TRAVEL BLOG

26 days on the road was very challenging with 3 kids, but we made it a ton of fun!!

We started our trip in Grants Pass, OR looking for homes and found a few we fell in love with!! We will be going back there soon to purchase, we were just getting a feel for the area of town we wanted to live in, etc...

We then went to our friends house in Redding, CA. They just had a baby, so it was great to meet her and see them again. We did get to see them this summer up at their 150 year old mining cabin in the Trinity Alps, during our July adventure.

Then we moseyed our way down Hwy 395 through Reno,NV and all the way down the East side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, some beautiful area there. One of America’s great scenic routes for sure. You drive right by Mt. Whitney, and a bunch of little forgotten towns that had their heyday during the gold rush.

We took the scenic route 163 through Death Valley – Gorgeous colored clay mountains (reds and greens and blues and purples of every shade – amazing!) One of the tours we took was called “Artist's Pallet” if you could imagine what that looked like. We also loved the history of Death Valley. with the mining and gems and pioneers paving the way to the West. We even found a little town of 50 or so (that’s what it said on the sign) called Darwin. He LOVED it - a lot of mine shafts covered with dilapidated shacks and some make-shift houses made up the whole town. Most had broken down trucks and mining equipment in the front yard, and some had wonderful reclaimed material sculptures. It was pretty cool, like a living ghost town.

Then we stayed that night in Las Vegas. We walked around the strip until about 2 am with the kids – they had a blast! Ended up staying in a cool casino called Treasure Island – with a pirate theme and 2 full size pirate ships out front. It was across the street from the Venetian, which was like going to Italy – so cool!

After about 5 days of traveling we finally made it to Goodyear, AZ where Ken’s parents live; just SW of Phoenix. This was our destination. We had a nice extended visit with them. His parents mustered the energy to take us to a local World Wildlife Zoo – it was really a great collection of animals, more like a wild animal park than a zoo. Peacocks running all over the place – the kids fell in love with them, and I did all over again. They are my favorite animal - so it was a treat for me. It was hard for Ken leaving his parents knowing that it will be forever before we see them; it was bitter sweet, since we were itching to hit the road towards home.

This was just the 1/2 way point on our adventure – we covered so much more after this....

We went to San Diego Old Town and Balboa Park and Air and Space Museum with a great special exhibit of Da Vinci’s inventions in working interactive replicas. AWESOME!

Then we stayed with good friends in Carlsbad, and luckily had a wonderful warm day at the beach (it rained almost everyday of our whole trip – it followed us). We spent Darwin’s birthday at Legoland – which was perfect perfect for him :-) It was nice to be back to our old favorite places. When we lived there for 5 years we went there a ton.

We then went to Riverside to meet up with my old high school buddies, that I haven't seen since I had kids, so it was so good to meet their families and see them again.

Then we met my cousin and her new baby in Norco, and had a very brief visit with her. Next time we will make a point of taking a few more days to catch up. It was great to see her as a first time mom, and so fun to witness her in action.

Next we surprised Darwin’s godfather in San Francisco at his new café. That was funny. We also did the Fisherman’s Warf and Ghirardelli Square which the kids loved, of course :-) We didn’t manage to take the trolley cars though, it would have been $50 for all of us to take a round trip ride – the prices tripled since we were there last, and we just didn’t have it in the budget – bummer, but we will be close enough in our new home to go there for the weekend, so another time, for sure.

After that, we took the scenic route to Mendocino, one of our favorite places in the world. It is a great Victorian and modern mix of houses right on the cliffs – gorgeous vista views right on the rugged Pacific coast. It is a really unique little artist colony that we spent most of our honeymoon at, so it has a fond place in our memories. It was really special to share with the kids.

We next drove through Ft. Bragg, and the Mendocino wine country stopping at a few really small yummy organic wineries. One of the tasting buildings we went to was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, so it was neat to stumble upon.

We then took an out of the way dirt road tour of the coast through the Humboldt Redwoods – so worth the time!!! And of course took a few hikes along the way. The kids loved climbing on the fallen trees – and I got to admit, no matter how many times I have been to the Redwoods I am utterly impressed and struck with awe.

