Both kids slept most of the night, which was fantastic. It means we've gotten over the time change fairly quickly, waking up at a "normal" hour today.
After a slow start we headed off for the Exploratorium. It's changed locations since we were last here, but is just as good as we remembered, if not better! The Exploratorium is like Scienceworks on steroids, but a million times better. So many different activities for the kids to do. Everything is interactive, and so much fun.
James and Charlotte both loved the "Quiet Walk" - a pit of gravel which you had to walk through as quietly as possible. Unless you were James, and then the idea was to run through and jump and make as much noise as you can! Charlotte did really well, and went through with a best score of 0.6. Of what though, I'm not sure. Decibels?
It really is an amazing place, and like last time we didn't have enough time to see everything.
After the Exploratoirum we went for a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Charlotte was more excited about hearing there was an old jail in the middle of the bay than the bridge. We got out at the viewing point just on the other side and took some photos. Most of our photos are on the camera, but here is one panoramic of the view.
James slept through the whole thing, and Charlotte fell asleep pretty much as soon as we got back in the car, so we just decided to drive around randomly and see where we ended up. We drove through the hills of Sausalito, and ended up back on the freeway.
Wayne accidentally ended up in an off-ramp, following a bus, but luckily a few hundred metres up the road was a Starbucks! First "real" coffee for the trip I think.
We decided to drive the scenic way back to the hotel, ie not through the city, and drove up through Golden Gate Park and along the coast towards the zoo. We saw a beach car park, so thought we might as well stop.
It was a very "interesting" car park. Basically a narrow road with people parking on one side...and on the other when there were no more parks. Just after we parked a car pulled in across from us and we were wondering how we'd actually get out!
Anyway, who cares about getting out when we have a beach to play on! After a climb down the steep sand dunes we hit the sand, and the shallows. James got wet and decided he didn't like it, whereas Charlotte loved it and didn't want to get out - if she'd had her way she would have dived in head first and got totally soaked. Luckily we managed to keep it to just her pants.
When it was time to leave we had to climb back UP the steep sand dunes. Yay! (At times like these I really wish there was actually a sarcasm font.) Once up and in the car we had to figure out how to get out. Luckily about 3 other cars were leaving at the same time, one other which was also blocked in by the car across from us, so they made that car move.
Once back at the hotel we washed the sand off the feet and headed off for dinner. Charlotte wanted Chilli's again so she could have mac and cheese, but when we got there it was packed. The police were doing a fundraiser for the Special Olympics and it seemed like half the world had come out. We decided that the 30 minute wait wasn't worth it, and headed out again. One of the cops recommended we try Jack's, just up the road. The Special Olympics athlete who was there thought we should try Hooters!
Jack's also had a wait, as did Red Robin. Clearly everyone in San Francisco eats out on a Thursday night. So we ended up at....
...Chuck E Cheese. Yay! (Not.) The food was as ordinary as we remembered it, and Charlotte had as much fun as she remembered. James just wanted to ride in the car and the train rides. "Toot toot car!"
At the end of the almost 2 hours there Charlotte had exhausted her tokens and had enough tickets to get a whole heap of junk.
That is a little fake green spider in her right hand - apparently she wants to scare everyone she sees. Kim and Aga you've been warned!
James was very happy with the whistle that Charlotte got him.
Home to bed after a long day!
Oh - one thing I did forget. The stroller didn't arrive today, so I called the number that they gave me. They told me no stroller had arrived today and asked me for my claim number. I told them they hadn't rung me with the claim number.
They then told me they had to wait for tomorrow's plane to arrive and they'd check again. I told them that the lady I spoke to at the airport said if it hadn't arrived by today I could but a new one and they would reimburse me. The lady on the phone wasn't happy, but after I re-emphasised that I couldn't do another day without a stroller she reluctantly agreed I could go buy one.
Not more than 3 minutes after hanging up my phone rang - they had miraculously found it and we're going to deliver it that night. Amazing what threatening to spend their money does 😊. So we got our stroller back. Yay! (No sarcasm font required!)
