Canadian Bypass

We left Aunt Charlotte's in Livonia, MI this morning about 10:00
headed for Niagara Falls. I thought we would go through the Windsor
Tunnel out of downtown Detroit, but Tomtom said it was faster to go
north to Port Huron, MI and cross to Canada that way.

We loved traversing north of Lake Erie via Ontario instead of the
south shore via Ohio. Almost no traffic and much, much better roads.
Man, we saw some really terrible road surface in Illinois, Indiana and
Michigan.

The weather changed yesterday in Michigan and eastward with much lower
temperature and occasional rain. We drove through a very heavy squall
near Brantford, ON. It was so heavy that all traffic on the freeway
slowed to about 20mph and many people turned on their emergency
flashers. It lasted about 5 minutes and then the sun came out again.

In mid-afternoon we pulled into Niagara Falls. I think the Canadian
side might be the most touristy place I have ever seen. It was like
the Las Vegas strip compressed into a few blocks. We found a good
parking place near the Skylon with a very convenient path down to the
overlook.

Fortunately the sun was out and we had a leisurely walk from American
Falls down to Horseshoe Falls and back. Then we hopped back in the
car, crossed the Rainbow Bridge back into the US and headed east to
Batavia, NY where we are staying the night.

We decided not to go to Toronto and Montreal. We think we're going to
make out way slowly across New York, visiting the Finger Lakes and
maybe touch the Adirondacks. We're playing it by ear at the moment.

We've put about 3,300 miles on Ruby since leaving Seattle.

Motor City

Yesterday we drove from Chicago to the Detroit area. We went to the
home of my cousin Renee and her husband Andy and their kids Andrea and
Alex in Canton, MI. They were hosting a gathering in our honor. Also
there were my Aunt Charlotte and my cousin Andre and his wife Jill and
kids Nichole, Marcel, Royale, Pierre and Maurice.

I last saw Charlotte, Andre, Jill and Renee in 1978. It was wonderful
to see them again and to meet their families.

Renee and her family have a pool. Audrey got in shortly after we
arrived and spent the next four hours in the water with me, Nichole or
Andrea.

Today we relaxed at Aunt Charlotte's house. The photo is at the
elementary school across the road. Audrey spent most of the day
playing with Aunt Charlotte's new kitten Tascha. Our Charlotte spent
the day being inexplicably terrified of the kitten.

This afternoon we met Renee and her family for dinner and they
surprised me by inviting my Uncle Ed. During our brief visit to
Detroit we got to see all of my family here. What a treat.

Tomorrow we'll head east again. We're going to take the Canadian route
to Niagara Falls. We haven't decided where we'll go from there. Maybe
northeast to Toronto and Montreal then down through Vermont and New
Hampshire or maybe just straight across New York to Boston.

And Now For Something Completely Different

When I told Uncle Gary and Aunt Kathy our planned visit dates they
told me they were performing in a classical chorale program and would
have tickets for us and babysitting arranged. I filed it away in my
brain as one of many details of the trip.

Well, it turned out to be a real treat. They are members of the chorus
of the West Suburban Symphony Orchestra. Tonight the symphony
performed three Beethoven works: the "Egmont Overture", "Ah Perfido",
and the 9th Symphony with the "Ode to Joy" chorale movement. Carol and
I enjoyed it very much. It was especially wonderful juxtaposed with
our current 24/7 life with the girls in the van.

While here we got to meet my cousins Eileen, Dan, Ken and Melissa for
the first time. Melissa has children almost the same age as ours and
they had fun playing together for a couple of hours.

In the morning we depart for Canton, MI where we'll visit with my Aunt
Charlotte and my cousins Andre and Renee and their families. I think I
haven't seen them since 1979.

When we leave Detroit on Tuesday we're considering changing our plan
and travelling through Canada from Detroit at least to Niagara Falls
and possibly through Montreal and down through Vermont. Stayed tuned!

