4 Wheels 4 Girls

Friday, May 20th, Ellie and Ana decided to try rollerblading. They put on their helmets and went for it. I would never have done this, but they decided, on their first try at rollerblading in their lives, that they’d go down the driveway. All the way down the driveway. They didn’t know how to brake or anything, and they didn’t have knee pads or elbow pads. They wiped out a lot on their first day rollerblading. It was fun to watch them, though, and I think it was for Greta, too. A little later that day, Greta decided to try it too. She said she had rollerbladed before, and she just needed to get used to the feeling, but she wiped out a few times when she was just getting the feel of them. Greta rollerbladed crazily on the first day, too, but started getting used to them. She could go pretty fast, and Ellie had gotten used to the feeling also. Ellie was pretty good at skating. Ana wasn’t able to go as fast as Ellie, and it was hard for her to keep her balance, but Ellie stayed back with Ana and helped her stay up straight.

Rollerblading at Mary's

Later that day, we went to Mary’s parents’ house. Before we had left, Ellie and Ana grabbed some rollerblades to take along the way. Greta saw them with them and I think she realized that it would be a lot more fun if she brought some too. So she brought some along with her. I watched them and had been watching them since the day before and they looked like they were having a great time together. So I sighed and decided that I would just have to bring some rollerblades also. I grabbed my helmet ( which I really don’t like because I’ve had it since I was four or five and I don’t understand how it still fits me, but anyway, I don’t like the pattern on it. To me, it looks like a baby pattern. It has polar-bears that are on surfboards on it. Yeah, surfboards are cool, but polar-bears? To add to all that, they’re cartoon polar-bears. And the surfboards have boring designs on them. ) and brought it and the rollerblades to the car.

We arrived. We all went inside and met Mary’s parents, then after a few minutes, Greta, Ana, Ellie, Olivia, and I were allowed to go outside and play on the skates. My sisters and I tried out our skates, and Olivia helped us and walked along with us when we skated around the block. It was fun and I was really careful about starting out without any knee or elbow pads, and I was surprised to find out that rollerblading was just a little bit harder version of plain old skating. It was a lot like ice-skating. And it was a lot of fun.

Finally we had to leave, and by then I had gotten really good at rollerblading. When we got back to Mary and Olivia’s house, we all skated until we had to go to bed.

The next morning, the day that we had to leave and pick up Dad from the airport so we could continue our trip, Saturday, May 21st, we planned to leave around 11:00 am. We ate breakfast and then rollerbladed for the rest of the time that we had at Mary and Olivia’s house before we had to leave.

Then we had to leave, which was sad, but we got to pick up Dad. We had a lot of fun rollerblading.

May 20 We got down the bikes and rode to Mary’s school. When we got there we went to the office to tell them that we were going to mary’s class room. We walked to her room and met her there. Mary told us that we could do anything. I went and read some books also looked at their projects. We stayed there for a while and then we went to help recycle some paper. After that we went home on a nice bike trail. I had a lot of fun at Mary’s school.

We went to Mary’s house. We got out of the RV, and the first thing I saw on the porch was a cat. We saw a nipple, and that means it had a baby. Mary didn’t know the cat’s name so Ellie named her Midnight.

We named this cat Midnight

Olivia is Mary’s daughter. I couldn’t wait to see Olivia, and then I finally saw her. I felt really good when I walked in. Olivia was very nice and so was her friend Chrissy. Chrissy let us help her with her homework.

We were at the library in Brentwood, and suddenly Mary drove up in her car. After we met her, I knew it would be a great few days. She was so friendly, and she treated us like she’d known us for years. We followed her to her house, and after we parked she led us inside. We then met her daughter, Olivia, and her best friend Chrissy. They were both fourteen and very nice and welcoming too. They showed us around, telling us to just relax, hang out, read, take showers, watch TV, and help ourselves to any food and anything we happen to find around the house. It was so good to actually be in a house after being in an RV for so long, and it was great to meet some nice new people. Thanks again, Mary and Olivia!

P.S. Stella had been begging for weeks and weeks to watch Alice in Wonderland (the newer one), and our second night at Mary’s house, we finally watched it! We had ice cream and climbed into Mary’s big bed for the movie. It was nice and comfy. After all that time, Stella said she didn’t enjoy the movie because Ana was scared.

On Wednesday, May 18, after a night spent parked along the street near the laundromat in Berkeley, we headed back to the San Francisco airport so Van could catch his flight to Atlanta. After dropping Van off, the girls and I headed west toward Brentwood and the home of my dear friend Mary.

I met Mary in 1986, the summer my friend Tricia and I spent riding our bikes across the country with Bike-Aid, an organization formed to raise awareness and funds for small scale development projects. Though we road the Seattle to DC route and Mary road on the route that began in San Franciso these 2 routes met up with the 3 other Bike-Aid routes in DC and we all road together from there to New York. It was there that I first met Mary. The following spring/summer, Tricia and I packed up our bikes and headed out to Palo Alto, the home of Bike-Aid, to help with preparations for the 1987 ride. While there, we worked nights at the Standord University Hospital, slept on Mary’s hideaway couch during the day, and volunteered with Bike Aid in the afternoon/evening. We were there for a few months but it was a really wonderful time. It was great to hang out in “Mary’s world”. In 1990 Mary came to Minneapolis and had her first experience of a Minnesota winter. It appears as though one winter was enough. Mary returned to CA after 6 months and that was the last that I saw her. 🙂

When I saw Mary, she looked exactly as expected, beautiful, feisty, and as welcoming as she was 25 years ago. And it was great to meet her wonderful 15 year-old daughter Olivia. Mary and Olivia invited us to make ourselves at home so we did, for 3 days. It was really nice. The girls loved being in their comfortable home, playing with all the gadgets that they found in the garage, and bonding with the neighbors cat (excluding Greta who is allergic). And I loved catching up with all that has happened in Mary’s life since I last saw her and to fill her in on what’s happened in mine. We were all sad to have to leave “Mary’s world” on Saturday morning but we were excited to have Van back with us so, once again, we head to the airport in San Francisco. I left grateful that the girls had a chance to meet Mary and Olivia and for them to know that they have friends like them that they may not see again for a long time but will surely see again.

Today, May 17th, while walking along Fisherman’s Wharf we walked into a great store. It has a whole bunch of magnets and the great part was that there were also stuffed animals. I had been wanting to buy a souvenier stuffed animal the whole trip. I looked down and saw the cutest sea lion. He looked just like the ones we had just seen laying around on Pier 39. And guess what! The sea lion wore a scarf that read “Pier 39 San Francisco”. I loved him immediately. I rushed up to my mom and said, “Can I please get him?” My mom (as usual) said she would think about it. Usually when she says that it puts me in a grumpy mood. Then we went to pick out a magnet that has the Golden Gate bridge on it. We got it and went to the cash register. My mind leaped and I asked “Can I get it?” Then I took a deep breath and my mom said, “Yes.” I hugged her so tight and I told her she was the best in the world. After buying Celia we left to explore more of San Francisco.

Me and Celia

As we got off the trolly we walked down several streets. Suddenly Daddy stopped in front of one of the stores. We looked in the window we saw barrels and barrels of saltwater taffy. Our parents suggested we go in and get some taffy. We were so happy we started yelling. Once inside, my parents got a basket to fill up. We each got to pick 12 different pieces of taffy. I looked around and saw lots of kinds of taffy. I wanted to taste all of them! Then Ana said, “Look what I got!”. She and Stella had been given a piece to try. Stella was nice and shared her’s with me. So far my favorite flavor has been the vanilla that my mom picked out.

I saw some sea lions. They sounded like a lady singing a very noisy song at the top of her lungs and trying to be very proper although they didn’t sound very proper and they were very loud and like they were having a very loud and noisy party.

That big sea lion looks like he is posing for us.

On Tuesday May 17th, we decided to explore San Francisco despite the cold, gross, rainy weather. We parked our RV and set off with our raincoats and umbrellas for Pier 33 to see if we could catch a ferry to Alcatraz, the former island prison. Even on this yucky day, it was packed and the wait wasn’t worth it. We walked down to Pier 39, hoping to see some sea lions and find some good hot chocolate. We walked through the streets until we heard the honk of the sea lions. We turned the corner, and there they were! There were at least 50 of them lounging on wooden rafts about the size of a queen-size bed. We stood and watched them for at least 20 minutes because they were so entertaining.

On the way to get some hot cocoa after the sea lions, we saw a store called Lefty’s. I’m a lefty, so this looked really cool to me. We went inside and Ellie and I each got our own pair of left-handed scissors and I got a left-handed postcard.

Next, we went in a magnet shop. I’m sure this sounds quite boring, but there were a bunch of other cool souvenirs too, like fake doughnuts, hotdogs, and ice cream, and a whole bunch of 3-D t-shirts and stuff. Ellie got a stuffed sea lion named Celia, (read more about this in Ellie’s post) and we got a magnet with the Golden Gate Bridge on it.

Riding the San Francisco Trolley

We got our hot chocolate (finally!), and then we walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf and then to the trolley. The trolley was over 50 years old and super cool. It ran on tracks, and it rattled like crazy. It was scary to go up and down all the hills; as we were going up the hills, all the buildings we were passing looked SEVERELY slanted, as Dad would say. It looked and felt like the world was sideways! We rode the trolley around town to see the sights, and then we rode back on a crowded streetcar and got lunch at a yummy cafe called Boudin’s. There were lots of cool things about this place: one, it had been there since 1849; two, they made their own fresh sourdough bread; and three, they made the best clam chowder I had ever tasted. Well, I don’t have much to compare it to, but it was DELICIOUS. It was nice to get out of the rain and cold and eat some warm food.

After lunch, we spotted a National Park Service building, and we went inside to check it out. Then we rode the trolley to Lombard Street, a long, winding road that reminded us of Walter’s Wiggles at Zion National Park. Remember that post? We walked up it, and then rode the trolley back to Fisherman’s Wharf. On the way back to the RV, we spotted a taffy shop and went inside. We bought many flavors of taffy, twelve pieces for each of us. (Read more about this in Ellie’s post.)

This street is crooked, but it's got nothing on Walter's Wiggles

We finally made it back to our RV in time to drive back over the Bay Bridge to Berkeley. We were meeting Perry, Katy, Owen, and Aida (Hope that’s how you spell your name!) to go get Indian food for dinner. We found a laundromat near the restaurant to do our laundry, and then we walked over to the Indian place. It was some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had in my life. My favorite thing was probably the chicken vindaloo or the chicken tikka masala.

After dinner, we said goodbye to our friends, picked up our dry laundry, and walked back to the RV and went to bed. It was a fun and eventful day! 😉

May 16. This morning we went to go get my mom at the airport. First we went to get our toilet fixed. When we got there we went to tell the people that we were ready for our toilet. They came and put the toilet in the RV. After that we went to a book store. We had sandwiches and then we went inside to get my mom’s book. We went to the kid’s room and read books. Back at the RV, we made mackaroiny and cheese. It was good. After that Daddy read us To Kill A Mockingbird. After that we drove to the airport. We drove up to the place where Mommy was supposed to be but she was not there. We keep driving until we saw Mommy. We all ran to the door and hugged her and then they made us go to bed. I’m glad we have Mommy back with us.