6000 miles ....

And about 3000 more to go! Today I'm posting from Wade's childhood home in Sacramento, CA. We drove up from San Diego on Monday morning. Wade's parents have the drive north perfected!

1. Pick Up Venti Starbucks coffee the night before & keep in refrigerator.
2. Wake up at 3:30 to prepare for 4:30 AM departure.
3. Warm up above mentioned coffee in microwave right before you run out the door.
4. (Addendum) Pick up sleeping kids in their sleeping bags & carry out to van.
5. Drive Away.
6. Hit L.A. before the hoards of humanity clog the freeways. We did well - as we were leaving the valley, the south bound traffic heading into LA was insane. Why...Why...Why...
7. Drive over the Grapevine (why is it named that? I didn't see any grapevines along this section of I-5). Just asked: it's named because this stretch of highway used to wind about much like a grape vine.
   
8. Stop on the north side of the Grapevine at the first Starbucks available for coffee #2. By this time it's about 7:00am.
9. Continue drive north - & stop at Coalinga at Harris Ranch for breakfast around 9:00am.
10. Continue drive north & arrive in Sacramento prior to 1:00 pm.

Pretty amazing huh? We logged in a 500 mile day before 1:00 pm! The great things - we beat the crazy traffic & the kids sleep a good portion of the trip. Also - great knitting time once the sun comes up. I'm working on:
Baby socks! - I had lots of extra yarn from Monkey Sock #1 - plenty to churn out a couple of socks. A high school friend is a daddy to a baby girl - thought I could give these to Baby Cleo when we visit them in Bellingham at the end of the month.

The cool thing that happened during trip north? Look carefully at this photo:
If you look at the odometer closely, you'll see it's reached 77,777 miles. Pretty cool! I was driving & saw we were close to this epic mileage about 20 miles before. It was quite distracting as I didn't want to miss it. Wade was napping, so I quickly woke him up so he could snap this photo. (Tricky to get it in focus when you're shooting from the passenger seat.) So - we've logged over 6000 miles thus far.
Last night we finally saw the new Harry Potter movie. I thought it was great! Followed the book pretty closely as far as I can recall, although I remember Dolores Umbridge as being more toad-like in appearance as well as demeanor. I'll have to chat w/my friend, expert on all things Harry Potter, Margaret. I can't wait for the next book!!!!

Today we went to Wade's dad's (is that correct grammar?) Softball game.A fun morning & great for his team as they won.

Next on the day's agenda: The California Aerospace Museum to see the Leonardo DiVinci exhibit. Well done & informative. Great displays & hands on activities for the kids. Of course, the military aircraft display outside on the tarmac was a hit with the boys. You could practically smell the testosterone emitting from the pores of all males in the vicinity. One of the volunteers was kind enough to answer the boys' questions such as "Where are the bombs?" "Are there any missiles?" "What kind of things does this shoot?" They were in 7th heaven when he offered to show them some bullet holes in the side of a plane that was used during Desert Storm. Arghh... I say we let women run the world & curb the fascination with war & destruction. Wade & I don't allow our boys to have toy guns, toy soldiers, or playthings of that sort. It's fascinating how it seems so ingrained. I think I need to start knitting lessons soon!After the museum, Sylvia & I left the boys to their own devices while we checked out a couple of knitting shops "Filates" and "Babettas" in the Sacramento area. Again - I exercised restraint as I'm waiting to find some STR yarn when we drive up to Oregon.

Ciao~