The Sloan's Storm California, Pt. II

The next leg of our trip had us driving to Sequoia National Forrest for a little camping and to see The General, of course! But not before the long, long, loooooong stretch of highway through the Mojave Desert. It was bad people. The RV was beyond hot. I was road sick from standing and walking so much while we were driving. The kids were beside themselves with the fact that we had been driving for 15 hours. It was a poor showing on all of our parts and about the only "good" I can say about this day is that we didn't breakdown, overheat, or blow a tire. All I kept asking Jer was HOW in the world did early settlers cross this desert?! Can you even try to imagine what crossing this stretch of land in a covered wagon with your family would have been like?! Unimaginable, in our opinion. I felt like it was torture going 65 with air conditioning, all the while sipping on a coke from In-N-Out!

Which brings me to my next modern day convenience. The iPad. It saved our sanity more than once this time around. Here are the kiddos circled around Despicable Me while the last minutes of daylight dwindle. Not pictured: Two parents furiously chugging coffee and searching every mind-reserve to come up with things to talk about to keep each other awake. I think we still had 4 more hours of driving to do that night. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

After a four star sleep in Barstow {not!} we hit the road again bright and early with the anticipation of seeing giant redwoods. The excitement proved to be too much for some of the rookies on board.  I can't even remember the last time I held this boy until he fell asleep. Maybe 2010?! Times have changed. This kid is HEAVY! Here is us; him asleep and dreaming of Legos, me silently longing for my white cheddar popcorn stored waaaaaaaaay out of reach.

Finally, around hour twenty-something the scenery began to change. Fruit stands started popping up all over the place and there were orange groves for miles and miles! Our six pack even managed a road side stop for some peaches, strawberries and cherries. It was Jer's attempt at a morale boost. Seriously, the drive time was threatening to do us all in!

Meanwhile, back in the RV for the last bit of our haul, I pulled out every trick in the book to keep the kids busy. Books, coloring, and Play-doh. I absolutely loved Abe and Ben's creations! 

Abe's duck

Ben's frog

At last we arrived at our campground. Sadly, these are the *only* two pictures I have of our stay. They were taken while we were waiting for our food at a little restaurant beside the river.

Long story short, we drove up to the Sequoia park entry only to be turned away because our RV was too long. Ten feet too long, to be exact. To make matters worse, the nearest entry our RV would be able to access was hours away and the nearest rental car shop was closed, as well. We looked into guided tours-closed for out of season. We looked into hiking it-out of the question. We even asked a college student if we could rent her Honda Civic (HA!) for the day. Three guesses what her answer was! As you can imagine, it was disheartening to have come all that way only to have no way to actually make it in to the park. There were tears and not from the kids or Jeremy. However, the Lord took such good care of us, giving us a much needed night of rest and some down time in such a beautiful place. It was a gift we didn't even know we needed. As an added bonus, just a few hours in to our stay, our boys met up with a pack of kids who were inner tubing down the river. After some good ol' fashion rock climbing and jumping off into the swimming hole, they all became the greatest of friends and we could hardly keep track of them after that. As for Jer and I, well, we made friends too. After someone's little girl roasted a dead rat over our neighbor's campfire (true story!), the sweet couple from San Diego was more than eager to combine firepits, talk about life and kids, and manage a s'more or two, as well. 
 

It still makes me smile thinking back on how filthy our kids were at the end of the night. Scooters, swimming, tad pole catching, running barefoot through the campground, bug spray, s'mores. You get the picture. But the smiles on their faces? Best ever. Obviously it was a moment meant for capturing right there in the minute and no where else. But picture it. Clanky air conditioning running. Clothes reeking of campfire smoke. Kids laid out on any soft spot to be found. Feet and faces dirty and the feeling that vacation is just starting to unfurl. Pure bliss. It's probably best that we didn't get in to that national park after all. Those redwood giants would have paled in comparison to what I saw that night.

 

The Sloan's Storm California

Not gonna lie. It is a little hard to believe that just a little over a week ago, we were sitting on the beach in Cali trying to figure out the hardest decision of our day...where to eat dinner. And yet tonight I sit on the couch in my living room wondering who's gonna do all this laundry and when (oh when!) we're finally gonna get the RV unpacked. As if we weren't crazy enough the first time, Jer and I decided yet again to pack up the kids and the coffee pot and this time head west. This go-round found us RV living for sixteen days all along the Pacific Coast. We went as north as San Francisco and as south as San Diego and we did it all in approximately 400 square feet and with a small fortune in gas money. Ride along with us? 

