A good old fashioned family vacation... to Alcatraz

This time, when my sister and I decided to lace up for another one of our crazy running adventures, we didn’t just stop at self-inflicted physical exhaustion for which we paid good money. Nope, we doubled down and dragged the whole family along, branded it in the words of Clark W. Griswold, a "good old fashioned family vacation" and then we got real close to God and prayed it would all work out because we feared we had gotten in over our heads this time! Here's how this one went down.

Flashback to December 2025: Us sisters were planning this particular adventure and it felt like an absolute stroke of genius. I mean who wouldn't want to "run" away to California when amidst a long hard Michigan winter like we had last year?  We were shivering in the bleak, endless Michigan snow and dreaming of a perfect summer adventure among giant trees, sunshine, ocean breezes, and majestic bridges. Sigh.  Here's the best picture to represent what we must've been imagining when we clicked "book flights" on that fateful December night.

Muir Woods our crew of 8:  Courtney, Me, Kenny, Hazel, Jeff, Aven, Mird and Cody

Now apparently Michigan winters impair cognitive function or something because it made us think that flying away for a week in between our boys' graduation ceremonies and their open houses was a grand idea! Who the hell does that?  Apparently us. We do that!  Back on that fateful night in December, in a fit of frostbitten delusion, we booked direct flights from Detroit to San Francisco because they were "a steal" and we've been trying to make this particular trip happen for the better part of a decade. Now that the boys were (gulp) graduating, it truly forced the issue. It was now or never. We chose now!  Thanks to one of my close highschool friends, Shahla, we even had an awesome house just outside to Yosemite to call home for the week!  Super duper special thanks to her because without her generosity, we likely never would've made it to see those glorious trees and all the rest of all the splendor of Northern California! 

 

At Detroit aiport on our way to California!  We were all kinds of giddy despite that it was 4 in the morning...except for me. I look like I haven't slept in days basically like any teacher looks 4 days after school gets out!

the Daniels boys were much more agreeable to photo ops than our kids! Here they are traversing the always challenging airplane jetway. They're ready to head to Cali!

To pull this off, we instantly went full frugal mode. We cut back, returned empties, rolled spare change, and stopped buying stupid stuff. Next, we researched cool things to do with teenagers in Yosemite and how to save money when traveling with teenagers in Yosemite—and then we stopped paying our bills.

Just kidding.  We didn't reseach what to do when traveling with teenagers in California, because we already knew what we were going to do. We were going to check out the biggest trees in the world, check ourselves into Alcatraz for an afernoon, visit some sea lions on Pier 39, and run across the Golden Gate Bridge! We had a plan and plane tickets what else could we possibly need? Hopefully not much because the tickets we bought only allowed for a personal item that fit under the seat in front of us! No carry on luggage and certainly no checked bags! Once the teenagers adjusted to this fact, they rocked out the packing and totally pulled it off even Hazel! 

Reflecting back on our most recent sisterhood adventure, it can really be boiled down to three notable ideas: impeccable service, insane adventures, and backseat bonding. Let's visit each of these themes independently so you get a feel for what California was all about!

Impeccable Service was apparent throughout the entirety of this most recent adventure. From the moment we checked into the park and fly hotel in Detroit until the moment we picked our own car back up from that lot the service was truly incredible.  Lourdes at the Detroit hotel that first night was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful and got the trip off to a great start by booking our 4 am shuttle to the aiport the following morning. While Jay at the hotel in San Francisco our last night made Lourdes look like chopped liver. He literally dryed our clothes that had gotten wet in the ocean, planned our travels while we were there down to the nitty gritty-- like bus numbers and directions to bus stops. Oh and gave us free bottled water when we headed to the airport the final night!  He was the best customer service housing I've ever experienced. And I've traveled a lot so it means something! Jay you rock! And our rental car experience totally redeemed rental cars in our book. After our horrible experience with a rental car in Rhode Island last fall, we were a bit gun shy but given our house was 3 plus hours from the airport we truly had no choice but to take our chances with the Russian Roulette game that is car rental.  Well Enterprise you made us believers in impeccable service, quality vehicles and an overall wonderful car rental ordeal.  We have zero complaints and other than the car sickness that many of us had to manage, we had a perfect ride around Northern California.

Hotel with Lourdes in charge

ready to embark on our crazy Cali adventure!

Insane Adventures This trip can best be summed up as a series of deathdefying, rule-breaking, life choices that resulted in off the chart adventure and fun! The peak of my parental supervision on this trip? Dragging the teenagers to the top of Bridal Falls passed the signs that warned us of a fate worse than death to literally kiss the cliffside behind it. I spent half the time praying nobody would die, mostly because I was the only adult present and I really didn't want to have to tell my sister one of her kids was dead. Also, prison jumpsuits really aren’t my color.

Hazel kissing that wall!

Me and my honey with those falls far, far in the background.

On day one near Muir Woods, the teens also abandoned Jeff and me to "blaze a new trail." Naturally, we let them go. Because nothing says "great supervision" like letting a pack of unruly teenagers wander into uncharted wilderness with zero water, no cell service, absolutely no sense of direction, and a useless map that didn't even show where they were currently located. What could possibly go wrong!?  We were about to find out...