We spent a day in a little victorian town called Ferndale that has a great kinetic sculpture museum and a hilltop cemetery that is right out of a Tim Burton film - best views in town.

We then made it to Crescent City, the North Redwoods. The significant part about this place is the Trees of Mystery – you hike through the oldest trees in the state and can take a Gondola Tour over the forest. AMAZING! They lined the hiking path with chainsaw carvings depicting the story of Paul Bunyan – they are really well done and it was fun to walk through – they were huge, by the way.

We then took an inland scenic route following the Smith River to Grants Pass, through parts of Northern CA that we haven’t seen before – and loved it. It was so much fun checking out our future stomping grounds, making plans to see certain areas again for quick getaways.

When we got back to Grants Pass we spent a few days shopping around for new listings and really getting a grip on the town layout and surrounding communities. But by this time we were really ready to get back home and bee-lined our way back, very few stop-overs.

I have tons of pictures and plan to put a travel blog together, I will be posting pictures here as I find the time.

I need stimulation, mind-play, self-checking, living in the human realm, outside of the daily childhood banter; as wonderful as it is.
Fun and stimulation is all I crave.
The need for life outside...

Daily Affirmations

Be the best I can at everything I do.
Treat and love all my kids equally - hug one at a time.
Rub and kiss them every morning and night.
Do not react quickly to anything - stop and think.
Treat my mind and body well, everyday.
Stretch and Breathe.
Set routines.
Don't worry!
Be patient...

Amongst ourselves
there is
no one...

Together
we are
the world...

Change, flux - Improvement

Continuity, consistency

Inclination for success

Justification for the best

Live, work, play

Eat, drink, sleep

Create, dismantle

Civilry, calvary

Constant flow of Energies

A conundrum - war
A desire - peace
A need - love

Very interesting

Earth = 12.76 x 10+6 = 12,760,000 meters wide
(12.76 million meters)

Plant Cell = 12.76 x 10-6 = 0.00001276 meters wide
(12.76 millionths of a meter)

Online Action Center
https://www.environmentamerica.org/action

Everyday there is a letter you can send to the government, encouraging them to do the right things on capital hill, protect our homelands, and save the earth we ALL live on.

What a great opportunity to have this site up for us to use so conveniently. This makes life so much easier for those of us who are usually too busy to stop and find a cause that is in a current state of crisis, write a letter, find who to send it to, find a stamp and envelope, and get it out to the mail box in time for today's pickup. Sounds so involved, doesn't it?

Please see to it that you start caring more, about yourself and your world.
Find a cause, and do something about it.

Try and read this - if I can, so can you.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Email from Neice:

http://rockthevote.com

Hey Everyone!
I just wanted to remind you that the deadline to register to vote in the November election is October 6th (Monday). If you are not currently registered or need to update your address, go to rockthevote.com and fill out the form and put it in the mail. It does not take but a few seconds!

Also, for those of you that don't like waiting in line, I would recomend that you go to govoteabsentee.org and fill out the application for an absentee ballot. You don't need any reason for requesting one and they can mail you your ballot that you return in the mail to count as your vote!

If the lines are too long for this unprecedented election, many people will be unable to vote. Most employers only allow one hour for their employees to go vote, and many people would risk losing their jobs if they stayed longer. If more people voted by absentee ballot, we can help reduce this and allow more people the opportunity to cast their votes.

Just a thought!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

-Ashley


Email to Neice:

Hey Ash ~

I love to see that you are doing this. I totally agree that some people are not able to risk their jobs to vote.
In OR we all vote absentee, for every election, even local shit. I think it is due to the seasonal and migrant fishing and logging industry workers, mainly, but I also think that this is a notoriously apathetic state, and they do it so people actually vote.

I would love to see more women, who have the divine privilege of voting in our society, get off their asses and vote. Most I know that skip the opportunity do so because they think they are too busy with work and home life being so demanding all the time. I hope the mail-in option catches on, nationally; and the women of this country, in particular, make a unprecedented turn-out for this extremely pivotal election.

Love hear from you anytime. Please join facebook, like your brothers and cousins and aunts and uncles and, and, and.
Hope to see you soon.
Love, Auntie Chris