Join us on our adventure out west to visit Huntington Beach, CA, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, and San Francisco for the Escape from Alcatraz Swim.
Day 1 - Saturday, May 27
Our flight departed at 10:00 a.m. CT, so we didn't have too early of a start, so that was nice. This was our first time flying with both kids.
Our flight went well. T was tired on the flight and took a nap. When we landed at 12:00 p.m. PT, we were all so hungry. After we picked up the rental van, we picked up food at McDonald's. Marcus wasn't happy about this, but we were all so hungry and we still had to drive to Huntington Beach. I also new an early dinner was being made for us in Huntington Beach. I remembered that for next time though, and in the future we plan our first meal.
We arrived in Huntington Beach and went right to visit family. My second cousin came over so we could meet her and we all had a wonderful dinner. It was so nice to see family and visit for a while. After dinner we went to check into our Airbnb. We had a house with 3 bedrooms and a fill bath. It was great. We set up the Pack 'n Play for T, and P was able to sleep in her own bed. It had a large living space, kitchen, and washer/dryer.
Day 2 - Sunday, May 28
This morning, we picked up family, then met up with some locals so I could practice swimming. We met up with them at Pirate's Cove Beach at Corona Del Mar State Beach Park. The kids played in the water with Marcus while I swam. It was a great way to get more comfortable in open water that wasn't a lake. After I was done swimming, we went to check out Huntington Beach Pier. It was a beautiful day out and we had a great time checking out the pier and the area. It was great having our own local tour guide who picked out all of the places for us to eat!
Day 3 - Monday, May 29
This was Memorial Day. We spent time at the beach with the kids and family. It was such a lovely day out. They had fun jumping in the water. They also enjoyed flying a kite! We went to the house to take a nap before heading to dinner. Meals were a bit of a challenge as we were eating with family on local time, and we were used to Central Time. So we tended to eat breakfast early, then have a late brunch with them. Dinner tended to be on the earlier side as it was around 7:00 p.m. Central Time for us when we were eating, which was close to the kids normal bedtime.
Day 4 - Tuesday, May 30
We went back to Pirate's Cove Beach to swim with the locals again. It was quite sad to see the trash left behind from Memorial Day. After the swim, we rented a pontoon and took a tour around with it. It was a lot of fun to check things out from the pontoon.
Day 5 - Wednesday, May 31
This morning, we were heading to Sequoia National Park. We didn't want to get stuck in traffic, so we waited until after breakfast before heading out. We passed so many fruit stands. I really wish we would have stopped, but we didn't have a lot of cash on us, so we were worried we would run out if we stopped to get some fruit. I would diffidently get more cash before heading out and stop to get some fresh fruit. We made it to the B&B and let the kids burn off energy for a while before going to get pizza. We stayed at an B&B 7 miles from the entrance, and there wasn't a lot of places nearby.
Day 6 - Thursday, June 1
We woke up and had breakfast at the B&B, we didn't find it very appetizing, so we were already starting the day a little hungry. We drove right to Sequoia and started checking it out! We stopped at Hospital Rook and saw the neat pictographs there. From there we took a quick stop at the overlook. Then we started to see the big sequoias.
We hiked Moro Rock. The hike started out with a partly cloudy sky, but by the time we got to the top, we couldn't see off of the top. It still was a very cool hike up. I wore T on my front in an Ergobaby and Marcus had P on his back in our Kelty kid carrier backpack. We had purchased this simple backpack second hand and it was wonderful. We got so much use out of it!
We drove under tunnel log, which was just really neat. I really like how they decided to just cut the tunnel instead of cutting up the whole part that was blocking the road. From Crescent Meadow we hiked around a lot crisscrossing the trails. The kids took turns napping in their carriers and P enjoyed running around. We saw Tharp's Log and so many cool trees.
Marcus is tall and it was neat to see him feel small, which doesn't happen often. We were out there for hours. While we were out hiking we saw a crowd gathering and we saw a bear. This would be the third national park I've seen a bear. We were shocked how close everyone was getting. As the bear started to move on, people event followed it off trail! Do not ever follow a bear! We took a quick picture and moved on as the other people were making us nervous. To get this picture, I zoomed in as far as the camera would go.
We stopped in the Lodgepole Visitor Center and visited General Sherman
Tree. We talked about taking the shuttle back to our van, but we decided to go ahead and walk back. We had a picnic lunch of some leftovers we had brought with us. Very grateful we had them!
We continued down the road and enjoyed stopping and checking out the sights. We made it to Grant Grove Village and first stopped at the convivence store. We purchased some hot dogs, pasta salad, milk, and a sandwich. We also got some cereal for the morning. The lodge was under construction when we went, and the restaurant was only for lodge guests, so we couldn't eat there. We stayed in Grant Grove Cabin 2D. It was a great little cabin for us! We had a bed for us, a bed for P and T could sleep in the Pack 'n Play. We were on a double bed, which is tight, but other then that, the cabin was nice.
T loved being able to crawl around the cabin and P thought it was a lot of fun. We videos of them just laughing and running and crawling all over the small cabin. Our kids have a hard time sleeping when we're in the same room since we don't do that at home. So we put them to bed, then sat outside at our picnic table as they fell asleep. It was a nice way to unwind after a long fun day.
Day 7 - Friday, June 2
I woke up with a headache which wasn't doing well. I didn't like what we had for dinner so I didn't eat much, and I didn't know if that was part of the reason or if it was something else.
