Molitor Family: June 2014

Monday

Trip from MN to CA and visit to Stanford University

Well, the time has finally come that I have completed the blog post on the best sight-seeing trip I have had in my life to date. Last June, Joan and I were with David and Kelsea in California. We knew that if we didn't go while they were there, we most likely never would. David and Kelsea were willing to be the best travel agents we could have hoped for. They planned everything, got all the tickets for everything, and then we paid right up front when we got there. So the whole trip was super easy!!

Monday June 10, 2013 preparing for take off!

The first obvious thing about California was all the flowers everywhere!

David in his office summer 2013

The first day we went from the airport to visit David at his work at Stanford University.

I have always liked Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, the picture David
had on his office wall. (Not the original! ) :)

The stairway Kelsea is standing on is hemlock wood.

I had heard that Stanford University was a beautiful place,

and visiting there proved this to be true.

We went to a high bell tower, and I don't know if you can tell,
but it was cold and windy.

This church was built by Mrs. Stanford in memory of her husband. It was very beautiful inside and out. From the scriptural plaques posted in prominent places in the church, it seemed to me that they were sincere believers.

This is just one of the several excellent plaques
displayed on the wall in the church.

When we got home that night, Kelsea prepared for us
the most delicious Indian meal!

Supper at David and Kelsea's Apartment

Tuesday

Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods, and Napa Valley

David had to work again on Tuesday, so Kelsea did the driving for one adventurous day!

First we walked up the overlook of the Golden Gate Bridge. I truly did not expect to ever be there in person, so it was a great sight for me to see!

It was cold and breezy up here, so we wanted to make that clear in the picture!

Then we headed OVER the Golden Gate Bridge and visited Muir Woods, a scenic forested woods featuring giant redwoods. You really should click on some of the pictures on this post to help you see better the real beauty! Of course most of the pictures don't capture it all.

This tree looked so cool to me, I wanted to catch a picture of us under it.

I hope these pictures give even a slight taste of how amazing it is to be among these very tall, tall trees!

And the ground cover was very beautiful also! It is a very serene place. I think everyone walking through is sober because they are in awe!

The trees are very old, and to help people understand this, they had one big fallen tree labeled as to significant dates along with its rings.

The tree was determined to have started growing in 909 A.D.

One of the rings labeled was for the year Columbus discovered the
new world. This ring shows how large the tree was at that time.
Then another ring labeled was how big it had grown to at the time of
the Declaration of Independence.

You can see here how big it was at the time of the California Gold
Rush and when Muir Woods was established. When the tree fell
in 1930 (most of them just fall!!), it had lived for 1,021 years!

Well, with such an amazing start to our day, we didn't even need to see more...but we did!

I caught this driving by zooming in from pretty far away. There
were quite a lot of workers out on the various vineyards

We drove through many miles of Napa Valley where rolling hills are covered with beautiful vineyards.

Another snap shot from the car.

Then we stopped at a little shop along the way to get macaroons.

This strange-acting black bird flew right down next to us and began to sort of "show off" twisting its head almost upside down. We wondered why?!

Then I noticed in a tree next to where we sat, a hidden nest with an egg in it!

Here I am pointing to the nest.

After going to one of the big vineyards along the way and enjoying lunch there (I actually ran into an old acquaintance from MN at a deli there!) we had to catch a picture at the Napa Valley sign.

Wednesday
Yosemite National Park

The first pictures we took at Yosemite were right from the parking lot. Keep your eyes on that waterfall! It is the highest measured waterfall in North America! It is composed of an upper falls and a lower falls with cascades in the middle.

As I recall, we saw this interesting rock formation
before we began our hike up.

Kelsea and David at the lower falls

Joan and I at the lower falls.

After hiking for a while, we got to the lower falls.

The hike up was beautiful, and the scene at the top breath-taking.

On the right is Half Dome, probably Yosemite's
most famous rock formation.

You will see by Half Dome in lots of the rest of the pictures, that we liked it!

Now, remember the waterfall in the first picture that I said to keep your eye on? Well, now look to the right of Joan and me on the above picture and in this other very beautiful scene. That is the same waterfall after our hiking up! That is looking down on the Upper Falls! Yosemite...

A gloriously beautiful place to visit!

