California Dreamin'

Hey all! We made it to California! We drove 11 hours from Bryce Canyon to Laguna Nigel, CA where my Aunt Fran and Uncle Steve live. What a drive. I gotta say that I do NOT like the desert. The car thermometer read 109 degrees at one point. Our plan was to drive from Bryce to Las Vegas and stay on the outskirts of town somewhere near Vegas, but once we got there it was only about 3:00pm and honestly, I just got a kind of sick feeling in my stomach. Las Vegas is appropriately named "sin city". It's hard to explain my feelings, except that my spirit felt heavy. I didn't like the billboards, I didn't like the gaudiness of the buildings, it was all just dark to me. So we just kept on driving.

Barstow was the next town and it was about a 2 hour drive, but it was in the middle of the desert too, and San Bernadino Valley looked like it was only another hour, so again we kept on driving. Once we got to San Bernadino the smog was really bad! A huge grey cloud hung over the whole area and it just seemed gross, so we kept on driving. By the time we got past that area we were only another hour from my aunt's house, so we just kept on driving. I gave Aunt Fran a call and let her know we were nearby and she graciously took us in a day early. It was a long day, but I'm so glad we kept going straight to my aunt's because it felt great to be with family.

Aunt Fran and Uncle Steve totally spoiled us for 2 days. They took us out to dinner to a place called "Dave and Buster's" which we had never heard of, but it's kind of a high class dinner/video arcade. It was so fun. The kids had a blast, well ok, and so did I! After that they took us for yogurt and we walked around the beautiful outdoor mall complete with a giant ferris wheel and carousel. There were tables with umbrellas and beautiful strings of lights everywhere. Not something we get to experience while shopping in Michigan. We also spent some time at the beach. Chase has only been to the ocean once and he was too young to really remember, so this was really a first for him. I should mention that he loves to read about sharks and watch all the freaky Discovery Channel shows about them, so for months he has said that when we got to California he was NOT going to swim in the ocean. Well that promise was forgotten the moment we stepped on the beach. He was having the time of his life and I've got the pictures to prove it.

He ran right out into the water....

...realized how cold it was and ran back.

This is Aunt Fran, my dad's sister. Sorry Uncle Steve, I meant to get a picture with you, but you were already off to work. We'll have to get you next time! Thanks for showing us such a great time!