Day 11, 12 and 13

The last 3 days have been spent driving from San Fran to Ft. Lewis, Washington. Once we started getting close, I found myself getting a little sad. I think this was for two reasons, one being the end of our incredible journey across this fabulous nation of ours, but also because I realized I was in this foreign, gray and dreary place to stay, not just to visit. I am sure I will be very happy once I get settled in, but it makes being away from family and friends real to me.

Northern California with the coastal redwoods and ocean and then Oregon was breathtaking. The journey through the Redwoods was spiritual. It was as if it put me in touch with my Native American ancestors. It gave me some feeling of how/why they may have worshipped the earth and nature. Being surrounded by that beauty and entire sensory experience, I was aware of something so much greater than myself. For me, that is God.The grandeur is something that can never be captured in a picture because it impacts all of your senses, bombards them. In the middle of the forests, the trees cover you in a canopy, the light just barely filtering through the branches. The air smells of damp earth and is so clean. The air is damp and a gentle mist constantly falls. There is a deep silence...and the burls feel like velvet, they are so soft. It is something I cannot properly describe in words

The drive up the coast was beautiful as well. Hwy 101 curved back and forth between the forest/mountains and the wild Pacific Ocean. You would be riding through deep trees when suddenly the view would open up and you would be driving along a cliff above the raging ocean. The waves were huge. We stopped in one place to take pictures of a lighthouse on a cliff and when we looked down the cliff to the ocean below, there were hundreds of sea lions on the rocks. They were so unexpected and you could here their barking and growling faintly over the crashing waves. I have also determined that people in Oregon are the nicest people i have ever met. They were so sweet, giving us ideas for which routes to take and even giving us weather updates. The people at the hotel this morning even made the kids cups of snacks to go for the road. Small I know, but still such a kind gesture. Oregon also completely changed my mind about Best Western Hotels as I spent the past two nights in two of the nicest Best Westerns I have ever seen.
A funny thing happened on this trip. On our first or second day of our trip, I got a small chip and resulting crack in my windshield. It was at the very bottom of my windshield on the driver's side and probably 7 inches long when we first noticed it. It took us a while because it was too low to be visible from inside the car. With each stop, it got a little bigger and by the time we stopped last night it was a little over half way across the window. By the end of the day today, it has almost completely made it across the windshield.I expect that by morning, it will be completely across. I guess for a lot of people, it would be a major bummer to have a cracked windshield and I have to admit I was a little bummed when it first happened, but now I have a strange kinship with my crack. I look at the twists and turns it makes across my windshield and it is much like the twisting journey we took across the country. I look at each change in direction and known what city we were in when it happened. I think it only fitting that the crack finish it's journey as we complete ours, or at least this leg of it. A new part of our journey begins tomorrow...

I apologize for all my spelling and grammar mistakes. Typing on the iPad is torture. Can't wait to find my laptop cord. I love you and miss you all.

Day 9/10

Rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat! We had a very nice time in San Francisco. It was a long drive from Vegas, but we finally made it. We drove by NTC(National Training Center) near Barstow, CA and I was reminded why I am glad that we are not stationed there. It is in the middle of the desert with no trees or greenery in sight. Ick! It is definitely not my kind of place at all. It was kind of crazy, though. It was like I blinked and suddenly we were out of the desert and surrounded by these beautiful lush green mountains. Shortly after we got into the mountains, this heavy fog set in that was both beautiful and eerie at the same time. It was foggy off and on from there to San Fran which was blanketed in heavy, thick fog. We passed this cattle farm on I-5 and it was the single most horrendous smell I have ever smelled in my life. There were thousand of cattle crammed into this small muddy area and it stunk for miles and miles. From what I gathered on the Internet it is always a horrid stench. It was definitely enough to make me not crave a steak for a while. Cory still insists that his steaks comes from happy cows on the hill, not that nastiness.

