This weekend, we drove to Tallahassee with Connor to move him in to his dorm for the summer session so he could start his Freshman year of college. Connor's had a super chill summer so far and has partied often with friends and enjoyed the break. He's been getting everything prepared for school, and Andrea has spent an incredible amount of energy researching everything that Connor will need, specifically for FSU’s summer session and his assigned dorm.
We had to schedule a move-in time for Connor and it was formally scheduled for afternoon on Saturday. We drove down on Friday after I finished work, and Andrea had the idea that maybe we should stop by his dorm to see if we could get the key for his room, and perhaps even check in early. Thankfully, the staff was still working and they were eager to get another student through the move in process. Connor got his key, we parked the car near the entrance, grabbed some big rolling carts, and started unloading the car.
The first evening, we unpacked a lot of his junk and realized that we'd left a few things at home, so we put in some orders at the nearby Walmart. It was enough to unload the car, and Connor was ready to go out and meet up with some of the friends he met at Orientation earlier in the summer, so Andrea and I set him loose and we headed to our hotel.
Saturday morning, we picked Connor up and headed over to Walmart. We picked up some more storage shelving, some food, and a rug. We also realized we hadn't brought any family pictures for him, so we printed some photos to a nearby CVS.
In Connor's room, we broke our backs moving the desk so we could get the rug in place. We borrowed a vacuum from the front desk, cleaned up a bit, and hung the pictures up on his wall. With the final bits and pieces in place, we were finished!
It was fun to see it all come together, and we were thankful that Connor had the opportunity to unpack and get all set up before his roommate arrived, so we didn't bother anyone else and were able to use all the space for our projects.
We walked around campus for a while in the afternoon and did some exploring. We made sure we could find the classroom where Connor would be attending his in-person class on Monday. His other class is online, and we talked to his RA about where he could find a quiet place to join the synchronous session.
We were excited to find the gym too, where Connor's applied for a job. Andrea and Connor explored the gym and Connor intends to use the track and get some workouts in.
At Connor's dorm on the ground level, Shawn noticed some odd little cubbies, and we realized that they were old phone booths. It definitely goes to show how old the dorms are, his hall has been around for quite a while and there are many students that have lived there over the years.
It was a fun weekend, and Andrea and I had intended to stay until Sunday, but we decided to head home on Saturday afternoon after Connor was settled. He has been going out with friends, eating meals and going to clubs in the evenings. He also spent quite a bit of time on Sunday refining his resume, applying online to some jobs, and he even applied to work in person at a nearby thrift store. He's taken advantage of the gym, walked around quite a bit on campus and the nearby areas, and he's settling in so well.
Connor's had a positive attitude and he's also done an impressive job jumping in to an unfamiliar situation and dealing with some hiccups. A few days before we were set to drive his car to school, an issue with his coolant system was detected. Although we'd already spent thousands of dollars replacing many parts of the system earlier this year, the mechanic found yet another issue. His check engine light has also remained on, even after replacing the gas cap and doing other troubleshooting with a different mechanic. The day before we moved him down, Andrea and I decided to get rid of the car and we sold it to Carvana. All that said, Connor's got no car at school, which is not what we planned. We were worried he'd be upset about it, but Tallahassee is a very walkable city and there's really not much need to drive for his day to day living. We will have to consider what to do when it's time for Connor to move home, but for now he's carless at college, much like Andrea and I were when we went away to school.
We are so proud of Connor and excited for his college adventures to begin!
Our adventure started with an early morning flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta and then another to San Francisco. We took an Uber to the Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf hotel and checked in to our room. Although it felt like it was late in the day, it was pretty early for California time.
We relaxed for a little while and then set out for some exploration. We walked to a Cable Car stop and then decided to head down to the main station because we thought it would be faster. It was not. There was a stupidly long line and we waited for about an hour to board and then we made multiple stops on our journey where we picked up people that hadn’t been waiting at all. The cable car was interesting and it was fun to go up and down the steep hills, but we didn’t ride it all that long before we stopped and got off in Chinatown.
Chinatown was like walking in to another world. We felt transported and there were produce and fish stalls, cute shops, and lots of restaurants. We did some shopping, Paige bought a new bracelet, and then went to our dinner spot.
We ate at Z&Y Szechuan style Chinese restaurant. We ordered cucumber salad, orange chicken, king pao chicken, and some chicken fried rice. We’d planned to try some bao buns which were unavailable, and ended up with a lot of chicken dishes as a result. Our meal was flavorful, delicious, and spicy. It was one of my favorite Chinese meals of all time and we all enjoyed it.
After dinner we got some boba tea, walked back to the room and went to bed.
On Sunday, June 1st, we started the day with breakfast and then our electric bike tour.
We were with a small group, led by a charming couple Marcus and Orla. Our bikes were comfortable and we were thrilled that they also had the throttles enabled. The pedal assist worked great up the hills, and it was nice to have the option to use the throttle to get going as well. We biked around the piers, learned about the history of San Francisco, and then set out to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Unfortunately for us, it was a chilly morning and super windy. We got some pics with the bridge in the fog, and then made our way across. On the bridge, it was incredibly windy and quite scary at times when traffic was noisily buzzing by you and other bikers were crossing nearby. We stopped in the middle for a family pic, and then hurried the rest of the way across.
