Jason, Veronica, Olivia & Joshua's Big Adventure.

We all slept really well, thankfully. We needed the rest.

We had a lovely hot breakfast at a nearby cafe this morning. The kids enjoyed their pancakes with maple syrup, and we enjoyed our bacon and eggs.

It was a beautiful morning – clear, blue sky, warm sunshine, and a cool breeze.

Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a really impressive structure. It did look golden in the morning sunlight. To be honest, up close it loses a little of its magnitude. The bridge looks best from a distance. We walked halfway across the bridge, and the view was beautiful across the bay. The US coastguard helicopter kept flying low along the length of the bridge, which was quite exciting for the kids. I didn’t take many pics of the view, because the lingering smog from the bushfires would not have done justice to the view. I think the SF bay is a little like Auckland's Harbour – a big harbour, with mountainous land all around. Really beautiful.

We then got a bus south from the bridge to Bakers Beach. We walked to the beach, and enjoyed the view north to the Golden Gate Bridge, and the rest. The kids had a great time playing in the sand. Olivia found feathers from birds, and found a rock for Pa. Josh had fun eating the sand. He was covered in it. We can look forward to enjoying the sand at the other end in a day or two!

We then caught the bus further down to Golden Gate Park, which is like the Botanical Gardens. We walked along to the Japanese Tea Gardens. They were very beautiful and relaxing. We walked to the teahouse and enjoyed pots of Jasmine and Ou-Long Tea while looking over tranquil Japanese Gardens. We enjoyed walking along the winding paths that took us through the gardens, ensuring that Josh didn’t end up in the water with the large, orange carp.

We finally left the Golden Gate Park and got the bus to Alamo Square, where we saw some of the most beautiful Victorian era houses in San Francisco. Alamo Square also had a great children’s park, so Olivia and Josh had lots of fun on the swings and slides.

We then got back on the number 21 bus and headed to Market and 5^th to get the famous cable car of San Francisco. I have to say, the MUNI – municipal transport system - is very good. We travelled everywhere by bus for $6 all day, and it took us everywhere we wanted to go. Very economical, and very environmentally friendly, too.

San Francisco is an interesting city geographically. The streets run steeply up and down, just like I remember in the great show “The Streets of San Francisco”. We decided to take the old-style cable car from Powell St to Hyde St. It was a really exciting ride! The old, wooden cable car had wooden brakes, so it adds an element of excitement when we are heading down a really steep hill. The views were amazing! Josh was clapping his hands with excitement, and was smiling and cheering. Olivia was very laid back, and ate an apple most of the way.

Once we made it back to Hyde St we walked back up the steep hill to Lombard St – the world’s most crooked street. It is a bit contrived, to be honest, but it attracts the tourists. I would hate to live on this street! You can see a photo of the many twists and turns of Lombard St.

We then walked back to our hotel and on to a seafood restaurant on the waterfront. W had a really great meal of oysters, calamari, clam chowder, crab cakes, scallops and crab. The kids enjoyed the calamari and some cheese pizza. We also enjoyed some great Chardonnay from the Napa Valley in California. It was a perfect evening!

Now, Jason is snoring, and the kids are asleep, so it is time for me to stop. San Francisco has been a relaxing end to our holiday. I’ve enjoyed the laid-back feeling of the place, and the clear, sunny days and cool breeze. Very refreshing.

I barely slept a wink last night. I spent all night lying there waiting for the alarm to sound. Silly, I know.

We got up on time, and were ready to leave at 6.30am when our taxi arrived. It was pouring rain as we climbed in and made our way to JFK. We said our goodbyes to lovely NY, and then checked in for our flight to San Francisco.

We flew Virgin America. The interior of the plane was very hip – ultraviolet lights, cream leather seats with black and red trimming, and background music suggesting we were in one of Manhattan’s latest trendy bars. We had a good flight (Yes, business again. Terrible snobs!) although the food was not great. The three flight attendants loved Josh, and took him for walks, and oohed and ahhed over him. Olivia was allowed to go up to meet the pilots, who wore trendy uniforms – black shirts and pants, again, club gear. She was a little over-awed, but they were very friendly towards her.

