The Wizard of Oz

The construction! Oh, the construction! (weeping, groaning, gnashing of teeth). We left West Yellowstone in the morning around 10am and to give you an idea of our day, we got home a little after midnight. Montana was great about it. We discussed splitting the day in half but I don't want to stop if there isn't anything to see. And frankly, completely out of clean clothes. Today it's all about the laundry.

The manager at the Moose Creek Inn (highly recommended by the way) had forewarned us there was serious construction going through the park. So she sent us another way (remember my "in" with the hotel people?). She said it was through Idaho but just down the border and truly a beautiful drive. Just as good as the park, she thinks better. She also gave me a few other sightseeing side trips to see on the way that she said are absolutely worth the stop. Better be, I'm on limited time! So off we go. We went out of West Yellowstone via highway 20 and followed it to Macks Inn. This is actually a town, not a hotel.

Sean tells Montana there was a cache at Macks Inn that was supposed to be very easy to find so we did a quick detour and grabbed that. Now Montana can claim Idaho. It had the potential for mosquitoes but we were fast and wouldn't let them get us.

Turn left at Macks Inn following the signs to "Big Springs". It's only 41/2 miles down the road. It looks like a big quiet pond but it produces 120 million gallons of water a day and forms the headwater for the Henrys fork of the Snake River. The critters we saw (shahhhny wittle aminuls...), seagulls, otter (damn he was cute) and the trout were huge! The otter does this hilarious thing when you feed him. When you toss in food he grabs it and then is so busy eating it he splays his back legs out and floats backwards (because he's too busy to swim, right? So he "goes with the flow"). I coulda watched him all day. It was so funny.

Random cow. Just on the road. Hangin' out.

Did you know there was a town called Guernsey? We didn't go through it but saw it on the map. Try just saying that name. We said it over and over and laughed our butts off. "Guernsey". The cow reminded me. Sorry. Random thought.

Continuing on highway 20 to 47. This is not marked except for a "scenic byway- Mesa Falls". I think it's about a 16 mile jaunt and gets you where your original destination was, just the scenic way. I have never seen anything so incredible. The falls are right in front of you! It costs $5 but so worth it. It's a lovely walk and on the way I met a very nice older couple. The woman was pointing out to her husband all the flowers that should not be growing there but are because of the "micro environment". Hyacinth, Bachelor's Buttons, and another little yellow daisy like flower that I don't remember the name of. She was pickin' adorable. The mist from the waterfall and I guess the canyon walls too, all contribute to creating this micro environment and it's almost a greenhouse effect. Really beautiful.

So somewhere along the way Michelle texts me to say there is construction somewhere between Jackson and Rock Springs, but closer to Jackson. This was the way I was going. Back to finding a new route. I spent a LOT of time on the phone with my poor husband who just wanted to get me home the fastest and easiest way with the info he had. He had to constantly pull up google maps and try to plan a route that would be fast or just would be. He was my great and powerful Oz. Only more successful at it. At this point I'm running out of ways to get to Denver. It was very comforting to have Sean handy as I can't tell you the number of secondary highways I was on yesterday. I'm not sure I know. And yes, it was on purpose. It's just a challenging area. Found a route to Jackson via the scenic Grand Tetons. Scenic byways have a much lower speed limit and with the winding roads could take me a long time. But I'm takin' it now, as the other two options have construction holding everyone up. Well, that bit me too. Wyoming found a way to block all access with construction. We were held up for hours. Sean texted me to find out where I was and I was embarrassed to tell him!

Random sign on the construction highway: "avoid broken windshields". Hmm. Does that mean there are broken windshields in the road and I should go around? Or does that mean you should avoid them like a flat tire or running out of gas. That would suck, so yes, I think I will avoid them! I wonder if they could have rephrased that sign at all?

Random cattle guard sign warning of approaching cattle guard. It was ON the cattle guard.

Please sing..."Grand Teton Park...aaaarrrrreeeee veeeeeee"

Driving through Grand Teton we see warning signs to watch for animals on the road. Then we see this little sign that says, "That bull moose". About 30ft later another, "is some cows beau". And another..."slow down!" Cracked me up. Went through the entire park and never saw a single animal.

