3838 (big rock ranch), 5858 (skywalker ranch) and the presidio tours....

ok...now that I'm back on the home front, i figured i should complete the San Fran blog...
to set the background: Joe (my husband) is the eldest of 6 kids...Andrea being the 6th.  Andrea and her husband Bill live in San Fran with their two kiddos; Will and Tori.  Andrea works for George Lucas of the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and LucasFilm, LTD conglomerate.

On Monday, Andrea sped us out to Marin County, North of Golden Gate Bridge.  George owns some 3,500 acres sprawling in Lucas Valley.  The Valley itself was quite a lush site itself do to the recent rain deluge.  We arrived at the Big Rock Ranch first:
                                                a simple address sign marks the entrance of Big Rock

Big Rock Ranch holds the animation department of LucasFilm LTD, this day the animators were busy on a "new" project and we are not allowed to enter the animation studios.  The Big Rock is designed in true prairie style a la Frank Lloyd Wright!  The walls were adorn with original Star Wars, Indiana Jones and other artwork.  You wouldn't realize these pieces were original artist drawings, paintings etc as you walk by them in the office hallways.  Another great common theme throughout the ranches and Presidio was George's collection of original movie posters, some hand painted during the Cold War in Poland at a time the artists were not allowed to watch the movies and therefore; relied on a description of the movie to create the posters!

                                                Alec saunters to peek out the "Wright" windows
                                                that provide views to the outside world....

Part of the Big Rock Ranch tour also included Koi ponds, bridges and the Yoda statue marking the entrance to the Ranch.

                                                Alec and Owen at "entrance" Yoda statue

                                                 Bridge + Koi Ponds

                                                Errol Flynn original movie poster....

On to the Skywalker Ranch witch houses George's "office", a fitness center, the Sound department, guest housing and Skywalker Ranch Inn, Skywalker Firehouse, General Store and Cafe, George's "Coppola" vineyards, George's Kobe beef and one wayward coyote!

                                                skywalker ranch address...

Skywalker Ranch is unbelievable in a "I just saw a Wookie walk by" kind of way...of course, George doesn't have his Ewoks and Wookies roaming the grounds freely, but the "unrealness" is there just the same.  The Ranch is nestled in a valley surrounded by green, rock, vineyards and animals!  George built his personal office within a traditional Victorian ranch house.  We were prevented from entering the house as George decided to start a fire in the fireplace the week before and somehow managed to start a chimney fire...the house was under renovation from the fire.
George plants Francis Ford Coppola grapevines for his own bottled wine.  Of course, I snatched up a bottle of that rose' to bring home.  He also planted Olive trees to press his own Olive oil.  The Sound house is nestled in the valley hear and I'm told that you can see the sound engineers roam the grounds every so often with long booms to capture natural sounds to place in movies etc...
                                                George's "office" with full wrap-around porch

                                                 Lucas Sound (below)

                                                coyote (left) "playing" with the Kobe Beef cattle

                                                Skywalker Ranch Inn - rustic

                                                view into the valley from George's office porch

...that's it for today!  More tomorrow!
M

SAN FRAN DAY 3; WILL'S HOCKEY PRACTICE; GIRLS GO SHOPPING; PACIFIC COAST HWY; DINNER AT THE MOSS BEACH DISTILLERY

We started our day 3 with rain, rain and more rain.  We packed up both families and headed to the Yerba Buena Center for Arts area for Will's hockey practice. I was wearing my Tigers t-shirt that day and I was surprised when a father of another hockey player approached me to ask if I was a "fan", this sparked a 15 minute conversation of he being from Michigan and he was a "fan" as well.  On that same note, I had a similar run in at Trader Joe's with a man from Massachusetts who thanked ME personally for Tom Brady (former U of M quarterback)...he was a big hometown Patriot fan.  I kindly replied "you're welcome".
                             Will pushing cone during practice!