We finished up our day by enjoying a very good burger
and fries at In-N-Out, the famous fast food restaurant
in California. Really! When a friend of Joan's heard that
she was in CA, he said, "Have you gone to In-N-Out yet?"

Thursday-The Giant Forest, Moro Rock

We spent the night at a hotel after Yosemite and the next morning we went to Moro Rock. It was a wonderful climb and the sight to see was as enjoyable to me as Yosemite!

That rock behind us was not naturally that way. Back when F.D. Roosevelt
started lots of government projects for workers, these areas had many workers
beautifying the national grounds in California. One thing they did was to dig
out underneath that rock to make it as it is now. It is named Tunnel Rock.

I loved seeing these Yucca plants on that early and fresh morning!

Here we are a little into the climb. What made it not treacherous was
the stairs and handrails.

The land around Moro Rock!

Almost to the top!

After our climb down, we traveled over to the Giant forest. This is where the giant Sequoias are.

Kelsea and me sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree

Looking over the edge of the roots of that same tree

Joan and I under the roots

Apparently when one of these great trees fall, it is without warning. That's what we heard

anyway. And it made you wonder if one would fall while you were there!

Even though this wasn't one of the hugest trees, it was still a highlight
for me. I have always wanted to drive through a tree ever since I saw
a picture of a HUGE standing tree that people can drive through
in a history book that I used with my children when I they were young.

By volume, the General Sherman tree is the largest
know single-stem tree in the world.

We decided to sit and rest by the General Sherman tree, and look what we saw on the bench where David and Kelsea sat?

Friday- Coastal Drive Highway 1

Friday was probably the most relaxing and low-key day we had. First, we took a leisurely drive through David's biking trail, a very windy, steep and narrow rode in a beautiful residential area. Then we took the Highway 1 Pacific Ocean Drive. It was a beautiful day for it!

Flowers were even on the beaches along the ocean!

We stopped for ice cream at a shop along the way (Santa Cruz, I believe)
where the line went practically out the door way. I think they
had over 100 flavors! I thought it was interesting that they have been
in business since Joan and I were born!

One of my favorite pictures!

I was very thankful that I finally got to see the ocean the way I had always dreamed of seeing it. We were able to enjoy the warmth of the sun and walk in the sand along the ocean with no one immodestly dressed, and no parties going on.

Saturday-Alcatraz and China Town

The boat we took over

When planning our trip, I didn't think I would like to go to Alcatraz. I thought it would be too depressing. But, even though it does make you sad, it is interesting to see. Here we are going down to the docking place. I wanted a picture with a trolley car! Doesn't it make you think "California!" This picture is right before I tied my shoe!

Alcatraz was for the worst of the worst.

On the boat over to Alcatraz

Alcatraz as we approached. It is on an island off the coast of San Francisco.

I would not have realized that the grounds are actually beautiful. When the prison was in use, the families of the workers lived there, and their children took a boat over to San Francisco for school each day. They never intermingled with the prisoners. But they had homes and planted flowers. The children interviewed today speak of a happy life. But I think it would be very hard to be a mother there.

What almost all the cells looked like

Here is where the prisoners had to go out each day for fresh air and
exercise. Some wouldn't exercise, but they had to go out anyway.

I took this picture of some of the infamous prisoners. One of them
was said to have walked on his toes his whole life!

Solitary confinement. No light at all!

Some more mild and submissive prisoners were free to pursue
pastimes like painting, music, or games.

That hole is in one of the three c ells where 2 brothers
and another prisoner escaped in 1962. They spent a
year chiseling holes (each in their own cells) with
a spoon. They are assumed to have ended up drowning
in the cold waters, though it has never been proven.

The dining hall. We are trying to look very sad and sober as we listen
to our guided tour on ear phones.

If a prisoner earned a right to visit a family member, it was through
this glass and very short.

It was very windy! San Francisco behind Joan.

You can see San Francisco not too far away.

The rest of the afternoon we spent in China Town in San Francisco. It was very fun!

This is the bakery...

We had a delicious meal at a Chinese restaurant, and then we got a little dessertish thing at this bakery. I remember exactly how they looked and tasted, but I can't remember what they are called. (Ask Kelsea, she will know!) This bakery was so popular, that David waited in the line for us outside on the sidewalk for 20 minutes while we 3 women shopped.