Okay so I don’t have 12 kids, but it felt like it. Okay deep cleansing breath in, slowly exhale…..
I tried so hard not to pack a lot, I really did. but i failed. miserably. so four people and enough luggage for 12 people drove drove drove all the way to smoky california to see mickey mouse and high school buddies. our first night, we stayed in albuquerque? new mexico. too tired to spell check. will probably suggest i change to “albatross”. it always does that to me. you know, suggest i change to some crazy obscure word. anyways, we really had fun – disneyland was so magical and fun and no one threw up (although i wanted to) and my kids got to learn all about other people and piercings and tattoos since everyone at disneyland including grandmas seemed to have one or both. gracie made me promise i would never color my hair purple. i told her i couldn’t promise that, as one never knows what one may do when one turns 40, which is coming soon. then we spent time with my cousin and her family near magic mountain (which is neither magical nor a mountain) and then we drove the 5 hours up to rocklin, near sacramento, to stay with georgie, my dear friend since 9th grade. we had so much fun talking and watching our children play (and fight). i have decided that maybe my kids aren’t as physical as they should be. everyone’s kids want to sword fight. mine would rather sit and play barbies and sing. which is great, because i rarely have to get on to them, but when they are around other kids, they just don’t know how to act. hm. wonder where they get that from…
i love northern california – if i had my way i would move there in a heartbeat. so many things to do, places to eat and shop – nearly every street has a sidewalk AND a bike lane! jim said “everyone here has a nice car!” i couldn’t bear to tell him its because you aren’t able to pass the smog tests on older cars (without lots of $$ to convert it). and everything costs so much there. we were in a very nice home which was for sale for $450,000. would have sold for $225,000 here, probably. everyone talked about what a great deal that was. we were stunned. its very hard for a mom to stay home there, without making huge sacrifices.
the sky was smoky the entire time we were there, because of all the wildfires burning everywhere. 800 plus fires at one time. but, it was nice to show my family where i was born,where i went to kindergarten, high school, where i got into my first car accident, where i played little league, where i broke my arm, all that stuff. then i went out to dinner with 5 friends from high school – everyone looks so great, and no one looks 40, i’m glad to report! We all get along so well, it was just lots of laughs and story telling and updating and hugs and tears. we all turned out pretty well, i must say. i keep trying to convince them to come visit me, but the promise of taking them to walmart didn’t seem to lure anyone. its amazing what everyone’s picture of arkansas is. and its amazing what they think of california here. neither is correct, and i think we need a foreign exchange program to bridge the gap. i’ll go first.
we left california and georgie, even though i didn’t want to, and cried and cried for an hour. my husband tried to make me feel better by promising i could fly out alone sometime and visit and shop to my heart’s content soon, but it didn’t help. we went to south lake tahoe, which was beautiful, and decided that would be next year’s vacation destination. its just 90 minutes from rocklin, so, still trying to placate me, jim said i could invite all my friends to chip in for cabins and we could all stay together up there. we’ll see – they’re all making payments on $450,000 houses, mind you….
california- no tax on food, pedestrian friendly, health-minded, beautiful nearby fun spots, every store you can imagine, excellent weather, good friends, new cars (threw that in there for the hub), (gasp! did i say hub? trish!!!), great food.
arkansas – affordable housing & utilities & car registration renewals, mama deen’s and various other culinary delights, neighbors that are 30 feet away, rather than 5, great churches, occasional snow, lightning bugs, craft fairs, funnel cakes, prayer, eureka springs, frozen custard, high school football.
Oh yeah the vacation story. right. Well, we left Nevada and drove through Utah, and then Wyoming, where we stayed the night. Wyoming is beautiful, I really would like to explore it someday. Then we drove down into Colorado, then across Kansas (and i thought arkansas was bad) (sorry, kansans? kansanites? kansassians?) into good old neighboring Oklahoma and into Arkansas during – what else?- a terrible thunder storm. Welcome home, us.