Home, sweet home

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I'm not entirely sure what had us wanting to take our kids to see the Pacific coast but Jer and I sat down in the fall and started planning out just what all California might hold for our family. Mountains, beaches, touristy things, seafood, warm weather, and some dear family were just a few of the things that beckoned us. We decided on May, hoping to miss the crowds and to round out our homeschool year with a little of what we call in these parts, "school of life." We left on a Friday morning with our cabinets full of snacks, an arsenal of clean underwear, and a wee-bit anxious momma who was not quite sure she had remembered to pack it all.

Our first stop found us in Williams, Arizona. Even though Jeremy and I have lived well within a day's drive of the Grand Canyon all of our lives, neither of us have never been there. A shame? We thought so. So we made the slight detour and decided to find out what we've been missing all these years. Finally pulling in mid-afternoon, we swam our children at the RV park until their bellies rumbled with hunger and pool water. Then we walked them until we arrived at the most glorious BBQ honky-tonk joint I have ever seen in my whole life. It was on the old Route 66 and it had stuffed and mounted animals, pool tables and a juke box. It had wooden floors and a waitress who called you darlin'. But beyond that, it had a hamburger topped with pulled pork,  horseradish cole-slaw, AND FRENCH FRIES. It was entirely over indulgent and it was DI-VINE. And one of us {not me} might have even made ours a double. Woof! We spent the remainder of our evening stuffing ourselves and forgetting about the day's fits and hot drive and then miraculously, everyone slept. In.their.own.beds. Glory, hallelujah!

Saturday morning is when we actually made it to the park. Between the heat and the crowds, we figured early and rested was our best shot at walking the rim. Can I just confess that I was a BASKET CASE? Like in the sweating hands, stomach in knots, hot mess sort of way. The boys were psyched and I was convinced their enthusiasm would lend to a long, long, looooooong fall complete with dramatic mother-esque screaming. Obviously, after the fact, none were lost to the Canyon but taking four little people hiking along the Canyon rim with NO RAILING ranks up there with my list of things I am now glad are over. As for actually seeing the GC, though? Beautiful. And oddly fake looking. It's weird. You can tell that what you see immediately in front of you is real but the rocks in the back sort of just look like someone hung a backdrop with a picture screen printed on it. 

 

The Great RV Trip, Part II

Next up was one of the longer stretches of our drive.

It was only about 8 hours in theory but a host of things, like a Texas size rainstorm that lasted for about 2 1/2 hours of the drive {that had us keeping about 55-60mph} and an impromptu stop for dinner in Ozona, TX at a Dairy Queen that was literally the only.thing.open and filled to the BRIM hunters from opening day of deer season, held us up a little longer than expected. Since the kids were tucked in fast asleep for most of this drive, it was only Jer and I who were worse-for-wear by the time we finally arrived in San Antonio. The time that they were awake, though, found us filling out postcards, listening to some Greg and Steve, and learning about the state we were in. 

In a total a-ha! moment, right before we left, I hit up the library for an arsenal of books, books on states, books on CD, and some kid friendly road trip CD's. It was a hit! Everything was free, new to all of us, and provided lots opportunity to keep those busy bodies still. Highlight: painting Texas Blue Bells while driving through Texas. Lowlight: Singing The Number Rock approximately 234 times. Highlight: Everyone can count to twenty in their sleep. Lowlight: Not sleeping because The Number Rock won't stop playing through your head.

As for Grace, when she wasn't napping she enjoyed sitting in her high chair and watching most of the action. She also enjoyed the occasional marker that rolled her way and grabbing at the edges of an unguarded picture.

Once we rolled in, found a place to park, and changed to summer clothes, we hit the streets of downtown San Antonio. First stop, The Alamo! The fact that it was lunchtime, that it was hot, and that it was busy did not brood well for our clan. We did a little bit of reading {i.e. this momma tried to tour in about 6 1/2 minutes while the boys chased squirrels in what was most definitely zoned off grass} and then we moved on to the Riverwalk.

