Dear Etrain,
My friend Brandi lives in San Jose and was having a house warming and baby shower. I wanted to go so I thought it'd be a fun for a family vacation. And since we would be so far north, we could go a little farther and visit Grammy at her house.
We decided to stay in between San Jose and San Francisco so we could easily visit both. Our rental was in a cute town called San Carlos. We loved this one downtown street with great restaurants and stores. We also loved that we woke up to deer outside our window most mornings.
Our first adventure started on the BART. We haven't yet taken you on a train, so we figured you'd get a kick out of riding this, which is basically a train. It took longer than we thought, but it was an easy enough ride into San Francisco.
We figured we'd catch a Giant's baseball game while we were there. The stadium was pretty cool. It had a mini baseball diamond for the kids to hit and run on, a huge slide (that had a line that was way too long for our patience) and a trolley that all the kids, including you, liked to climb on. The game was fun too, but it was a tad hot where we were sitting, so we only sat in our seats for about 4 innings, then made our way to the other activities before leaving. After that we ended up walking into the city for a bit and found some ice cream before heading back home.
The next day we spent in San Jose at Brandi's party. It was nice to see her and spend time with some old friends I hand't seen in a while. It was really hot, but you and dad were great party goers. I think it helped that you got ice cream. While we were there we had a caricature of of us drawn, and I've since framed it and hung it in our house. After the party we went bowling which you loved, of course.
The last day we went back into the city. First stop was the Ferry building for some lunch, then decided to walk from there. Found plenty of places to stop and check out along the way including this fun dock where a bunch of guys were fishing.
A little further down the way was the Exploratorium. We decided not to pay to go in, but there was lots of fun stuff to see and play with before entering the main attraction. One thing I thought was really cool was the circle thing shown below. There were two. You and Dad went to one and I stayed at the other. You can get an idea of how far apart they were from the photo below. If you spoke in a normal talking voice, the person on the other side could hear you as if you were right next to them. It was really neat.
We wanted to get to Fisherman's Wharf, but our legs were getting tired so we took a pedicab. At the wharf we did the usual touristy things. Got a bit more to eat, checked out some stores, rode a double decker carousel, and watched a street performer. After that I was really determined to get us on a trolley. Unfortunately, the line was super long, so once we got on the fun of it was sort of gone. We were just tired and wanted to start our long BART ride back home. I'm glad we did it, but now I have a few tips for not having to wait so long.
Overall San Francisco/San Jose trip was really fun. I was glad to get to show you the city. Dada had to go home after that, so you and I took on the next leg of our trip without him. We had a long drive ahead of us, but Grammy and Rona met us half way there. A portion of the road was verrry windy and you felt nauseous along the way, but then you felt asleep and all was well. The trees were gorgeous too.
Upon arrival you got to ride on the fancy ride-on lawn mower with Rona. She let you drive and you thought that was the best thing ever...until they let you play on the ipad. There was a bunch of ipad time on this trip. I don't want you rotting your brain on video games and screens, but I let it slide for this vacation. It made you happy and the rest of us could relax, so it was fine for a few days.
While we were there we got to take in some of the most gorgeous sights. My favorites were the coastline views of course.
It was nice to get to spend time with Grammy and Rona and get to see their house and town. You were totally spoiled, but that's to be expected when hanging with a grandparent. It sounds like there is more we can see up there, so we'll have to plan another trip up soon.
Thank you for being the best travel buddy.
Love,
Mama
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