Looking for some stair climbing and amazing views? Some awesome ones to check out are the 16th Avenue Tile Steps, Lyon Street Steps, and Twin Peaks. These three are the best to do on a clear day so you can see, but I guess if you want a workout, then you can do it in the fog. We haven’t seen all the stairs yet, but we’re planning to soon!
Explore Point Bonita Lighthouse
Point Bonita was the 3rd lighthouse on the West Coast and it’s still in use today! The lighthouse is small with only two tiny rooms, but it’s still worth checking out. The lighthouse itself, views, and hike out are awesome and can be a quick or lengthy depending on how long you want to stay.
From the lighthouse and before the bridge, you can see seals below and a small sea arch. Across the way, is the Golden Gate Bridge and from this advantage point, you can see the whole city behind it. The scenery and picturesque views are one of the best parts of this stop.
Things To Do In Crissy Field
For a nice walk on a not too windy day in San Francisco, visiting Crissy Field is perfect. We followed the Bay Trail and then continued a short ways to Fort Point. It was about 2 miles one way along the beach with a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate and the city.
The trail is flat and easy so anyone can do it which makes it very popular for runners, bikers, and pedestrians. There’s plenty of parking and from that lot, you can easily walk to the Palace of Fine Arts and the Wave Organ which are short walks. Along the trail, there are numerous openings to walk out on the sand and check out the beach.
Historic Fort Point in San Francisco
As one thing on our San Francisco weekend trip, we walked to Fort Point (you can drive too) at the end of the Bay Trail at Crissy Field. For the longest time, we had no idea what this building under the Golden Gate Bridge was. Was it a part of the bridge? Was it a old closed down building? We had no idea until we went a little further past Warming Point and discovered it’s an old war fort that’s FREE to explore.
In Fort Point, you can explore everything because nothing is blocked off. There are three floors of cannon storage, a little museum, and old rooms, plus you can go to the roof for some incredible views. Getting deep into the fort, it’s gets kind of dark and creepy, but it’s really cool to see the historic building.
Kayaking On The Smith River
We’ve kayaked as a family on the lake, but we’ve never done it on a river. I was super excited to hear that we would get to do it on our road trip. It was a totally different experience, but it was a lot of fun.
The major difference between the two are the river rapids. In the river, you can come across white rapids that you have to hit straight on or else you could spin around in circles and maybe tip over. My mom and I had an awesome time trying to navigate the rapids and the currents that come before. The Smith River in Northern California was absolutely gorgeous because the water was clear and not too cold to go swim in, the trees and landscape were spectacular, and there were even some bridges along the way to check out.
Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure
Red Rock Canyon State Park
Before heading all the way to Death Valley National Park, we took a one day stop at Red Rock Canyon State Park. There are so many things to do in this underrated park. The best thing about it is the “you do you” factor where you can go wherever you want to see whatever you want throughout the park.
There are miles of desert trails that take you on different hikes to see all that the park has to offer. Camel Rock and Turk’s Turban are only two of the many spectacular rock rotations you can get a chance to see at this state park. I had the most fun freely exploring the window rocks, overhang rocks, canyon inlets and buttes.
Trying Something New; School Rally Performance
This year I started high school. I knew before I even started I wanted to be in the Whitney Dance Program, so I auditioned and made it into a higher leveled class. Typically, the only way to dance at a rally is if you’re on the dance team, but new this year was the VAPA Rally where most of the art classes on campus get to perform. Since I’m in an advanced dance class, my class had to showcase a routine. I knew that signing up for an upper level class I would probably end up doing things like that, but I thought it would just be the dance show.
As a freshman, I was insanely nervous when I heard I would be performing in front of my whole school, which is roughly 2000 people. Before this, I had never done anything in front of my peers at this new school. All of the other older girls in my class had been in the school dance shows and things like that, but I had never experienced it. I’ve done countless dance productions at my studio in front of parents and a whole bunch of other people, but performing in front of your classmates and people you see everyday is scary to think about.
Vegas Girls Trip
This year to celebrate the birthdays of the girls in our family, we went on a girls trip to Las Vegas. I had never been and I’m glad I got to because it was so fun. I got to do so many new and awesome things on the girls trip!
The Strip was incredible to explore and check out the huge stores and themed hotels. Old Vegas was incredible to experience, too!
Old Vegas
Road Trip Through Death Valley
Death Valley National Park is a lot different than what people typically picture in their minds when told it’s a desert. At least for me, I thought it was going to flat, dry, plain, and very sandy. Some parts are like that, but there’s a lot of variety throughout the massive park. There’s even a waterfall surrounded with greenery.
Death Valley Historic Mines
In Death Valley National Park and the small parts of Nevada close to the park, there are an abundance of abandoned mines. You can explore any of the mine holes you see, but be careful because we saw a sign that warned tourists about dangerous ruins, left over land mines, and more things like that. Throughout the park, if you look around on the mountains, there are a ton of holes all over the place. Those are the mine holes.