Thanks to Uncle Gary and Aunt Kathy for a great (if brief) visit.

Cooling Off

It's in the high 80's today in Chicago. We went to a playground in
late morning but lasted about 5 minutes.

Back at Gary and Kathy's we got on the internet and found a nearby
free spray park. Audrey and Charlotte are loving it.

It's supposed to cool off to the 70s' on Monday. We'll be in Detroit
by then. Hopefully it'll be cooler there, too.

Chicago!

After Thursday's heat I never thought it would happen but we made it all the way to Chicago Friday night. A 700 mile day!

We drove away from our motel in Chamberlain, SD at 6:33AM. It was already pretty warm, which didn't seem like a good omen.

We realized it was going pretty well when we had about 300 of our 500 mile goal for day the under our belts. We figured if we worked in a swim in the afternoon then we could do the final few hours to Wheaton, IL. We checked the atlas and found Mirror Lake State Park in the Wisconsin Dells. We called and made sure they had swimming.

Then it was back to powering through the miles. I moved the roof cargo bag inside the van yesterday when I got tired of fighting the strong headwind. Today without the headwind Ruby was flying along smoothly at 75mph (the speed limit all the way from Idaho to Wisconsin).

It was only 86 degrees in La Crosse at 3:00; 10 degrees cooler than yesterday and significantly more tolerable in the van.

We got to the lake about 4:45 and had a very pleasant swim for an hour. Three more hours of driving and we were at Uncle Gary and Aunt Kathy's home at 9:15 PM.

We're back on schedule!

More Eastward Progress

Just like last time I drove across the country from Seattle to Massachusetts in 1991, the side trip to Mt. Rushmore took a lot longer than I expected (3 hours from I-90 to Mt. Rushmore and back to I-90) so we ended up skipping the Badlands in favor of making more eastward progress. The road up to Mt. Rushmore from Rapid City has several very steep sections. We were doing 35 some of the time. Much faster on the way back down, obviously.

I wonder how many people skip the Badlands for the same reason. We also had the issue that Charlotte had fallen asleep and when she woke up hot and sweaty we knew she'd be miserable for a while. We didn't need the reduced ventilation of National Park road speeds during that time.

We decided last night there was no way we were going to make it to Chicago by Friday night. It was just too many miles to cover. And the weather is unseasonably hot - 95 degrees today. The van doesn't have AC and it doesn't ventilate very well when the air outside is so hot. The girls were miserable at times today. Carol would wipe them down with cold wet cloths and that helped.

When I was a kid no one in Seattle bought cars with air conditioning. I had forgotten what it was like to take a long road trip at freeway speeds with the windows open and all that wind noise. Nostalgic! It will give the girls torture stories to tell when they are older.

By the way, Audrey made up a joke last night at dinner:

Why did the gum cross the road?

Because it was stuck to the chicken!

Anyway, we chose Chamberlain, SD to stop for the day. It had the right combination of remaining miles to Chicago (about 700) and ending time for the day (6:00 PM, although we also passed into Central Time to 7:00 PM). We called ahead and made sure this hotel had a pool and internet access. The pool was heaven after a really hot day. That's our hotel on the right in the photo (someone else's).

Tomorrow we'll try to cover 500 miles to the vicinity of Wisconsin Dells, WI, leaving about 200 miles to cover on Saturday morning to get to my Uncle Gary and Aunt Kathy's by noon. It's supposed to be hot again tomorrow so that 500 miles could be tough. We're already mostly packed up and hoping for a very early start. So I'd better get to bed.

Photographic Proof

We have made the obligatory stop. Man, I forgot how far it feels from
the freeway.

They have completely rebuilt the guest facilities since I was here in
1991. The cool old dining room used in "North by Northwest" is
apparently gone?

Next stop: the Badlands.

By the way, it's hot.

Eastward Ho!

As you can see we escaped our Yellowstone prison and made it to
Devil's Tower. We pulled in at 10:00 PM. Birds woke me up at 5:00 AM,
including a wild turkey.