Days on the road: 8
Miles traveled: 3,929
Hours in the car: 66
Hours spent listening to Harry Potter: 56?
Miles spent directionally challenged: probably, hmm, 200?
Times gassed the car up: 15
Hours spent stopped for contruction: probably 10
Times driven wrong direction on road: probably 5 (Seattle's downtown wasn't very friendly) That's where most of it was done:)

Driving on flat flat Wyoming's highway 287 South. Did I mention flat? I'm not complaining here, no traffic AT ALL and I am finally able to go the speed limit. I swear Mom, I went the speed limit. It is Wyoming though, and I already have one ticket from this experience. Mom calls in the two seconds I have phone service. How does she do that? She likes to know where I am on the road and if I don't keep in constant touch, I must be splayed out on the highway. I answer the phone and at THAT SECOND an antelope and his little friend (his lih-el fren) run right out in front of me! I know, exciting isn't it? There's action now! I missed that guy by maybe a foot. There were actually three of them but I figure the third had to be a girl because she stayed on the side of the road.

Sean and Alex stayed up for us. Okay, Sean did. Alex is always up. We unloaded the car and now all of that is in my livingroom. Yuck. I immediately pop out my cameras so Sean can look at them and feel bad for me and guess what?? (I know, you can just tell by the foreshadowing, can't you?) He fixed my Canon! Ashley, I may survive. He somehow popped it back into position. I would never have thought that was possible because camera lenses are just so sensitive but I immediately took a picture of my hero and it turned out great. He is awesome. See? The great and powerful Oz.

Thanks to everyone for venturing out on our road trip with us. Your comments have been awesome! I love to read them. I wish I could have put the photos on sooner and I wish I had more reliable internet. There was definitely a learning curve here. We are already planning next year's trip and I know the things I will do differently, but there aren't a lot. I think it went pretty right on. Montana did request a van though. I asked him if he had fun and if he would do it again and he said a very loud yes. Must have been good.

But really there is no place like home.

A River Runs Through It

I was really frustrated because I couldn't connect again and then Montana pointed out I was connecting to the wrong hotel. Yeah, I didn't feel stupid. OH sure...now he admits he did the same thing.

I almost used "Bachelor Party" as my neighbors last night were wild and crazy and for half the night I thought they were actually in my room with me. I figured out in the morning it was a group of about 20 guys. They were just as obnoxious in the morning.

Out of Missoula...to Bozeman to meet my mom and Catherine for lunch. Halfway there (you'll love this Michelle) I see signs to Butte and Helena. No Bozeman. Montana was sleeping so I couldn't get to my map to double check it and I was 99% sure it was a straight shot on I-90 but come ON! How could I possibly get lost doing this?? This I didn't even think I would need a map for. But the miles continue and there are still no signs to Bozeman. Helena however, is getting closer and closer. I would love to visit Helena as I have a dear friend there (how's it goin' Michelle?) but today I have a lunch date. So I call Sean and admit with embarrassment I may not be on the right highway. It's possible I have gotten lost driving from Helena to Bozeman. He reassured me I was in fact on the right road and would be there soon. Just don't go to Helena. No problem.

Montana periodically breaks into song. It doesn't matter what it is. Those of you who know him well, know it takes as little as him saying, "whatever". It becomes, "whatever, whatever, whatever, whaaaatevvvveeerrrrr". This is also true for, "brush my teeth, brush my teeth bruuuuush myyyyy teeeeth!". He's been doing that all day.

When I put gas in this morning I got distracted just as I was putting the pump back... yep, forgot the gas cap and door. That never happens with me because it's one of the things I'm paranoid about. I can't remember the last time I did it. Pulled into a McDonalds about a block away and some guy gets out of his car in the drive through, comes up behind me and says in my window, "your gas cap is off and the door is open." Not friendly like. Montana and I translated that as, "how stupid are you?". I decided I didn't like him. He said he'd put it back on for me. Thanks. I think.

Said goodbye at lunch and headed to Harry Potter!!!! Totally awesome. I loved it. It was so good I can't wait to go again. Yes, I have minor issues with it not matching the book but mostly I just like it.

I have no photographs of the afternoons drive because I had a goal of getting to the hotel quickly. So I didn't stop and take photos but I have to tell you the road from Bozeman, MT to West Yellowstone, MT is literally right out of a movie. It was truly a beautiful sight to see and a privilege to travel on for the afternoon.

We are staying at this darling little hotel called the Moose Inn in West Yellowstone. It is so pickin' cute I can't tell you. When we pulled up Montana cocked his head and said, "I'm not so sure about this". I told him he had to wait to see it before he decided he didn't like it. I was sure it would be good. The Holiday Inn it is not. But I would take it any day over the Holiday Inn. Absolutely charming with all the amenities of a full hotel.

