Day 23

Alert the media: we made it out of our campsite by 9am again! It was cooooolllllldddd, and I really didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag, but we had somewhere to be.

The aquarium has summer diving activities for kids 8-13. We’d tried to get the kids in yesterday, but they were booked, and today (Thurs) there were two slots at two different times, so Drew has to be there by 9:30 and Jaden at 11. The kids get to put on dry suits and SCUBA gear and go surface SCUBAing in the aquarium’s bay area. Because of Andrew’s Aspergers, they assigned him a one-on-one instructor, and he did great and had a really good dive. He would have been fine with the 3 kids/1 instructor ratio, but it's always nice to have more attention for him just in case. Jaden said he “had fun but it wasn’t an ‘Oh WOW hurray yeah!’ thing.” Me, I got plenty of pictures and some video and was mildly jealous that my 9- and 11-yo sons have been SCUBA diving, and I’m 33 and have never been. Hrmph.

Left the aquarium, took over a Laundromat, and used almost all available washers and dryers to get laundry done. Jeff actually had most of it done while the boys went diving, and then all of us folded and sorted and repacked everything. We have a lot of dang clothes on this trip.

After that, though, we got to go to Dennis the Menace park to play. My cousin Micheal and her two little boys, 7 & 9 years old, drove down from Gilroy to play with us for a couple of hours. I grew up in the same town as Micheal and was the flower girl in her wedding forever ago, but I haven’t seen her in probably thirteen years, so we sat and talked nonstop the entire time. I was enormously pleased to see her, and the kids had fun playing with Gabriel and Seth.

Dinnertime came much too soon, and they had to leave, so we piled in the car too. After stopping at Costco for pizza and hot dogs, we are back in the car driving. The plan is to drive straight through tonight to get to Phoenix. I know we’ll have to stop for a nap or two, but it’s twelve hours of driving, so I think we can make it by around lunch or between lunch and dinner. Another cousin, Micheal’s sister Linda, lives in the Phoenix area, along with my aunt & uncle (Micheal & Linda’s parents) whom I haven’t seen in a while. And oh yeah, my dad too. Linda has invited us all to spend the night with her, which will be fun. I don’t think she’s met Jeff or any of the kids before. (I did say to her, when she offered her house, “You know there are eight of us, right?”)

I am already a little tired, so I think I need a nap…

Day 22

Wow, it’s nice to leave in the morning and not have to pick up camp! This has definitely been a learning experience for us. We’ve decided that in the future, we will either take road trips or go camping, but probably not both. Camping is a lot of fun, and I honestly don’t mind getting dirty or sleeping in a tent with all of the kids. I actually enjoy cooking on a propane stove and living out of a suitcase. Trying to do all of that and sleep in a different place every night, though, is hard, especially when you aren’t just packing for yourself but for six small people who can’t really do everything for themselves. On future vacations, if we want to see things and go to different places every day, we will probably stay in cheap hotels. If we want to camp, we’ll drive somewhere and then stay there for a week. We don’t need anything fancy, and even a Motel 6 is fine, we just need beds at the end of the day and a place to put our clothes.

We bought a membership to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and spent the day there. The kids loved the touch pools, the outer bay exhibit, the otters, heck, we probably could have spent a week there and not gotten bored. Levi and Aspen really liked the octopi, the rockfish and leopard sharks in the kelp forest, the jellies, and the outer bay exhibit. Levi, especially, talked nonstop at the Outer Bay. “Where’s the stingray? Oh! You see that shark? That’s a head hammer shark! Hey look! It’s a bigger bigger tuna! Where’s the stingray? WOW!” Andrew and Kendra watched the otters for almost an hour, and Andrew and Jaden played a game that gave them “gold medals” for finding different species. Lily touched several different animals in the touch pools and, when we stood in front of any of the exhibits, giggled like crazy whenever a fish swam directly in front of her face.

While the kids went to the gift shop, I went to security to have them help us find Andrew. He’s started wandering off the past couple of months. Drives us crazy because he’s eleven, so he’s old enough that we don’t panic when he’s out of our line of sight, but he’s there and then all of a sudden he’s gone and he could have gone anywhere. It’s maddening to have to spend time looking for him, and at the same time I’m trying not to worry because 11 is old enough to (mostly sometimes) take care of himself. He’s always apologetic and says “I’m sorry, I got distracted,” but then it happens again. ARGH!He finally appeared, and the kids took their stuffed animals—Kendra and Aspen got a pink dolphin and pink seal; honestly, who comes up with these things?—and we grabbed some Jamba Juices. One failed search for a Laundromat later, went back to our campsite. Grilled hot dogs and went to bed. Tired!

