Family vacation - part 2

Picking up where I left off...

Thursday morning when we got up I was a little worried about how I was going to feel that day. My back was hurting and my stomach didn't feel great either. But I decided to do everything I could to get it to calm down (in addition to a blessing the previous night) and by the time we left I felt good. We got on the road to San Francisco. But before leaving I had to take a picture of this little food shack that made me laugh.

On the road to San Francisco, we saw a sign for another drive-through tree. We decided to stop and this one looked a lot more like we were all envisioning. We had a blast here because there was another log that was hollow and I could stand up inside it. I got a great picture of me and all the kids and Aaron decided to climb on top of it. I even got brave and climbed up. I'm afraid of heights so this was a big thing for me.

We visited the gift shop for a bit and got back on the road. It was a 4 hour drive to San Francisco from Garberville and we wanted to be able to eat lunch on Fisherman's Wharf. When we got to the bridge we noticed that it got a bit colder than we were getting used to. It had been so hot the last few days that we were all sweating by the time we got loaded each morning. The temperature said it was 64 and it was foggy. Many of us didn't bring jackets and were now regretting it. We found a place to park, walked to the Wharf and found a place for lunch. We picked a place that looked like it would have decent options for everyone which ended up being a place called Tarantino's. We just picked and we lucked out. This place was great! We had a great view of the fishing boats on the Wharf and the food was great.

When we left the restaurant we discovered it had gotten significantly colder than when we went in. We headed to Ghirardelli Square and luckily found some nice, inexpensive hoodies on our way. Nearly everyone bought one in a variety of colors and styles. We were now much more comfortable. One thing that I remembered about Ghirardelli Square from when I went years ago was the fun fountain. Amanda and Ranna went a few months ago and said it was under construction. I was hoping that the construction was done so we could all see it.

After Ghirardelli Square, we headed to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and to get some ice cream. There is of course a lot more to do at Pier 39 than these things, but we didn't really have the time. Unfortunately, it is the off season for the sea lions and there was only a handful there. I was so bummed because that was one of my favorite things last time I was there. So, we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the vehicles. We decided we didn't want to drive down Lombard St. but we at least wanted to see it. So we drove by it and then headed out of town. It took us 2 hours to get to the Bay Bridge, traffic was a mess! When we finally got to the bridge, we discovered it was because they were doing construction and it went down to one lane. Hello, who thought this would be a good idea? While in traffic we got separated, and long story short version, we all decided to just meet at the Oakland Temple. These grounds are so pretty and I love the walkway on top of the temple with all of the foliage. We took a group picture in front of the Christus in the visitor's center and headed to the hotel. It was something we all needed to end the day.

Friday we headed into Sacramento. Seth needed to take some things and pick up some things from the mission office and so we all drove to Old Sacramento and we decided that Seth and my parents would go take care of that while the rest of us wandered around. We pretty much headed straight to the train museum. Zack was a big driving force behind this one because he LOVES Thomas and all his friends. He can name them all. Just as we were finishing up there we found out that the mission office wasn't even open and wouldn't be until about 2:00. Seth was so bummed because he wanted to see the museum and missed it for nothing.

By this time I was really dragging. I was not feeling well at all and had absolutely no energy. When we met up with my parents, my dad mentioned that my mom was concerned that she had strep. I started thinking...yup, those are the symptoms I was experiencing. We found a gorgeous place for lunch and we ate in the courtyard. Again, some place we just found and lucked out. The kids had room to move and play without disturbing other patrons and from what I'm told, the food was amazing. I didn't have enough of an appetite so I ordered the cheapest salad I could because I could see wasting money on something I wasn't going to enjoy just because I didn't feel well. I would love to go back and try it another time, not to mention there was so much of Old Sacramento we still did not see.

After Old Sacramento, we headed to the Sacramento Temple. This is a newer and smaller temple, but the grounds were amazing! It is close to a waste plant and it was cool to see where the temple grounds started and the difference in the vegetation. Ranna and I decided that it was dark and spooky versus bright and happy. They also have a park area with bathrooms, drinking fountains, sand pits and benches as part of the grounds.