Again, busy, hot, and hungry made navigating our three man stroller through the narrow and uneven walkway a bit of a challenge. However, we soon found a restaurant and enjoyed an incredibly leisurely lunch, river side. Abe even did a photo shoot, sans help, while we ate. Here's what he captured...

And although our time in San Antonio was just long enough fill our bellies with some Tex-Mex and a quick cup of ice cream, it was time again to load up and start driving. After all we had plans {BIG plans} come Monday.

And they involved being in Louisiana!

 

The Great RV Trip-Carlsbad Caverns

A couple of weeks ago, our six pack loaded up just about everything in our house that wasn't nailed down and started the 16 day and 4300 mile round trip trek to Lake Charles, Florida. Besides the obvious {and numerous} reasons for not wanting to fly with four children, four and under, Jer and I thought why not let some people from other states comment on the number and ages of our children make some memories and take our brood to see some cities and sights that they might not otherwise get to {like Breaux Bridge, LA!}. So after months of Googling the best tourist traps, the greasiest hole-in-the-wall diners, and least ex-convict ridden RV parks, we grabbed the coffee pot and a whole lotta gas money and hit the road. First stop...Carlsbad Caverns in Carlsbad, NM.

The first night found us tired, hungry, and with the intent of "boondocking" or camping for free in a Wal-Mart parking lot. 

That lasted about 2.4 seconds.

Besides sounding like the Indy 500 right outside our door, the parking lot was bright as mid-day and it was about 82 degrees inside our RV. Insert crying  wife children and Jer decided to high tail it out of there and to the nearest spot with 30 watt hook ups. Best $42.00 investment ever. Turns out a little air conditioning and electricity makes everyone feel a little less...hysterical.

Seeing how once one person turns over in their bed, the entire RV is up, we hit the trail bright and early. Believe it or not, this was actually my number one pick for our trip! I love the caverns and I couldn't wait to take the boys...until we hit about this point in the hike. Small, wiggly, clumsy offspring < big, black gaping hole.

Turns out the Lord had more in store for me at this little stop than some stalactites and stalagmites.

But once we were inside, it was an absolute treat to share with the boys that the same God who heard my prayers for our family's safety on our way down, was the One who carved this vast cave by telling each drop of water where to go. 

Breathtaking.

 For the majority, anyway. 

Despite the copious amounts of sweaty, "Don't you dare let go!" hand holding, the boys loved the cave and hiked the ENTIRE thing. Although, I think the postcards from the gift shop were equally exhilarating! 

And because they just did so well...geode's and icee's for all.

Grasshopper learning the art of slow icee slurping. Can you say, brainfreeze?

Next stop...San Antonio, Texas!

 

Jemez Fun

{Excuse the formatting disaster. Blogger must not like all my pictures!}
Does anyone else remember going camping as a kid and FREEZING in your tent? How bout' waking up at 5:45 because you laid there most of the night {shivering} and you're ready to just be done with the rustling that you hear every 2.5 seconds and the dew that comes through the tent wall every single time you inadvertently touch it? Maybe trembling with a slight case of hypothermia while your dad makes the fire in the day's first light and dreaming of 10 am when you will finally be able to feel your toes again? Seems like the staple camping experience, huh? My children, however, have not yet had to "rough it." Instead they have gone camping with my dad and us and it has only ever been in an RV. So instead of the proper love/hate relationship that most of us tent campers have, they instead think camping is AWESOME and are forever walking around scratching their heads as to why we don't just do it every day. Wonder why?!

In all fairness though, I doubt we would ever be camping without an RV. Four small kids and a wet and freezing tent? Pass.
 

RV or not, we did have a fantastic time! Once we actually found a place to camp, we were right next to a stream where the boys could fish and swim and throw rocks. I think it'd be safe to say that they spent 85% percent of the time in the water but most of it was by accident. That made things interesting considering we only brought them one pair of shoes. {Can you say, parenting fail?!} But it was wonderfully cool and it rained and the lax schedule felt rather indulgent if I do say so myself. We enjoyed smore's and a camp fire and hikes and stars-but honestly, it was all stuff we have here right at home! We laughed over and over about how we spent our time and money to go do something we could have done right here in our own back yard. Nevertheless, good memories were made and we gained a little insight for our upcoming two week Gulf Coast tour.