Monday, the first day, flying on Delta to Oakland, California. Our flights were at 11:00 am, so we didn't have to wake up too early, but as always, Brian wanted to be to the airport in plenty of time. Can I just say that I hate taking the family through security. It is so stressful to getting everything off in the trays, and then have to pick it all up and put it all back on, and quickly. We arrived in Oakland around 1:00 pm and then picked up our rental car at Thrifty. They let you pick which car you want, and Erika and Riley wanted to Blue Dodge Charger, but when we opened the doors and the trunk, it stunk so bad of cigarettes, we decided that we couldn't not handle that for 5 days, so we picked a Silver Hyundai Sonata instead. We had to drive across the bay from Oakland to San Mateo, where our hotel was. Brian found a Marriott hotel that had sleeping for 6 with a loft and two bathrooms, and also free breakfast every morning. It was really nice to be able to spread out and have enough room for everything. We also had a full size kitchen, but didn't really use it much, except for treats. We drove across a long suspended bridge, which we didn't know that you have to pay a toll for everytime you cross. We should of known, but didn't really plan for it. We finally got to San Mateo and the kids were starving, so we found the closest Red Robin to eat lunch at. It ended up being the cheapest meal of the whole trip. Later, in the evening, we decided to drive to the closest grocery store and buy some treats and goodies for the week. We read in the hotel accomodations book, that there were two grocery chains in the area. Safeway and Albertson's. We decided since we were used to a Albertson's we would go there, so Brian's punched in his iPhone GPS for the closest Albertson's. We followed the route it told us and ended up driving past all these really nice big homes with gates in front and then we ended up at the Private Country Golf Club, but no Albertson's. We laughed about it and wondered what the heck the GPS told us. If the place used to have a Albertson's or if the road was called Albertson's or if the place used to be owned by Albert's sons. Needless to say, we didn't find Albertson's, but we all had a great time laughing about it. We had passed many Safeway's along the way, but missed them, because we were focused on the GPS and which way to go. We stopped at Safeway and got a small basket full of treats and then they told us it was $75 dollars. Wow, those were some expensive treats and goodies.
