The Drive Back

Take into consideration this: Erik and Jared drove 17 hours in the truck, I drove 11 hours with 4 kids. Erik and Jared flew 2 hours to LAX then we all drove an hour to Anaheim, 3 hours total to get to and from Sea World. 1 1/2 hours to and from Universal Studios so the total driving/flying time for Erik and Jared to this point: 24 hours. Total driving time for me and kids: 16 hours. Now we faced a 20 hour drive to get to Port Angeles from Anaheim. Oh, poop. We decided to go to the Redwood Forest on our drive to break up the monotony. Before going there we had to first get lost in San Francisco. Unless I have a deadline to meet, I never mind getting lost in a city because I like seeing what's about so I enjoyed pointing out every sign to Erik that said Golden Gate Bridge. Imaging Erik's frustration. At this point he has spent two or three days going in between Port Angeles Police Department and Salt Lake Police Department trying to get his records transferred with everyone on vacation. According to him, everyone was upset at him and now he is lost with a lot of travelling time left. We crossed the bridge and took pictures on the other side. I loved it there. It was beautiful and I liked seeing Alcatraz. I am still amazed how the "Golden" Gate Bridge is red.

After leaving San Francisco we made it to the hotel. What a cheap poop hole: no tub, smells funny, old as death. After many jokes about paying for the hotel by hour and finding room for all of us, we slept. We left as soon as possible the next morning. We drove by great scenery and finally made it to the beach. It was cold and beautiful. That coastal highway in Northern California is more beautiful than I could have imagined. I would love to go back. I was tired and kept falling asleep but every time I looked outside it was gorgeous. I would have loved to have taken more time driving up and just stopping at various beaches and seeing lighthouses. Maybe my next trip should be to Astoria. I want to see the Goonies rocks.

After we went to the beach we reached the Redwoods. They were tall, they were big, they were astounding, they were not as gigantic as my own head led me to believe. It was amazing scenery but where were the places where you could drive your car through a hole cut out in a tree? We also made a couple more stops where Erik man-handled a bear, we saw the remnants of a fallen-down bridge, and I saw my first real lighthouse.

About one in the morning we arrived in Port Angeles.

Erik Total Traveling Time 34 hours

Angela Total Traveling Time: 26 hours (Not including getting lost and trying to find food.)

It is really beautiful here too and the most beautiful thing about it was when I made Erik cut his scruff to be a 70's stache. I am oddly attracted to it more than I thought I would be. Today I am getting kids registered for school and Erik cut his facial hair off to start his new job. He is there now.

Podunk Plus #1: Scenery

Podunk Plus #2: Over 300 pictures printed at Costco in under 1/2 hour

Podunk Plus #3: Not having to be at Walmart for 1/2 hour in line.