect, but it gives you a good idea of how the room is laid out.



Looking back the other direction, you’ll see the Disneyland exhibits. Dude, this place is just too cool. (Yeah, I know, I said it again.)



The giant Disneyland layout was beyond amazing. (I really meant to say cool.)



They said that the model didn’t represent a single time period, but instead was sort of a mash up of all time periods.







One of Bob Gurr’s original Autopia cars. Heck yeah!!!



I’ve always had a soft spot for Fess Parker and Davey Crockett!!!



Loved the interactive Jose (from the Tiki Room) exhibit.



You could actually control him via a joystick (barely visible in Pickle's hands below.)



The kids played with that for quite a while.

Oh and a few drawings and items related to “It’s a Small World"



And then some exhibits about the "Orlando Project” too. Can you imagine what EPCOT would have been like if Walt had been around a few more years?



(One of the reasons that I’d say that the “People Mover” (TTA) at WDW is one of my favorite rides, is because I love seeing the model of Walt’s original vision of EPCOT.)

One of the last exhibits showcased a few of Walt’s personal items/treasures from before he died. The drawing was from his grandson.



Next, we moved into a room full of media items related to Walt’s death. Lots of newspaper articles and the like. It was really moving.



And then finally, a room that sort of summarized everything with video and projections.



Wow, that was an incredible museum tour. I look forward to visiting it again some day. Seems like we just scratched the surface. We probably spent two or three hours, but I could have slowed down and spent the better part of a full day. (We had to strike a balance with the kids. They stayed interested, but they didn't like to stay in one area for too long at a time.)

The museum also has movies and special exhibits/events from time to time. It would be amazing to be close enough to visit on a more regular basis!

OK. We couldn’t move on without spending some time in the gift shop, right?!?!?



I REALLY struggled to show restraint here. I’m saving up for a new car and I’m pinching my pennies right now. So we only picked up a couple small items, but we had a lot of fun browsing around. There is some amazing stuff in here!





We pretty much always get pins from every major attraction that we visit on vacation. (One for each kid, and then Stephanie and I always share.) So, we couldn’t hold back here. And I found a cool paint brush pencil that I couldn’t resist.



We were pretty hungry at this point, but their cafe didn’t really appeal to the kids, so we decided to move on. The plan was to head back down to the Wharf area for lunch, but we had to make a pit stop at the Lucasfilm office before we left the Presidio!

 

[melk]

Wow, that really looks like an interesting museum.

That picture of Mickey Mouse crying is so sad

 

[PrincessInOz]

You are so lucky to be able to take pictures in there! I have to do a re-visit some time. When I was there in 2012, they wouldn't let anyone take pictures inside the museum.

Thanks for sharing. I've loved looking at everything!

 

[lovegrumpy]

We loved the museum when we went back in 2012.

 

[MarbleBob]

Wow, that really looks like an interesting museum.

That picture of Mickey Mouse crying is so sad

I hear you. That whole room was sad. You sort of knew to expect it, as the museum basically followed his life. But it was incredibly moving, all these years later.

You are so lucky to be able to take pictures in there! I have to do a re-visit some time. When I was there in 2012, they wouldn't let anyone take pictures inside the museum.

Thanks for sharing. I've loved looking at everything!

Definitely! (I think they changed the policy within the last couple years.) They still don't allow video, but photos are OK.

We loved the museum when we went back in 2012.

That's awesome. I highly recommend it too!

 

[wiscbugs]

Love all the pics from the Walt Disney Museum. We drove by last week but didn't stop because I figured the kids would be bored...there was definitely plenty to do in SF!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Love everything in that Museum. I can see your point about having to strike the balance with the kids ... maybe we need to schedule an "adults only" trip to really spend some time there

“I have always loved trains” - Walt

I love this because so many of Walt's quote are moving and philosophical but then this one is just kinda like "dude, trains are cool!"

Actually, one of my favorite Walt quotes is the one on the wall behind Stephanie in that pictures: "You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality." ... I've actually used that with my team at work and kinda describes my work style. You obviously need to come up with great ideas, but you can't just spend all day "blue skying it" ... at some point you actually have to get down and do some work! And how hands on he was is one of the things I loved about Walt.

