A private beach at Bodega Bay, a sumptuous lunch while getting the car checked out, a long and wonderful walk with Ron and Joanne, and 2 very happy, tired, and dirty puppies after having the time of their lives with us on the beach. It doesn’t get better than that!

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#bodegabay

#Watchingdreamscometrues

#happytiredpups

#backontheroadtomorrow

A COLD day in San Francisco!

Yesterday (Sunday) we went in to see the sights in San Francisco wearing our shorts and t-shirts to find people walking around in jackets, long pants, and warm hats. What!?! The fog rolled in and it was 61 degrees! After buying sweatpants and sweaters, we toured The Presidio, took photos on the beach in front of the Golden Gate Bridge hidden in the fog, walked around Fisherman’s Wharf, and had the best Chinese food we’ve ever had. The owner came over and said “I am a chef, let me order for you. I know what you will love. You don’t have to think”. We turned it over to him and he was right. It was amazing. We had blossom tea and watched as these tea buds blossomed into flowers in the glass. It was a magical night.

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#sanfranciscochilly

#youdonthavetothink

#houseofnankingsanfrancisco

A SAD & SCARY DAY

I wish I could say we had this amazingly beautiful day at Yosemite, but that was not the case. We drove 2 1/2 hours to our campground just outside Yosemite National Park. It was very deserted, which seemed odd. We smelled smoke and the guy at the front desk said there was a fire somewhere in the park, but that we didn’t need to worry. By the time we got to the front gates of the park, the smoke was getting so thick we could no longer see the mountains or the trees in the distance. A ranger said it was smoke coming from Northern CA as well as a “small” (500 acre) fire in the park. We looked on purple air.com (thank you, Ron Browning, for telling us about that site) and it rated the air quality in our area as a deep burgundy red which meant it would be harmful to our health if we stayed there for 24 hours, which was pretty obvious without having to look at the map. There was no place to go to get to better air unless we drove south or over to the coast, so we packed up (they wouldn’t refund our campground fee for the night), and drove another 5 hours through the smoke to get out of the danger area. It is 2 AM and here I sit at a Motel 6 near San Francisco and feel like I can breathe easily once again. Oh, the things we take for granted! We were lucky to find a room as everything was booked for miles. It was sad to see huge areas of beautiful forest that had already been in other fires, and to know more fires were burning nearby. It was scary to be surrounded by smoke rather than pure, clean air to draw those deep breaths from…the ones I needed to take to calm myself as I drove behind Ernie winding down the narrow, steep mountain roads we had climbed just a few hours before. It was disappointing to have to drive on without seeing this magnificent park. I believe we can still turn things around for our planet, but it will take a true awakening on all of our parts. I am feeling very awake at the moment. My hand in yours tonight.

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#smokeinthewest

#breathingeasy

#stillgrateful

#thetreesneedourhelp

God Bless Forever Friends!

Such a blessing to connect with one of Ernie’s forever friends from high school, college, and beyond. Before leaving L.A., Paul Morrison, talented actor, great friend, and newly retired city surveyor showed the family an insider view of Beverly Hills and beyond. A beautiful completion to a whirlwind visit. We will be back! We love you Los Angeles.

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#foreverfriendsarethebest

#sweetreunionyearslater

#pickingupwheretheyleftoff

#trafficconecouture

A day in Hollywood…

The kids wanted to see the sights so they had lunch with Michael Leon Wooley, (Louis the Alligator in “The Princess and the Frog”, “AJ and the Queen” and more), saw the stars on Hollywood Blvd. at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, went up to see the Hollywood sign, took a personal night tour by the Beverly Hills mansions on the hill, and had a very late meal with Stephen and Lynn who have gone out of their way to make this visit great for my kids. What a day! What a city! Truly film central I’m every sense of the word. If you are here in L.A. and we didn’t get to connect, forgive me. We have to come back when we have more time (and no dental work).

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#hollywoodinallitsglory

#abigdayallthewayaround

Thought we would share a little of the “excitement” in our drive down the mountain on our way to L.A. today. We prayed at the top and cheered at the bottom. I could do without any more of that kind of excitement on this trip.

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#thankinggodforsafetravels

#thiswascrazy

#grateful4ourtransmission

MY HUSBAND MAKING ME LAUGH and my beautiful view lying outside on an air mattress in the shade after our Hipcamping host’s electricity at the top of this mountain went out, and he left yesterday for the weekend. We used our own generator till it shut down at half a tank of gas. We are packing up to go back to civilization. Ernie said he was going to send me back to St.Louis like they did with the old wagon trains heading west. “Send the weak back to St. Louis”

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#myhusbandisfunny

#iamaweenie

#itisstillfun

#iloveitall

#lifeontheroad

I am calling today a Joyous God Stop.

Today was a little piece of heaven. It was as if God said “Okay you guys, time to stop moving forward, rest, play, and just enjoy. You can’t move on to the next thing until you take some time to relax.” We enjoyed a beautiful morning in our private mountain top retreat, and then our host told us about a special Dog Beach at Huntington Beach, CA. OMG! Our pups were in heaven! It is a huge, clean, beautiful beach where Great Danes play with tiny weiner dogs and they all run free. I have never seen my dogs play like this, or seen so many dogs playing free together. Skylar and Riley jumped in the waves, chased balls, and made a lot of new friends. It was like a giant dog beach party! Elijah was thrilled to finally go swimming in the Pacific Ocean. From the Atlantic to the Pacific,! This day was magical indeed.

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#HuntingtonBeachfordogs

#jumpingthewaves

#alittlepieceofheaven

A Harrowing Drive to a MAGNIFICENT GETAWAY!

After sitting in a truck stop crying today because I couldn’t find any place for us to camp this weekend (and for other reasons that now seem silly), I found a place on HipCamping located on a mountain top in the Angeles Forest. We arrived just before sunset and drove up this extremely narrow, winding, bumpy gravel road. Mountain on one side, cliff’s edge on the other. Halfway up, a lady came driving down, but there was no place for her to pass. She just sat there, face to face with our big camper. Ernie then had to slowly back our 31 foot camper backward down this steep, narrow road with me in the van backing down behind him, praying and thinking I’d made the biggest mistake ever. Thank God for our new transmission! Thank God for Ernie’s ability to maneuver that thing. Thank God for brakes! With my heart in my throat, we ultimately made it to a place where she could get by and we then continued on. At the top of the mountain, this scary little road opened onto one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. It was breathtaking. We watched the sunset over the mountains and lights of the city come on, and we have the whole place to ourselves tonight. I am sitting in the cool evening breeze as I write this, wondering at life. The flash flood my phone announced today as we drove out of Las Vegas never happened. The tragedy I imagined happening on the mountainside didn’t come to pass. So many things I fear and brace against on a daily basis never actually happen. And sometimes, on the other side of my fear, there is true beauty and wonder. Ah…smile and exhale.

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#faithoverfear

#itsokaytobreathe

#justkeepgoing

#Ernieisamazing

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

One night in Vegas. Elijah wanted to make a video playing his first $1 slot machine to demonstrate the insanity of losing money by gambling. He pulled the lever and won $42. Time to go!!!

#OurEpicFamilyRoadTrip

#winninginlasvegas

#justthisonce

#runforrestrun!