the shelton family.: November 9 -12 (San Francisco)

Robert's 30th birthday present from me and his mom was a trip to San Francisco. It was a quick trip, just a long weekend, but we had a great time! It started out with a late flight out of Austin (7:45 pm). It turned out to be great timing since Adeline slept basically the whole way. We rolled into S.F. at 12 am PST (that's right, 2 am Austin time!) and were up early the next morning (a big thanks to Adeline for getting our butts rolling) ready to see the city.

We got breakfast, visited the sea loins at Pier 39, then headed over to get tickets to see Alcatraz. No go. Alcatraz was sold out through Monday! They do not allow re-selling of the tickets (per their contract with the parks department) so there is no waiting or cancellation lists. And to top it off, you can't even buy a scalped ticket because you have to give your name when you buy the tickets then they check ID before you get on the boat. You'd think it is still a working prison by the amount of restrictions they have in place!

Alcatraz was a bummer, but we'll just have to see it next time. We spent the rest of Saturday (which was rainyish and way colder than I thought it would be) walking around town- the wharf, Ghirardelli Square, north shore, etc. and we did the classic ride on a cable car then had a crab dinner in Fisherman's Wharf.

Sunday we took a tour of the city. Hey, we only had so much time so this was our only shot to see all the highlights. The weather was gorgeous! We actually missed the first part of the tour because of Addie's nap, but we caught up with them on their second stop. We walked through Chinatown, went to Grace Cathedral, the Painted Ladies, Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Presido, the Palace of Fine Arts, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, and ended in Sausalito. It was quite a whirlwind! We took the ferry back from Sausalito which runs right by Alcatraz. Salt in my wound... I really wanted to see that place!

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening souvenir shopping in Chinatown and walking through the North Shore... twice... oops to my reading of the map! We made it to Lombard street (the crookedest street) and climbed it from the very bottom. It is very, very steep. My legs were burning. It didn't help that I had a 20+ pound baby on my back.

Speaking of the baby, Adeline was great the whole time. She even took a few naps (get this) in public!! You know she was dog tired for that to happen. But you wouldn't know it by her attitude. She loved being out on the town, smiled at anyone who would look at her, charmed people on the trams, and just generally traveled like a champ. Due to our genius parenting, we were able to regulate Addie's naps perfectly so that she transitioned from CST to PST and back with ease.

Monday we were up early to catch our flight home. Good bye, San Francisco. Hopefully we'll see you again soon.

Conked out on the plane