West Coast Vacation - Day 4
Unfortunately I had a mild anxiety hiccup the night before, but after some meds and prayer, I slept like a rock and was ready to go the next day. We woke up in our Ukiah hotel and I went straight to Walmart to buy Kara a dvd player. Her laptop (which we just bought in Feb) no longer plays videos, which frustrates me to no end because I counted on carrying that heavy thing all over, in part, because it also plays movies. So, we lived without movies until the morning of day 4, when I first had time for a walmart. *sigh* Trust me, it's a big deal when you're on a loooooooong car trip with a 7 year old.
Anyway, on my way back through the hotel after my trip to walmart, I advised my girls that we will need a backup plan for breakfast. Our hotel offered such a pathetic breakfast, we may have to go elsewhere. After we got ready and packed up the van, we checked and my thoughts were correct - awful. (And we really aren't picky - eggs, toast, cinnamon roll, muffin, any of those would have been fine.) So, we went to McDonalds for breakfast, then across the street to Shell to fill up the van with free gas, and stock up on free snacks and drinks. Did she say FREE? Yep, we were all able to order loads of gift cards (thanks to our Discover Credit Card points) to Best Western hotels and Shell gas stations, so most hotels (not every city had Best Westerns) and all gas/snacks were free on this trip. Ah, I'm good. :-)
This was the day we went down memory lane with my mom. She doesn't share much about her childhood, even though it was nice. She's just not a sharer. So, bringing her to California was neat to see her show us where her bus picked her up for school, where she called her mom on the pay phone that time, where her dentist was, where she and her sister went to a bar that time when they danced and danced, and much more. It was divine.
We started in Ukiah, which they called "the big city," was an hour away from their house, and was where they went for special occasions. Note, this town is much, much smaller than the town where I live now. (Ukiah's population is less than 16,000.) So cute. Then we hit Willits,
then Laytonville, the town she grew up in.
Next we drove to Leggett to drive through the drive-through-tree. Gorgeous!
Then we went to our favorite place to pull over and walk amongst the redwoods and dip our toes in Eel River.
Their size is indescribable
See Kara down by Eel River? The mountain shoots right up next to it.
There just isn't water that clear anywhere near here
It's so clear....
That it's delicious!
Sweet peas - love this one with a yellow spider on it
This beach has no sand, only smooth rocks.
We stopped in Garberville, a teeny town, for some lunch
This is Benbow Inn, where my mom worked after high school as a hostess until she enlisted in the Air Force
Huge roots - this is the same tree my mom posed in front of with Kara in 2010 - a sunny day actually makes for bad lighting!
"Take a picture of me in mid-air, Mommy!"
All of us with Kalli, my cousin (my mom's brother's daughter)
Anyway, on my way back through the hotel after my trip to walmart, I advised my girls that we will need a backup plan for breakfast. Our hotel offered such a pathetic breakfast, we may have to go elsewhere. After we got ready and packed up the van, we checked and my thoughts were correct - awful. (And we really aren't picky - eggs, toast, cinnamon roll, muffin, any of those would have been fine.) So, we went to McDonalds for breakfast, then across the street to Shell to fill up the van with free gas, and stock up on free snacks and drinks. Did she say FREE? Yep, we were all able to order loads of gift cards (thanks to our Discover Credit Card points) to Best Western hotels and Shell gas stations, so most hotels (not every city had Best Westerns) and all gas/snacks were free on this trip. Ah, I'm good. :-)
This was the day we went down memory lane with my mom. She doesn't share much about her childhood, even though it was nice. She's just not a sharer. So, bringing her to California was neat to see her show us where her bus picked her up for school, where she called her mom on the pay phone that time, where her dentist was, where she and her sister went to a bar that time when they danced and danced, and much more. It was divine.
We started in Ukiah, which they called "the big city," was an hour away from their house, and was where they went for special occasions. Note, this town is much, much smaller than the town where I live now. (Ukiah's population is less than 16,000.) So cute. Then we hit Willits,
then Laytonville, the town she grew up in.
The gorgeous road they drove all the time
The little grocery store she went to with her mom
My mom's high school
How cute is that population? My town has a population of more than 44 thousand.
Gorgeous highway 101, where she grew up
The creek my mom grew up playing in - this ran right by her house, where her dad would sometimes dam it up so they could actually swim. While he was working construction nearby, he convinced a guy to drive down and dig out one section too. Very sweet man! His kids LOVED that creek! My mom still talks about this creek to this day - water is still her happy place.
Next we drove to Leggett to drive through the drive-through-tree. Gorgeous!
Then we went to our favorite place to pull over and walk amongst the redwoods and dip our toes in Eel River.
2010
2013
2014
2010
2013
2014
Why does she KEEP GROWING??
On to more beauty of God's creation:
Then we drove to Eureka to meet with my cousin and her boyfriend. We had some yummy ice cream down at the boardwalk, where I got this pretty picture of Kara.
Then we headed up to Crescent City, CA. We saw the most amazing views along the way. From rivers to cool birds, to glimpses of the ocean.
Wow! That was amazing. It was getting late, so we had a super fast dinner at Burger King, checked into our hotel, and Christina took Kara to the pool for me so I could get set up for the night. We moved in and rearranged every room we checked into. Not to mention we each had about 4 devices we needed to charge. I found Grease 2 on tv, put Kara in the tub with glow in the dark bracelets, and we went to sleep as soon as possible.
This is how far we've driven so far:
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