I am anxious to head out in the morning as we have an "in" with the lady here at the motel and she gave us a great drive home. It should be pretty fabulous and I will absolutely post photos tomorrow when we arrive home finally.

On the Waterfront

This day could not have been prettier for a ferry ride to Bainbridge. It was incredible. My stomach was still (I know, can you believe it?) queasy from yesterday, but I hung in there because I LOVE boat rides. Ironic since I don't really love the water, but I like to look at it, just not be in it. It was a bit of a fiasco getting a parking spot (seriously, at least 30 minutes of driving around and around and around...all the lots were full and the side spots are 30 minutes only) but once we found one it was totally easy! It helps that I freely admit I'm a dork and don't know what I'm doing. So you just go up to the window and say, "Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing. Can you help me??". Surprisingly, the man behind the glass DID have a clue and had apparently run into other people like me. He was totally on it. Twelve bucks later (see? aren't we glad we saved that twelve bucks from parking yesterday?) we had tickets and could join the crowd. Here is the weird part. Montana prefers the inside of the ferry. So we rode inside. He said he liked it, just wanted to be inside. Whatever Dude.

1. two (2!) car dealerships just out there. Not near a town. Just out there. Separate from each other.

Geocaching: a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache. (courtesy of geocaching.com)

Sean and Montana had four "travel bugs" they needed to place in a cache. A travel bug usually looks like a military dog tag with a serial number printed on it or it can be a specially designed coin. The cache is a container of some sort that has at the very least a log book. They can be very tiny (micro cache) or regular. He had picked up these travel bugs over a year ago and we haven't traveled so I said Montana and I could take them with us. We could log a cache in each state we hit and then drop them off in a cache in Washington. Silly me. This was so not as easy as I so casually said. Sean, in his fashion, worked diligently to take the hard out of it by putting "waypoints" in the GPS unit so we could just look for one in our area. The first two, in Utah and Nevada, were fairly easy to find. Although the one in Nevada was on the other side of a fence on the side of the interstate. THAT was a good time. Over 30 minutes of climbing around in the sand and dirt to find the darn thing. You KNOW Sean would have found it in like~ 10 minutes. We forgot California (remember the drive??) and Oregon was apparently too difficult for me. We looked for three different caches there and couldn't find one. That is unusual. Especially since Sean chose easy ones for us. But success in Washington! We did finally find one~ in a swamp. The name of it was the "Forgotten Bench". It had a hint of 'the bugs will eat you alive' or something like that. HOLY COW! They weren't kidding! We almost gave up but I really really wanted to do this and we had come SO close. Oh my gosh the bugs. They were the biggest mosquitoes I had ever seen. I envisioned them lined up 10 at a shot waiting for their turn to snack on us. Getting irritated, you know? Checking their little skeeter watches, hands on their little skeeter hips, "come on! leave some for the rest of us!". Damn things. It did feel pretty good to find it and complete that task though. We skipped Idaho cuz it was dark. We have already done Montana so all we have left is Wyoming. I'm not sure Montana (the kid) is up to it. He's still feelin' the stings and he's kinda bitter.

The rest of the day was driving to Missoula. We got out of town much later than we wanted to but the drive was really very fast. Montana and I have been listening to the last Harry Potter book on the Ipod all week and we finished it. That's right. No NCIS. I'm surprised too. We watched the first day and one episode the second day and then he broke out the book and was hooked. We finished it about 30 minutes before entering Missoula and he was so excited! We talked about Voldemort and Dumbledore and why Dumbledore felt like he was bad when he was really good. He had some pretty darn good insight. Gotta love that. I felt like I was in a book club discussion in the car. The world's smallest book club.

By the way...he fell asleep. Why is this news?? He hasn't slept at all Folks. Not the entire week. Guess he just wanted to wait for the book to end.

Sleepless in Seattle?

Okay, that was an obvious one, but I am in a hurry and it's the first one I could think of! And usually I am sleepless, but last night I slept. You have no idea the relief.

Holiday Inn's internet again didn't like me. Don't they know I have things to do? So I'm at the business center this morning.

Seattle was just a two hour trip away so I let Montana swim in the beautiful pool in the morning in Portland. He has recently acquired some new skills and it's pretty freaking awesome to watch my kid. Just sayin'. It was a beautiful morning and I sat by the pool and watched this lovely tan thin woman (about my age) come out with a bucket. She obviously worked there as her dress said "work" but it was light and breezy so it also said "work when it's 100*". She was barefoot, had a gold ankle bracelet on, and she puttered around the pool taking care of the flowers in the ginormous (how DO you spell that word?) flower pots that helped make the area so stunning. As I watched her work she looked so incredibly peaceful. Can I have HER job?

