Growing Up Reissy Cup: Dinkney and Poppy's Visit to California! (Part 1)

Dinkney and Poppy came to visit us May 17th-25th. It was their first visit to our new hometown and first visit to California! We couldn't wait to show them our town, our house, and take them sightseeing in San Francisco and Alameda as well as a little trip down to Monterey.

We did so many activities I'm not sure if I can remember everything now. Here's my best attempt to summarize the week.

They arrived Saturday May 17th to Oakland's airport which is an easy drive from our house. That night we ate at our house and took them to our local park. We walked a little in the neighborhood to let them see some of the gorgeous Victorian homes in the area and where Emily will go to school next year.

Sunday was church day. We love being able to show our parents our normal activities and being able to share that part of our life with them. It's always fun to take people into San Francisco for the first time when they've never seen the city. Even a simple drive across the Bay Bridge feels special again as they catch that first glimpse of the Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. That afternoon we took them for a tour of the USS Hornet (WWII aircraft carrier) which is docked in Alameda. I stayed home with Caleb since it was his nap time and it wouldn't be easy to carry him all over it. Jeremy was excited to get to take his Dad to see this as Don is a bit of a history buff. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed the tour although it was incredibly windy that day! I look forward to touring it some time in the future.

Touring USS Hornet. SF skyline in the background.

USS Hornet WWII Aircraft Carrier

Monday was San Francisco Day! We started out at Coit Tower then we headed to Chrissy Field and Fort Point for views of the Golden Gate Bridge. On our way home, we stopped by Alamo Square to see the famous "painted lady" houses and enjoy the park and skyline views of the city. We had hoped to possibly do a cable car ride, but as always, the lines looked terribly long and we decided to skip it. Don and Nancy enjoyed being able to see the crooked Lombard Street from the top of Telegraph Hill.

View from Telegraph Hill

Dinkney spots Lombard Street and focuses in on SF's famous crooked street

Coit Tower. One day we will go to the top when we don't have to wait an hour to ride the elevator. :)

We ate a picnic lunch outside by the Golden Gate near Chrissy Field

View of bridge from Fort Point--a short walk from the Warming Hut by the Bridge

Enjoying Alamo Square

Iconic painted ladies and SF skyline at Alamo Square

Tuesday was Twitter Day! We all headed into San Francisco to tour Twitter and have lunch outdoors at the rooftop garden. I got to meet Jeremy's boss for the first time that day which was nice after hearing so many good things about him. Originally, we had thought we might try to do Muir Woods on this day, but it would have been an all day trip and wouldn't have left much time for anything else that day. Since we had our Monterey trip planned for the next couple of days, we decided it would be better to show them around Twitter and take a trip across the Golden Gate to the Marin Headlands. The views from the Marin Headlands of the city, bay, Pacific Ocean and Golden Gate Bridge are some of my favorite. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in right around the time we were heading up Conzelman Road by the coast. So, we headed back down to get under the fog so we could see better which put us right beside the Golden Gate Bridge at the Battery Spencer lookout. I loved getting to see a different view of the city, but the wind was super intense! The temperature dropped a good 10 degrees or more as we walked to the bridge lookout and the wind was crazy, but very invigorating!