We spent a night in Indio before traveling south along the Salton Sea. There isn’t much happening out there, that’s for sure. It was a nice drive, beautiful in its starkness. When we turned west the desert enveloped us, and for miles and miles all we saw was perfectly groomed … Read More
Joshua Tree National Park
Nobody was in a hurry to leave the lake. It almost seems sometimes that the less there is to do (in our adult minds) the more the kids find to do. We did eventually make it down to Joshua Tree. We spent a night in the Black Rock Canyon hiking … Read More
Ventura
Spent a nice day at this place near Ventura—just a long strip of road right along the beach.
Refugio State Beach
We’ve said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, but not before a walk down State Street turned into some sort of costume buying bonanza. Ouest was wearing hers for a couple of days before she asked who that was a picture of on the brooch. “That’s Barbie.” “Who’s Barbie?” Parenting—so far so good … Read More
Don’t Do That. Or That. Or That.
We went out to a nearby pumpkin patch this morning. The kids have really been wanting to do this, so we waited until the grandparents could join in the fun. However, once we got to Lane Farm’s Pumpkin Patch I quickly discovered that the place did not want anybody to … Read More
Santa Barbara
We boogied down the coast and got to Santa Barbara just in time for our meet-up with Ali’s parents. Somehow Ali and I have always managed to miss Santa Barbara. After one day I have to say that we’re really enjoying the place. The weather is gorgeous, the boardwalk is … Read More
Hearst Castle
Highway 1 south of San Francisco is crazy beautiful, and actually a little easier to drive than it is further north. Which doesn’t mean it is an easy drive—in fact, one day we stopped in Big Sur after nearly three hours on the road with only a couple overlook stops … Read More
Back On Our Way
Ali to the kids: “Papa did it, huh? The bus is fixed.” Ouest: “He wouldn’t have been able to do it without us, though.” Ali had been telling them all week that I needed their help. They were making runs to the store for me, staying out of the bus … Read More
Trial and Error
Today was a long day of trial and error. Everything was ready, I thought, when I went to hook the battery back up. But then the starter began to crank when the battery cable hit the battery post. Later on I would find that this was because the starter relay … Read More