Random things we've seen in the last few days and haven't posted:
1: Pioneer baby grave
2: dinosaur on the side of the mountain
3: tank. Just drivin' by

Montana finished swimming. Seattle here we come. Hmm. Traffic here we come. Dead stop. 20 minutes of just sittin'. Totally easy to find the Space Needle and this is where we are meeting my Aunt Darlene and my cousin Richard. Drove straight there. We sure did appreciate everything they went through to meet us. We had a great lunch. Montana had an Orange Julius and I had the BEST clam chowder for those of you that like it. It's at the food court, of all places, at as place called Steamers. Great seafood. Yum. Said goodbye and headed to the Space Needle. Oh wait! One stop first.

The amusement park. While waiting for them, we walked over to the amusement park to kill time and bought a bunch of tickets. Montana and I went on the roller coaster (A wild Ride~ and I think that's the name of it too). I went on the pirate ship (The Galleon) and the last time I rode that thing was at the fair in Billings, MT when I was probably 17. If LeAnn is reading this she will remember. I rode it (it's a giant swing). I got off. I walked straight to the bathroom and threw up. Yep. Did it again yesterday. I was sick all day. Poor Montana. I couldn't go on any more rides. I was green at the thought. I am a rockin' mom, huh? Woo HOO! *sigh*

Space Needle! We were told it was a glass elevator that shot to the top at lightning speed and at the top it was all glass so it was very scary. Yeah, it was cool. But it just felt like an elevator and the glass didn't go all the way around so it wasn' that frightening. The top was pretty awesome. You could see for miles and miles and the water was incredible. So beautiful. We looked at this great island and then later we drove over it. We figured you could totally call traffic from up there. "Interstate 5 is looking backed up... your better option would be to take...."and so on. Pretty awesome. So we ate lunch up there so we could say we did. That was cool too. They had bagels which my sick stomach was grateful for!

OH! When we parked there was a really nice couple (super young so I was even more impressed) who asked if we were parking. I told them we were and he gave me his parking pass. He said it's good until 9:00pm tonight. I took it, hesitant because I must be a little cynical, and said thanks! We successfully used that parking pass, saving like twelve bucks, and got back with 4 minutes to spare! Nice.

There was a festival downtown which had to account for the hundreds of police. Groups of police on every corner. Some wearing "gang task force" clothing. That was reassuring. Police in cars, vans, on horses, on bicycles and on foot. They were everywhere. We really didn't know whether to feel better or worse!

I had an accident with my Canon, which anyone that knows me knows I love it more than my children some days, so I was on the phone with Sean crying. Bless him he was talking me down. (I'm sure he was thinking...wow. high maintenance. And how many cameras can you GO through on one trip?) Apparently two. I told him I'd call him back when I got to the hotel. He said, "um, I'm sure I'll talk to you before that. You'll be calling me to give you directions to the hotel". Hey now. That's not friendly. Probably true. But not friendly. Just for the record, I drove straight to the hotel sans his assistance thank you very much. We are staying at the Holiday Inn in Issaquah (pronounced Iss-uh-kwah~ totally fun to say) . The desk clerk here is beyond awesome. My favorite place so far.

Ran the car through the car wash because Montana and I were going crazy. We feel a little better but some of those damn bugs might be there permanently. Our goal today is maybe a boat ride if I can figure out how to get there and then on to Missoula.

Montana isn't very happy about it. He probably doesn't enjoy taking vacations to Montana. I wonder what is up with that?

Speed

This is the second of two new posts...Cause I'm difficult

What are the odds someone can drive 3,347 miles without getting a speeding ticket? Yeah, not that good apparently. *sigh* But that's for later.

We ran into some Casper, Wyoming people and said hello. They were also staying at the KOA so they filled us in on some of the better things to see. One of them was a drive that took you through the Redwoods. Wow. I just don't know how to put into words what we saw. They were magnificent. I love trees and have always wanted to see the Redwoods. But I had no idea what they would really be like. I've lived in a lot of places in the world and I thought I had already been touched by the most beautiful...but this was maybe the best for me. I felt like I had stepped into a Narnia like world of make believe. I would not have been surprised to see faeries peeping through the greenery. Seeing the Giant Redwoods made this whole trip worth it. Montana was just as truly astonished as I was. I can't wait to come back.