On the other side of the bridge, our tour ended in the cute little town of Sausalito. We did some shopping, Connor bought a unique patchwork pair of jeans, and then looked for a place to eat. The first couple places were too crowded, but on our third restaurant we found a table. We shared a margarita pizza, and it was so delicious we ordered another.
We had the option to keep our bikes the rest of the day, but we were done biking and took an Uber back to the hotel. We had a little while to clean up, and then we set out to watch the new Valkyries WNBA team take on the Minnesota Lynx.
We stopped at the team store before heading in and got some team gear, then found our seats. We paid a little extra to have decent seats towards the middle of the court, and it was worth it. The score was close for most of the game, and we loved cheering for the Valkyries. We had a few nice snacks, got some souvenir cups and Pepsi, and before we knew it the game was done.
Leaving the Chase Center was a little crowded and chaotic, and we had to walk a few blocks before we could catch a ride. We tried out the Waymo self driving cars for our ride back to the hotel. The wait was a little longer than a normal Uber or Lyft, and I don’t think the price was any cheaper, but it was pretty amazing to see how well the car navigated the complex traffic downtown.
Monday, June 2nd, we had breakfast and then walked to the ferry for our Alcatraz tour. The ferry ride was short, then we had to sit through an introductory speech by a park ranger, before heading in to the prison area.
The tour was a self guided audio tour and was likely one of the nicer ones we’ve done. It was a good pace, went over a lot of interesting history, and wasn’t overly long. We enjoyed walking through the pretty gardens around the prison and exploring the island, and then we jumped back on the ferry and headed back.
We did some shopping at the pier, ate dinner, and then turned in early for the evening. Andrea and I got back out for some ice cream, but otherwise it was a chill evening of packing up and relaxing.
Tuesday, June 3rd, we had to finish packing up in the morning. Shawn picked up the rental van and then we made our way across the bay bridge and out of San Francisco towards Yosemite. The downtown driving was stressful and gave me a new respect for the skill of the robotaxis and anyone else that had to drive them regularly.
We stopped at an In-N-Out burger restaurant for lunch since we’ve never tried it before. I think we all liked the food, but it was a bit of a noisy and chaotic restaurant, not very relaxing after a stressful drive.
We continued the stressful drive through the heavy California traffic and then up in to some windy roads in the mountains, with sheer cliffs and scary drops. When we arrived at the Rush Creek Lodge, Connor gave me a round of applause for the driving, which I appreciated.
The lodge was new, clean, scenic, and cozy. We checked in to our room, unpacked a little, and then went on a hike. There was a little complaining from the kids, mostly Paige, but otherwise it was a pleasant hike. When we got back to the resort, we played pool in the game room, and then got a table for dinner. The pizza and mozzarella caprese hit the spot, and that wrapped up our day.
Wednesday, June 4th, we had to get up fairly early to start our Yosemite adventure. We picked up our lunch from the market and met our guides. Chelsea and Eddie picked us up in a van along with a friendly couple from England.
We drove in to the Yosemite National Park and our first stop was at a trailhead that took us down in to a grove of Sequoia trees. Big Red was the largest of the trees in the area and we got some pics of the trees before exploring the others. We stood beside a huge Sequoia that had been felled during a forest fire a few years ago, walked through the trunk of a tree that had been carved out, and crawled through another fallen giant that had been hollowed out by fire.
Our guides took us further in to the park, and we stopped at a quiet shady spot near the river, in sight of El Capitan. We ate our PBJ sandwiches (all the other options had been taken), and watched some climbers make their way up a long vertical crack in the granite cliff.
We drove the van to a few other trails where we saw some beautiful waterfalls including Yosemite Falls, and we saw Half Dome off in the distance. We drove back to Rush Creek lodge in the afternoon. We took it easy the rest of the day, playing in the game room and eating dinner before bed.
Thursday, June 5th, we had our chill day with zero plans. In the morning, I went in the long trail on property, the “Adventure Trail”, with Connor and Paige. The kids were not really in the mood for the hike, but we started to have fun when we tested our strength by throwing branches and smashing logs. When we got back to the resort, Andrea was ready to go and I went with her on the Adventure Trail in the opposite direction.
In the afternoon, we swam at the pool and had some snacks. We spent quite a while working on our billiards skills, and also played foosball, a shuffleboard game, and a hockey game as a family.
Friday, June 6th, we left the Rush Creek Lodge and drove our rental van to Three Rivers, to the Rio Sierra River House. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the Kaweah river, where we would be rafting later in the day.
After lunch we hurried over to the rafting company’s headquarters and then had to wait on some other guests that were running late. We rode a van down to the river and after the briefest and least articulate rafting explanation we ever received, we got in the raft. Our guide was not very professional, never introduced himself, and may have been high. Thankfully, our family had rafted many times, but we were worried about the two ladies that joined us who had never rafted before.
