Day 3 - Driving in Death Valley

I woke up bright and early at 5 am to do some laundry.  We are not seasoned travelers, like Steve, and we clearly pack and wear too many clothes!  With laundry done, we got a slow start to the day.  The thought of driving almost 800 miles in a day was not very enticing.  Our first stop was to have lunch at a little diner in Ridgecrest, CA.  It is a small town in the middle of nowhere but they seemed to have all the necessities - Walmart, Carl's Junior, Gas (at $4.17 a gallon).  

"We're starving and happy about it"

Searching for more snacks

We loaded up and traveled to Furnace Creek in Death Valley.  It was a destitute place at 117 degrees.  There was a single gas station charging $5.46 a gallon.  Thankfully we did not have to get gas!  The kids tried to come up with road games but "I Spy" did not last very long.  It went something like this:  
"I spy something brown",
"a rock",
"be more specific"

We stopped at the visitor center and the boys did a 1 mile run (to say they could) while us girls browsed the display. 

"I'm covering my eyes because Ariel said you shouldn't get out of the car without sunglasses!"

From there, we drove up to Dante's View.  Furnace Creek was at sea level and Dante's View is overlooking Death Valley at 5000 feet.  It was an amazing view but the drive was "not worth it".  Everyone else thought differently.  

Panorama of the valley below

Our final drive for the day was to Las Vegas, Nevada.  We drove up and down the strip at a snail's pace trying to take in all the activity.  It was a totally different experience than what we saw all day. 

Guitar for Clarke

A little blurry

The kids squished in the back seat to get the best view of the strip

Day 2 - Crazy Roads

We were up and leaving the hotel in Arcata, California a bit late at 8am.  It was a little overcast and the hotel staff were complaining about the lack of sunshine but, we were thankful for the coolness of the morning.  Our first destination was the redwoods and the drive through tree.  The drive was beautiful!

Steve almost died taking this picture by laying in the road

See what I mean?

When we got to the drive through tree, we were a bit disappointed.  Yelp gave it great reviews but it was definitely a bummer!  The gift shop along with the bathrooms never opened.  The park was tiny and the drive through tree was not big enough for our car and it was held together by wires.  Clarke thought it looked fake.  We had fun running around and poking our heads through the windows of the tiny tree house and posing with the carved animals, though.

Jaz took the picture

After locating a bathroom, we decided to add a stop Steve discovered online called glass beach.  It is located in Fort Brag, California.  In the early 20th century people would discard household trash such as glass, appliances and even vehicles.  The city cleaned it up a bit and along with the ocean, it is no longer a smelly dumping ground.  The sand however, is covered with shards of smooth glass and pottery.  The drawback to visiting this beach is that it is located off Hwy 1 in California.  As we began the journey this is what we saw:

The road was not just a little curvy, but the most ridiculous road ever!  When we finally arrived at glass beach, our first look was pure disappointment.  From above, the beach just looks like plain little rocks and bits of debris.  We were ready to give up but the kids decided to climb down the small cliff to check it out.  Up close, all the "debris" were shards of glass.  It was beautiful.  We all sat and sifted through the glass finding treasures.

Traveling to and from glass beach took us a little longer than planned so we arrived at our "lunch" destination at 4:00.  It was a very tasty authentic Mexican restaurant locally owned in Santa Rosa.  

A few blocks from the restaurant was a pretty amazing tower made of bicycle parts.

Our next destination was San Francisco. We planned to walk around and ride the public transportation but decided to just drive a bit and see the sights.  The golden gate bridge always looks bigger in person, I think. We took this picture at Battery Spencer overlooking the bay.

Steve really wanted to drive down Lombard street.  The traffic, hills, and curves were an overwhelming challenge and I was ready for the vehicle to stop moving.

Our stop for the night was located in Merced, California.  Arriving at 10pm, we were all ready for bed!

Day One - Oregon Coast

After a hearty hotel breakfast we loaded up and headed off down the coast of Oregon.  We decided to name the rental the "suv" since we kept calling it the van and it really needed a name.

(Picture to be added later)

It was a beautiful day at the beach.  Our first stop was in Florence at the sand dunes.  The kids spent a few hours sand boarding while Steve got in a "goodbye" visit with his dad.

"Here, let me help you!"

After lunch at Subway we continued on our way to Umpqua River Lighthouse.  When Ariel and I did the lighthouse tour after her graduation, we decided it was our favorite.  They have a museum by the lighthouse with some fun displays.

"This would make a perfect breakfast nook table!"