Our plan for this day was to drive through Kings Canyon, maybe get some hikes in, then head to San Francisco. I don't normally get car sick (and I'd been on going to the sun road 3 times by now), but with my headache I was getting nauseous. So I pretty much wanted to turn around and leave. We got to Grizzly Falls and spent some time there which helped a little, until we had to get back in the car. We drove until we saw the permit station then turned around to head out of the park. I was feeling so sick at this point, all I could do is close my eyes and try not to throw up. Between my headache and the nausea, I wasn't doing well at all. And it was a little disappointing that we didn't get a hike in because of how I was feeling.
We finally made it out of the park and on on our way to San Francisco. I wasn't feeling better for quite a while after we left the park. We stopped for lunch and coffee in Fresno then I started to feel a little better. When we arrived in San Francisco, I dropped Marcus and the kids off at the hotel and drove right to the car rental to return the van. We didn't want to deal with parking the van and driving around San Francisco.
After I dropped off the van, I took the trolley back to the hotel and met up with Marcus and the kids. After getting settled in the hotel, we took the Muni to Koret Children's Playground to let the kids run around. They had a lot of fun there. They were very happy to be out of the van and play.
When they were ready to leave, we hopped back on the Muni and went to Mel's Dinner for dinner. Then we went back to the hotel. Since we were taking public transportation everywhere, we would just wear the kids. We'd let P walk when she wanted to. I wore the diaper bag on my back and T on my front. When P wanted to walk, Marcus would through the diaper bag in the backpack carrier.
As I mentioned, the kids at this time, had a hard time falling asleep if we were in the same room. That night was really hard. We were sharing the bed with P and T was in the Pack 'n Play, but in the end, I think he was in bed with us too. It was a hard first night there.
Day 8 - Saturday, June 3
In order to get pumped for my swim the next day, we were scheduled to tour Alcatraz this day. We walked to Pier 33 and we were in line to board the ferry at 9:30 a.m. and our ferry was scheduled to leave at 10:00 a.m. We had prepaid for this, and I was glad we had done that in advance. We arrived on the island, received our instructions, then picked up our headsets to begin the tour. We had so much fun checking out Alcatraz. So much interesting history!
I love plants and found the beautiful garden so interesting. We spent a long time on the island checking everything out. Then we took the ferry back and had lunch at Pier 23.
After lunch we used our CityPASS to get into the Exploratorium. P really loved this place and had fun exploring. There was even a good spot to let T get down for a while and crawl. Afterwards we had dinner and headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime. I had an early start the next day!
Day 9 - Sunday, June 4
The day of the swim! This morning, I got up early and was out of the hotel by 5:00 a.m. I walked to swimmer check-in. As with every open water swim event I've participated in, it didn't take long until I saw the stream of swimmers all walking towards with check-in. I checked in then found a spot in the stands to get ready. I met a nice group of people, and we all hung out and talked about our experiences and the swim.
They herded us to the ferries. It was fun talking with other swimmers. I even talked to some who had done the Point to La Pointe swim, which is one of my favorite swims. We all loaded onto the ferries and took the ride out. When we reached our destination, just off Alcatraz, we took turns jumping into the water. From there, we waited until everyone got into the water. Once the horn blew, all of the swimmers took off. They had told us that the current was really strong, and if we missed the opening into Aquatic Cove, we would have to be boat assisted back because the current would be too strong. I diffidently didn't want to be boat assisted, so I swam to the breaker wall, and followed that in. I swam the event in 38:33. It was such a pleasant swim, and I'd do it again.
This is me pre-swim, and post swim!
Marcus met me at the finish line with the kids. They were having fun playing in the sand while I swam. I had such a great time and it was awesome to connect with other swimmers. After the race I was really hungry. First we stopped by the hotel so I could ditch my swim bag & wetsuit and take a quick shower. Then we ate lunch and we went to the aquarium. After the aquarium, we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge to check it out. On our way back from the Golden Gate Bridge, we got on a bus heading in the wrong direction! That was the first time and last time it happened to us this trip. I think we were both just so tired at this point that neither one of us caught it. We got off, and headed the right direction. We had a place in mind for dinner, but when we got there, the power was out! It was out for a whole area, and we were starting to get really hungry at this point. I ended up taking the kids to the hotel and started working on packing while Marcus found us food and brought it back to the hotel. After dinner, we went to bed, excited to head home the next day.
Day 10 - Monday, June 5
We got up and ate breakfast, then we took a car to the airport. We thought about taking public transportation, but we had so much stuff that it wasn't going to work. After we got through security, we found some food and waited for our 1:05 flight home. The flight went pretty well, and we landed about 6:45 p.m. We were very glad to be back home and sleep in our own beds that night.
Gear:
Since we were visiting so many different types of places, we had a wide range of gear we brought with us. We had car seats for both kids (you can rent car seats, but that makes me a little uneasy). A double stroller, which we only used in Huntington Beach and the Airport. My wetsuit, my swimming gear, and the swim parka my husband gifted me took up space too. We brought the kid backpack, and the baby carrier. They were some of our heaviest used items - all over Sequoia & Kings Canyon, as well as San Francisco. We also brought the Pack 'n Play since not every place we were going to had a Pack 'n Play available. We also packed our hiking shoes, and nice clothes to go out with family. So quite the range! The main thing I wish we had was a small cooler to bring better food with us while in the cabin. But then we would have also needed pans and utensils.
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