Spring Break: Stanford, Filoli, and Half Moon Bay

Sunday was our last day of spring break, but we made the most of it.  In the morning we walked around Stanford campus.  Lovely.  We went to the top of the Hoover tower:

 From Stanford we drove up to Filoli where we met up with Stephen and Ann.  It is a beautiful home, with even more beautiful gardens, in a gorgeous setting.  Beautiful:

 Wisteria...ahhhhh:

 Clara and Opa having a moment.  I told Clara Uncle would be there.  But who is Stephen?  Holdie's Opa, I told her.  Ohhhhh, Opa, why didn't you just say so?

 From Filoli we drove over the hill and down to Half Moon Bay where we had the MOST DELICIOUS lunch.  Thank you Yelp and Urban Spoon:

Then it was time to set off for home via the Pacific Coast Highway.  Not a bad view:

It was such a fun spring break.  Glad my parents were able to join us and can't wait to go back!  Somehow knowing that all of this is an easy drive away helps ease the blow of living in the "greater Tahoe area."

Spring Break: Alcatraz

On Saturday morning we got tickets to tour Alcatraz.  It was another spectacularly clear and beautiful day.  (Side story.  We didn't bring a backpack which was not good.  But Clara brought her Lalaloopsie pink backpack so we used that.  Rob mostly wore it.  Clara couldn't quite get over her disgust that Rob was wearing a pink backpack). We waited in line for the boat (and having a gimpy father on crutches seems to pay off as on the way back we got to cut in line).  It was fun to take the ferry across the bay:

They have an audio tour now that is narrated by former guards and inmates which is really very interesting:

The prison yard:

Clara found the whole thing a bit scary and opted to not listen to most of the tour:

But these guys weren't afraid:

Escapees:

Snack time:

The gardens (the guards families lived on the island too):

Our cute Lucy:

Mug shots:

When we got back to the city we decided to take the stairs up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower (My parents and Clara opted to drive up). 378 steps.  And the other cool part of this is the wild parrots that hang out in the trees of Telegraph Hill.  It felt like we were in Brazil, not California:

After Coit Tower we were jonesing for some good gelato.  Thanks to yelp and our phones we were not disappointed.  Pistachio and nociolla.  Delish!

After ice cream we rushed back to Palo Alto for Colette's birthday extravaganza.  A night of performances and good company and ice cream.  My favorite part had to be Jeff heroically struggling through Those Canaan Days.  I haven't laughed that hard in forever.  Only for Colette. Awesome.

The guest of honor (and planner of honor)

The HDT's:

Once again, another fabulous day!