Leaving San Francisco and finding Snoopy along the way

Dan and Sidney took the train to the airport early this morning to get the rental car for our trip to Northern California and Oregon.  The other kids and I hung out at the hotel until they returned.  Here is a picture of the restaurant in the Palace Hotel lobby.  Needless to say, we didn't dine in the restaurant, as the prices are astronomical.

The kids wanted to try to drive down Lombard Street on our way out of town, so we attempted it.  Unfortunately, the line of cars was backed up for several blocks.  A quick calculation led us to determine that it wasn't worth our wait, since we had other destinations for the day.  Once again, it will be added to the list for another trip.  I have to brag on Dan's driving skills on the narrow and hilly streets of SF.  There is no way we would have made it out in one piece if I were driving.  We headed out of town toward Mendocino via the Golden Gate Bridge.  I thought Jack's head was going to explode because he was so excited!  Here are a few pictures.

We drove for about an hour and a half and made a scheduled stop in Santa Rosa.  We discovered another eating establishment named after the youngest Briggs, Jack's Urban Eats.  We had a good lunch and found another photo opportunity.

Our main reason for the stop was to visit the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa.  Schulz was the creator of the Peanuts comic strip for over 50 years.  Santa Rosa was his home for the latter half of his life.  My dad and I read the Sunday comics (or funnies, as we called them) together for many years.  Peanuts was always our favorite, so we had to stop here.  It was a great museum with lots of photo opportunities.

The doc is in...

                                                                                             

 We found Snoopy on his doghouse and Woodstock taking a bath...

This mural fills a huge wall of the museum.  It is entirely comprised of individual 4-cell Peanuts comic strips. 

We also found the kite eating tree...Arrrgh!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day--our version of the Peanuts gang with Snoopy and Woodstock.

The drive from Santa Rosa to Mendocino is a very curvy, mountainous road full of switchbacks.  Lyndon's stomach almost got the better of her, but we made it through unscathed.  The second half of the drive was through a redwood forest.  The light filtering through the trees as we drove was so beautiful.  We arrived in Mendocino to a thick blanket of fog, so we didn't get to see the spectacular views.  Hopefully, the fog will burn off tomorrow before we leave town.  

Our hotel rooms are quite....something.  Dan and I couldn't quite put our fingers on how to describe it, until he discovered that Mendocino was the setting of Murder, She Wrote with Angela Lansbury.  Apparently, they modeled our room after her scenes in the 80s and decided to stick with it.  

The kids came running in and said, "The TV looks like a box."  Ha!  I feel like I should be using a typewriter instead of a computer...