birthday with bars

Today is our little/big girl's birthday :) Abby is now 11 years old! We're celebrating her special day in the beautiful city of San Francisco. One tradition we as a family have on birthdays around our supper table, is to tell the birthday person something we appreciate about them. I would like to invite you to be a part of this tradition to bless Abby and send her a word, enouragement, or something you appreciate about her – it would be a great belated birthday surprise. Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or email to our family address bergelfamily@cwisp.ca which we are checking periodically.

We started the day by singing Happy Birthday to Abigail and enjoying local San Francisco pastries. After packing the van in record time (we were excited to start our day) we headed down to pier 33 for our tour of Alcatraz. We had some time to spare so enjoyed walking along the wharf watching boats come and go. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day with little wind. Much different than last night which was windy and cold. The ferry ride over to “The Rock” was a first experience for many in our family. The tour of Alcatraz was very well done and informative (audio tour). However, it was a prison therefore a place that was very dark and oppressive. We all left very somber and quiet. (there were lots of discussion in the van today about prisons, how they've changed and of course how 3 men escaped). After a picnic lunch we walked to Ben and Jerry's for a birthday treat of icecream (thanks Dean!). We detoured from Highway 101 so that we could travel along the coastal pacific highway 1. That was interesting, let's just say hills, turns, twists – everything a sensitive stomache cringes at.....it felt like an all day ordeal. We were thrilled to arrive at Fort Bragg and set our feet on solid ground!

-Katrina-

every breakfast at every hotel is always different..this morning we were supprised with some of the best pastries we have ever had, along with instant coffee and orange juice :)

Abigail is showing off her very special granola bar, its called 18rabbits and its wrapper is being added to her collection when we get back home.

We also enjoyed waiting for boats to "gun it", seeing the backside of docks, watching seals beg for scraps and waiting for Alcatraz tour to begin.  

 

not only did we see examples physical escape attempts, we also heard  testimonies of mental escape, of new years evenings when the inmates would stay quiet hoping to hear the voices of people on the boats in the bay.

this was the good behaviour cell with all the perks, including a few paintings, books, and an outdated calander

by the time our tour made it to the cafeteria, we were all ready to leave, and thankfully could..... 

the tour  (just about everything that could be marketed- even tragedy and loss) ended in a gift shop, and after we said 'no' to many magnets, key chains, and handcuffs, we went through the last set of bars and into the sunlight.  

Today I turned 11. It's not your typical birthday, but it was a good one. We started the day with a tour of Alcatraz, it was interesting, but very sad and I found it depressing. But I did see a dolphin, so I was happy.We then went and had lunch, then went to get ice cream.(I had mint chocolate chunk. And it had BIG chocolate chunks.) While we were eating we walked down a pier because we heard seals. We spotted them lying on some of the docks!They were so cute, and I loved hearing them bark. They were my first seals ever! We started driving, only to find ourselves in large mountains. Nobody in our van likes mountains so it was a long carsick day. All in all though it was a great day, ending with a big piece of chocolate cake that dad and Josh graciously bought for me. Mmmmmm. Thank you boys.

-Abigail-

thanks Dean for treating us all to ice cream in San Fanscisco....!

we all listened to miss Magellan, yet another time as we took the best way out of the city, thanks again Aaron... please stay in the left lane in point five miles, followed by a "right turn"

the countryside turned into a blur of vineyards and moss covered oaks, with turns so tight it felt as though i was backing up out of a driveway while going forward

before we made it to the coast, we were lead through a number of really nice redwood forests, full shade while having the sun in our eyes 

after making it to the famous "1" we had a few seconds of seeing the late day sun, on rocky beaches....notice the wall of fog in the horizon line, thats what experienced just one minute up the road