At this point, we separated. People in my parent's van (me included) headed to the mission office and the other vehicles headed to Lake Tahoe. Not too much exciting to report at this point, but by the time we made it to Tahoe I was feeling better. They beauty of pain reliever! We didn't stay long, because it was getting late and the young kids had already been playing for about an hour and were basically done. They did have a lot of fun though.

We headed to our final hotel in Carson City and luckily it was only a half hour away. Some people went swimming and dinner kept getting later and later. By the time people were ready to go my energy was gone, so I just went to bed. Saturday we got up and got on the road a little later than the other days, but we didn't have any stops planned. We just headed home and by this time Britta and I were very anxious to make it home to see our sweethearts. At one of the rest stops we found a Native American couple who had set up a bunch of jewelry for sale. We all had fun looking and several of us bought something. Other than that, our long road home was pretty uneventful. I felt somewhat icky but mostly okay for most of the trip and boy was I glad to make it home and sleep in my own bed.

Flashback Friday - Family Vacation, part 1

I am finally getting around to posting about my vacation. I have been waiting, hoping to get some of the pictures other members of my family took. I decided I had better not wait anymore, because it is already a "flashback". I mean, it's been a week!

Let me preface this entire blog with this...vacation is much better when illness is not a part of it! My stomach, back and ribs acted up the night before we left, so I really didn't get much sleep. We wanted to leave my parent's house by 8:00 a.m. (we run on Putnam time, so this means earliest 8:30). I was in pain, so I called my chiropractor, hoping to get in early so that I didn't throw things off for anyone else. Luckily, due to Putnam time, I didn't. Steve and I dropped all my stuff off at my parent's and got it loaded and headed to the chiropractor while everyone else finished up. We got to the office around 8:15 or so and was done just after everyone left the house at 8:30. Everyone met Steve and I there, since it was in the general direction we needed to go anyway and wasn't too out of the way. I said good-bye to Steve, gingerly climbed into Britta's Jeep and off we went!

I rode most of the day with Britta, with a few hours with my parents when I decided I really needed a nap. I couldn't get a nap riding with Britta because I was on kid duty - changing movies, getting books or toys, getting snacks, etc. After some rest I really started to feel better and kid duty was ok. I did find the Nevada/California state line quite interesting. The scenery became a lot more interesting very suddenly!

Monday night we stayed in a town called Grass Valley in California. It is off of I-80 about a half hour and the drive into town was absolutely breath-taking! We chose Grass Valley because it was in the general area that we needed to go anyway and Britta and John lived there for a summer for John's internship. My parent's found this fabulous place to stay which completely spoiled us. We all loved it, especially the memory foam beds and the pool. They were just what we needed after the long day of driving we just had.

Our cute hotel the first night

Tuesday was a busy, busy day. We started by having a trip down memory lane for Britta. She wanted to show everyone where she and John lived for that summer. It was maybe 5 minutes from the hotel. Then we headed toward Yuba City and did a little bit of backtracking through Marysville to Beale Air Force Base for me. That is where Steve was born and since he wasn't able to come I wanted to go there for him. We took some pictures and Zack and Abby especially liked looking at the plane. On our way back through Marysville, we stopped at Wal-Mart, for Britta's sake. Her DVD players stopped working. It was only the 2nd day of a huge road trip with a 3 year old and a1 year old. She didn't want to go the rest of the trip without it...

After our shopping we decided it was time for lunch. We found a great park close by and stopped. It had a great pond and a bunch of ducks and geese that Abby truly enjoyed feeding. I'll tell you what though, those geese sure were pushy. You could even say they were the bullies of the bunch. When they found out that the ducks were getting food that they weren't, they charged right in and pushed the ducks out. It was very interesting to watch.

After lunch Seth pretty much ran the show. This was the day spent in his mission area and there were a lot of people he wanted to visit and some places he wanted to show us. Most of us stayed in vehicles when he went in but in Orland we were able to stop at a park so the kids could play. We ended up eating dinner pretty late and by that time the kids were ready to be done. After getting to the motel in Corning some of us went swimming, some of us went to bed and my parents and Seth went to visit more people. My stomach acted up Tuesday afternoon but swimming helped a lot.

