Road Trip Seattle to San Francisco - Day 17 – Disney Family Museum and back home

[anji]

Road Trip Seattle to San Francisco - Day 17 – Disney Family Museum and back home

Today was home day and I so hate this (like we all do) but first was our trip to the Disney Family Museum!

We turned on the TV to find that there had been confirmed vertical movement of the San Andreas Fault Line – bear in mind that this was exactly the 4 days after the Geyser incident so maybe there was a lot of truth in it’s prediction capabilities!

We decided to have breakfast at Mel’s Drive-In Diner just up the road on Lombard Street. We finished packing and checked out of the hotel. The staff locked our cases away and gave us receipts. We’d really enjoyed this hotel – great location, very helpful people and free parking when we needed it.

We walked the 5 minutes up the road to Mel’s and relaxed into the 50’s atmosphere. It wasn’t very busy so we were served quickly. Will had the usual American breakfast he loves and I had French Toast, with copious amounts of coffee. A great place and a good one for our last breakfast.

We walked over the road to the bus stop and got the no. 43 again to the Presidio Transit hub. From here it’s only a 5 minute walk or less over to the Disney Family Museum.

We’d originally planned to visit this on the Tuesday – until I saw on the DIBB that it’s closed on Tuesdays! As we’d got other things fixed-planned or booked for the other days this only left today sadly and I knew we wouldn’t have enough time to see it all. There was also a special exhibition of the Art of Pinocchio – one of my favourites and I’ve always loved the undersea artwork. We asked at the desk how long it would take to see everything and it was clear that it just wasn’t possible. We decided not to even attempt the Pinocchio exhibition even, disappointing but it turned out there was lots of it in the main exhibition anyway.

This place is just glorious for any Disney fan. Sooo much information on the family, their amazing story and history and how the whole Disney dream came to pass. I could have spent many hours just reading everything.

The model of Disneyland is fascinating.

The note for the housekeeper he wrote about his favourite foods is brilliant – including his dyslexic spelling!

The final photo of him reminded me of my Dad so I had a bit of a sniffy time for them both.

We grabbed a quick coffee to go and headed out of the museum and sprinted to catch the bus back to the hotel, taking a final look at the Bridge on the way.

We were soon back and retrieved the cases. We asked Reception to call us a cab and it only took a few minutes again. We went to the BART station at the Civic Centre so we could get the train to the Airport.

Easy ride to the BART then this is where everything started to get a bit stressful. I really freaked out at going down the escalator dragging a big case (up is fine, down is not) but eventually I just picked it up off the ground and stepped on. We went to use the machine to get the tickets and there was a homeless guy to help us do it – on the understanding he had the change of $20! This was only just over $1 and that was fine by me and he was lovely. Also it was a bargain and so easy compared to a cab all the way.

We got the train to the Airport. Our flight information from BA said Terminal 2. The announcer was talking about International terminals so we managed to get off at the wrong terminal of Domestic Terminal 2! We walked along to the right one rather than get on the train again.

When I’d checked in on my phone it clearly showed on the seat map that we had 2 seats by the window and showed just 2 seats, not 3 on the row. We thought this was fine and accepted the seats. I really wish I’d looked further into this but we were at the Theatre at the time so stupidly didn’t. So on dropping out bags I hear the next desk offering 2 seats upstairs – this was the Dreamliner – on their own. We had the normal row of 3 as it turned out downstairs so I was not best pleased but knew it was my fault for not checking properly.

The flight was then delayed by 90 minutes (could have done Pinocchio!) and we used the wifi to look at the results of the Referendum coming in. It was about half way through when we switched off and neck and neck.

I was really looking forward to experiencing the Dreamliner but we were really disappointed. The legroom was just tiny and the arm rests didn’t go back fully, so getting out to go to the loo was even harder than usual (especially over the sleeping lady in the aisle seat). We felt really squashed the whole flight.

Other than that the flight was uneventful. I watched Brooklyn, which made me cry, and slept for a bit. On landing we discovered the result of the Referendum – that put me in an even worse mood!

It didn’t take us long to get through immigration and our bags were really fast too. Back on the bus to Purple Parking Business and down the M3 to Southampton. We couldn’t pick up Pepper from the cattery until the next morning as it was now shut and it was odd at home without her. Something to look forward to tomorrow though!

Well that’s it – the end of our wonderful trip. Well done if you’ve stuck with it and hope it’s inspired you to go a bit further afield.

I’m Glad …

- All 8 of the hotels were wonderful, not a bad one among them
- We mainly kept off the Interstates as you see a whole lot more and all the driving was so easy
- We had the snow at Crater Lake, such an experience we wouldn’t change
- We got to see Washington and Oregon – such jawdroppingly beautiful scenery and I would love to live in Portland or Seattle
- I’m such an obsessive planner and had sorted out lots to do in advance

I Wish …

- I’d realised the time it would take from Hood River to Crater Lake and stopped the night in Bend maybe so we could see everything we wanted to on the way – my only route mistake
- The skies had been clearer in Washington and Oregon so we could see the mountains and the stars better
- The Dreamliner wasn’t such a disappointment
- We had seen a bear!
- We could do it all again tomorrow!

Index -
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/show...4#post11770434

[parisdisneyfan]

Thanks for posting this Anji, making lots of notes for our trip next year When I'm a bit more into it we'll have to meet up again and see what you think to my plan x

[anji]

Glad you liked it Julia. Has brought back lots of good memories
Would be great to meet up again when you're ready - happy planning!

[Melbatb]

Thanks again - it has been an interesting read! You really did pack a lot in!

[Sandraoh40]

Thank you for writing this, it has helped hugely with some ideas for a similar trip.

[anji]

Glad you enjoyed it. Feel free to message me any questions. Hope we both make it there before too long!

[vegboatride]

Thank you for writing, this is a route I’d never considered before but it looks lovely. Maybe one for the future.

[alee81]

A great read, thank you 😀