Road Trip!

Growing up, my family never really went on a road trip. Getting from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe was about the most we did. And that was fine. What kids enjoy sitting in a car for hours on end? Well, it turns out that mine don't mind it all that much, as long as there's a good audio book for everyone to listen to, we're all pretty happy.

Back in June, when Mam was still finishing up her travel softball season, I started feeling a little antsy about having so few plans for the summer. I'd tried to book the kids in as much camp as I could stomach, just so I could go to work. But summer shouldn't be about work. We should be able to do something awesome. They should have something to write about when they returned to school and had to write the latest installment of What I Did on my Summer Vacation. And I needed to indulge my sense of adventure, at least a little.

So, on August 10th at 5:30 in the morning, I packed the coolers, stuffed them in the mommymobile with a ton of other stuff that I'd packed the day before and we set out for Rose's Donuts and Cafe...a mere 15 minutes away at that hour of the day.

It didn't look like this. For starters, the sky was dark and the place was empty. We were the line for donuts and we could have whatever the heck we wanted. Yummm. I don't indulge in donuts often, but it was a nice start to a long day. Donuts and coffee. Of course, coffee.

And then we drove South. And then East. And finally, around 2 in the afternoon, we reached Mojave National Preserve.

It was hot, but not as hot as it could have been in the middle of the desert in mid-August. I whipped out the smallest cooler and made everyone sandwiches. I'd been a little worried about camping here in the middle of the desert. You couldn't reserve campsites. It was first-come-first served.

We were second to arrive at Hole-in-the-Wall Campground that day...a campground with more than 35 campsites. Camping? No problem. The kids found the only available shade alongside the minivan and dug into their lunches.

We paid for our campsite. We went to the little visitor's center for a moment and then took a little hike, climbing down the holey rocks

(with iron rings implanted in them for such adventures)and wandering through the open desert. It was hot and beautiful.

When we got back, we went for a little drive to see Kelso Dunes and the other side of the park. I'd misjudged just how big this park is...and how lousy some of the dirt roads are. It was a neat drive with views of rocky mountaintops, Joshua trees and sand dunes,

but it was also near dark when we rolled back into our campsite.

Fortunately, I'd planned ahead for something like this and although I'd scheduled us for a stirfry dinner, everything was in the cooler, cut up and ready to go. The only thing I hadn't really planned on was the volume of moths in the desert. There are moths of every size and shape. Some of them are plain enormous and all of them are, stereotypically, attracted to light. So it was hard to keep them at a distance. They crowded around the lantern, flew into the camp stove and doubtlessly into our food. Who doesn't like a little moth stirfry?

At one point, Smunch said excitedly that a BAT had landed on the side of our table. That seemed a little strange, but I went around to look. Wow. There was a tiny bat hanging on the side of the table. But then, on further inspection, it wasn't a bat after all. It did look like a bat, but it was just another huge bat-colored moth.

A little kangaroo rat peered over the edge of our campsite, just to see if our meal looked interesting.

Smunch and I set up the tent. I'm not sure why. Mam slept outside and seemed perfectly comfortable. The campground filled up a little as evening fell and at one point, an anonymous neighbor told us there was going to be a meteor show that night. How cool. A meteor shower would be awesome in the desert. But I'd gotten up at 4:30am. The meteors wouldn't show up until midnight. Not happening. Oh well...

Still, I've spent very little time in the California desert and I was happy to be there...away from everything, with two of my favorite people.

We were up early the next morning, shoving everything back in the van and on our way to greater adventures...

An a-ha Moment

Last weekend, I took a little trip to a not-so-little city a ways south of here. In a rare instance of independence, I went without any of my family. And although I took this photo while I was there, it's not what you'd think.There was no baseball involved.

See, I've got some really old friends. Well, I mean, they're not old. They're younger than I am, but I've got a good friend from pre-school who I still hang out with from time to time and one from kindergarten. I've written about these girls before. But I digress.

My best bud from kindergarten e-mailed me a few months ago to ask if I'd like to go see one of the iconic bands from our high school days in their farewell tour...in Los Angeles...in May. Her treat, she said. Well, sure! Well, better ask the husband. What date was that again? May 16th? Oooooooh... You mean the anniversary of that day when you were the maid of honor in my wedding? How do I even bring this up with the husband?

Now, I've been married for 11 years and I know my husband pretty well. He's a nice guy. And he's always supportive of things I want to do for myself. He was, I suspect, a lot more understanding of this situation than I would have been, had the roles been reversed. I felt horribly guilty for even asking if I could abandon him with the kids on our anniversary, but a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see a band I'd loved, but never seen, for the last possible time with one of my dearest friends? There would be other anniversaries, right? Eeek.

