It is 1976 and our family has just arrived in San Francisco. It is close to your mom's birthday and I don't remember exactly when she turned 36 on this trip but I'm sure we made it memorable for her. The idea was to stay at a motel in San Francisoco located central to everything downtown. You can rest assured that we requested a room on the first or second floor to so we could get out during an earthquake. Remember, the big quake had been forecast for California since before I was born.
We rode the Trolley car system up and down some famous hill, visited Chinese shops in Chinatown and ate supper on Fisherman's Wharf. Mom says she remembers eating on the Wharf because we were all very hungry and we consumed two baskets of rolls before the main course came. We also drove to a park area right under the Golden State Bridge. We never actually crossed the Golden State. It is impressive.
After San Francisco, we headed for Los Angeles. Next stop, Disneyland!. I allowed a whole day for travel from San Fancisco to Los Angeles and we decided to take much of the Coast Highway, I think it is still Highway 1. It meandored along the California coast and had spectacular secenery. It was slow and it consumed most of the one day. I underestimated the distance between San Francisco and L.A.
We arrived at Disneyland on Sunday night. The plan was two days at Disney and then we would move on to other things. I had made reservations at a motel like Residence Inn and it was a treat. The room was like a small condo with cooking available, a loft with extra sleeping accomodations and lots of extra room. Imagine Disney and a great motel besides! Things were good. The motel was not on the Disney grounds so we had to drive to Disney the next day. As we drove in, the mono-rail system that transported people from the "on grounds motel" rumbled over our heads and looked really cool.
Look out Mickey Mouse, here we come. Lots of rides, lots of shows and lots of food. The weather was sunny and warm. I think "all day passes" were about $25 per person and that entitled you to everything except food.
While at Disney we began to arrange for other things to do while we were in Los Angeles. That included trying to make contact with Grandpa George's brother Clarence (a retired carpenter) and his new bride Rosetta. Clarence had a daughter, Mary Steger Carpenter who lived in the area with her husband Jim and their 3 boys. We would try to visit Mary and family. To finish the frolic with relatives, my Uncle Jerry lived in a Northern Los Angeles suburb called Oxnard and we intended impose on him.
Disney was fun. It was an exhausting two days but after all the travel, it was welcome. The next target was Sea World with some visiting mixed in. We were half-way through our trip. Huh, already? I began to realize that I hadn't thought about work in over a week. Managing and enjoying the sights occupied most of my time. I think that is what a vacation is supposed to be!
Love,
Dad