We started the journey at Jon's grandparent's place in Concord, CA. We soaked up lovely go-outside-without-a-jacket-on weather, ate delicious food, played games, and enjoyed too much ice cream our first evening with them.
Our second day in Concord we went to church and then drove to Jon's sister's--Mary's--place just an hour or so away. The girls LOVED having Jon to play with! They decorated him with girly dress-up and jumped on the tramp with him while I talked with Mary. I was fun to see their place because we'd never been there before!
Livia and Jane having fun with Uncle Jon:
Livia and Jon:
The next day we left Concord and went to Jon's parent's place in Apple Valley. The drive there was beautiful! The rolling golden hills that California is famous for were, instead, green because of the time of year. It looked like we were driving through Ireland for the first hour of the drive.
Being with Jon's family in Apple Valley was extremely fun! The first night, Perry hooked up the Self's super old game system and we all tried playing Duck Hunt. Surprisingly, Mom got the highest score! It was awesome!
Mom beating us all:
Perry, Jon, and David playing:
On our first full day, Emily and David still had school, and Mom and Dad had work, but Perry was kind enough to take some time off of work, so we spent the day with him. In the morning we went to the Getty Center, an art museum in Los Angles. Highlights there included seeing really old manuscripts, and Monet and Van Gogh paintings. After the museum we drove a bit more into L.A. and walked around the temple grounds, followed by eating at a Lebanese restaurant for lunch. Overall, it was an enjoyable day full of new experiences.
Jon and I with The Getty Center in the background:
The next day, Wednesday, Mom took off work and Emily and David missed school so that we all--including Perry--could go to Knott's Berry Farm! The only other "intense" amusement park I'd ever been to before this was Disneyland when I went with the band in high school. Besides that, Oaks Park in Portland was the highlight of my roller coaster experiences. Oh, that and Lagoon, which I went to last spring with the middle school I was teaching at. The point is--I heard that Knott's was a step above these all, and it did not disappoint. The craziest ride we went on was called The Xcelerator--a ride that goes from sitting still to 82 miles per hour in a mere two seconds! Jon and I were lucky enough to be in the very front seat for this ride. I screamed a lot on all the other roller coasters, but on this one my vocal cords stopped working and my body went into panic/shock mode. The ride was over in less than a minute, and even Jon's very short hair was sticking out everywhere as a result of the wind and the speed. Other great rides were the Silver Bullet and Boomerang.
All of us on a railroad ride:
Jon and I on Supreme Scream, another highlight:
Jon, Snoopy, and I in Camp Snoopy:
Thursday was our chill day. Kind of. The morning was really fun because we worked on chopping off huge, dead branches on a tree in the front yard. We didn't want to figure out how to use the chain saw (and didn't want to break it), so instead we just used a hand saw on these foot-wide branches. What an arm workout! The rest of the day we spent just playing games with everyone and having a fun time. It was a bittersweet evening, being that it was our last night at the house.
The next day we drove back to Grandma and Grandpa's and spent the night. That evening we watched an episode of The Walton's and Little House on the Prairie. Both were good, clean, fun, family-focused, and uplifting! I wish they made shows like that still. I'm old-fashioned, but it's so much easier to feel the Spirit when you're not inviting bad things into your home by displaying them on the TV screen. Once again, we ate lots of treats and huge bowls of ice cream!
Saturday, our last long leg of driving, we made even longer by taking Highway 101 instead of I-5. It was a stunning drive! I loved seeing the green hills covered in the vineyards. Even though I don't drink wine, there is something very pretty and magical looking, seeing rows and rows of vineyards. The whole reason for the longer route, however, wasn't to see the vineyards; it was to see the redwoods! Jon has a thing for loving nature and I happen to love hiking and the outdoors, so this stop was well worth going out of the way for. We hiked a trail about 3 miles long that ended at The Boy Scout Tree, a super massive monument in the form of a tree. According to Jon, they call it The Boy Scout Tree because a bunch of boy scouts found it. Not too original, but still very stunning! Even hiking up to the tree though, the woods were very large and peaceful. We passed a few people, but mostly we were by ourselves, which helped to make it a nice break from the rest of the world.
Jon by The Boy Scout Tree:
Being from Washington, I'm naturally a tree huger:
Jon being goofy:
There were tons of roots covering the trail:
After our redwoods hike we drove the rest of the way to my house and spent the night. After a short five or six hours of sleep, we woke-up and drove straight to church in Tacoma so that we could be there to serve in our ward, and that was it! Our trip was over! But what a nice break from reality it was. I'm beginning to hate these breaks from school because each time I go on one, it's really hard to come back to reality. Regardless, I'd rather have it hard to come back to reality because family life is so good than to have it the other way around. If good in-laws are a sign that God loves you, then I must be one of His favorites!
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