Today was all about blazing a trail across California as quickly as possible. As much as we would have loved to have stopped and seen lots of sights and friends along the way (Allen, Dorie, Shelley, Lois, Marylynn...) the demands of our trip schedule, hotel reservations, and getting Olga back to work kept us on track. We need to make it to Arkansas by this weekend! And today was about getting Samantha down to Bakersfield to see her best friend Katie who moved from Fillmore to California this year. So even though we would have loved to have stopped to drive the van through a Giant Redwood, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, see Yosemite, and forge onto Los Angeles...sigh...next time I guess...we had to put on the blinders and drive hard today. There were several consolations to the process though! 1) Right after leaving this morning we ran into road construction and had to get off the main highway and drive along the "Avenue of the Giants" and drive through another amazing forest of the majestic redwoods. Olga and I are mesmerized by them! 2) As I mentioned yesterday, my cousin lined up two GREAT hotels for us last night and tonight and by driving intensely today to give Samantha maximum time with Katie, we got into this beautiful hotel early enough to enjoy the wonderful pool and to eat dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen (Tostada Pizza and Greek Pizza - both great!) And lastly 3) When we got into the hotel at about 6pm it was 110 degrees! By the time we went out to dinner it had cooled off to a balmy 101! So it was a great day to be by the pool and to let the hotel pay the a/c bill!
Today after 650 spectacular miles we bid goodbye to scenic Rte. 101 but not before enjoying the incredible sites of the Redwood Coast. What a drive! It was a little dull to be back on freeway driving after hugging the cliffs the past two days. Olga and I LOVED today's scenery, but Anthony announces "Today was kind of boring." That is teenager-ese for "I didn't see Molly all day." To the contrary, I thought today was grand; it concluded with one of my sweetest pleasures in life - when we got back to the hotel late after dinner, the boys and I went out and sat in the jacuzzi. The breeze had finally turned cool. There's hardly anything I enjoy more than that.
Tomorrow we will hang around and enjoy this beautiful hotel again until Samantha gets back around noon, and then we are going to start driving East to Las Vegas. I figured up today that right now we are the furthest from Fillmore that we will be, according to Google we are 2550 miles from home. Tomorrow we head East and begin to get closer to New York again. We will stop by Las Vegas tomorrow evening, just to say we've been there and then drive on down to Grand Canyon where we will spend the day on Thursday. I've uploaded some more pictures onto facebook if you'd like to check them out.
Sure Tim, stop in Vegas "Just to say you've been there" ? tsk, tsk, tsk
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