There and Back again, a gas guzzling tale

So, went on our big vaca to California at the beginning of the month. Dropped by to see my 93 year old grandma who is probably one of the best gardeners in the world. Irises and all manner of fauna and flora. It was lovely to see her and my Aunt and Uncle and a number of cousins and their families in Mona, Utah.




We got to Oceanside, CA the next day and had a beautiful view from our Condo.


The kids could not wait to get to walk along the beach.



That first Sunday we celebrated the June birthdays...my sister and Curtis both turned 40 at the beginning of the month! Whoo hoo!


Then on Monday, I was JUST walking out the door, lunches in my hand, sunscreened up, in my lovely bathing suit, the kids already on the beach and as I was heading out I scraped by a coffee table in my sister's condo and looked down and saw that *oops* not only was there a scratch but a rather gaping spot in my skin right on my knee! (Wow, that was a run on sentence!!)

I dropped everything and put pressure on it. My sister went and got Curtis (and delivered my kiddos lunches to the beach) and then she drove us to an Urgent Care where, hilariously, the lady right at the front got a WHEELCHAIR for me! LOL. Honestly, except for the fact that a tiny bit of skin was cut apart, mostly it was a scratch I would have just put a bandaid on, and it was hardly bleeding at all. Then this triage nurse wraps massive amounts of gauze around the wound like I'm in danger of needing a transfusion! It was funny. I ended up with six stitches. Pretty good for my first set of stitches eh? Me, below with Josh showing off my bandaid. :)

The next day we went to Los Angeles to see the La Brea Tar Pits. It is interesting that there is just tar glurbing up out of the ground randomly. We had a fun time, and then split 1/2 of us going to the Ripley's Believe it or Not, and the other going to the J. Paul Getty Museum (which is AMAZING btw). And then, we faced the LA TRAFFIC!!! Holy cow, how can people stand it?



Joel holding his nose. It comes out just smelling like tar...asphalt! It's weird.

The next day we went to the beach again, and this time I didn't cut myself. Josh having a blast in the sand.


Joel getting his 'wet suit' tan.


Brynna, what a hottie! Okay a very PALE hottie. ;)


Thursday we went to Legoland where Joel said, and I quote, "MOM, this was the BEST DAY EVER!!!!!" They loved it and the boys particularly were in heaven at the shop where you could buy them by the pound. LOL.

The kiddos at the beach one last day.


Then on our check out day, we drove, and drove, and drove through LA TRAFFIC AGAIN... AHHHHHHHH!!! Ahem. And then got up to Sequoia National Park where the trees are so amazing it is nearly impossible to either photograph or explain without you actually being there. But we got a few pictures anyway. At the base of a big tree.


Looking uuppppppp uppp upp!

Yeah that is a big tree.

Then the next day we went to Yosemite National Park, which was not only beautiful, but also very crowded! Joy! But we did get some pretty pictures without buses also.

As we went towards Tioga Pass there were less people...whew!

We got to go see one of my friends who lives just across the NV state line, and that was awesome and then we stayed in Reno. And drove and drove and drove the BOOORRRIINNG stretch of Nevada on I-80. Sorry if I offend any Nevadans, but I was falling asleep. :o The kids were still smiling however, and amazingly after nearly 2 weeks of vacation and driving.


We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Again, hard to explain how BIG that is, and how flat...and how bright...though Josh here is doing a good job. ;)


We pushed on to Salt Lake City, spent the night at Little America and then the boys wanted to go float in the Great Salt Lake. Me and Brynna just watched, eew. Thankfully they got to shower before we headed into Wyoming.

Now, normally, Wyoming is pretty dull. We hung out in Evanston for a little while as Curtis had some work to do there, but headed out at about 5 p.m. hoping to stay in Rawlins. And they have a brand new wind farm between Evanston and Lyman...and yes this is showing my inner geek. These things are COOL! And monstrous!! We saw a 'blade' awaiting construction and the thing was longer than one of those three trailer semis! HUGENESS!


Anyway, we couldn't stay in Rawlins because it was full. No vacancy! All the mining, oil drilling and wind farm construction has kept Wyoming busy. So we drove, drove and drove some more till we got to Denver at 1 a.m.! Yawn!

Fun trip but unfortunately the gas alone was near $900! So, yeah, we won't be driving to California anytime soon! Have a nice day!