October Road Trip!!

I am so excited!!! **Happy Dance with girly clapping** I will FINALLY make it to Monterey Bay Aquarium! I have only been trying to get to this aquarium for years, and will finally make it this year. We have it on the work vacation calendars and our home calendar and everything! What makes this trip even more exciting and less stressful on me, self imposed stress mind you, is that I have months to plan it. This nice long time line means I can research and read about places to see, restaurants, discount tickets, etc.

It will also be the first long road trip that Hubby and I in our 11 years of Us, 7 of them married, have taken together. It will take us 11ish driving hours to get from home to Monterey Bay. I say driving hours because we will need to stop for food, toddler stretches, and potty breaks. On this trip Hubby will be the only one driving because we are taking Big Blue the Ford F350 Crew Cab full bed pickup on this trip. This is all because on the way home, we will be stopping at a swap meet and need the room, just in case. I can’t drive the truck because it is a Diesel Manual and Hubby doesn’t trust me to drive it or taught me to drive it.

Given that I have 2 months to draft my plan, my packing lists, shopping list, dog care, and execute shopping list, I have plenty of time. So far, I have a lap board for Miss GoGo to help keep her occupied and give her something to do while we drive; trying to avoid the iPad as entertainment. I bought it from Michael’s when they had it on sale for $5. There are a lot of great DIYs out there for lap boards, but with the sale on this one it was actually cheaper to buy this then make it.

So far on the To Do list we have:
Monterey Bay Aquriam! My Aunt is going to meet up with us and meet Miss GoGo.
Cabel Car Museum! My Engineer of a Hubby is excited for this, and it’s a free thing so why not?
Golden Gate Park! I really want to see this park. The pictures are so pretty, and I want to do the Japanese garden.
Golden Gate Bridge! I would love to walk on it or drive across it but at least stare at it is a must.
Chinatown! Okay, so I really just want to eat in Chinatown and see how my local Chinese place rates when you compare them.
The Wharf/Pier 39! Why not, it’s free to walk it right?
Sourdough Bread! Hubby loves sourdough bread, so I am sure we will eat some every single day at least once.

On the Thinking List we have:
Academy of Science
Aquarium of the Bay- I might have a very large weakness for Aquarium’s and Zoo’s.
Exploratirum
Alcatraz Island
A Napa Winery- since we basically can drive through it as part of the route without it being out of the way, why not have Hubby to stop at one?

As we are taking 9 days to do this trip and 4 full days for sure in the San Francisco we will have plenty of time to see and do lots. We will have 2 days of driving, 1 day in Monterey Bay, and 1 day for the Swap Meet.

I’m sure I will have at least one more planning post, and of course the write up post(s)! So excited!!

Enjoy!