Wednesday was the day for the Redwoods. Unfortunately for us, to get there from Corning, we had to drive up and over the mountain. This meant a lot of twisty roads, and quite a bit of car sickness, which lead to a lot of passenger swapping. I was already feeling slightly off so I got quite sick where I normally would not have. By the time we actually got to the Redwoods I could barely move, but got out of the car anyway. I wasn't about to miss the redwoods in the Avenue of the Giants.

The first place we stopped was the Immortal Tree. This massive tree has survived lightening, floods, pests and the axe. They even have year markers for each event. We spent a good amount of time at the gift shop there and I found the perfect gift for Steve, aside from the fun shot glass to add to his collection. We got back on the road and found a place for dinner in a gorgeous grove with a picnic table. It was here that I realized we did not have nearly enough time for the Redwoods. There are so many trails and other sites off the main roads that days could be spent in just the Avenue of the Redwoods. I laid down in the van for a bit before getting up to eat. I needed a chance to rest without being in a moving vehicle.

My parents chose to visit this specific section of the Redwoods because we all wanted to see a drive-through tree. We couldn't see one on the map, but the internet stated we would find one. We decided to turn around and go ask someone at the visitor's center where we could find one. They said it was off the main road but there were signs on the main road. We just didn't drive far enough. We found it and it was so much fun! I could not believe the size of these trees. The drive-through tree was large enough that Aaron could even drive his big truck through (Seth was actually driving, Aaron directed). They also had some play houses and a children's walk-through stump. Everyone had a blast, especially the kids!

The cute tree houses

Silly, silly Seth Sack - in the cute tree house

Aaron with Zack on his shoulders in the walk-through tree
Perspective - Aaron is about 6'8"

Anna in the walk-through stump

Getting out of the car was actually the best thing for me, and by the time we got to our motel I was feeling pretty good. We stayed at a tiny motel in Garberville, a small town just south of the Avenue of the Giants. We got to the motel Wednesday night much earlier in the evening than we did any other night. We went swimming before dinner and really had a good time. We planned to go to a smoothie place we saw as we came in, but when we got there we discovered they were only serving the fire fighters that were fighting the mostly contained fires on the mountain. So, we kept walking until we found an open place that looked family friendly. Overall dinner was a lot of fun. It stopped being fun when half of us got our food and finished it and still no pizza for the others. Luckily, the kids were still in good moods. Some of us headed back with the kids and some stayed to take care of getting the pizza to go (which was now free) and taking care of paying. Aaron brought the pizza back, but unfortunately not before Abby went to sleep. Don't worry, she didn't go to bed hungry. She had chocolate cake at the restaurant! Britta saved her a piece for the next day.

This is about all I am going to post for now. I will finish blogging about the trip later. Check back for more pictures...

Hiatus

It has been a while since I posted. We've been busy. Believe it or not, we really didn't do much of anything on the 4th. My stomach acted up and I was up all night in pain the night before, so I slept until 1:00 p.m. when Steve woke me up saying he couldn't in good conscience let me sleep anymore. The rest of the day I really felt lethargic and didn't feel up to doing much of anything at all. We did go get ice cream and watch the valley fireworks from up on the hill with Josie and Jaslin(we were going to go to West Jordan Park, but parking didn't exist, so we drove instead).

This week and weekend I have been getting ready to go on vacation. While I was at work I was busy trying to make sure I had all my loose ends tied up so that I didn't have to worry about anything not being done. When I was home I was cleaning up the house so I didn't leave a disaster. Yesterday I went with my mom to Sam's Club for snack food and then Ranna and I went to Good Earth so I could get some specialty food to take with me.

Today I have been quite busy getting things packed and organized. We are planning on leaving my parent's house at 8:00 a.m. which means getting up early enough to get everything in the car, go get some ice and get to my parent's house in time to get everything loaded up. I will be riding with Britta, Abby and Landon for most of the trip. Then my parent's will have them, Anna(a niece), Ranna, Seth and Joel. Then Amanda, Aaron and Zack will be in their truck. Unfortunately there are several people that are unable to come. Britta's husband, John, Steve, my brother Dirk and his wife Sarina all have to work and Eric, Dani and their girls were going to come but they are moving in a week and a half and now are not able to.