My husband does not get resentful about things like this. I'm so very, very lucky. Because I went. And it was so awesome that the high is only just wearing off. (And no, there weren't drugs involved.)

I learned a lot of things on this trip.

1. Although L.A. intimidates me in general, the financial district is pretty darned tame...especially on a Sunday. 2. That funny Scandinavian cell phone company builds some pretty kick-ass concert venues.3. A long road trip with a good girlfriend isn't really so long at all. (A lot shorter, in fact, than a long road trip with two quarrelsome children.)4. Not all pop-rockstars from the 80s age poorly. At least not those from Norway.5. The addition of a far-larger-than-life chameleon as a backdrop adds very little to concert atmosphere.6. If, as a teenager, you loved your music like some kind of alternate religion, you never ever forget the lyrics and the nostalgia is almost unbearable.

7. It sucks to be reminded of how much you loved a particular band right when they're going away. And hard to fathom that it's been 25 years.8. Some concert venues have given up entirely on keeping out cameras. I guess they figure they can't keep out the cell phones...oh, the irony if Club Nokia banned cell phones. If you need a blast from the 80s past, I'm including one of their songs. If you were alive, and particularly in high school, during the 80s, you already know it. If you were a fan of more classic rock, you'll doubtlessly want to skip it. Apologies for the pretty crappy sound quality, which varies because, as I discovered, the microphone on my camera is on the top. I also think it picked up the audience singing more than the band here and there. In real life, they sounded great and the lead singer could still hit all the high notes. Hopefully, those horribly out of tune warbly notes aren't me!


9. I'm not actually a teenager anymore. The long roadtrip and unfamiliar bed with no husband to snuggle up to took more wind out of my sails than I anticipated.

10. Every stay-at-home mom should have a husband so awesome that he comes home shortly after lunch, just so you can take a really, really long nap...even though your kid was too sick for school on Monday and he had to take the whole day off just for that.

When opportunities like this one come up, I should jump at them more often than not. I had so much fun reliving a tiny piece of my life with someone else who was there for it.

I am so grateful for the opportunity.

Fun Without Kids

On the whole, my life is about my kids. So, it's hardly surprising that most of my blog posts are about them or something I'm doing in relation to them. The real surprise is that as soon as Smunch was done with Author's Breakfast and Mam had walked confidently out of preschool for the last time, Daddy and I dropped the kids off with my parents and left for the weekend for our very aforementioned anniversary.I understand that for some people, this wouldn't be a really big deal, but for us? This was HUGE! It's not that we're paranoid parents, afraid to leave our children for more than an evening. It's that we have no one to leave them with. In the seven years since Smunch was born, my parents, who are quite local, have never offered to take the kids for more than several hours. So, you can imagine we were eager to take them up on the first ever offer to keep them for a weekend. And after having to reschedule for the principal's rescheduled retirement celebration, I really couldn't wait to leave.We went to one of our favorite coastal destinations where we haven't been since having kids. For just a moment, we were able to kinda, sorta, almost forget we even had children and all the responsibility that comes with them. We may have also forgotten there is a limit on our credit card...which is particularly weird considering how cheap I normally am. It was sort of a weekend of throwing all those responsibilities to the wind. We had trendy cocktails, fantastic food, good wine and added to our collection of dinnerware. Romantic, huh? I was also treated to an addition to my jewelry collection. Much more romantic. The weather was incredible, so the views were awesome. We had a terrific view of the sunset from the big deck of our not-so-big room.I took about 500 photos, literally. That means I got some really beautiful ones. Including these ones from our hike on Saturday. If you can't get enough of those, there are lots and lots more available in our web gallery.

It was hard to want to check out of the hotel and head home on Sunday. We did a little more shopping (ouch!) and finally made it down to the beach for what I was hoping would be a nice stroll on the sand before going home. But we never got to the sand. I got captivated by the tidepools for a few minutes and then totally mesmerized by these guys (not a postcard, honest!): who were frolicking in the surf and trying unsuccessfully to wrap themselves in sea grass. Before we knew it, we were already late for getting home and had to call the parents to apologize for being distracted by sea otters. Fortunately, this is something they understand.

Going back to regular ol' life this week has been hard. It's amazing how a restful weekend can be drained right out of you within 24 hours. And, I've got to say that while I'm absolutely nuts about my kids, it was awfully nice to leave them behind for a a couple of days. I didn't really miss them, even though I loved seeing them again. Hope we're not looking like this before we get another opportunity to go somewhere on our own for the weekend... although if we don't get that chance, I sure hope we're still that happy together.

Some Great Reward

I was all prepared to write a sweet little story about the big surprise we put together for Smunch yesterday for all his good behavior during the week...and because Mommy really wanted to see "The Big Unit" sometime before he retired. But now I'm grouchy and obviously in a Depeche Mode-y kind of mood. I'll have to vent just a little before getting into any sweet stories.

