SF /

San Francisco was pretty fun. We took a nice drive along through Silicon Valley, visiting stops like YouTube, Google, Facebook, and the house where Steves Jobs and Wozniak built the first 50 Apple computers. Our campsite smelled great and fresh, full of Eucalyptus trees, seclusion, and quiet. I did see an old traveling man with a big white beard come out of the restroom, and he said "Heeeeeyyyyy Brotha", which was kinda funny.

In Berkeley we stopped at famed punk venue 924 Gilman, as well as Alternative Tentacles Records HQ. We also stopped by an antique video game arcade, and Lucas Arts HQ. We did some drive bys of the haunted Atherton Mansion, Lombard's curvy steep streets, the Full House house, and the Golden Gate Bridge. And since the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal a couple days ago (and it was also Pride Weekend), we drove through the Castro District where we saw many celebrating (drunkenly) in the streets. One dude had shorts on that said "F@#k Me", and the kids got a kick out of that. Also another dude "rolled up" next to our car and offered me a joint, saying "One hit of this and you'll forget all your troubles". I politely declined. That night, as Milo was heading into the camper, Angie said "Good night, I love you!". And he said "Thanks".

Driving up to the Crescent City, we visited the Rosie the Riviter Park, and Glass Beach. Glass Beach featured sea-worn glass left over from a seaside dump that closed in 1967. We also passed a lot of beautiful coastal scenery. I decided that any time you're driving in a car and what you see out the window makes you say "F@#k" out loud, it must be a great road trip. Switchbacks were abundant, some of them 25MPH, some 15, and one was even 10. As the night wore on, the fog grew thick, making it seem like we were driving through a Mario Kart level, except if we fell off the side we would plunge down a massive cliff into raging ocean waters below. 

Better

I am not sick any more I feel a lot better. I was sick for a few days.  I am happy that I am not sick any more. I had a sore throat and a cough also I had a stuffy nose. It was not that bad. I had been feeling well.

Morning

It is 10:30 am.  I am sitting outside as I wait for my glass perculator top to show the right shade of brown.  We pulled into our campsite at 2:30 am and decided to sleep in the van as we could not see our surroundings and didn't want to disturb our neighbors.  We were exhausted.  A twisty, windey road ... with the dark, foggy night and the constant warning from the straight drop down cliffs and the manmade signs reminding us of the tsunami hazard that led us here.  So many travelers walking roadside!  A direct road to sunny southern California for them.  Away from the heroin tainted, rainy, chilly Pacific Northwest.
At the slightest break of morning light we were woken by a rooster's crow.  Hee hee hee...  is it because I am the mother of three boys that I find his chest puffing strut and you-better-take-me-seriously call absolutely adorable??  Oh!  What a love he is!!  You tell me how tough you are, you strong man!  Love.  Love. Love.
So I sit here, the furthest point from home so far, tired from the night... weighing the risk vs benefit and questioning  our choice to embark on such a journey with our four most precious little humans.  I am so proud of us for this trip!  Everything is filthy.  I don't enjoy dirt.  I am not comfortable on dirt.  Dirt covers my feet, the feet of my children, my pillow, my coffee pot.... and I am learning to just let it be.  To let myself be.  I have heard the kids laugh more in the last week than I have the entire previous six months.  Casper.... he's doing it.  And happily so!  Oscar has become a master of tent assembly and camper set up.  He's learned important life lessons on thr importance of leadership and brotherly love.  Brian is getting his thirst for adventure quenched with every roadside stop.  Tuesday is continuing her life lesson of relearning to trust.... and being together as a big, safe and uninterrupted family is helping her to fall back into the bubble she so desperately seeks.  Milo has had a rough transition though... my favorite words from him were said through the walls of the tent  on the first night camping. ..  "Mom?"  "What sweetie?"  "This really isn't working out".  Hee hee hee.  He's working through the challenges very well though.  Every playground, every beach, every hill, every trail... he's the first one there.  He's the one laughing and exclaiming "WOW!"  So, I know he's fine.  He's like me though in that he does not suffer in silence.  And that's ok. 
The coffee has finished brewing and my cup is halfway finished.  Today I will read a book, drink coffee and we will dance with the redwoods.

Goldfish crackers

So many goldfish crackers

Up the Golden State

We began the journey from San Francisco to Crescent City a little late, leaving the lovely, safe campground at 1pm.  A 6 hour drive north should have put us at our destination at 7pm... But you know how we roll.  It is midnight and we're still on the road.  A detour to the Rosie the Riviter National Monument  (and exploration of the WW2 museum) and yet another to see Glass Beach and we're still working out way up the coast.  It has been a wonderful day.

Sick

I am sick today and I feel yucky.

