Road Trip

(Ok, this has NOTHING to do with my post here, but are any of you completely frustrated with Blogger??? I swear that I have edited this post at least 4 times just to fix the line spacing, readjust the photos and just tighten it up. Then I publish it, check it out, and find that all of my paragraphs are smooshed together. I don't get it. But it is free so I will just have to deal.....)


Let's start with a few stats:


2,250 - number of miles we put on our van in 7 days

4 - number of nights in a hotel

3 - number of nights in our friend's house

20? - number of potty stops

$49 - motel cost in Redding

$500+ - hotel bill in SF

12 - number of visits to Starbucks for Grande Lattes

countless - number of gorgeous fall colored trees we saw

50 - number of sea lions we saw at the wharf

35 - number of hours spent driving in the Black Pearl

1 Gazillion - number of ponds, streams and rivers we saw
7 - number of DVD's watched while in the car

8 - number of dead bucks/doe on the 5 in OR

100+ - number of red barns we saw in No. Cal and OR

500+ - number of jumps on the hotel beds

(Jacob loved this Motel 6 more than the hoity toity wharf hotel in SF. The boy is sooooo his father's son!)

9 - number of trips to the ice machine just because it is fun

3 - number of days straight that we did not see or use our van (in SF)

About 2 - number of hours spent on schoolwork while away

About 8 - number of hours I had PLANNED on spending on schoolwork while away

We just returned from a fabulous road trip. We left last week for Portland, OR. Well, just south of Portland but considering that we are coming from So Cal, Portland was just a hop-skip and a jump away from where we going.

We went up to visit some good friends of ours, the Stoddard's. Steve used to attend our church here but moved to OR when he got hired on with a fire department up there. He and his wife, Melany, bought a house and settled in right away and now are expecting their first baby. I know what it is but I think he wants to tell everyone down here. So one day, we rent a canoe and take Steve's kayak out for a little river trip. It was fun and I loved it. But the funniest thing was that in the middle of the river, Steve's phone rings. He answers it and it is his mother. This is Melany talking to her mother-in-law on the Tualitin river while kayaking, telling her that their baby is a .........

So back to us as houseguests. Imagine two working adults, in a beautiful new home, nice things and all of the free time that pre-parent couples have. Now picture the Gisbert's comin' on in and staking a claim to two bedrooms and a bathroom plus some kitchen counter space, and the equivalent of a fridge shelf. Kind of like Pearl Harbor that quiet Sunday morning before the Japanese came over.

We got to see their home, their life, visit their church, take a great walk around the community, drive all over and see the country. It was very nice. I see why people move there. I see why I want to move there. Peaceful. That is the best word I can come up with. So a few days later we packed up and headed down to San Francisco. The weather was not cooperative at all for a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is there but you gotta hunt for it in the picture. That was FUN!!! Quite a marked contrast in vitality and energy but invigorating at the least. It was as if the activity invaded me, got into me and made me want to be a part of it all. I was pooped at the end of each day but man, it was great. It was COLD every day and I was not prepared for it. We had to buy the kids jackets on our first night there. Didn't have kids sizes so we bought them both an adult XS.

By far, our most memorable experience was Alcatraz. I knew the kids would like the boat ride over, but I didn't suspect that they would be so interested in the prison. We did the audio tour where you use headphones and follow the guides on the tape. Jacob liked that but it freaked Sarah out. Towards the end of the tour she started crying saying she couldn't take hearing the prisoners (sound effects) yelling. We were in the dining hall when she lost it. She was hungry and asked me if I could go to the window of the kitchen and ask for an apple. "No Sarah, there are no apples in this kitchen."

We had some great meals like Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl, chili, lots of fish and on the last day, we had one amazing meal in North Beach. The best ever calzone I have ever had in my whole life. Yep, it was that good. Oh, and we spent one whole day just riding the cable cars, trains, and subways all over the city. Stopped at a Farmer's Market and had two baskets of fresh strawberries. Just sat there and watched the people go by. Totally cool.


On our way home, we stopped in Hanford and visited the Kanes. How very nice to see Bruce and Rhonda and the boys. It was our first time with Molly too. Got to meet her and hold her. It is striking how those kids all look alike. Bruce and Rhonda have a nice and comfortable new home. Just moved in two weeks ago so we feel honored to be one of the first visitors to see it. How nice it must be for them to be in their own home again. Already they have done lots to make it their own.


We are home and now and have already had 5 neighbor kids over to play. Reality sets in!