and through the woods

Jackson, Roscoe, Rylee

We drove to California in a marathon drive in Poppa's RV the day after Christmas. The boys were excited about the trip for many weeks in advance. The days leading up to Christmas and the trip were also full and exciting. First Terra and Karl and little Roscoe stopped by on their way to California. Cyndi and the boys loved Roscoe, who was so pleasant and just adorable. Roscoe signed for "more" and "enough". We would see them again in California.

Lauren, Nicholas, Brendan, Jackson, Rylee

The boys were off from school the entire week before Christmas. One morning they got  together with their New Mexico cousins and exchanged gifts during a breakfast just for them.

Ariel and Chris arrived Friday and they came over on Saturday. We exchanged some gifts. Rylee got a Lego game from them that he and Jack put together and learned to play. Jackson got a Tin Tin book, which he hasn't really discovered yet.

We drove to Las Lunas first to pick up Lola and then met Ariel and Chris in Belen for Christmas Eve. There was a ham and posole and tamales, and later we met everyone in Albuquerque's Old Town to see the luminarias and listen to the carols. It was very cold, which drained some of the fun. We mostly sat inside the church, listening we think to Handel's Messiah, and hugged and said goodbye to Ariel and Chris.

On Christmas morning the boys discovered the gifts from Santa, and we went to church.

Christmas day we visited Cyndi's family in Belen. Jackson took his new chess set and played. He brought it along everywhere and played it in California, too, as well as at the Grand Canyon. Rylee got a Lego set and we're just now trying to put it together, despite some missing pieces. Ry got excited about it once he found out from Nicholas that it was a rare set and it had over 2,000 pieces. I think we could have gotten Karl's help in building it, but we had to get home to find alternative pieces for the ones that were missing.

On the road

As I recall, now a few weeks even later than when I started this post, we hit the road about 3 in the morning and the boys stayed awake for a while until drifting off to sleep on the couch in the back. Cyndi nodded in the chair beside mine in the front while I listened to my ipod. Around Grants, there were signs of the serious blizzard the week before Christmas. We stopped at the usual place in Galllup, where the pumps were frozen and had to be reset by the attendant. In Flagstaff, we grabbed some McD breakfast and gassed up at the Little America. In Kingman, we got some Starbucks and more gas. Cyndi ran into a store for Christmas wrap.

 

Meanwhile, the boys played with their new Skylanders game on the Wii console Jackson hooked up to the tv in the RV. I think by the time the day ended, they reached Level 18.

We didn't stop in Needles or in the Mojave. Somewhere out there, Dad called to measure our progress. In Barstow, after some gas, we were going to look for the original Del Taco but missed it and found ourselves headed to Mojave City. Cyndi was desperate for a bathroom at this point, and I knew there was a couple of gas stations at a junction up ahead in the middle of nowhere. Amazingly, the traffic and the bathroom lines were jammed, a sign of desperation we were sharing with lots of post holiday travelers. In Tehachapi, we had our only good meal on the road and we made a reservation for a room for our return. In Bakersfield, we stopped at the Costco for gas, grapes and hot dogs and salad. The traffic was brutal now. The lanes filled with commuters and travelers, everyone going very fast. It was dark now. The country road to Paso Robles, such a pretty drive in the daylight, was scary. Our final stop for gas before heading up the Salinas Valley, and we were hanging by a thread. We limped into Mom & Dad's, some 19 hours after we began our trip that day.

Everyone was pretty much there when we arrived.  I don't remember Sarah's menu schedule, but there was always plenty of good eating while we were there. On Tuesday morning, I was desperate for a big breakfast, so I took the lead, after some warning, to cook up some eggs along with the spread Mom had set out. It tasted so good and there was enough for many more as we sat around the kitchen. At some point, we borrowed Beth and Gary's car and drove into Monterrey. We stopped first at their skateboard park near the Dennis the Menace park down by the beach to tryout the new Santa skateboards, and then we headed toward the fisherman's wharf.

 

 

We needed this. I missed the smell of the ocean and the dampness. We went to a different place than usual for our clam chowder and sourdough bread. And this time the boys also split a half order of steamed dungeoness crab.

We were joined for a brief walk before heading back for dinner. Mom had her wonderful brisket, and everyone gathered around that evening for some gifts and cookies. The boys played a little on their Wii, always asking for permission first, and played some new games, as well as chess, with Eric and Terra. The next day, before pictures and his wonderful ribs, David took us out on the bay on one of the boats he built.

While the boys played with Roscoe and some cousins, Cyndi had a nice chat with Sandra, and I got caught up with Jennifer and Jacques' life in Valdez and the times they skied with Ariel and Chris up there, with Emily and her experience in South Africa, and with Sarah in her new career phase in Chico. Eric parted with his favorite baseball bat, and his girlfriend joined us for a walk around the pond below the house. I chatted a bit with David, and Beth, and Lisa, but nowhere enough. Mom acted like she didn't see the stain I made, which Sandra helped me to clean. Jackson looked for rocks. He and Ry ran up and down the hill where the lupines grow in spring.

We left around noon on Thursday. It was sad to say goodbye so soon. It was sad, too, that Ariel and Chris couldn't be there and were about to leave Albuquerque for a wedding in Jackson Hole. I'm sure they would have arranged to be in California had I planned our trip earlier. We ended up breaking up the return trip into three days, but the days still felt long. We hit all our gas stops for the most part. We found  the Del Taco in Barstow. It's not the original but it's store no. 1 and it really was pretty good eats, even though not much distinctive to look at. We did our night in Tehachapi. The indoor pool was shut down but we had real beds for the night. After a decent breakfast there, we headed toward the Grand Canyon.

That day felt long again and we were a little under the gun to get into the campground before dark. It wasn't crowded at all, so we drove over to the historic district on the south rim, where we had an okay meal and played some chess, before claiming a spot for the night.

In the morning, after coffee in the RV, showers at the camp-
ground, and breakfast at the Yavapai Lodge, we drove along the south rim toward the east gate, stopping along the way and exploring the Tower.

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We searched in vain in Flagstaff for some more Skylanders, got home after dark, put our things away, and went to bed. It was New Year's Eve. The next day we went to Monroe's for some New Mexican chile.