 

[MarbleBob]

Love all the pics from the Walt Disney Museum. We drove by last week but didn't stop because I figured the kids would be bored...there was definitely plenty to do in SF!!!

No doubt, there is practically too much to do in SF!!! It would take years of visits before you could see it all

Love everything in that Museum. I can see your point about having to strike the balance with the kids ... maybe we need to schedule an "adults only" trip to really spend some time there

I love this because so many of Walt's quote are moving and philosophical but then this one is just kinda like "dude, trains are cool!"

Actually, one of my favorite Walt quotes is the one on the wall behind Stephanie in that pictures: "You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality." ... I've actually used that with my team at work and kinda describes my work style. You obviously need to come up with great ideas, but you can't just spend all day "blue skying it" ... at some point you actually have to get down and do some work! And how hands on he was is one of the things I loved about Walt.

Yeah, and adults only visit to the museum would be great! I love that story about using that quote with you team at work. We have similar philosophies where I work too.

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 7 - Thursday June, 18 - Lucasfilm and Fisherman's Wharf

So our next big task for the day was to find some lunch, but we couldn’t leave the Presidio without a quick stop to the Lucasfilm office!!!!

Obviously, this isn’t the main Lucasfilm office, but apparently they actually do quite a bit at this site. Leaving the Walt Disney Family Museum, we drove through the windy Presidio roads for a couple minutes and we pulled up to the office area. There was an attendant at the parking lot entrance, and he teased us a quite a bit after he found out that we were tourists here to see Yoda. But it was all and good fun and he was a nice guy. I guess it’s gets boring standing there all day and it’s fun to mess with the tourists...

Anyway, we drove up, parked the car, and walked over to see the life size Yoda statue and fountain. I’ve been a Star Wars geek since I was a little boy (just barely old enough to have seen the original movie in the theater) and I collected a lot of the toys through my childhood and into my college years. Anyway, given all that, I was stoked to be there!



The kids thought it was pretty cool too!



The following GIF didn’t turn out too well, but inside the lobby, the front desk is on the right and then they have some statues, books, and memorabilia off to the left...

It was weird because this is an actual work environment and people were coming too and from, so we kept it quiet. Sort of like in a library. And fairly quick too. But not too quick for a few photos!!!!!









OK. That was pretty darn cool, but time to eat. Let’s go!!!!

We took the 10 or 15 minute drive down to Fisherman’s Wharf. Hey look, a cable car!!!



We Yelped around for some good food... and found The Godmother Fish & Chips. It had an incredible amount of 5 star reviews, so we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a food truck. That works!



Oh…. My…. Goodness!!!! This stuff is the stuff that dreams are made of. Not that the fish at Epcot and/or Raglan Road at DTD Orlando are the best ever, but this was way better than either of those. Heck yeah!!!

I went for the fish & shrimp combo. Oh yeah, I’m dreaming about that right now.



Everyone else had just the fish and chips. I’ll spare the extra photos as they all looked basically the same.

And then, Stephanie got the garlic fries with whatever special sauce they had. Oh dude, this is more of the stuff that dreams are made of. Delicious!!!!



So after we stuffed ourselves to the gills, we walked around just checked things out. It was pretty cool looking at all the seafood stands and just general “action” as there was a lot of street activity. People performing and stuff like that...



We decided to stop in and explore the Musée Mécanique, a museum full of antique coin operated arcade games. Too cool!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_Mécanique

We probably spent 45 minutes playing various games, exploring, and watching other people play games. It was a real hoot!

A bit later, we decided to go outside and watch the boats coming and going for a while. Such great views!



Later that afternoon, we decided it was time to be heading back to Tracy and Minhs for the evening. The plan was to head back to their house, pick them up, and go out for dinner. It was another LONG drive back as the traffic downtown was off the charts again. Traffic in downtown SF is NUTZ!!!!

They decided to take us to one of their favorite “hot pot” places. We had never been to such a restaurant and it sounded fun, so we were fairly excited. Essentially, every person gets their own a pot of soup broth. You control the temperature of the broth at your table. Then you pick a meat or seafood and they bring it all out raw, and then you cook it in the broth at your own pace. Interesting!



Everyone gets a plate of veggies and tofu, and a shrimp too!



Most of us picked beef for our protein... it was sliced thinly.



Minh went with seafood.