We just missed seeing the tower in the setting sun but I got to see it
at dawn. The stars were fantastic last night with a brilliant Milky
Way. We could also see the headlamps of two climbers 3/4 of the way up
the south face at 10:00 PM They were vertically separated. I'm not
sure whether it was two parties or one that was late finding a bivouac
site. Do a google image search for "bivy ledge" if you've never seen
how climbers "sleep" on a cliff.

We had to go 140 miles the wrong way out of Yellowstone, back to
Bozeman, MT, to get Ruby fixed. David at College Exxon fixed the
problem (indeed a failed CV joint) in less than two hours using the
axle I had had overnight shipped to Yellowstone. We were on the road
heading the right direction by 1:00 PM.

So we covered 435 miles yesterday from Bozeman to Devil's Tower. It
was quite hot through Billings and Sheridan and the van was pretty
warm inside but Audrey and Charlotte were troupers. Carol did a
wonderful job stocking the van with activities to keep them occupied.

Today we'll buzz past Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands and then make it
as far as we can by 5:00 PM or so and find a hotel with a pool. If we
can get to Chicago by tomorrow night or Saturday noon we'll be back on
schedule.

Marooned in Yellowstone

According to our schedule we should have left Yellowstone this morning
for Devil's Tower. That didn't happen. We're experiencing our first
Vanagon stranding. But as my friend Scott who has been helping me
remotely said, there are worse places we could be stuck.

Scott and other Vanagon owners diagnosed the problem from my
description of the symptoms: a failing CV joint. There are mechanics
here at Grant Village. I ordered the parts this morning for overnight
delivery and we should be on the road again by Tuesday night or
Wednesday morning.

It was showery and cold our first two days. We had steady rain the
first night. We watched Old Faithful yesterday in a windy drizzle
Today it is mostly sunny and high 50s.

We'll obviously have to modify our plan. We might just make a big 3-
day push to Chicago on I-90 and miss out on Nebraska and Iowa.

The photo is at West Thumb Geyser Park on Yellowstone Lake.

On the Road

The Seattle sky shed a tear with us as we drove out of town: the first
measurable rain in 29 days.

The rest of the family is chipper but last night I was very sad. The
reasons to accept the transfer to Boston are still valid. However,
actually ripping up all those roots is painful. I moved home to
Seattle from Boston 12 years ago this month and thought I would never
leave again. The phase of my life between then and now has been
incredibly good and I mourn the end of it And I feel guilty taking
the girls out of their loving family milieu.

But now we're finally on the road and I feel better. We're presently
passing through Spokane. We've been driving six hours and Audrey and
Charlotte are in good spirits and having fun. The Vanagon has a rear-
facing seat where Carol or I can sit and play games with the girls.
Carol spent the morning there making collars ("freindship bracelet"
style) for the girls' lovies so they can self-retrieve them when they
inevitably drop them.

Ruby (our van) was hesitating going over Snoqualmie Pass. We think it
was bad gas. We put in some premium in Ellensburg and she is happy
again.

We crossed our first state line as I typed this post (on my phone) -
into Idaho. Next stop: Missoula.

Our Eastward Migration

Only five days left until we depart Seattle for our new home in Boston. We're driving across the country in our "new" camper van. There will be challenges when the kids tire of driving but it will be a memorable adventure. Here's the itinerary:

Our Route- Click for Larger Version

• Thursday 6/18: The moving truck will be loaded and depart. We'll spend the night at my parents' Greenlake home.


• Friday 6/19: Get an early start leaving Seattle, aiming for Missoula, Montana with a lunch stop in Moses Lake.


• Saturday 6/20:Drive from Missoula to Yellowstone. We have reservations at the Canyon Campground.


• Sunday 6/21: Spend all day exploring Yellowstone. We have reservations for a motel room at Grant Village.