We briefly checked out the pier after that and then the lighthouse. This was a charming little stop that turned out to be quite a delightful stop for us. We almost didn't take it and we are both glad we did. It's called Battery Point Lighthouse. We took a little 20 minute tour for $4.00 that was totally worth it. The fog was thick and it was cold and it was just so cool I can't tell you. Apparently you can volunteer for a month to run the lighthouse (it really runs itself, you do the tour and the giftshop) and you live at the lighthouse for that month. How awesome is that?

We headed to Oregon. We have about 50 miles of California to get through before hitting the Oregon border. The highway is still a little switchback like. Can't go fast even if you want to. Bored a little, I picked up a migraine. What the heck. Right? So true to form, I got a little nauseous. We stopped at what had to the most incredible rest stop I've ever seen (thank heaven) and tossed my breakfast. This kind of set me off a little. So when we leave the rest stop I'm thinkin' about my head. Not the speed limit. Dammit. And my cute little car just really goes. And it doesn't have cruise control (this is a glitch to how cute it is). There's a straight strip on the road and I look down only to realize I'm going just over 70 in a 55. I've been very careful up until now. Look up in time to smile at the CHP (California Highway Patrol). He was very nice. He was kind of cute too. And yes, I wore a shirt that was kind of low cut. But since I don't really have anything there, I got a ticket. He did ask me why I was speeding and I just told him. I have a migraine and I was coming off my ~I threw up at the rest stop~ experience. He wrote the ticket for just 10 over. I thought that was nice because he probably saved me $150. Wish me luck, I'm only half way there.

Found Waldo.
Found Waldo again in Oregon. What a relief to finally know where Waldo is.

The speed limit in Oregon is 65. That was painful. Stopped for gas. They pump it for you. I didn't know how to do that. I suppose I could adjust. I remember having a friend who was from Oregon who didn't know how to pump gas. I also remember being a little irritated with her. How do you get to be an adult who can't pump gas?

We landed late in Portland after stopping a few more times for various reasons. I had exact directions to our hotel in Portland and I was confident I could get there no problem. This was contingent on my following my Mapquest directions, right? Yeah. It was too good to be true. Portland is freakin' HUGE! Seriously I had no idea it was as big as it is. I knew it was big, but wow. Needless to say, they threw my interstate across the way, I didn't make it and missed an exit. Since I'm not stupid I immediately called my darling I.T. man. He googled me in. Street by street. I love you Baby. Seriously I was freaked out. 9:00pm at night and it's dark and I'm lost in Portland with my kid. Do I have talent or what? I get lost in Denver and I've lived there for twelve years.

The hotel we are in is on an island and it's fairly high end. Montana is pretty excited so we are getting up early so he can swim before we leave for Seattle. The bathroom is gorgeous, the room is huge, the balcony looks over the river and Montana crashed on top of the bed. Definitely a good day.

The Long and Winding Road

I'm forgoing movie titles on this one because the song fits so appropriately. Let me preface this blog by saying I couldn't post yesterday because the KOA in Crescent City is a big fat liar. They have the worst internet in the world. I am bitter. And because I can't connect the two days in my head, I am posting twice. Sorry guys. Feel free to skip if you want to. I am doing it for my own sanity.

Montana and I had a fabulous time at Monica and Mike's house in Yuba City. Olivia, Daryll, and Olivia's boyfriend, Devon, all took Montana to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie and he really enjoyed his nap. He said the beginning was good. And the end was pretty good too.

Monica made us cinnamon streusel muffins with cream cheese frosting for breakfast. Yum. Serious yum.

I have a small announcement. I bought a map. I know. Pretty damn exciting.

So I looked at said map and thought if I went this other way it would be a bit faster and Monica said I could do a little sightseeing also. I'm all for that! So off we went. Two fools. We got to Redding just fine. We ate at this darling little restaurant called the Black Bear Diner where they had little tiny pies you could buy and take with you. I didn't, but I sure wanted to. They were so very pretty. Sitting outside across the street was this homeless man with a cardboard sign asking for money. Not really a shock, especially in this area. It was 104*. He sat there for the entire 45 minutes we were there and in that time one person gave him something and it was a sandwich. He ate it immediately. I found it sad. After lunch we pulled around and gave him some money and a bottle of cold water. He was very gracious. My point is only to say~thanks Baby, for taking such good care of us. For working so hard every day and providing for us so well that we can actually do this carefree thing. We miss you so much. We don't ever take what you do for us for granted.

I can't get him to stop singing the Lollipop Guild.