Then you pick rice or noodles to go with it.



I went with udon noodles, because they are one of my favorites!



Then each person picks up to two dipping sauces. We just ordered a bunch so we’d each have the opportunity to try them all.



Dude, that’s a lot of food!!!



We had a blast sharing one last dinner with Tracy and Minh. They are as cool as they come. We are blessed to have such a great family!



So what did we think? Well, unfortunately, the kids weren’t too impressed. And Stephanie and I both liked it well enough, but I wouldn’t say it was my favorite Asian food. I went with the “Flavorful Broth” and I have no idea what it was made from, but it had a slight funk to it that was hard to ignore. Maybe a little too flavorful? It was a lot of fun though!!!!

After dinner, the kids were up for something sweet, so we hit a local Asian grocery store and picked up some mochi ice cream. They had a few interesting flavors, so we bought several boxes and pigged out. Yum!

The sun was setting when we arrived back at the house.



And a bit later, it was full on dark.

They live up on a hill and it’s fun too look west towards the city and the bay.



We visited for a couple hours before calling it a night. Wow, I can’t believe that the San Francisco portion of our trip was coming to an end. I love that city and I can’t wait to visit again soon!!!! (And happy that we’’ll get to see Tracy and Minh again at my cousin’s wedding in Vail, CO this October!)

Next up, we get up early and head to Yosemite!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Awww. Judge not Lucasfilm by just Yoda statue, hrmmmm?
What a great way to round off your San Francisco portion. I love Shabu Shabu. But I can see how it wouldn't be everyone's bowl of soup noodles.

Looking forward to Yosemite.

 

[annie170]

Those museum photos are really cool (see what I did there)! Thanks for sharing with us!

San Francisco is such a beautiful city. I have a niece living out there right now and would love to plan a visit soon.

 

[MarbleBob]

Awww. Judge not Lucasfilm by just Yoda statue, hrmmmm?

Yes!!!

Those museum photos are really cool (see what I did there)!

Haha! I'm literally laughing out loud.

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 8 - Friday June, 19 - Yosemite Bound!

Time to start the next leg of our trip, and head to Yosemite! Our plan was to meet up with Stephanie’s family at the Best Western around 7:45 AM and get on the road by 8:00 AM. We got up early to pack our stuff and load the car.

I had a system in place by now, knowing where pretty much every last item goes. Ha!



Everyone else visited with Tracy and Minh for a little bit longer while I loaded the car. Minh had made a wonderful breakfast treat for us. She called them birds nests. They were baked in a muffin pan, with the base layer being potatoes (coming out like hash browns) and then inside the “nest” she had mixed in eggs, peppers, onions, etc. And then topped with cheese. I had never heard of such a thing, but let me tell you, they were delicious!!!! So we finished breakfast, said our goodbyes, and headed down to the hill to Hayward.

We met up with the rest of the gang and then headed south east towards Yosemite. And lucky for us, we were going the opposite direction from traffic, so the drive was easy going.

We decided to eat before heading into the Park, so we stopped in Oakhurst for lunch. There weren’t many options and we wanted something fast, so some of us ate at Burger King and the other’s chose Jack in the Box. (My family mostly hates Jack in the Box, so we went with Burger King. But, no crazy BK hot dogs this time!)

So yeah, an uneventful lunch. There was a Vons grocery store next door, so we decided to pick up items for a picnic lunch in the Valley tomorrow, as well as a few other snacks and goodies. We ended up roaming around the grocery store and waiting around in the parking lot for what seemed like a ridiculous amount of time, but oh well, that’s what happens when you travel with two other families.

The bright side is that they had "It’s-It” ice cream sandwiches. These are local to San Francisco, and Tracy introduced them to Stephanie and me when we last visited in 2000. We really wanted to find them while we were in SF, but the cards were never in our favor... So we were super stoked to see them at Vons.

An ice cream cookie sandwich dipped in chocolate? Heck yeah!!!

A bit later, we were on the road again, moving towards Yosemite. Yahoo!!!

The plan was to enter Yosemite in the south entrance, hit the Mariposa grove for a couple hours, then drive up to Glacier Point for a while, and then make our way to Curry Village in the valley before sunset.

We arrived at the Mariposa grove at about 1:30 PM. Wow, what a parking lot!!!