The rafting and whitewater were some of the most exciting and potentially dangerous we have experienced. The first drop, named Suicide Falls, was a rough introduction to rafting the Kaweah river. Our guide aimed us down the steepest part of the drop and we nosed over and went almost vertical as we dropped. Connor and I were in the front of the raft and were almost completely submerged. Andrea and Paige crashed together in the middle of the boat and someone crashed in to Andrea’s head. She had a headache for the rest of the day.
The rest of the rapids that day were exciting, and there were a couple times I thought we would fall out. Connor yelled “where’s mom?!” after one section, but thankfully Andrea was still in the boat, just knocked over. It would have been plenty exciting with a competent captain, but with our guide it was a bit scary. Thankfully we all made it to the end without serious injury. When we were down near the end in the calmer water, a few of us got in the chilly water to cool off. (I may have pulled Connor in against his wishes and Connor may have pushed in Paige)
After we got done rafting, while we were filthy, we went down to the River House’s private beach area on the river. The water was cool, the sandy area was adorable, and we had it all to ourselves. The kids and I made a couple of little boats out of the branches and things we could find nearby. We pushed them in to the rapids to see which would win a race to the bottom. After the first drop, I’m pretty sure they were both swallowed and disintegrated. Paige was pretty sure she saw some bits of theirs downstream, so we awarded the kids the victory.
For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant nearby, and went to bed fairly early.
Saturday morning, June 7th, we got up early and went to Sequoia Coffee Company for breakfast. Our guide Pani came to the house to meet us, and went all set off together for our day in Kings Canyon. Pani is a local resident that does private tours, and he led us through the park in his truck as we followed. We stopped near the second biggest Sequoia “General Grant” for our first stop. Yosemite’s grove only had a handful of Sequoia trees, but they were everywhere where we stopped, even a few monsters right in the parking lot. There were a few fallen trees that we climbed over and through, and we took pics with General Grant before leaving.
Pani took us through Kings Canyon and Andrea did a wonderful job taking us through the twisty, windy, and steep roads. We went up and down thousands of feet in elevation as we explored the park and stopped at a handful of scenic spots. There were a couple of huge waterfalls, some roaring rapids, and many scenic overlooks. There was a lot of driving throughout the day and that was a bit tiresome. Each time we would stop, we would think it was worth it.
There was one incident where we heard a loud fart sound during a hike, which surprised me, but nobody knew who did it and thankfully nobody brought it up again.
In the late afternoon, we parted ways with Pani, and went back to the Riverview restaurant. We watched Coco Gauff play in the French Open final. We went down to our spot by the river and relaxed while Andrea and I finished watching Coco win. Paige and I stacked some more stones and we waded out a little, but it was even more chilly than the day before.
Sunday, June 8th, we started our day early. Our flight was scheduled for late in the evening, and we were determined to make the most of our last day. Pani took us in to Sequoia National Park and we started off at a little spot where Native Americans lived and cooked.
Our main attraction for the day was the General Sherman tree, and we had a beautiful cool hike through the woods. We were lucky that not too many people were around old Sherman, and Pani took some really nice pics for us. We spent a long time hiking through the Congress trail, and each Sequoia tree was so unique and interesting. We crawled inside and through a few of the trees, and could see blackened areas and fire damage on most of them. It is surprising to see how well they continue to thrive after being burned and hollowed out by fire. The paved trail was Andrea’s favorite, and my favorite, hike of all time.
After we finished the hike, we drove with Pani to the Souvenir shop and did some shopping. Paige got a sweatshirt, Connor got a belt and some rings, Andrea got a hat, I got a t-shirt, and we also picked out a couple of magnets. We said farewell to Pani and thanked him for the amazing job he did making our vacation special. Pani was super easy going, eager to do whatever we wanted, and he offered so many options and great suggestions. We had been a little apprehensive about the way he set it up with him driving his own truck, and with us following in the van, but it turned out to work much better than we expected it would. He chatted with us over the walkie-talkie and pointed out all kinds of sights for us. We were able to have our own conversations, and sing-alongs, without getting embarrassed. Paige serenaded us with the national anthem many times, and I will always remember our drive fondly.
On the way back, we stopped at a local ice cream and sweet shop and got some tasty treats before heading over to our river spot for the rest of the afternoon.
It was another beautiful day at the river and a perfect way to wrap up our vacation. We packed up our things in the evening and then made the fairly short drive to the airport. We had to take an overnight flight home, and didn't have lay-flat seats, but we managed to sleep a little bit on the way to Atlanta. Our seats from Atlanta to Jacksonville were actually fully reclinable and much more comfortable, and we landed in the early hours of Monday morning.
Overall I think we all enjoyed the vacation more than we anticipated. All of the places we stayed were comfortable and fun. We got to see and experience new places as a family. It was a perfect summer vacation for us, and I'm glad we were able to fit it in before Connor left for summer school.
