We walked down Pier 39 and grabbed some lunch and got our first look at the sea lions! We then hopped on the bus and headed down to Chinatown. That was also so interesting. We did a lot of walking and browsing and that was fun. We had to resist strong urges to not buy …
Alcatraz Island
This was such a busy, great day! We grabbed some breakfast and then headed down to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz Island. We were both really excited for this part of the trip. The ferry ride was fun and Alcatraz was fascinating. The audio tour was so well done and learning and …
Golden Gate Bridge
After our museums, we hopped back on the bus and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. It ended up being later than we had hoped and we didn’t have our jackets and with the sun going down it was getting pretty chilly so we didn’t stay long- we will definitely have to go back another …
California Academy of Sciences & de Young Museum
For Mark and I’s 5th Anniversary we headed to San Francisco and absolutely loved it! We decided YEARS ago that we really wanted to go on a trip for our five year anniversary and I am beyond happy that we have actually done it. Mark had never been to San Francisco before and I had …
Monticello Utah Temple
After we ate our lunch we left Moab and began our trek further south. We always try and stop on our vacations and see the temple. Seeing as our trip this year was to Utah we knew we had many to choose from. We stopped in Monticello and saw the temple that is there. Neither Mark or …
Columbus Ohio Temple
Later today we drove over to the Columbus Ohio Temple. It’s a beautiful temple but it is oh so tiny! I don’t think I have ever seen such a small temple. But, of course, it was beautiful and I am sure a tremendous blessing to all those that live here in Ohio. It is their …
Mount Rushmore
Horsethief Lake After that we headed to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It had been raining all day, but luckily it started to clear up while we were at the Crazy Horse Memorial. We stopped at Horsethief Lake on our way up and it was beautiful. It’s just a small little lake on your way up …
Crazy Horse Memorial
Next we drove over to the Crazy Horse Memorial. This was actually something we hadn’t planned on going to, but once we got here, decided that it was worth stopping at. I honestly knew NOTHING about who Crazy Horse was or anything about this memorial prior but it also proved to be really interesting. A …
Jewel Cave
Tuesday we left around noon and headed up north. Our trip up was pretty uneventful – which is probably a good thing. We arrived in Hill City, South Dakota a little after six that evening and found a little restaurant to eat at. We got all checked-in and settled in our hotel for the night. …
ARIZONA
Our first Berning Family Vacation was to the Grand Canyon State and it was awesome and beautiful and we would TOTALLY do it again! This was our first year doing what I know will become one of my favorite traditions ever! Arizona is one of those states where I feel like we could do at …