You see, today, Smunch was an absolute nightmare. And, yes, that's mostly relative. It all depends on your tolerance for fake burping contests and threats to blow up his little sister. I didn't have that much patience, but I was hanging in there. When the fighting erupted in the back room, I told myself to just let them work it out on their own. I shouldn't have to interfere all the time. Duh. I don't know why I tell myself things like that. I know how it always turns out. It involves blood and screaming and requires a trip to the ER and stitches. Today, I got lucky. It only required a BandAid to the finger. But that was enough. I lost it and Smunch lost a weeks-worth of his precious daily baseball cards. I'm quite certain Mam was asking for it, but he threw one of his blocks at her...again. Last time, that resulted in stitches in the middle of her face. He got lucky this time too.

Alrighty. I'm done.

Yesterday, I finally talked Daddy, who had never been to a Major League Baseball game in his life, into taking Smunch to his first real baseball game. I'd mentioned the possibility to my parents, but they were still very gracious about skipping church to take Mam for the day while Daddy and I took Smunch to catch the train to the City. We told Smunch we were going to take a trip to the top of a mountain for a special treat. For some reason, this sounded believable to him.

In our life, the City is San Francisco and the local team is the Giants. It was a game day, so the train was packed. And, not surprisingly, it was packed with people in Giants hats, jerseys, jackets, whatever. Somehow, that didn't faze Smunch in the least. He was still convinced we were climbing a mountain.

We got off the train and walked over to the ballpark. The game was just starting and Smunch could hear the announcement for the starting pitcher for the Giants. (He already knew who was pitching of course. He'd read the Sports section of the paper.) Still no glimmer that we'd been fibbing the whole time.

Daddy walked up to see if we could get tickets...because yeah, we were silly enough just to go up there with no tickets. I'm old timey that way. I hate to pay service fees for something I could possibly fail to get after an hour-long ride to the park.

I had Smunch stand with me on the sidewalk while Daddy was at the window. It was coming. I could feel it. Smunch could still hear the game inside the park. "Can we see the game?" his sweet little voice asked?

"Oh," I said. "I don't know. I don't think that would be a very good special treat."

"I would!" he implored.

"Well, see Daddy? Where is he?"

"Getting tickets??"

"Yes, that's the ticket window. I don't know if we're going to be able to get tickets. If he walks away from the window with nothing, we won't be able to go, but if he walks away with tickets, then you're going to see the game."

He could hardly contain his excitement, especially when he overheard Daddy say "three" to the woman at the counter. I thought he might spontaneously combust when Daddy walked away from the window with tickets. Smunch's feet were barely touching the ground. And I think Daddy got the biggest hug ever!

And I? I got to see The Big Unit, aka Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks, in real life, showing just why he's headed for the Hall of Fame, even though he's now 44 years old. I've always been amazed by this guy...the tallest player in Major League Baseball at 6'10"...and it was cool to see him pitch. And I'd never been to AT&T Park, so that was fun too. It was a lovely, only-partly-foggy day and we had the pricey "View" seats. That's the nice way of saying "nosebleed" and "pricey" still means they were some of the cheapest tickets in the house.In the end, it wasn't a great game if you were rooting for the Giants. See that display between the two levels? That first 7? That's the inning. The second two numbers are the score. The Giants were the ones who hadn't scored at all. They scored a couple of runs before the end, but didn't make a show of being competitive. At least Smunch got a hot dog and some Haagen Dazs and I caught this lovely view before we left...I think our little Smunch really, truly had one of his best days ever. He had a great time...as he explains in this short video.Too bad it clearly took all the sweet, enthusiastic little boy right out of him!

Tidbits

It's been a little while since I managed to log anything, so I'll be doing this while trying not to sprint to the back of the house and find out just what all the gleeful screaming is about. I don't want to know. I know I don't.

I've learned a few things in the past week or so that you just might find handy, so I thought I'd share.

1. If you ask nicely and the guy has hope of making a sale, yes, a BMW dealer will let you borrow a car for the weekend...even if you tell him you're taking it to Fresno.


2. When planning a birthday celebration, do not invite all your high-faluting rich, conservative friends AND your down-to-earth brother who had to fly in from uber-liberal nowhere, Illinois. It wasn't ugly, but it sure was weird.


3. Claiming an urgent need to go letterboxing with your 3-year-old is an acceptable way to exit a weird party quickly.


4. One night on a bad, lumpy mattress can make you miserable for days...long past when you've recovered from your daughter getting up and jumping on her inflatable bed (in the same room) at 3a.m.


5. Nothing is quite as priceless as departing for a road trip at bedtime, kids clad in pajamas, and having them sleep almost the entire way home.