We will be coming home late Saturday, so there will likely be no communication from me online for a week, as I have no lap top. I will prepare to share our adventures when we return...

We actually took a real vacation!

First, let me preface this...

Steve and I don't take vacations. It is not due to lack of desire. The desire is great. Typically we do not feel we can take the time or use the money for vacations. We didn't even really have a honeymoon. We had 2 nights in a hotel, here in town. We've taken little trips, places we could drive to in a day and stay in a hotel a night or two but that is the extent of it. Last weekend, that all changed! We received quite a bit of a tax refund and decided to use some of it to take a vacation for our 7 year anniversary this year.

Friday morning we flew down to Texas to visit our friends Mike & Sarah. We got up way too early (literally...5:30 a.m.) so we could fly out of Salt Lake at 8:30 a.m. We did this so that we could have all day to hang out. Our flight was non-stop and got us there at noon. They have a cute 9 month-old daughter, my new friend Ava, and I got to play with her the whole way back to the house. Steve kept asking me a silly question...are you ok? I was playing with a baby, of course I was! Once we got to the house we were attacked by their overly friendly dogs, Beau and Bella. They get very excited when new people come over. After we played with the dogs a bit and got settled in we spent the rest of the day relaxing and both of us took naps at some point.

Saturday we went to lunch and drove around the area to see what it is like. We looked at houses in the area to get an idea of what the cost of living is. We were quite surprised when we found a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house blocks from theirs selling for only $145,900 and in very good condition. This is not possible in our area. The best part about where they live is that it is a rural community, but within about 30 minutes can be in downtown Fort Worth or to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. We have wanted to be able to live in a rural community for a while. Our problem here is that any semi-rural community close to Salt Lake would bring with it a rather lengthy and annoying commute. Mike has been trying to convince us that we should move down there, and Steve has really wanted to. I have been very hesitant to the idea because I love my family and I am very close to them. I can't imagine not having them close like they are now. I am very spoiled, I know.

I digress...

Saturday night Mike had to work and Steve went with him. They are in the same line of work (big surprise...they are so much alike it is scary) and so it was just like another day for Steve. This left Sarah and I to live it up without the boys...oh wait! We attempted to relax in the hot tub and we kept it cool so Ava could join us. But the jets were having issues staying on and it got really annoying so we didn't stay in very long. Ava did thoroughly enjoy it while it lasted, especially splashing water all over mom.

Sunday was extremely relaxed and low-key. Sarah had some reports she needed to finish so I took Ava and baby-sat for a bit so Steve and Mike could also hang out and get in some guy-time shooting things on the computer. Again, Steve kept asking me if I was ok...duh! Shortly after this, I learned how shocking it was that Ava did so well with me. Apparently she doesn't go to other people well. She fussed a little bit but I didn't turn around and just give her back to mom. I took her and started playing and she followed suit.

Pictures of my new friend!

Sunday night we were supposed to have a barbeque, but everyone canceled on us. So we made pizza instead. Mike ended up needing to work again. Steve went with him and his time Steve even got paid.

Monday we went to the lake. It was difficult to decide which one to go to though. There, going to the lake is like going to the mountains here. Within 20-30 minutes you have a lot of options of where to go. We had lots of fun swimming and laying around and no one even got burned. Steve got a little red in the face, but that is it. Then we went back to the house, showered and got cleaned up and Steve and I borrowed Mike's car and went to dinner for our anniversary. After dinner we drove around town for a little while and just talked. It was a very nice evening to finish a relaxing day.

Tuesday we came home. It was gloomy and rainy, just in time. The rest of our trip was gorgeous weather. Steve didn't feel well and our flight was delayed by about 2 hours. It was a long day and we were glad to be home and be able to sleep in our own bed, but we miss our friends too. Overall, we really enjoyed being able to just relax and visit with friends.