• Monday 6/22: All day drive from Yellowstone to Devil's Tower where we'll camp.


• Tuesday 6/23: A day with lots of sights and not a lot of miles. Drive from Devil's Tower to Mt. Rushmore and then the Badlands. We'll either camp at the Badlands or continue a couple of hours into northern Nebraska.


• Wednesday 6/24: One of our long days: 400+ miles across Nebraska on US-20. Hopefully we'll reach the vicinity of Sioux City in the afternoon and find a hotel with a pool.


• Thursday 6/25: Continue on US-20 across Iowa at least to the Illinois line. Maybe continue to Chicago.


• Friday 6/26: Either wake up in Chicago or finish driving there. We're visiting my Uncle Gary and Aunt Kathy in Wheaton. IL.


• Saturday 6/27: Spend all day in the Chicago area with Gary and Kathy and their family.


• Sunday 6/28: Depart Chicago in the morning and drive to the Detroit area (about 5 hours). My parents are both from Detroit and we'll visit with my Aunt Charlotte and my cousins Andre and Renee and their families and maybe my Uncle Ed.


• Monday 6/29: Spend all day visiting in the Detroit area.


• Tuesday 6/30: Depart Detroit and have a moderate driving day, perhaps to Youngstown, OH. Find a hotel with a pool.


• Wednesday 7/1: Continue driving across Pennsylvania and visit the Amish country. Perhaps camp there or continue on toward Philadelphia.


• Thursday 7/2: See the sights in Philadelphia and then drive toward New York City. Visit my good friend Bill in Hoboken, NJ.


• Friday 7/3: Spend all day in the NYC area. We might try to catch the first boat to the Statue of Liberty but on the July 4 holiday that's sure to be crazy.


• Saturday 7/4: Drive from NYC to Boston and show the girls the new house. We'll be in a hotel until mid-week.


• Monday 7/6: I start work.


• Tuesday 7/7: The house purchase closes.


• Wednesday 7/8: Our household goods and second car should be delivered.

Bon Voyage Party

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As the time for our departure drew near we knew we wouldn't have time to say goodbye to all of our friends individually. The obvious solution was to have a big party and see them all at once. So today we had our own Bon Voyage Party from 2:00-8:00.

The weather was fantastic and a large crowd of good friends came by. I didn't keep track but probably more than 50 people dropped in. Here's a sampling in the order my memory was jogged by photos. If I left you out, please don't be offended!

• My whole family: Kay and Doug and my sisters Elizabeth and Tricia and Tricia's husband Frank (who framed the garage, built gates for us, helped me replace a door and who is a wonderful and generous man).
  


• Carol's parents Dennis and Mary and her brother Bob, his wife Torii and their son Alex. My personal goal was to throw a party as good as Bob and Torii's events. I think we came close! By the way, all of the photos were taken by Bob.
  


• Team Mango: Erik, Jason, John and Scott and their families. These guys are my main "crew." We email each other every day about all kinds of nonsense. Fortunately, there is email in Boston, too.
  


• Former coworkers of mine Jim (coworker 1986-1989), Paul & Renee, Steve & Jane (coworkers 2002-2005), Blake & Erica and Sean (coworkers in 2005) and all of their families.
  


• Carol's friend Wendy and her kids - Carol and Wendy have known each other since they were 5.
  


• Our dear friends Britt and Ken. As with many of my Seattle friends I met Britt through Kathy Beahn (in 1999). I met Ken through climbing and Carol and I introduced Britt and Ken. Their son Ian is two weeks younger than Audrey. Carol and Britt bonded while they were pregnant.
  


• Other friends we met through climbing (which, by the way, I got into because of Kathy): Matt and Jeana and their kids Andrew and Laura.
  


• Eastgate Cycling Club members Scottie (and his son Evan), Sylvia, Jeremy, Bryce and Lisa. I'll wear my Eastgate gear with pride in Boston!
  


• Our former neighbor and sometime babysitter Amy stopped by.
  