We knew that we didn’t have it in us to see all the giant trees, but it was only a mile or two to see a couple of the big famous ones, so we got a move on.

One of the first sites you see on the trail is the trunk of a giant toppled tree. Wow, those roots are huge!

Even the small trees can be interesting in Yosemite!

Another cross section. Wow!

“Bachelor" was the first really big tree that we came across. I grabbed another vertical panorama with my phone. It’s a little wavy, but it helps give some perspective!

Next up was the Grizzly Giant.

Hey Princess, what do you think?!?!?

A little bit further was “California Tunnel Tree”. Whoa!

We spent a while goofing around the tunnel tree, and then started making our way back to the parking lot. We stopped for a few more pictures though...







The walk back to our cars was pretty much all downhill and a much easier walk. It sure was a neat place and I’m glad we had the opportunity to visit it. They closed the grove a week or two after our visit, and it’ll stay closed for a couple years while they do a restoration project. I felt lucky that we just made it before the closure!

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 8 - Friday June, 19 - Yosemite - Glacier Point

So next up was a drive up to Glacier Point, which is up on the top of a mountain overlooking Yosemite Valley. I don’t recall how long the drive was, probably about an hour. It was a pretty drive, but the last 10 or 15 minutes were spectacular as you made your way towards the valley view. I don’t recall the name of the first major lookout point before you get to Glacier Point, but holy cow what a view!!!



It was unreal looking out in the distance and seeing the waterfalls running. It seemed like you should be seeing a static vista, but the flowing water made the view really dynamic. Amazing!







After picking our jaws up off the ground and exploring for a few more minutes, we piled back into the cars and drove the remaining bit to Glacier Point. A similar view, but at a different angle, with a more direct view of Half Dome's face.





The kids had a blast climbing on all the rocks.





Hey Ladies!!!









I didn’t upload a photo, but peering over the edge, you could see our resort down on the Valley floor. We spent a good hour or two up there, and then decided to head down and get settled in for the night.

We headed back down the winding road and made our way towards the valley. The "tunnel view” was spectacular!





After riding Disney’s Soarin’ Over California countless times, I was super excited to finally be entering Yosemite Valley in person!!!!

The rest of the drive into the valley was spectacular. I’ll share more photos of the valley from the next day’s explorations, but in the meantime, we’ll skip to Camp Curry.



We arrived at the front office to find a line out the door. They were booked solid with no vacancy. That was no surprise to us, as we had booked our rooms exactly one year in advance!



A half our later, it was our turn to check in!



They really don’t have parking next to the tents/cabins, but there is one road that you can take to drop your stuff off. (Vs. hauling it all by hand from the main parking lot, which isn’t really all that close.)



The lady said that if there were any open spots along the road, you could park there, as long as you don’t block it.

Hit the brakes, someone is pulling out!!!!!! Wow, what luck! We were able to get a spot about 20 feet from our cabin. This was totally unexpected.



Unfortunately, Grandpa didn’t have the same luck, so he had to park back in the lot.

So yeah, if you recall from the PTR, Stephanie got up early and called Yosemite a year before our planned arrival date, as this was the earliest you could book. We actually wanted traditional hotel rooms over by the visitor center, but those sold out within minutes. By the time Stephanie got through, we were able to get two hard walled cabins (without bathrooms) and one tent cabin. Dave and Angie stayed in the cabin. They weren’t too thrilled about it, but as tag alongs, they were happy to at least have a place to sleep...

Our cabin was next door to Nanny and Grandpa, and we were all very close to the bathrooms. How convenient! Dave and Angie’s tent was across the service road and down a ways, but not too far. Maybe a minute’s walk.

Once we were all settled in, it was late, dark, and we were starving. Most of the restaurants had closed already, but the pizza place was still open… so pizza it was.

We sat out in the dark, so I didn’t really have any good photos of the outdoor eating area, but the pizza wasn’t terrible. Actually, not bad at all. Not great, but better than expected!





It wouldn’t have mattered, we were too hungry to care. And having a couple beers on an empty stomach made me care even less. Ha!

We planned to get up early and explore the valley the next morning, so we headed back to get some sleep.

Wow, this place is amazingly beautiful. I couldn’t believe we were actually going to sleep in Yosemite Valley!!!