The climate in San Francisco provided us with some relief from the humidity of New York. It was sunny with a cool breeze, although our Indian taxi driver nearly suffocated us with hot, stuffy air on the drive to our hotel.

We are staying at a lovely place called the Argonaut, right across the street from the Fisherman’s Wharf, but a little closer to Golden Gate Bridge. Alcatraz is close by in case Jason or Josh get out of hand.

Our room overlooks a courtyard, and right now a really cute couple are singing some of the famous Opera arias. The soprano has a really good voice.

I’m back. I’ve been downstairs listening to them, and I bought their CDs. Olivia and Josh came down too, and they seemed to love the music. Olivia sat quietly listening, while Josh danced around and moved in time to the music. Naturally Olivia then joined in. I sat and enjoyed Schubert’s Ave Maria, and some of Puccini’s arias. It was lovely.

We spent the evening walking along the bay towards the Golden Gate Bridge. It is an impressive structure. There are bushfires around, so there is a lot of smog blurring our view. We’ll go back tomorrow morning for another look.

We’re all pretty tired, and the kids have fallen asleep. Jason and I are enjoying some Portuguese port we found that isn’t revolting, and we’re enjoying our cave-matured cheddar from Cheddar. It’s quiet, and the cool night air is coming in through the window. What a lovely way to relax.

Things didn’t look promising for us this morning. We had decided to take the kids to the beach at Coney Island, but there were a few drops of rain, and the sky looked grey.

We took the B line all the way from 113^th St across to Brooklyn and on to Brighton Beach – “Russia by the Sea”. To be honest, Brighton Beach is depressing. The beach was filthy with rubbish and goodness knows what else, and overweight, ageing people were sitting enjoying the sun that was trying to peep through the clouds, all speaking Russian.

We walked along the boardwalk to Coney Island, and the clouds did move on, and the sun came out.

After a few hotdogs and freshly-squeezed lemonade, we took Liv and Josh in to the “Wonder Wheel” Amusement Park for children. They had SO much fun!! Olivia has gotten over any hesitation of going on rides, and Josh never hesitated to begin with. Olivia was smiling, and Josh was squealing with joy. We ended the rides with a go on the “Wonder Wheel”, the large ferris wheel built in 1918 that is now listed as a heritage site. It was lots of fun.

After this we headed to the beach, and we bought a $10 beach umbrella to protect us from the now hot sun. The beach was a little better than Brighton Beach, but still not nearly as nice as our lovely Sydney Beaches – or any of the beaches I’ve been to in Australia, for that matter. Olivia made sandcastles and did “sand dances”, while I took Josh for a swim. I love the novelty of swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. The beach umbrella died in the wind – what can you expect for $10? We decided to end our time there, and after a cold shower, headed back to the subway station.

Just a little note. I had gone in to the toilets to 'illegally" change after my swim. Two Hispanic women were trying to change out of their cossies, when the African American women who were the toilet attendants enforcing the “no changing in the toilets” law decided to have a go at them. The Hispanic women asked “Well where should we change? We can’t be naked outside”. One of the African American women then made reference to Hispanics smelling bad, and some other really racist stuff. I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to say something, but the Hispanic women were already answering back. I decided to just leave. I guess racism is everywhere. It’s awful to see it so blatantly displayed.

Anyway, in the evening we had a fantastic meal at Zoma, the Ethiopian restaurant just 50m from where we are staying. The food was spicy, a little like Indian, and was eaten by hand with some flat bread. Very delicious.

After dinner we took the subway to midtown – 42^nd St. We wanted to show the kids the lights of Time Square, and they were amazed. Josh was squealing again. From there we walked along 42^nd St to 5^th Avenue for a view of two of my favourite buildings, the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building. Both look very romantic lit up at night, and we took some time just relaxing and gazing at the buildings. Jason was not so keen, but it was my compensation for not going up the Empire State Building.

Finally we took a taxi uptown to our temporary home. The kids were exhausted, and fell asleep as soon as they were washed – holding hands!