Courtney's Blog July 22nd, Day 17 of the Epic McFarland Journey!

We had a nice early start. I get in the car and I see two ants on the drivers side door (inside). I kill them as bravely as someone like me can kill bugs. Then I see a few more, then a few more. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!??! Apparently, we parked in some sort of ant colony and they decided to commendeer the van as their new hole. I look at them closely and they are taking crumbs off the floor, remnants of 3 weeks of eating junk in the car, and carrying it around. As Paula Poundstone said in one of her great, famous, skits..."this is poor ant leadership". I mean, I appreciate that they are cleaning up the crumbs, but I really would have preferred to vacuum. The entire ride, I feel ants all over my legs. I am not sure if it is phantom ants because I am paranoid, or real ants...because they're real.

After stopping to perform an ant massacre, we headed out on the PCH towards San Francisco to see the Golden Gate bridge, and the Walt Disney Family museum. The PCH took our breath away again. When I asked Gideon how he liked the PCH he said "There's sumtin' in my hearwt". I asked him what was in his heart? He said "sumtin". I understand, Gideon. Me too! Another thing we have been enjoying from Gideon is a left-over from the Grand Canyon Train Ride. On the train, they told us if we saw wildlife to point and shout "wildlife". Now you remember how that guy in Bricktown, OK told Gideon to quack at the ducks? And how Gideon quacked 95% of the ride? Well, guess what we hear from the backseat CONSTANTLY? Though, it took us awhile to decipher. At first, Adam and I couldn't figure out why Gideon kept shouting "White Wife!!!" out the window. We also didn't appreciate the potentially racial sentiment in it. Until, finally, we put two and two together, and realized he was simply pointing out the wildlife.

As I said before, there are tons of places to stop off and take pictures. There was one spot this morning, though, that was an actual beach that was free to discover. I couldn't resist even with Adam rolling his eyes (he hates the beach). The kids got out of the car, got some exercise, and had an amazing time exploring. Abby found a ton of sand dollars, and Gideon found lots of gross dead things! Don't worry, he touched EVERYTHING. They giggled and coo-ed at the cold water and played a couple quick games of tag with the Ocean. She won (the ocean I mean). The stop was good for our souls....well, maybe not Adam's.

On to the Walt Disney Family Museum! Wait, is that an ant I feel on my leg!?!? We arrive in the parking area for the museum, but none of us are smart enough to figure out how to get in the parking area. So we did what any reasonable person would do, and drive on the crosswalk. We park and see a bus load of kids outside the museum. This should be fun. We start heading in and there is a sign on the lawn. It says....closed on Tuesdays. Are you kidding me? Who picks Tuesdays to close? Oh well. Now us and the busload of kids need a new plan. We walk around the grounds and see a beautiful scene and a small peek at the Golden Gate Bridge!

Next we head on to our first viewing stop of the Golden Gate Bridge. We are going to drive over it tomorrow and see another spot too. For today, we found a cool place to pull off and look at it. It is amazing, but after seeing the painted desert and grand canyon, we're still more impressed with God's architecture. Hold on, I feel an ant...

Do you know how hilly San Francisco is? I know you've seen Full House so you obviously understand the hills, but you don't. It is constant up and down and up and down and these aren't little hills. It is a wonder the pedestrians weren't dropping like flies. Forget the pedestrians, somehow, the tourist tradition has become biking the city. God Bless You People. I don't konw how these people were doing it. The car was having trouble on these hills, nevermind our fat american thighs! One curvy road we stopped to see was Lombard Street which is apparently famous. I had never heard of it. I put a picture below that I found on the internet so you can see it! It was closed, so we couldn't get a picture, but we still were able to drive by and see it. On the way out, we drove down Filbert or Filmore Street. This was the steepest, hilliest, deathtrap ...and I wasn't in the least bit prepared for it. I forsaw killing pedestrians as the brakes failed on our over-stuffed mini-van. For your viewing pleasure, we drove down it again and video-taped it. See the Video's section for some fun.

Our next stop was to the original Little John's (that toffee place I like). It was in the city, and they had some cool treats for the kids!

Summary:

Gideon is still on a milk strike, is that an ant on my leg?, the PCH makes us dizzy and leaves something in our hearts, more toffee can't hurt and no one should work on Tuesdays.

Ended the Day at the Courtyard, San Bruno, California

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