this is gonna be a long one...

We just got back, last night, from our week long vacation. We traveled to Napa, California for a friends memorial service. Along the way, we spent time in Yosemite, visiting friends outside of Sacramento, and being tourists in San Fransisco. It seemed to take longer that 7 days. I think that is the traveling-with-children element. The first day Lilly was so whiney and screamy and cry-y that we contemplated turning around. Our first night was spent in Ely, Nevada. I took pictures of our hotel room....ahem...excuse me, MOTEL room. Alan had me book this. He is smart. He knew I couldn't complain to him if I picked the room. I booked the room with the most positive comments online. It is Ely. I took pictures of the room to share with my friends. It was clean. Kitchy and Klean. Two things I will remember about the room; the faux copper countertop and the ceramic tile bathroom floor. The countertop was big and I really can't imagine when it was ever in fashion. If you look at the pic. of the floor it looks like old vinyl. Nope. Those are individual pieces. Hand laid in that pattern. As a flooring expert I am impressed with the amount of work. And as a flooring expert and interior decorator I am equally impressed with the bold decision to go with this as your floor. In Ely, we found an old playground with equipment that would never be used today for fear of law suits. The kids had so much fun!
After Ely we headed on to Yosemite. We had never visited there before. It was beautiful. A great time of year to visit. We had reserved a hard-sided cabin with a bathroom for this one-night stay. I figured it would be rustic and I was correct. What I didn't expect was the mouse. A big, fat, brown, field mouse. The mice in these here parts are wise to the fact that the parks service warns you at every turn to take ALL fragrances, food, etc... out of your car. They have a BIG bear issue. Those staying in tents or soft-sided cabins have big metal containers at their disposal to put their food, etc.. in. We were allowed to take our stuff into our cabins. We cleared out the car. They recommended taking the car seat out but we decided we would chance it and left it in. However, we forgot about the stash of mini dum-dum lollipops I keep in my glove box. Luckily, our car was safe through the night. I, on the other hand, got little-to-no sleep thanks to our rodent friend. He climbed in our snack bag and was munching. I woke up, hearing him, and woke up Alan. Al proceeded to try to convince me that what I was hearing was merely the snacks settling. (Looking back, I feel foolish for wanting to believe this line!) I tried to go back to sleep. Heard it again. Woke Alan. This time I left the lights off and pulled his ear-plug out and whispered in his ear that I was certain it was a mouse. Finally, he believed me. We flipped the light on and we saw the little guy leap from the bag. We never caught him but we moved the bags to a safe location. I won't be staying in a hard-sided cabin again. Every time Alan takes me camping he is reminded why he doesn't take me camping. However, we spent the day in Yosemite having a very nice time. We hiked 2 miles (me in flip-flops) to a beautiful baby,giant Sequoia, looked at breath-taking vistas, hiked near a stream, etc... We definately made more memories than just our mouse encounter.
We were then off to Vacaville. We stayed there as it is sort of a mid-point between Lincoln and Napa. We called our dear friends, the Andersons, on our way from Yosemite. We fully intended on going to our hotel and showering the dirt and grime of hikes off of us. Our friends invited us for dinner THAT night. We didn't know when we could see them again and they fully accepted us...grunge and all. We had a lovely dinner with them and swam in their pool. There home is perched over-looking a beautiful view of rolling California hills. It was so nice to spend time with them. We miss living near them in Connecticut but the drive to their home is not too bad from here. They are inspiring to talk to and our kids love them. What a nice couple of hours we spent. So sorry it couldn't have been more. And, to top it off...I didn't take pictures!
We got to our hotel late that night. The kids went right to sleep. The next morning we drove into San Francisco. It was a perfect day. Sunny with a little breeze. We walked the pier. Ate some ice cream at Ghirardelli. Saw the sea lions. Drove around a bit (including Lombard Street)and then crossed the Golden Gate bridge on to Napa. Alan spent 6 months of his mission serving right in San Francisco so it is fun for him to go back there. It's a great city and I get to go back in three weeks for a girls weekend! Lucky me!
The reason we had come on this trip was to see our friend, Lori and attend the memorial service for her Dad, Henry. Alan taught Lori on his mission and baptized her. She is a wonderful part of our family. Her Dad, Henry, was like an adopted Grandpa for Max. Lori didn't know we were coming so it was a surprise. We were happy to run around, helping her get the last minute details of the service in order. Henry's memorial was a touching story/picture filled hour of his life. Henry made every person that ever met him feel like family. Like he knew you well and cared about you even if he only just met you. He lived a long life but we will miss our dear friend. The hat Max has on was a gift to Henry from Max. A few years ago we stayed with Henry and Lori before driving down the coast to LA. We were headed to the King Tut exhibit at the LA Museum. Max picked out this King Tut cap for Henry. They had the hat on the table of memories at Henry's memorial. They gave the hat back to Max as a token of Henry's love for Max. Very touching.
We drove home yesterday arriving around 10:30 last night. The kids were giddy and hard to convince to get in bed. We all need a little more sleep. Happy to have gone. Happy to have spent time with beloved friends. Happy to be home.