Just before they wanderd off into the wilderness searching for a new way back to our van! Come to think of it, they were basically Columbus that day searching for the all too elusive rental van!

goat climb completed...

The teenagers popped out awhile later down below climbing on a downed tree and it looked like they might be rehearsing for a part in Dirty Dancing.  Meanwhile, Jeff and I were hiking responsibly on the established path. Jeff was happy with this reality as he loves to follow rules while I was busy daydreaming about doing the famous lift with someone who resembles Patrick Swayze. It would've been a spectacular feet of balance and strength! Sigh. 

Meanwhile, Mird and Courtney found these slugs that apparently are psychodelic and make you hallucinate if you lick them.  Honestly who licked slugs?! Gross on so many levels so I just nodded and acted interested when my sister filled me in on this tidbit.  She really does learn the most random shit on these trips!  I love that about her.I fit in the tree!

so did Cody!

We also took turns hiding in and around the trees. It's what you do when trees are this BIG.

The glorious trees and our entire party of 8!

strike a pose

half dome and us

Muir Woods the perfect start to any California vacation!

The following day the kids found themselves dropped in the valley with a whole lotta time, a mediocre bike and their fellow cousins to check out the valley. Us adults, we biked through through that valley like we were training for the Tour de France or Japanese tourists given the amount of pictures we took.  We would have kept biking for many more hours except for the teenagers complaining of tiredness, hunger pains, and with a general lack of ambition to continue on our quest to bike all of the valley floor. I was expecting a grueling, dramatic trek akin to when we stormed the beaches of Normandy on bikes last summer. Instead, it was a brief, underwhelming pedal that truly didn't equal a serious workout or a grandios adventure at all. I will say it did provide absolutely breathtaking views of waterfalls, wildlife, and trees so all was not lost!

When we returned home--just a quick dip to cool off. The following morning yoga on that very beach...

I could be wrong but I think Mird has real potential as a yoga instructor...just sayin'

 

We also had an impromtu quick sardines hide and seek adventure. That's right on our last night at the Yosemite House, we played sardines (reverse hide and seek) one person hides everyone else searches and if you find the person you silently pack yourself in next to them and hide with them. The last one to find them is the winner/loser and gets to be it next!  It was so much fun being kids with our kids who are truly more or less adults now!  We had a blast!

Backseat Bonding Please do not be fooled: while it sounds glamorous and like an emotionally positive experience for everyone, backseat bonding is a complete oximoron and a bloody lie. It wasn't glamorous at all and there wasn't much positive that happened in that backseat; in fact it was the complete opposite of glamorous and uplifting. It was a test of human endurance, survival, and patience. The combination of winding mountain switchbacks and stop-and-go traffic triggered a level of carsickness in some of us so brutal, it felt like that rental van was actively trying to murder us. It turns out our only survival mechanism for a shift in the back of the Honda Odyssey was to aggressively sleep through the unending misery until the next stop when nature's glory would once again make you realize all the torture in that van was totally worth it! There is just one photo of our driving around because we were all looking rough in that van. We did stop to get a few cool pics amid all the torturous driving. check em out!

backseat bonding...

 

we saw a sow and her cubs along the way...

Possibly the coolest backseat bonding that happened was this...

there were two waymo rides for the kids covering the same route and the cost was not consistent so we were surprised pleasantly because the one Sunday morning after the race was way cheaper and we were on a budget afterall!

Bonus awesine things we did:
We took an afternoon and enjoyed Groveland California-the gateway to Yosemite- where our house was located. It is an amazing old historic downtown and we enjoyed our shopping bonanza!  

this was our absolute favorite item found on our shopping spree and it's true...

this was a close second also true

Mird was so excited she almost bought one of everything. HERE she is showing off all those funny stickers just like Vanna White our favorite game show personality and we visited the oldest saloon in California! 

Bar time

Photo dump from random shit we did...We headed to San Francisco at the tail end of the trip for a 24 hour whirlwind adventure that included the race over the Golden Gate Bridge, a trip to Alcatraz, Pier 39, teenagers riding in self driving cars and much much more....

chess matches at the house

Cody takes on Alcatraz

Go green!

We found the sea lions of Pier 39

Bust stop babes

sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge

Oh yeah, the race. We ran a 10k race thereby completing another state in our quest to visit all 50 to run a race! It was superb; In fact, it was so fun it convinced Hazel to get on the wait list to run over Mackinac Bridge with us on Labor Day!  It was definitely the icing on the cake that was this dream come true trip!  Then we ate an amazing free breakfast (remember frugal family trip) and headed back to Jay and our amazing motel (and even more amazing shower!!) to get packed up and head to Alcatraz.I best stop now before this blog turning into a trilogy or you fall asleep.

Say "free pancakes by the Golden Gate Bridge!"

Our crew: Hazel Kenny Vern Courtney Cody Mird

Presidio Half Marathon/10k/5k

 June 21, 2026

San Francisco, California

State # 24ish 

PS I am so thankful the sisters declared this one a family vacation, that Courtney knows she's family, and that everything went relatively smoothly.  Until next time--Happy Trails!

PPS

the perfect ending to our perfect family vacation to Alcatraz was everyone got to sit together.

Vern