From there the 'girls'; ie: Andrea, Miss Tori and I headed for some shopping at Nordstrom...shoe shopping to be exact.  Tori kept us laughing and entertained singing in the back of the car, climbing shoe displays and in the end decided to strip herself of her bibs to wear around just her shirt and tights...new toddler fashion in the Bay area..she's quite the trendsetter indeed!

                           Tori watching the escalator people..Bibs still intact!

We all returned to 679 Waller for lunch and naps.  Soon after we were driving down the Pacific Coast Hwy with awesome views of the Pacific Ocean.  Andrea lead us to Moss Beach, a sleepy, presumably quaint fisherman town.  The homes are quaint cottages and I enjoyed the hometown "village" feel of it.  After several turns into residential neighborhoods we emerged out onto the cliffs of the Pacific to the Moss Beach Distillery.  The Distillery is an old, hidden speakeasy built back in the prohibition.  It made sense that it was so well hidden within residential neighborhoods.  There is a ghost story of The Blue Lady that accompanies every menu.  The Distillery it's self if thought to be haunted and the Blue Lady appears intermittently on cliffs just outside your window view seat...awesome atmosphere especially with old children.

                             Moss Beach Distillery (below)

                                         View of Moss Beach from the Distillery
                             -Alec and Owen (below)

We returned home to 679 Waller, jammied up and watched some Star Wars...one of the fav downtime activities in the evening when the kids were tired...Will was given the privilege of watching Clone Wars for the first time while Alec and Owen were in town...he was riveted!

Great day fitting into the life of the Robb's!
M

San Fran Day 2; Friday

Day 2
Breakfast at The Grind, Lombard Street and Fisherman's Wharf...dinner at the Robb's

I was pretty excited to hit the Wharf and do some sightseeing after a phenomenal Napa experience the night before.  Alec, Owen and I decided to venture out for some local cafe brunch.  We were directed to The Grind Cafe which was yummy and served me up a double caramel latte in a tall pint glass.  I should mention the cafes/coffee shops have beer, wine and drinks as well...either they want ya wired or tipsy...but, always with a full belly of awesome food!  By the way, my obsession with oddly worded or curiously comical signs continues at The Grind...(pix below)  Irony at it's best...if you know anything about my two boys...they didn't find this one bit humorous!

We traveled down to the Wharf, first stopping along the way at Lombard Street.  Lombard is the famous "most crooked street in the world" street.  I was driving and had the pleasure of maneuvering the van down the narrow twists at a dang near vertical grade...at least it felt that way.  The boys shot a lot of pix and at the bottom we hopped out of the van to snap a couple of shots of us with the street in the background.

                                                   Alec and I in front of Lombard Street

Once we parked near the Wharf we headed straight to the main drag of shops, restaurants, street entertainers and attractions known as Jefferson Street.  The boys and I hit the Ripley's Mirror Maze.  Very interesting trying to find your way out of a dark room of mirrors...

                                         Owen and I winding through the maze!

Eventually we made our way down to the Bay and the San Francisco Maritime National Park.  The park sits just below Ghirardelli Square and has a small sandy beach with a view of Golden Gate Bridge.  The boys felt the Bay water on the beach and then we headed up the hill to Ghirardelli Square.  Pronounced "Gear-are-delly".

                                         Touching the Bay

Ghirardelli Square...soda fountain...ice cream...chocolate...$100.00 worth of it.

Joe decided to take the boys back to the Robb residence (Joe's sister and her husband + two adorable kids) via cable car..I schlepped the chocolate and goods back to the van and shopped my fav store ever...Trader Joe's!  I bought the evening's dinner ingredients; Spaghetti n Meatballs ala Michelle.  It was nice to eat a home cooked meal and relax at the homestead with all the kids.  Bill Robb whipped me up a delicious toddy made with the Valentine Vodka I had brought them from Detroit.  He and Joe sat on their deck drinking some Bad Ass beer, also schlepped from Detroit...Bill said the beer was "Bad Ass"....

...and with that folks...I'm beat and have to head to bed.  Tomorrow is Skywalker Ranch and Presidio tours by my very own sis-in-law guide...gonna be a great day!

M