Summer Road Trip: The Drive Up

It's that time of year again: daycare closes and we take a vacation! This year, we knew we wanted to visit with some friends and family in Portland, plus swing by the Bay Area for some more family festivities. But, after looking at the price of air fare (!), we thought, "Hey, let's drive!" We should have also said, "Hey, let's get lobotomies!" or "Hey, let's stub our toes a hundred times!" because those sound like good, fun, sane ideas, too.

So we bring you, in several parts, our Summer Road Trip. Bear with us - with both of us taking photos, it's taking some time to sort through it all. Think of it as a cliff hanger.

We left Saturday, Aug. 23, with Anderson, Calif. as our destination. It's a little city just south of Redding in Northern California. It's about nine hours away. Trust us, we know. We printed up maps to mark our progress so Holden will know when we're there. No, it didn't stop the never-ending, "Are we there yet?" "When are we going to be there?" and "Are we off the freeway yet?" questions. However, total props go to the manufacturers of portable DVD players, although we give a thumbs down to the DVD makers, who make it impossible to skip the commercials and go right to the shows. Somebody better invent travel TiVo, and fast.

We stopped at many rest stops along I-5 and did our best to run the kids wild, despite soaring temperatures in the Central Valley. Red-light, green-light was a favorite, as was tag and good, old-fashioned race to the tree and back.
So, there is not a single diaper changing table anywhere along the highway. We visited many rest stops, gas marts, travel centers and fast food restaurants. I found myself rolling my eyes and asking, "Seriously?" with every stop.


"Hay!" That joke never got old for Kevin and I. The kids didn't think it was so funny.
Kevin got bored in the passenger seat and started shooting at all the, um, er, sights along the highway.

We saw - and smelled - lots of cows. At one point, the festering manure stench was so bad, it brought Riley to tears. From then on, whenever we passed by a stinky herd, Riley covered his nose with his hand and wailed: "Cooooooowwwwww! Coooooooowwwwww!"

We arrived in Anderson and stayed at the Gaia Hotel, a recently opened eco-friendly place unlike any other we've stayed.

First, we got the wiggles out with a swim.


After dinner, we took a walk at sunset along the Sacramento River, which winds around this area. We just don't get scenery like this in L.A. and, despite the bug bites, it was worth the oportunity to get some nice photos and to throw rocks in the water.








After a long day with the fam, Kevin needed to get his wiggles out, too. He escaped the hotel room for a walk around the hotel grounds, practicing his new night and landscaping photography skills.



Next up: Portland