Day 21, more

We made it to Monterey just in time to feed starving children. Me, I wasn’t too hungry, because I drove and *ahem* ate all my jelly beans. Oops. All of the Fisherman’s Wharf restaurants have awesome clam chowder, but we always eat at Old Fisherman’s Grotto when we’re in Monterey, so we headed there. It’s not exactly a family-friendly restaurant, and on the kids’ menu it specifically states that if your child is crying or causing a disturbance, you need to take the child outside or you’ll be asked to leave. Yikes! There were more than a few raised eyebrows when the eight of us filed in and sat down. Thankfully, the kids did great. We even got compliments on how well-behaved they were. We try hard to make sure our family, and our children, aren’t “that bunch of kids” that cause grumbling, dirty looks, and muttered comments, so to hear that someone is impressed by the kids’ behavior is always gratifying.

(Especially when they were non-stop blurs of motion the entire time we were at Lake Berryessa and Jelly Belly.)

We started to look at souvenirs along the wharf, and while the older kids and I were browsing, Jeff took the younger kids to look at the water. While looking over the railing, Levi turned his head just right, and the wind blew his hat in. Yep, his rainbow-colored, spinning-propeller, just-purchased Jelly Belly hat. Levi was immediately hysterical, and not only was he crying non-stop, Aspen started to cry too. Jeff talked to a couple of people to try & find out how he could get down to the water, and the third person he talked to was a woman just a few feet away in the office of a whale-watching boat. Since the boat was tied up right there, she went down onboard the boat and pulled out a long stick with a hook on the end. It took a few tries, because the boat was moving a few feet back and forth with the waves, but she was able to snag the hat with her hook and return it to a very grateful little boy. Pheee-ew! Poor guy had a tear-stained face for the rest of the night, but he was sooooo happy to have his hat back. He wanted to wear it back to the car, but I vetoed that because it was sopping wet, and the wind was chilly.

At that point, we realized we’d be setting up camp in the dark, so we headed towards Carmel to the Saddle Mountain RV Resort. The GPS showed that we’d arrived there about half a mile before we actually had, so we drove clueless for a few minutes before finding it tucked onto a hillside at the end of a one-land road. Seriously, tucked into a hillside. The driveway felt like it was at a 40-degree angle, and the dirt road to get to the tent sites was a short series of switchbacks with flat spots carved out on the sides for tents. I would have never found this place on my own in a million years, but despite the hills and the difficulty in driving the van up here, it’s a great park. I’d love to come back here and stay for a week!

Total miles today: 172

Day 21

It’s amazing how much better our mornings are when the kids are asleep by 9:30. I realize that’s a Captain Obvious moment, but with this kind of a schedule, that hasn’t happened a whole lot. Woke up today, ate cold cereal, and packed up again. It wasn’t hard to motivate the kids this morning at all; even Levi remembered where we were planning to be today. As soon as he woke up, I said, “Hey Levi, jellybeans!” He popped up out of his sleeping bag and yelled “Jelly Belly factowy!” We wanted to be at the factory by 11am, and we made it to Fairfield by 10:30. Hurrah!

Nik and RJ met us there, and they, along with Jeff, Andrew, Aspen, Levi, and Lily, went on the free tour. Kendra, Jaden, and I all went on a private on-the-floor tour that was pretty dang cool. We left the building and went to the employee entrance. Once inside, we had to put on hairnets, long white pants, lab coats, shoe covers, and gloves. Jaden wasn't impressed with the hairnet; he thought it was much too hot and itchy! Ruby, our tour guide, took the three of us through the factory where we could get up close to all of the equipment. We got to taste jellybeans at every stage of production, see and smell flavors that aren’t yet being sold, take a look at colors that are still being worked on. Did you know, for example, that the candymakers experiment with color until the colors are just right, and then decide what the flavor will be? The batches of colored beans (unflavored) that didn’t work out just right, along with all of the candy swept from the floor, are sold to local farmers as pig feed. We spent about 90 minutes in the factory, and it went by fast.

We met up with the rest of the group in the café, where we ate jellybean-shaped pizza. Jeff bought two cases of Sport Beans, Drew & Jeff both bought Jelly Belly shirts, all of the kids picked out some bulk jellybeans, and Levi & Aspen picked out cute hats. Levi’s has a beanie propeller on top that spins when he runs, and he’s pretty happy with it. It seems to fit his personality, and it makes me laugh to see him running around in it.

