We made it to San Francisco! We were so excited, with big plans here. Back in Cape Outlook Oregon, we met some interesting folks, the Trojac family from Philly.
It was early evening, and we were working on dinner, when we saw a Tiffin Class A RV with the same color scheme as us pulling into the campground. I felt bad because we had just pulled in, and I knew we got the last spot with hookups. I felt really bad when I noticed that they were towing a Honda Van on a dolly, and their stairs were deployed. (folding stairs leading to front door were extended). Knowing how tight the loop was, I flagged them down and told the driver that their stairs were deployed. He said “oh, my sensor…”. We saw them pull around the loop and take off.
The next day, we were doing the cape lookout hike, on our way back, we passed a family of 5, and I recognized the Dad as the guy with the Tiffin. We started talking, and it turns out the Trojac’s are also on a yearlong sabbatical. They are from Philly, and started their trip in June. We chatted for a few minutes, exchanged contact info, and vowed to connect later.
Well we had a few near misses with meetups with the Trojacs and it finally happened in San Fran. We decided to meet them there, camp in the same campground, and do Halloween together. It was great to socialize with another family with kids, and naturally, we have a lot in common to talk about wrt our trips. They are trying to hit all 50 states, and as such are going to Hawaii from LA. They also took a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska, which was neat to hear about.
At any rate, it made for a fun Halloween. We went to Alcatraz (which is run by the National Parks), and the kids were able to take advantage of the “Junior Ranger” program there. Once we got back home, we went over to the Trojac’s house for dinner. Mike T had asked around about places to trick-or-treat, and we considered going downtown, but didn’t want to fight traffic and/or parking. One of the full-time campers at our campground, suggested a neighborhood 10 minutes away and gave us directions. It was a really nice, older neighborhood, evoking memories of Webster Groves, tucked into the city of San Rafael. Lots of young families, and a tight knit area. The place is called Grestle Park.
Several of the houses were totally decorated in themes… huge spider web, with the spider from LOTR, including dead trick-or-treaters (skeleton bones in costumes). The French Revolution, with Marie Anionette in the guillotine. GhostBusters theme, actually playing the movie on a 20 foot screen. It was great fun.
Alcatraz was great, and even though Kim and I had visited 16 years ago, I still learned some things (or re-learned perhaps). I love the audio tour, especially the stories of escape attempts. The kids really enjoyed it too, and didn’t seem to be scared at all, just fascinated.
The following day, we moved Campgrounds to a place closer to the airport, and got ready for our first visitor, Nana Kane (Kim’s mom) was coming Saturday morning and staying until Tuesday Morning.
Alcatraz pics:
Halloween Pics:
