Thanksgiving on the Bay - 2024

California Hornblower

San Francisco, CA

November 28, 2024

We've lived far from any family since December 1999 and we've never really established a Thanksgiving tradition other than it will probably be something new and unique.  

We spent a few years enjoying the holiday in The Woodlands with the Buckinghams in the early 2000s, and one each with Lisa's family in Richfield, OH and Northbrook IL. We've done a little of everything from Thanksgiving in a state park in Florida, to a ski resort in Alaska, to a vineyard in Santa Rosa, and even an oceanside hotel in Monterrey.  Lisa has gone all out at home on occasion, and we've ordered a feast from a local restaurant a few times. Oh yeah, we ate hot dogs in Las Vegas one year.

So, we had no idea what we were going to do this year, but Lisa and I knew we wanted an experience instead of figuring something out at home. After some online research, we came across a boat excursion in the San Francisco Bay serving a full traditional Thanksgiving feast. Boom, it was decided in September and we booked our table with a window view.

The boat and entire experience was fully accessible for Kellisa and we were treated like royalty. We were greeted and walked to our table. I let them know Kellisa was in a wheelchair and we had the perfect table for our family. Did I mention we boarded first? Thanks Kellisa and crew of the California Hornblower. 

We were barely at our table when like so often happens when Kellisa is extremely excited, she had a seizure. It was a rough one that lasted 3 minutes and she spent the next hour partially paralyzed. Kellisa did not let it ruin her evening, so we didn't allow it to ruin ours either. We always follow Kellisa's lead. 

We enjoyed beverages: 

Amazing food:

Spectacular views:

And of course, some excellent dessert: 

And there was plenty of time for exploring, dancing, and just having some quality family time:

The evening ended with Kellisa taking over the DJ table and playing Miley Cyrus:

BOAT RIDES

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Kellisa's 62nd Airport Visited

 

Hollywood Hills

Laurel's Summer Vacation

2019

When I asked Laurel what she wanted to do on her summer break, she answered, "See celebrities". At 10-years-old and part of a you tubers generation, she is very fascinated by celebrities and over the top lifestyles. I wasn't sure how to help her see celebrities and then Lisa had the idea to take Laurel on one of those tours of Beverly Hills. I made the plans and right before her first day of 5th grade, we took a father-daughter trip through Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

It was actually a little more fun than I would have thought on the 2-hour tour in an open van. The hills and windy roads were more adventure in themselves. We stopped at a park to climb to an overlook to see the Hollywood Sign and Los Angeles spread out far below. While we didn't see any celebrities, we saw a lot of their homes and hangouts. Some of the highlights for Laurel would include the homes or former homes of: Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Jake Paul (you tube house owned by Ashton Kutcher), the Gingerbread House, the house where Michael Jackson passed away, Judy Garland's home with sculptures, and the Dr. Seuss home. A few homes that didn't mean much to Laurel would include: Elvis, Drew Carey, Mick Jaggar, Rod Stewart, and the house on stilts from Lethal Weapon 2. The tour ended with a drive down Rodeo Drive before finishing down the Hollywood Strip.

North Grove Trail

Calaveras Big Trees State Park

California
July 2018

Our second hike in Calaveras Big Trees State Park was the North Grove Trail. It was little longer Beaver Creek Trail and far more scenic. The trail is rated as accessible and except for one short narrow section with a few rocks that could be easily negotiated by most people in a wheelchair or jog stroller, this trail was perfect for pushing Kellisa. 

Sometimes we want a challenging trail, especially Kellisa since it usually means more struggle for me and more bumps, but it's also nice to be able to push Kellisa on a longer trail without too much worry. And it's a huge bonus when the trail is highly scenic and the North Grove Trail did not disappoint as it weaved through many "big trees". 

The trailhead shares a parking lot with the visitor center and we were afraid the trail would be packed because of how crowded the visitor center appeared. As a nice little perk, we found two disabled parking spots close to the trailhead and both were open. To our surprise, the trail was mostly deserted as we saw probably less than 10 people the entire time. I'm sure we will be returning to this pleasant forest less than 100 miles from our house on a future summer day when we want to leave the valley heat for a few hours.

TRAILS

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