• Mary Orvis (Jane's mom and partner), our friend and real estate agent through whom we both bought and sold this house.
  


• Yet more friends I met through Kathy: Scott and Heidi and their kids Logan, Emma and Fina.
  


• Last but not least my oldest Seattle friends Barry and Rabih. I worked with Barry at Boeing from 1983-1986. They have been through it all with me.
  

We probably would have had a big crew from pre-school, but this was the only weekend we could have the party and it was the same weekend as a pre-school family camping trip. We missed you PNPC families! We hope you had fun camping!

Thank you all for a great party and a warm and wonderful sendoff. We will miss you all.

Our plan is to come back for an extended stay each summer. We'll throw a party each year so we can check in with you all.

Au Revoir, Seattle!

P.S. Remember that you can subscribe to this blog so you get notified whenever we post something. See the "Subscribe" button up there in the upper left? Click it! You have the choice of RSS or email.

Ocean Shores, Again

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We squeezed in one last weekend camping trip before our departure. We were joined by our friends Scott and Susana and their daughter Sophia, and our mutual friend Erik and his son Sam (Sam's mom Kim was off visiting family). We decided to go to Ocean Shores again because the girls really wanted to fly kites again and the winds are pretty reliable there.

We stayed at Ocean City State Park again but this time we got there during daylight and got to explore it. The weather was forecast to be cool but it was very pleasant and we had fun relaxing on the beach. Audrey got to explore the dunes with me. We built a camp fire and roasted marshmallows, of course. I was the paranoid parent keeping kids away from the fire. Our fellow campers included a lot of teenagers; I got the impression they were celebrating the end of school with camping trips. It seemed like it might be a loud night but by 10:00 the campground was quiet and we slept well.

Sunday we headed to the beach adjacent to Ocean Shores (a couple of miles from the state park) and we all flew kites. There were a zillion other kites on the beach, including some incredibly large ones (as big as a small RV). In early afternoon we got on the road home, stopping at my sister Tricia's house for another feast and family visit.

Carol and I are very happy about our camper van purchase. We really stumbled across a winner. The van is running really well and we've made some improvements in preparation for our cross-country trip. We've preemptively fixed a few things that are known to break and we've added some comfort items like screens for the windows and the sliding door opening. We also got a bunch of small things repaired like the armrests and the accelerator cable (it felt funny - turns out it was just about to break) and new shocks. And Carol did a bunch of research online and has found the perfect organizers to keep things sane on a long trip. We bought the van to build memories with the girls and we are already doing that very successfully. Thanks, Lisa!

Audrey Graduation

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Our friends Kathy and Mark had their first child a couple of years before we had Audrey. They went to a co-op preschool and it always sounded cool but kind of a mystery. But Carol checked it out and ended up getting into the Phinney Neighborhood Co-op Preschool when Audrey was an infant. That was five years ago. Charlotte started when she was a year old and went for two years. This preschool was a fantastic experience.

If you're not familiar with the concept, at a co-op preschool the parents help "teach" the school. There is a paid teacher for each class (Infant, Toddlers, Tow's, Three's and Pre-Kindergarten). As the kids get older they attend more days and the parents work less. This year Carol worked one of the four days that Audrey attended per week and one of the two days Charlotte attended per week. On Tuesday mornings Carol got a few hours to herself with no kids.

The fellow parents (it's mostly the moms who work) have been great. Carol made some wonderful friends and so did the girls. Everyone there has similar values to ours and the approach is very casual. It was a wonderful fit for us. A few of the other families are talking about house swapping with us next Summer so we can have an extended visit to Seattle.

At the end of the year celebration Audrey's class sang some songs for the audience. Then each child in her class got a certificate and a beanstalk from Teacher Trina to symbolize that the kids are like beanstalks: they have everything they need to grow and they are perfect just the way they are.

Thanks, PNPC! Kindergarten, here we come!

