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.