There are so many great things about kids growing up--they do their own laundry, they make their own food, they solve a fair number of their own problems, etc.--that it's easy to forget the sad parts. But as these kids are getting older, they're spending more time away from us! They have such good friends to hang out with and they do such good things with their free time, that I don't exactly want to regret it, but trying to squeeze in a great family vacation was actually a bit of a challenge.
We ended up leaving almost as soon as school got out and at least managed to fit in a couple of weeks. It was a great couple of weeks! We traveled up the west coast all the way to Victoria, Canada, and had chances to visit with many friends along the way. We fit in some national parks--Redwood National Park and Yosemite--as well as some of the best cities in the country, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. And somehow we managed to squeeze all seven of us, our camping equipment, and our luggage into our little minivan! It was quite a feat, and totally worth it. I think my favorite night might have been our last, when we piled back into our half-rate hotel outside Yosemite (all the campgrounds were full months in advance), ordered up some Little Caesar's Pizza (it was like $20 for
so much food, including root beer floats), and laughed our heads off a Cora as she strutted around her pack-n-play in nothing but a diaper with pizza crusts clenched in both fists--we christened her our "trailer trash baby," and found some appropriately trashy old comedy to watch on TV.
Leading up to that fabulous night, though, we really did manage to go a lot of places and see a lot of people we love--we had someone to visit at nearly every stop, from my aunt and uncle, Chris and Hedy, just outside San Francisco, to my cousin Jonah in Sequim, Washington, to our step-siblings in Victoria, Canada, to Aaron's brother and Grandma Donna in Oregon. A big family is an awesome family! Which leads us to our next bit of news . . .
Our first stop on our trip was in Moro Bay, along the coast in California. After our first night of camping, we took our kids to the beach, where we gave Cora one last birthday present: a book of instruction on how to be a good big sister--with some ultrasound photos inside. Yes, Cora is getting a new little sister! I'm not sure how clear she is on the matter, but the older kids did a good job of filling in with glee and ecstasy. Meanwhile, I have another five months of perpetual annoyance and fatness to deal with before we get to welcome another little cutie to the family. It was hard to take the leap, but I always said that if it was one it would have to be two, and I'm actually relieved that they'll be so close in age and can be such good little buddies.
Then it was up to San Francisco, where we hit up Chinatown and spent some time with my aunt and uncle (who are the most amazing at hosting visitors), catching up with their family and getting all the latest nuggets of news on their kids (my cousins). Then, we headed to Redwood National Forest for a couple of days. For some reason, our expectations were low, and we were blown away! I had only been once as a child, and had never really comprehended how amazing those trees are--they're among the oldest living things on earth. I was fascinated to learn about their biology, how their spongy wood allows them to endure conditions that kill off other trees. We hiked through areas where parts of the
Jurassic Park movies were filmed and up to some of the oldest, largest, and most spectacular trees (two trees that had grown into a corkscrew shape were especially interesting), taking turns carrying Cora around in a backpack and laughing at her as she talked to everyone we met--she's especially good at greeting everyone with "hiiiiiiiii" and as we marveled over the beauty around us, she filled in with "wow!" and "whoa!" to share her own awe. She is the best for entertainment!
After a great evening of camping, with ribs in our dutch oven, beans, corn, and watermelon, followed by a less great night of camping, with a baby who was disinclined to sleep in a tent and whom we eventually relocated to the van for some rather uncomfortable recliner sleep, we started up the coast through Oregon and Washington. There were gorgeous views around every bend, and stops in little coastal communities with houses on stilts and year-round Christmas lights, as we worked our way up to Sequim, Washington, where my cousin and his family are on the verge of selling their house to live more permanently in their
other house in Maui. They just returned from a year abroad in Europe, and had more stories to share than we had time to hear, although I would dearly have loved walking through each and every detail of every stop of their trip if I could have. They treated us to outstanding cookies and pancakes, and Cora made best friends with their little Ezra.