CC log #6237

Today we saw the Grand Canyon and it was stunning. There are very few words to describe its beauty.

Oscar signing off

CC log # 62711

PI haven't uploaded a blog for the past few days. Part of that is me being lazy and the other part is we have been in the desert for the past few days. We arrived in L.A. a couple days ago and we took the walk of fame. We then took a walk out on the board walk in Santa Martha.

That was two days ago. Yesterday we began our long journey north to San fransico. We had to sleep in a gas station parking lot last night and we finally arrived  at our camp ground earlier this morning. I have also continually dosed off all day.

This is oscar signing off 

Lots of places!

Well, I have not posted a blog for a long time. So here are some things we have done, saw the California Dinosaur, swam in a pool, and now were in San Francisco doing laundry. I miss home :(

Softening the blow

We've had a rough 18 hours.  With everything that happened yesterday, more has piled on.  Our back breaks are bad, something is dragging in the camper wheel, our camper lights stopped working (mysteriously, after 4000 miles) and we arrived at the campground at 2 am only to find the gates locked until 6am.  Every single Hyatt hotel within a 90 mile radius was booked... and then when we learned that a Hampton Inn an hour and a half away was going to be $299 a night, we did what any normal family would do and we drove to a gas station and slept in the van.  I cried most of the night.  The place we parked was safe, there was security and they knew we were there... it was well lit and had clean bathrooms... But I just felt so defeated.  Rather seeing it as a funny adventure, I felt like I let my family down.  I missed my dogs last night more than I've ever missed them.  I was sure I wouldn't sleep a wink.  Before I knew it though we were waking up and it was 7:30am!  Woohoo!  Time to get coffee and onward!  After being misdirected by the bitchy gps woman we finally found our space.  It is lovely.  We are camping in a Eucalyptus grove within a park outside of San Francisco.  The sky is beautiful, the smell of the air is cleansing and after a nap I think we are going to be ok.

Camping three days

We are camping three days and three nights!

Damn van

Today we drove up i5 from LA to San Fran.  We are about 8 hours into our trip (of our 6 hour trip) and gave about 2 more to go.  There are a lot of groves and ranches, including the famed Harris Ranch.  We suffered a flat tire on the camper that Brian changed in 110 degree weather.  It's been a really long day and I am hungry and grumpy.

Sixteen lanes and it is still slow!

What's with these LA people?  Don't they take the subway? Maybe a bus or something?  Geesh.

The new way

I called it the new way because it was a new way of planing building but maybe not but it was cool and awesome.

So i planned and planned and plotted and planned some things to do today. We began with a deliciously carby breakfast full of syrup and other fine sugars, which we had to fight 50 middle schoolers for, most of whom had dazed looks on their faces. At the end of our gorging, we realized they were a Christian choir as they serenaded us with some song about having faith in God as we made our way back to the hotel room.

We swam for an hour or so in the courtyard pool, where Tuesday met a friend from Scotland, and I increased the redness of my tan by a few shades. After a quickie stop for some great grub at Trader Joes, I promptly spilled cucumber cream all over my pants and we drove an hour and a half to LA.

We kicked off the party on Hollywood, checking out the walk of fame starz. We observed some folks getting ready for the premiere of Magic Mike XXL and stuck our feet into casts of famed actors including Chewbacca and Robin Williams. We were impressed by many outrageous characters, like a Times Square on crack, and lots of bearded barefoot middle aged men talking to themselves, or shouting at invisible bugs flying in the air. I thought, boy this is really a place you can be yourself, whoever you are, and no one is gonna judge.

We continued the party in the van, as we cruised through Laurel Canyon past Joni Mitchell's house. Not sure why i wanted to go there, maybe because of this Joni quote:
Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live and they'll tell you California. Ask anyone in California where the craziest people live and they'll say Los Angeles. Ask anyone in Los Angeles where the craziest people live and they'll tell you Hollywood. Ask anyone in Hollywood where the craziest people live and they'll say Laurel Canyon. And ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live and they'll say Lookout Mountain. So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain. 

We climbed through the Hollywood Hills, past Fox Studio (where we cheered for Family Guy's HQ),
 then down through Beverly Hills, and down Rodeo Drive where we saw Bijan's $1.7M yellow Rolls Royce convertible. Then, onward on Sunset past Whiskey a Go Go and out to Santa Monica.

We thought we were just going for a short walk off a long pier, but it turned out to be a 10,000 step walk all around the Santa Monica Pier and Promenade. Tuesday, Oscar, and Milo delighted themselves on a roller coaster, while Cass and I hit the Scrambler. 

We polished off the night at Taco Station where a non English speaking abuela made us some yum.