I think it is my favorite because it is so beautiful on the inside.  It is the only Oregon lighthouse with red glass.

Continuing down the coast we "danced" at the border of California and made a final stop at the largest totem pole in the world.  It stands 160 feet  tall and is made with 500 year old redwood.

Goodbye

"How fortunate we are to have friends that are so hard to say goodbye to"

It was the last day of packing for the movers, the day we signed papers to purchase our home in Arkansas and the day we said goodbye to dear friends and family.  It was an emotional day, to say the least.  We tried to say "see you soon" but many times the words got stuck in our throats.  We let ourselves feel the loss of close friendships for today in the hopes that we can look ahead to tomorrow.

As we began our journey, we needed "road fuel":

 Don't worry, in addition to the $55 in candy, chips and pop, we purchased a banana :)

Our first stop for the road trip was one of our favorite restaurants, Arctic Circle.  For those of you who do not know, Steve and I met while working at Arctic Circle many years ago.

To end our day, we got to walk on the beach and watch a beautiful sunset.  One of my favorite places on earth, Newport.

Just a little bit o' stress...

It has been a crazy, busy, emotional, and fun week.  The open house on Saturday was amazing!  It was fun to see friends and visit with family.  We moved furniture, celebrated Father's Day, and said goodbye to close friends on Sunday.  When the tears started, it was difficult to stop!  We did everything I could think of to prepare for today - the first day of packing.  It started bright and early. At 7:30am a HUGE moving truck with two very nice men arrived...

Huge Truck!

We were pretty much ready for them although we thought the arrive time was between 8 and 10 so we were just finishing showers.  We started throwing things in the van at a frantic pace so it would not get devoured in the packing process.  After the guys settled into packing, Ariel treated Jazmyn and I to manicures and pedicures (our first ever!).  It was nice to get away from the house for a few hours.  Then, lunch happened...

Lunch

Packing continued as the kids tried to get some last minute time with their friends and a few zzzzzzz's ...

Tired Boys

After 10 hours, the moving guys left for the evening.  They really put in a long, hard day.  They promised to show up again tomorrow at 7:30am (yah!) with additional help.  Apparently, we have a lot of stuff and our van will not fit on the truck.  It will have to be transported separately.  It's a little glitch we were not anticipating...probably the first of many.  We are learning to roll with the punches.

Kitchen

Basement

The Route

Steve is "home" for the final time.  It's a sure sign that the move is coming!  The packers come in 4 days.  Ariel made the quilt pictured below.  When they finally convinced me to do a road trip for the move, I knew Ariel was the right person to plan the trip.  She loves the details of planning.  I think this trip proved a bit challenging for her.  She tried to pack a lot of fun in for everyone!  Clarke is in charge of music for the trip, Blake is in charge of food and restaurant planning, and Jaz...she wants to be in charge of the shower schedule :) Steve will be in charge of crazy antics and I will be there to see it all!  Anyway, back to the quilt - Obviously it is a map of the United States.  

The picture below shows our route from Oregon to Arkansas.  If you look closely there is a white thread.  The buttons represent our stops for the night.  To get an enlarged view, just click on the picture.  No, you are not seeing things...we drive down the coast to San Francisco, over to Arizona, up to Montana, through South Dakota, and then drop down into Arkansas.  It is not even close to a direct route.  At about 4400 miles, we will visit 18 states and see lots of awesome sights!  Many are predicting that we will give up our route at some point and just head for Arkansas but I suppose it all depends on how the trip goes.  We are not hard nose about the route and schedule, we just want to have an amazing time together on our journey!

Busy Work - Furniture Finished

Trying to keep busy around here.  I should be making plans for the "going away" party.  It was suppose to be a easy open house for friends.  Instead, my cute children invited 600 facebook friends!  I am sure they won't all show up, right?!  Anyway, I decided that finishing the desk and dresser was a better use of my time. 

I am pretty happy with the final look of the desk.  It used to be sky blue with some detail around the top edge.  I like the clean look of the white.  I decided to tape off the top and do a border with grey paint to match the knobs.  For the drawers, I found some a piece of scrapbook paper that was a stencil design.  I set it on the drawer front and sponge painted it, removed the stencil, and let it dry.  It did not come out perfectly but I like the variation.  

I am not as excited about the dresser but I just couldn't come up with a better design idea.  I think it will work well in our new home as a second dresser for the master bedroom.  Maybe I will let my husband have it in his closet since I have taken over almost all the drawers of our other dresser.