Eating lunch and souvenir-shopping took a total of about two hours, and I don’t know who was more worn-out by the end—the kids, or Nik, RJ, Jeff, and I. I’m sad that we only got two days with them, although the kids were active enough that Nik & RJ may have gotten their fill in two days! The older boys really enjoyed wrestling and playing with RJ, Kendra and Aspen think that Nik is the coolest ever, and Levi would be happy to adopt Nik as his second mom. After we loaded up in the car and had said our goodbyes, Levi jumped out and (with me following) ran across the parking lot to give both Nik and RJ one more hug and kiss.

Whew. Busy morning! We are headed straight to Monterey now. I’m hoping we’ll get there by dinner.

Day 20

Always check the late arrival policies! In many campgrounds, if you arrive after the office is closed, you can go and set up at a site, then register & pay in the morning. At Lake Solano Campground, the gate is locked at 7:30pm, and you are out of luck until they open at 8am. We arrived at 11:30, so we ended up sleeping in the van parked by the side of the road. Not terribly comfortable.

Once we were able to get in, set up, and eat breakfast, we got everyone into swimsuits and headed for Lake Berryessa, 45 minutes away. This is the first night in over a week where we’ve been away from the coast, and it’s much hotter here! Perfect for swimming. My friend Nik’s husband RJ is a park ranger out at Berryessa, so we met them at the swimming area, ate lunch, and played in the water for a couple of hours. The lake is a gorgeous shade of blue-green, and the water felt great. There are a couple of islands not far from the swimming buoys, and RJ is a lifeguard, so he and Nik swam with Drew, Jace, and Kendra out to one of the islands. The kids were pretty happy, and I managed to get a couple pictures of them climbing to the top of the island. I thought about going out with them, but I’m not a strong distance swimmer, and the three life jackets were being used by the kids, so I stayed on the shore with the Aspen, Levi, and Lily.

After we swam, Nik and RJ took us back to the dorms where park rangers live, and we got to use their shower. Hallelujah! I hadn’t showered in three days, and some of the kids had gone a week, so it was a very welcome sight. RJ and Jeff grilled burgers, we had a delicious dinner, and then my kids proceeded to burn up all of the energy that they’ve been storing after being stuck in the car for two days.

We also went down to the visitor’s center, where the kids got to see some of the local wildlife that’s been stuffed, and learned more about the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns and manages the lake and dam. It may sound less than thrilling, but it’s always fascinating to me to see pictures and read about the towns that existed in the valley, which are now under 200 feet of water.Once the kids had run themselves—and Nik and RJ—ragged, we loaded back up and drove back to our campsite. It was 9:00, so the gates were locked, and we had to walk to our site. Thankfully, it was less than a half-mile and only two of the kids were asleep!

Total miles today: 65

Day 19

I’m gaining a true appreciation for modern conveniences on this trip. Last night, after the kids were in bed, I did two loads of laundry in large buckets. I had to heat up three big pots of water, and once I got everything washed, I started on the daunting task of wringing out twelve pairs of jeans, four shirts, and a jacket by hand. Holy cow, that is hard. Jeff came back when I had about half of them clothespinned to a line; he had gone on a walk looking for the bathrooms, and found that there was a tiny laundry building hidden among the cabins at the front. UGH! Oh well, it was a learning experience anyway. We finished hanging the clothes on the clothesline, and took everything to the dryers in the morning.

Drove north again to Redwoods National Park. Oh. My. Gosh. Big trees! And banana slugs. We walked around a little bit, had a picnic, and back on the road south towards Napa. It’s about five hours of driving, plus an hour or two for dinner, so we won’t get there until probably 10pm or later.

We drove through some construction up in the mountains and saw the oddest orange sign: KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD. Jeff and I looked at each other and said, “Well, duh!” A mile later, though, we saw the reason for the sign. The road runs along the edge of a 200-foot cliff, and in the middle of the valley is a bridge that’s being constructed. It looks like it rises out of the middle of nowhere and it towers over the river below. It’s quite a sight! (This is another topic that’s much more effective with a picture. Sigh—someday I’ll get to upload!

It’s almost dark now, and for the last thirty minutes or so we’ve been mostly out of the mountains and driving through wine country. It’s quite pretty here, zipping past acres and acres of vineyards as far as you can see. Levi keeps yelling, “I wanna stop and eat da grapes!” The concept that these grapes are not for eating is one that he can’t quite grasp.