Last Days in Seattle

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Seattle has been giving us a fantastic sendoff. Usually the weather in late May and June can be depressing because it can be wet when you want Summer to start. This year the weather during that period has been fantastic. We've had a lot of good times outdoors.

On May 23 the Eastgate Cycling Club held a farewell ride in my honor. It turned out to be a short ride but then we all went to the Islander Restaurant on Mercer Island, which is owned by fellow Eastgate member Brian Patton. We had a great time hanging out in the sun. Bryce was even kind enough to go get donuts for Audrey & Charlotte.

I've written a lot about cycling exploits with members of the Eastgate club. I've been riding with them since 2002 and I have really, really loved it. Faster riders have joined and transformed the club since I first joined, and I have learned a lot and really expanded the limits of my conditioning by riding with them. Thanks especially to Scott Sensenbrenner for holding the club together all these years (for at least 10 years before I showed up). I'll miss you all.

On a different day we had Britt, Ken, Ian and Kaia over for breakfast. We hiked down to Alki Beach midday and the kids got to play in the forest and at the beach. Then we came back home and the kids were having such a great time that everybody stayed for lunch and then dinner. A very fun day. We'll miss them, too!

Our families have been wonderful babysitters and Audrey and Charlotte love to be with all of the aunts, uncles and grandparents. Aunt Betsy got in the habit of taking the girls for a few hours every Friday evening so Carol and I have had very regular date nights. We are really going to miss that.

Our Boston Home

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From May 12-18 Carol and I traveled to Boston to try to find a new home. Let me tell you, trying to find a buy a house in 6 days is a very weird experience.

Carol and I have very similar tastes and we're also decisive. So we knew if we saw what we liked we'd be ready to commit. That helps.

Way back in November when we started contemplating the move we had identified West Roxbury as our target neighborhood. It has a couple of good public elementary schools, is a pleasant area and is a great commute for me. And on day 1 of our trip we found several potential houses there and one obvious winner. In Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood it would be sort of a dream house for us. The second day we made a low offer on it.

As the negotiations proceeded we also checked more carefully into schools. The Boston school district won't tell you anything about getting into schools until you have an address to work with. Well, it turned out schools just weren't going to work. Kindergarten (Audrey will go in September) is the key time at which you have a shot to get into a school you want, and we would be last to register. There was almost zero chance Audrey was going to get into one of the nearby decent schools, and the other public school options were farther away and very, very poor schools. We briefly considered a nearby Catholic school, but we'd be committing to that expense for 6 years most likely, and maybe for Charlotte as well.

Hmm, back to square one.

Our agent lives in Melrose, which is slightly farther from work in the opposite direction: north of Boston. The house prices were very similar. Melrose is a small town - only 4 square miles - and it has five elementary schools all of which are decent. So we looked at several houses in Melrose and decided on 35 Dyer Ave., a 4 bedroom, 1.5 bath "colonial" built in 1900. It's not perfect, but it's a very sweet house and we can envision being happy there.

We came to agreement on a price and I stayed an extra day to accompany the inspector. No major problems, so we close on it on July 7 which is the day after I start work in Boston.

Meanwhile the sale of our Seattle house closed on May 26 so that's all done. The buyers are a young couple and this is their first house. They're excited.

Now we're just trying to prepare for our cross-country road trip and waiting for the move. The movers will be packing our stuff on June 16-17 and loading the truck on the 18th. We will depart on the 19th in the camper van. More on that plan in another post.

We have plenty of room for visitors in the Melrose house! Come and see us!

Hood Canal Camping

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Between Disneyland and Carol and my house hunting trip to Boston we squeezed in a one-night camping trip with our friends Scott and Susana and their year-old daughter Sophia. We chose somewhere not too far away: Twanoh State Park on Hood Canal.

It was a nice small campground. We shared an open campsite with a big grassy area. The beach was a short walk away across the road. Hood Canal is known for its oysters and the beach at this park is covered with them. It's a beach you wouldn't want to stumble and fall on because everything is covered with sharp barnacles.