We spent the day yesterday exploring San Francisco. We walked around the city the entire day. We took the train into town from our hotel and walked from the station all around. We went to the Ferry Building which had homemade bread and a cheese store, then down to pier 39 where we did some shopping and got to see Sea Lions in the bay. Fan-freaking-tastic! They were sunning themselves and wrestling. It was a very cool thing to see. After that, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf and had the best fish sandwich I have ever has at Sally's Famous Fishwich. I definitely what that place is famous. We walked around the Cannery and Ghirardelli Square. It smelled so yummy, but I managed to abstain, although I probably could have indulged with all the walking we did. We also, walked up to the top of Lombard Street, which is reputed to be the crookedest street in the world. Only we walked up the straight part and it seemed straight up. My legs and lungs were burning when we reached the top and my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest. It was very worth the view from the top, although it would have been easier to just take the cable car up. Walking down was even more fun, while trying not to let Collis and his stroller run away.

After more walking back to Pier 39 and a dinner at Hard Rock, we caught a street car that we thought would take us back to the BART(train station). Only, it went out of service 3 blocks from our stop, so we walked the last 3 blocks before hopping our train and then shuttle to our hotel. I have to say that San Fran has the best transportation system I have ever seen. I wondered if staying as far out at the airport as we did would be a mistake, but the transportation system was easy to navigate and fast, once we learned to ask for assistance. Ha ha.

Now, we are headed north on 101 to the Redwood Forest. We will probably stop in Eureka tonight depending on how the day goes. We miss and love everyone.

Day7/8

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we headed to the Hoover Dam. It was pretty cool. Lila was super excited because she recognized it from Transformers. It was huge! We got to see some Rams grazing below the dam which was an unexpected surprise. I tried to get some pics, but i am not sure how good they are, as it was a long way to the bottom.

We spent the last 2 nights in Las Vegas and we had a blast. It isn't necessarily the most family oriented place around, but we made it work. We all had a blast. We stayed at Excalibur and Lila loved staying in a castle. It was a very nice resort. When we first walked in and through the casino, Lila was like, " Wow, I see lots of games to play!" she was disappointed when she found out they were adult games. Luckily, there was a huge arcade downstairs so she did get to play some games.

We drove into Vegas in the dark and you could see the strip from miles away. You came around the mountain and then all of a sudden there were lights for as far as you could see and in the middle was the strip. I could not believe how bright all the lights were. The traffic was crazy, of course and when I first walked into the casino of the hotel, the lights and activity left me feeling lightly overstimulated and disoriented.

We fit as much as possible into our day and a half, including so much food that I barely fit into my pants. Someone should have warned me about all you can eat all day buffets! WHOA! It was delicious, though. After breakfast yesterday, we went to see the Bodies Exhibit, Lila has been wanting to see for a while, now. It was very interesting and didn't even faze that kid of mine. After that, we spent some time exploring the Strip. I was honestly glad I was traveling with a girl and a baby boy as opposed to the other way around. We'll just say that prostitution is alive and well in Vegas. The escort services were passing out "business cards" complete with pictures of naked women with stars over their girlie parts. Luckily, Lila didn't seem overly interested other than, "gosh mom, more naked women, really?" I have a feeling a little boy might have paid more attention. We did make sure to see the fountains at Bellagio which were stunning. Both of the kids loved them.

Now, we're back on the road headed to San Francisco. We're over half way to our destination. We will probably spend two nights and then up 101 to the Redwood Forest and Oregon Coast.

To all of our family and friends we miss and love you.

Day 6/7

It's the morning of Day 7 and we're headed to Vegas. Yesterday, we went to the Grand Canyon and I was awestruck!!! It was possibly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was overwhelming. We walked a portion of the canyon rim and around every turn was another beautiful view. I think I was most surprised by how huge it was. I expected it to be big, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be that huge. It was miles and miles of beauty. There was snow all over the place. The kids had fun playing in the snow that was all around the park. Heck, who am I kidding? I had a blast playing in it, too. The weather was beautiful. We were comfortable in just sweatshirts all day until the sun started setting and then the temperature dropped fast. It was 17 degrees when we woke up this morning, but was back up to 45 by 9 am.