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"home" stretch
Sep. 2nd, 2007 07:15 amWe're about 40 miles outside of Bakersfield, CA now, leaving us 289 miles to get home. We'll be packing up shortly to start the trip while Leif is still asleep. This puts us in San Francisco a day earlier than projected. It means another night in a hotel in the target city, but at least it'll mean that the driving is behind us.
Lessee, I think we were in Albuquerque last time I posted. Since then, we saw the petrified forest a second time, this time when the sun was up so we could enjoy it. The temperatures were so warm during the day, we had to idle with the AC on to keep Leif from waking up screaming. We continued on to Flagstaff after that where we found a nice healthfood deli for dinner and collecting more snacks. My back reminded me that twisting to pick up a diaper bag while holding Leif isn't a particularly good idea, so we spent the night in a hotel and a bed instead of in the camper, and trekked off to the grand canyon.
We met Karina and Chris up there. Sometime in this stretch, we also misplaced the camera. Hopefully it's not sitting at the hotel in Flagstaff. So, we only have a couple pictures of us at the GC, sitting on Karina and Chris' camera. The two of them flew up from Tucson, and Chris offered to take Angie and I up for a sightseeing tour. The last trip I had been on overtop had been an adventure, but this flight was smooth, and nice to be able to say "Hey, I missed that", and then spin around to see it again". Karina managed to keep Leif calm and happy for the hour that we were up, which was also a nice break for us. Angie and I both started to worry about him at around the same time - something like 10 minutes before the end of the flight. =)
The rest of the day was spent wandering along the rim, ending in a nice dinner and sleep at the campsite. The next morning, we went to hear a ranger talk to people passing by about his topic-du-jour. In this case, it seemed to be about the wildfires going on the south rim. He had a telescope pointed at the river and would answer any questions, though. After that we packed up and headed out.
Our intended stop yesterday had been Needles, CA. It turns out that there's nothing there. No name-brand hotels, no Mojave information centre (despite there being signs for it), and a lot of dwellings with the sides falling off. The stretch over to Barstow seemed like the most boring stretch of the trip, probably because we had intended to stop at Needles, but also probably because we know that from here we're just going home. We carried on until Leif's patience totally expired and stopped in Tehachapi for the night.
We think Leif might be starting to push out a second tooth. He also might've gotten a touch too much sun at the Grand Canyon. It was hard to find shady spots to nurse him, and his hat seems to have gotten buried somewhere in the van. He's in good spirits, but his cheeks had a red tinge to them last night. =( He's almost six months, now, so we'll be able to put sunscreen on soon. In the meantime, we'll try to find a place to buy another hat today.
Update: We got access to the place today. Yay! Straight home for us!
Lessee, I think we were in Albuquerque last time I posted. Since then, we saw the petrified forest a second time, this time when the sun was up so we could enjoy it. The temperatures were so warm during the day, we had to idle with the AC on to keep Leif from waking up screaming. We continued on to Flagstaff after that where we found a nice healthfood deli for dinner and collecting more snacks. My back reminded me that twisting to pick up a diaper bag while holding Leif isn't a particularly good idea, so we spent the night in a hotel and a bed instead of in the camper, and trekked off to the grand canyon.
We met Karina and Chris up there. Sometime in this stretch, we also misplaced the camera. Hopefully it's not sitting at the hotel in Flagstaff. So, we only have a couple pictures of us at the GC, sitting on Karina and Chris' camera. The two of them flew up from Tucson, and Chris offered to take Angie and I up for a sightseeing tour. The last trip I had been on overtop had been an adventure, but this flight was smooth, and nice to be able to say "Hey, I missed that", and then spin around to see it again". Karina managed to keep Leif calm and happy for the hour that we were up, which was also a nice break for us. Angie and I both started to worry about him at around the same time - something like 10 minutes before the end of the flight. =)
The rest of the day was spent wandering along the rim, ending in a nice dinner and sleep at the campsite. The next morning, we went to hear a ranger talk to people passing by about his topic-du-jour. In this case, it seemed to be about the wildfires going on the south rim. He had a telescope pointed at the river and would answer any questions, though. After that we packed up and headed out.
Our intended stop yesterday had been Needles, CA. It turns out that there's nothing there. No name-brand hotels, no Mojave information centre (despite there being signs for it), and a lot of dwellings with the sides falling off. The stretch over to Barstow seemed like the most boring stretch of the trip, probably because we had intended to stop at Needles, but also probably because we know that from here we're just going home. We carried on until Leif's patience totally expired and stopped in Tehachapi for the night.
We think Leif might be starting to push out a second tooth. He also might've gotten a touch too much sun at the Grand Canyon. It was hard to find shady spots to nurse him, and his hat seems to have gotten buried somewhere in the van. He's in good spirits, but his cheeks had a red tinge to them last night. =( He's almost six months, now, so we'll be able to put sunscreen on soon. In the meantime, we'll try to find a place to buy another hat today.
Update: We got access to the place today. Yay! Straight home for us!