The next morning, we stopped at a nearby cherry tree to supplement our breakfast heading in to catch a ferry in Port Angeles for Victoria, British Columbia. While we waited, we caught some deliciously fresh seafood chowder at a trendy little joint in town--probably the best chowder I've had since we lived in New England. We made it back just in time to catch the ferry--I don't know if it's just me, but ferry rides feel like such an extravagance! Our trip over was gorgeous, the morning was foggy and drizzly at first, but cleared to a cool breeziness that was just lovely. We landed early in the afternoon and made our way through the narrow, gingerbread-house-lined streets of Victoria to reach the adorable little cottage where the Pearce family--my mom's husband's daughter's family--lives. They not only had an adorable little home, but an additional guest cottage out back, where we were able to stay while we were there. Since it was Canada Day, we caught a quick dinner and then headed for the oceanfront to sample some of our favorite Canadian treats and watch a fireworks show. The kids picked up right where they left off last time we saw each other two summers ago at Bear Lake, and Brandon and Jennifer and Aaron and I had some great conversations about music and philanthropy and travel and religion and other shared interests. Since fireworks start late that far north, everyone was pretty sleepy by the time we wandered home for some delicious brownies and ice cream before bed. The next day, we wandered Butchart Gardens for a while before leaving the kids and catching dinner at a lovely little Catalan restaurant in town. It's fun to have conversations with people as well-traveled as Brandon and Jennifer (they've spent the past five years traveling the world with their kids), because they bring new and interesting insights on every topic imaginable. Aaron especially enjoyed brainstorming a bit about the non-profit organization that he is on the cusp of setting up, and getting some insights that will help it run better.The next morning, we took a little hike to the top of Mt. Douglas for some spectacular views, but also just to enjoy watching the kids run around and commune with nature. Even though there were plenty of exotic ideas and plans that I had dreamed up as alternatives to our trip this summer, there is really nothing that can compete with that pure communion with nature that road trips through natural wonderlands provides.
Eventually we had to move on, and took the ferry back across to Seattle. We did our best to wave to Jonah's family, who were stopping over at Aja's (his wife) father's home in the San Juan Islands. We didn't actually see them, but we loved the trip through the San Juans anyway--they were just gorgeous! After a short stop in Seattle--later than we had hoped--we drove well into the night to get to Medford, where Aaron's mom lives. She let us set our tent up in her backyard for the night, where the crickets lulled us to sleep, and like an alarm clock, a neighbor's rooster wakened us at the crack of dawn. She had a lovely Fourth of July lunch prepared for us, including the cutest cake I think I've ever seen--in the shape of a hamburger and french fries--pretty perfect for an American celebration, I think! Before it got too late, we headed into town for the pre-firework festivities, and had a lovely evening dancing to the band before the fireworks began.The next afternoon, we headed into town for a lunch at Olive Garden with Grandma Donna and Aaron's brother Daniel, before heading a bit further south to catch his other brother, Nate, who has redone his house and yard from the ground up to suit his organic lifestyle. We loved seeing the interesting touches he and his partner have added, especially the treehouse they have built into the sprawling apple tree that grows behind their home.
Our final stop on the trip was Yosemite National Park. The weather was unusually hot, and we tossed around the idea of skipping it, especially considering that campgrounds had been filled for months (we really did check into it about a month and a half before, which is as far out as we plan camping trips, but apparently campsite real estate is in pretty short supply in the summer there), but after a bit of scouting around, we found a decent hotel not too far away, and decided that we wouldn't be at all opposed to soft beds to finish out our trip. After a good night's sleep, we started off on a pretty tight schedule--trying to work all the good stuff into just one day. Although it's not the typical way to see a national park, it suited us very well, as we were drifting toward the end of our patience and adventurousness. We visited half-dome, several waterfalls, took some smallish hikes, and followed some windy roads into some of the more remote areas. Though we didn't see a lot of wildlife, we did get to see where the Obamas' helicopter had landed the week before, which was kind of cool to think about. We managed to finish nearly an hour ahead of schedule, but after a long drive home, found that all the decent pizza joints in the tiny town where we were staying had already closed. All except Little Caesars. Although I pushed back initially, we eventually headed over and cleaned out the last of their deep dish pizzas and crazy bread, along with a liter of root beer and a couple of little pints of vanilla ice cream from the adjoining gas station. It was a shockingly good meal! We had such a good time watching bad comedy and tossing Cora the crusts from our pizza and not really caring that nobody had bothered putting her pajamas on because her belly button was so darn cute. We eventually nodded off way too late, but since we didn't have far to go the next morning, it didn't really matter. We returned home to our happy little home, which was extra clean after hosting two different families on airbnb for a price that easily paid for our whole trip.
The rest of the summer was pretty packed with everything from Youth Conference for Asher on the Queen Mary haunted ocean liner in Long Beach, to Girls' Camp for Addy, to Vacation Bible School for Addy, Emerson, and Sera, to a high adventure scuba diving trip to Catalina for Asher to beach days (too few), to Sea World, to a visit from my sister's family, to a Grand Prix car race in Long Beach, to Del Mar horse races, to pool days and library visits (few and far between). Back to school crept up on us way too fast, but we were very glad that we fit in a fantastic family vacation while we could!