Audrey had a great time turning over rocks and oyster clusters. Every one had a dozen tiny crabs living underneath they would scatter when uncovered.

We had a great dinner together and then sat around the fire and made s'mores. It was the first time Audrey and Charlotte had roasted marshmallows. There was a little hike right out of the campground that was a good adventure, although Audrey didn't like that it went up.

The next day we went to Belfair State Park about 10 miles away on the route home. It's also a great park with some fantastic campsites almost on the beach.

We wrapped up the trip with a Mother's Day celebration at my sister Tricia's house. My parents had just completed their spring northward migration so it was great to see them. Tricia and Frank always put on a delicious spread.

Disneyland!

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We were at Disneyland from April 21-25 and had an absolutely fantastic time. It took me more than a month to find time to edit the video and photos, but here they are.

So much to tell...

Carol's parents Dennis and Mary joined us at Disneyland and were in the hotel room next door.

Carol has been planning this trip in her head since before she got pregnant with Audrey. She got serious a few months ago and researched how to do it with young kids. One key was to go for multiple days, so we bought a package deal through Alaska Airlines with free airfare for the kids and 5-day passes to Disneyland and California Adventure (a whole new amusement park in part of the former Disneyland parking lot). With a multi-day pass we could relax and not have ambitious goals. We decided the trip was really for the girls so we would let them set the agenda (with some guidance from us :)

Disneyland Video

We were a little afraid they might not ride anything so we took them to the small amusement park at Seattle Center to get them used to the idea. Carol showed them videos of Disneyland rides on YouTube so they'd know what to expect. Finally we used a little bribery: we told Audrey she could have cotton candy if she went on Pirates of the Caribbean and Charlotte if she went on the Haunted Mansion. They both did so, and they got their cotton candy. We went on tons of other rides with them and they enjoyed all but one...

Audrey indicated she wanted to go on the Matterhorn so I hopped on with her. She got scared right off the bat by the monster in the cave (you only see his glowing red eyes and hear him roar) and spent the whole rest of the ride terrified that he was going to show up again. I don't think she even realized she had ridden a roller coaster.

Most days we took a break for a few hours in the afternoon and went back to the hotel. Then we could enjoy the evenings being a little refreshed.

We deliberately scheduled the trip outside of anybody's spring break and that really paid off. Almost everything we wanted to go on we could walk right on. Our last day was a Saturday and it got a lot more crowded, so by late morning we were back at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail at California Adventure which just has free play and no lines to wait in.

Some highlights and surprises:

• Charlotte loved the Haunted Mansion and rode it more than once.


• Audrey loved Soarin' Over California, a spectacular IMAX film in which you sit in a feet-dangling seat that rises way up in the air for the film so you're up in the middle of the tall screen. Amazingly immersive.


• Carol got choked up by Charlotte's reaction to meeting the princesses (especially Snow White) at the character breakfast. Charlotte was mesmerized.


• Audrey was afraid of the caves on Tom Sawyer Island. But I convinced to try them with me and she fell in love with them. They were a childhood favorite of mine so it was rewarding to see her come around to them.
  

The whole 5 days were non-stop fun and happy. The girls were excited the whole time and everything went smoothly. Just plain fabulous.

Saturday afternoon I picked up a rental car and we drove to Palm Desert. Everybody seemed ready for a rest because the girls were calm and content. Carol and I just laid around for the entire first day. We made our usual visit to The Living Desert and saw the huge model train layout again. Grandma and Grandpa got to show off their granddaughters at Sunday donuts at the clubhouse. Audrey couldn't get enough of the swimming pool. She discovered that putting her head under water was not so hard and then she couldn't show off her new skill enough.

With Carol's parents at Disneyland and then a pleasant visit with mine, the girls got to spend time with all of their grandparents.

We can't wait for our next visit to Disney in a year or two!