We went to the Sundial Bridge after this. Totally awesome. Huge and beautiful and really cool. Here's the thing. The bridge is covered in spiders on it's edges. These really huge spiders. It was, frankly, pretty creepy. We went into the museum/gift shop and the front window is incredibly tall and there were like 20 huge spiders on the window there. The man at the front desk said by October the front window will be covered with thousands of the spiders and they make an exhibit of it. Yuck.

We are officially on our way to Crescent City. The whole trip was supposed to be about 6 hours. Oh, it was so not that easy. We stopped at a great little western town with a museum. Took a ton of pictures and bothered the museum guy 5 minutes before closing. Still pretty cool. I'm sure he hates us.

Hopped back onto the highway. It turns out the highway is in fact 280 miles of the most beautiful switchbacks anyone could possibly want to travel 30-40 mph on! It is called Trinity highway which I thought was appropriate because it was just a slice of heaven to look at. Between the road being constantly turning and the construction stopping us for 20 minutes at a shot, the 3 hour trip turned into nearly 6. By the time we came out of it, it was nearly dark. What a day. Sometime about, oh say, 6pm, Montana said, "those friggin' spiders were HUGE". Random dude. Periodically I would notice altitude signs along the highway. No matter how high, or how low we seemed to be, they said the same thing. "2000 ft.". As a resident of Denver, Colorado, land of 5280 ft., I have one thing to say. Amateurs.

Stopped by the ocean as the sun was setting so we could get our feet wet and Montana could see it. It was cold. :)

Had seriously the best pizza ever. Some place on the side of the road. Wish I had it now.

Hopped back in the car to drive to Crescent City KOA. Now, it's dark. The trees are big. The roads are winding. We take a turn and BAM! there is a sign in front of us that says, "SLOW DOWN!". Yeah, that wasn't scary at all. It was just a warning sign that the corner needs caution. I almost wet my pants. Montana died laughing.

It was 10:30pm by the time we got to the cabin. Jacked the space heater to high and headed straight to bed. So the day was totally awesome and totally long.

When we got up in the morning I headed out for a shower. The cabin was located on Lost Road. Who told them about me??

Sahara

Okay. It wasn't the Sahara. Montana told me that numerous times. But man it felt like it. Five hundred miles of barren, dry, hot, nothing! The Salt Flats were amazing. I've never seen anything like that before and if I could figure out the photo thing, man, you guys would so be there with me! I pulled over and made Montana get out so I could get a picture with him in it. But I told him I was labeling it~'had enough and kicked him out!'. He didn't think anyone would believe that.

We started our day in Salt Lake City visiting the Mormon temple. Truly beautiful. Montana wanted to hang around and see the visitor center but they have greeters there and I didn't feel like we had enough time to convince someone I was truly happy being an Episcopalian and see the visitor's center so we skipped it. Maybe next time.

About halfway through the day Montana started singing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". He's been humming the National Anthem for days so I felt this was definitely a step in the right direction. No pun intended. hee hee. So I went with the sister song, "We represent the lollipop guild" in a munchkin voice. Except I couldn't remember a particular verse. I called Sister #2 (Jeanette) who sings these songs as much as we do but no answer. So I called Ma. As there was no answer, I left her a message~ singing her the song on her voice mail in the munchkin voice asking her to please call back with the answer as quickly as possible. Since we have no patience I then called Sister #3 (are you getting the idea of how big the desert of Nevada is here Guys?). I told Gaco (a sad nickname but one she is tragically stuck with) that we would like to please access "Gacopedia". She saved the day. She knew the verse. Ma calls back. She is sad she does not have the answer. But oddly enough did not even flinch that I left that message. Hmm.

Finally hit beautiful country! Could Nevada actually have a redeeming quality?? I mean besides great roads? I am about a mile or two into the most beautiful mountainous terrain, astonished I had never heard of this part of Nevada before, when I see it. The "Welcome to California" sign. And there it is. Yeah. It was too good to be true.

Highway 20 in California is gorgeous! Seriously...stopped 6 times to take pictures. So pretty! There is a spot on the road where you see a river on your left and for some odd reason that has yet to be explained to slow me, it appears (it is only an illusion) to be flowing upstream. It was awesome. We were supposed to be at my friend Monica Sue's house at around 8:30pm. Got here at 9:30pm. Spent a good 30 minutes pulling over and looking at all the pretty everywhere! I know what you are thinking. What about the other 30 minutes? Well, let's just say, tomorrow we are buying an atlas. :)