Total miles today: 357

Day 18, continued

Agate Beach was suggested to us by the RV park owner, but it wasn’t until we got there that I found out it’s at the bottom of 160-foot cliffs. Not exactly what we expected, but it was already 6:30 and I was concerned that if we drove around looking for another beach, it would get dark. I grabbed a couple flashlights, Jeff carried Lily, and the kids brought their buckets and shovels, and we started off down the trail.

Once we got to the bottom, we were surprised to find that the sand, which looked dark gray from the top of the cliff, was actually not sand at all. Instead, the entire beach was billions of tiny rocks, pounded smooth by the waves. The rocks themselves were fascinating: about half were dark gray, but the rest were brilliant shades of red, green, yellow, orange, brown, and pure white. Quite a few of the larger rocks were flat and round, the perfect skipping stones. I don’t know what it is about rocks that makes them so interesting, but in all reality, I could have spent all day there and not gotten bored!

The beach is also very steeply angled, going from ankle-deep to knee-deep in just four or five steps. That causes the waves to break and crash very close to the shore. It’s not safe for swimming, but Jaden waded in just a little ways and was very quickly soaked to his waist. It was freezing water, but once your feet get numb it’s not so bad!

We saw several seals playing in the water. One even came right up almost to the shore and stuck its head out of the water right in front of Jeff and the kids. Jeff yelled at me to look, but I didn’t hear him, so he shouted louder. I turned to see what he was hollering about and saw a head disappear below the waves. My first thought was that it was one of the kids, and it took about ten seconds for my brain to register that it had been a seal. Ten seconds may not seem like very long, but it was long enough for me to be scared out of my mind, and I started to cry. I can’t remember the last time I was terrified like that, and it’s not a feeling I want to repeat anytime soon.

Jaden filled his orange pail about ¾ full of rocks, so he had a long, hard climb back up the trail. He was still soaked and shoeless, and the rocky path was not a fun thing for him at all. About halfway up I took a look at his rocks and realized that he’d also filled the pail with seawater, so I helped him drain that out, and that helped a little. He cried the whole way up the cliff, though. Poor guy!

He was cheered up immensely when we got back to the campsite. The restorative powers of chocolate frosting are truly amazing.

Total miles today: 316

Day 18

It rained most of last night, but there’s a big difference between soft coastal rain and Dallas rain, thank goodness. Even though it was constant, there aren’t any puddles, and under the largest trees, the pine needles and moss on the ground are still dry. It was damp enough, though, that we didn’t want the kids playing in the dirt, so we got them all dressed and carried them to the car. The six of them sat and watched Pink Panther (and stayed clean!) while we packed up the sleeping bags and the tent.

We’ve followed the Oregon coastline on Highway 101 pretty much the whole day. The southern half of the coast is more mountainous, the coastal towns and tourist shops much more spread out and the views of the ocean even more breathtaking. Too many times to count, we’ve been driving up a winding road surrounded by trees, when suddenly the road breaks to the left, revealing a 300-foot drop to a gorgeous blue sea. We’ve had hardly any cell coverage for the past couple of days, and it’s nearly nonexistent here. So peaceful!

After a stop at Dairy Queen for Blizzards, we crossed the state line into California. Almost immediately, the evergreen trees were bigger. I’ve never seen redwoods in person, and Drew, Jace, and Kendra were pretty impressed with trees that are half as long as our (very long) van. There are highway signs every few miles that say “ELK,” but you never really get to see the, right? Maybe a glimpse of a tail end as one crosses the road, I figured, but that’s about it. Wrong! Not once, but twice, we drove past a large herd of elk grazing next to the road. The first time, we stopped to take pictures. There were 29 or 30 of them, just munching contentedly in someone’s front yard! I was amazed, but even more surprised when we drove by another large herd just five miles later. That was about five times the number of elk we saw in Yellowstone, just in a five-minute drive.

We are almost to Trinidad, CA, where we’re staying overnight in an RV park across the street from a state park beach. I think we’ll go to the beach after we eat dinner. The kids are so ready to get out—the road has been so curvy, winding up and down mountains, that all of us are feeling a little carsick. A little sea air will be good for all of us!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention it, but today is Jaden's 9th birthday. We sang to him this morning, but he isn't expecting much since we're on vacation. He doesn't know it yet, but when we stopped at Fred Meyer an hour ago, I bought a chocolate cake and candles. I know he'll be surprised, and I can't wait to see his face!