Been having such a relaxing time on vacation. It's hard for me to post because it always feels like I am working on something relaxing, like trying to get something relaxing done, planning my relaxation, organizing my relaxation tools, assembling or deconstructing the relaxation camp, fixing something that went wrong with the relaxmobile etc.

We arrived at Grand Canyon about 10PM, so we couldn't really see any of it when we were coming in. It was great though in retrospect as we saw a mile-long line of people waiting to get into the entrance the next day.

We had a couple great fires, s'mores, naps, and other relaxing times at Grand Canyon. We saw large elk and of course large rock formations. It was huge, so big I'm not really sure how to think about it. It was giant and magnificent, and every steep cliff we observed descended into a bigger steep cliff. Everything around the park smelled so good, the pine, the sage, the smoke. And as big as the canyon was, it was huge and silent. We enjoyed getting out along the parkway to see different views of the park. We found some ruins of ancient people and enjoyed thinking about the ways they must have lived off the mountain. I also found some great beers in the market at Grand Canyon Village and I just went and really drank them.

Just less than an hour after our departure ("the leave"), the trailer bounced off the hitch. I don't know if it was because of bumps, or maybe I forgot to hitch it securely, I'm not sure. Either way, luckily the chains kept the camper attached to the van, and although there was some damage, it could've been WAAAY worse.

Our super long drive to Joshua Tree / Riverside was great, hot, 111 degrees, and through the desert. I can't even believe there are such huge areas completely devoid of people, telephone poles, cars, or anything remotely human - miles and miles of nothingness, just sand and shrubbery, and heat, oh, and also us. We did read a little soliloquy at Joshua Tree about how the desert is perfect for plant life - no plants are crowded. Each one is planted and has space around it to breathe, and to shine. Just about the only areas inhabited by people we saw were old Route 66 towns still honoring their cherished history and former glory days.

Finally the best part of my day was of course visiting the Cabazon dinosaurs from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. It was dark but that's ok, it was also dark in the movie when he visited them so it made it more realistic.

Joshua Tree National Park

We were lucky to stop at the park a little after 6pm ...  the sun was down and the air was warm, yet not completely overcome by the heat.  We walked a couple of trails and even saw a cute jackrabbit.  

We thought there were clouds on the horizon, but as it turns out it was smoke from a wildfire about 100 miles away!

Pretty Cool

We saw the Grand Canyon, and it was HUGE!!! We also saw the Joshua National Forest, and now were in Los Angeles.

Grand canyon

We were at the grand canyon and I was a little bit scared it was really high up in the grand canyon!

Page AZ to Mather Campground

I can't possibly capture the beauty I have seen today.  From ut24 to Bryce Canyon. ..Dixie National Forest and now this gorgeous highway we are so fortunate to be driving on at sun down.  Every single minute of this journey I am thankful.... so very thankful... that I live a life where I can travel with my family... where we can explore and learn, teach and witness. 

Utah relaxations

Grand Canyon Memories

.

The fire 3

The fire is out it is done there is no more fire. :-(

Utah continued

We left Thousand Acres RV resort in Torrey, UT after and extremely windy, extremely starry, best sleep ever kind of night.  Rather than taking i70, we chose a smaller, slower and much more scenic route taking rt24 to rt 89.  After stopping at a mom & pop supermarket for a pricey but satisfying lunch (making sandwiches  the whole way!) We just entered Bryce Canyon National Park and bought our National Parks Annual Pass!  I've coveted the pass for the last 20 years!

Grand Junction

We started off the morning by waking up near Grand Junction Colorado.  We camped over night at James Robb Colorado River State Park.  It was freezing cold... about 42 degrees when we woke up.  We got dressed, had breakfast and packed up the campsite quickly.  Then we drove to the sweet little Unitarian Universalist Church in Grand Junction where Brian played the service.  The kids and I walked along Main Street until it was time to go to the church for the Summer Solstice service.  It was really sweet and loving ... except and old man had a seizure during the middle... ack!  Anyway, the service ended with my favorite hymn, "Blue Boat Home" and I've been humming it all day as we've traveled this beautiful Earth of ours. 
(I have more photos to add, but they are on my other camera... I will have to wait until we have reliable Internet to post them) 

Colarado

We just arrived in Denver, and that's really it.

Utah!!!

Welcome to Utah ladies and gentlemen!

Here you will see many beautiful things, including hot deserts, goblins, and petroglyphs!

 

The boo boo

I got it on the playground on the swing set i am not sad i am not mad i am okay with it.

CC Log #6204

Cross country log #6204

We reached Colorado today. We are currently at a camp ground in the middle of the grand Mesa. We also crossed the Rocky Mountains and finally left Kansas unfortunately I don't have enough time to go on with this entry for I am tired.

Oscar signing off