We Made It!

Actually we've been here since Monday.

Upon arriving we found that the place that once was first come first served, is now doing reservations. They could only put us up for 5 of the 12 days. So a call was made and there was space for us at a place called Skyline Park. At first we were not happy that we would have to be staying there. Previous experience taught us we might not be happy, after all where I wanted to stay had free Internet. Well things have changed. No longer are you locked in after 7. Now they have an automatic gate and a code to come and go. Plus today I discovered they had Internet service. Happy dance soon followed.

After spending the rest of the day Monday getting things unpacked and set up we spent part of yesterday with my brother for a late lunch. However, before we got to relax for the rest of the day, we had to go to town for some supplies. When we left one store to head to another something went wrong, terribly wrong with the truck. Fearing it was a injector harness, fearing the cost ahead, we drove across the street (by chance or Grace of God) were we saw a sign that serviced GM trucks. We are never lucky when it comes to dealing with dealerships service departments (we have a family runned garage back home we have used for over 15 years) but we had no choice. I must say these guys were awesome though. They got our truck right in. Said it would be a couple hours before they knew what was wrong with it and shuttled us back out to the park. Just before my brother showed up, they called and the problem was less then we expected. A simple and not to costly of a repair and we could pick it up anytime. Another happy dance was done.

So today, I was just hanging out by myself while hubby attended his meeting in San Francisco and found they had Internet. More happy dancing and now I can share with you all how we got here.

By Saturday we were all ready and decided to hit the road earlier then we had planned. This trip began with a happy dance. I never thought we were going to have more to come.

Upon leaving Yuma, one must first go through an Ag Check Point, a Border Check Point just after that and one last check point by the Salton Sea. This one had the worst traffic line. No happy dance here.

Our first pit stop for fuel was in Indio which gave Bella a chance to stretch her legs as well and smell things she had never smelt before. She is such a good traveler. From here we hop on the 10 and head toward LA. Yuck, and definitely no happy dancing going on. Just as we thought we could do another one here comes our first delay. When we saw all the emergency vehicles ahead we thought it was going to be a dead stop. Well maybe we felt like dancing again because just as we approach the wreck, it had just happened and we were only delayed about 10 minutes. I can't say the same for others further back as they were taking 4 lanes down to 2 and we were in the right place at the time.

We traveled through Hollywood and not something I would recommend on a holiday weekend. Once past Hollywood traffic moved non stop and it was time to think about where to camp for the night. We were hoping to stay the night on a beach around Santa Barbara but being the holiday weekend, even the over flow was full. I would have loved to have seen Bella's reaction to the ocean for the first time. Maybe we can stop there on our way home or take a day trip over to the coast. We'll just see how it goes.

One of the parks directed us to this camp grounds and we had no idea what it looked like as it was dark by the time we arrived. When we woke in the morning we found ourselves among a most beautiful lake and with a very nice park. Bella sure did enjoy checking out all those new smells. If only she knew how much more was ahead for her. It's like taking your children on their very first vacation and seeing all the sights for the first time. She is really enjoying herself.

The road we had to take to get to Lake Cashuma took us out and around Santa Barbara's vineyards. It was a very beautiful drive and am amazed at the pictures I was able to get while driving.

The scenery along Hwy 101 is absolutely beautiful. My album will hold so many wonderful captures of the drive. These are just a few of my favorites.

Another one of our pit stops was around Salinas. While Bella smelled all the beautiful flowers I took pictures of them. The foliage in bloom along this highway has been awesome.

Between Gilroy and San Jose we saw a lot of oil pumping machines that looked a lot like dinosaurs. It's not the first time we have seen these but was the first time I was able to capture a picture of them. So many of them are no longer pumping. Only a few, like this one, were actually working.

As we approached the city we could see the fog already rolling in or maybe it was trying to go back out. Either way we thought this was kind of neat view with the tower peeking out the top. I can't say we were doing a happy dance driving a 30 ft trailer through the street of San Francisco but it really wasn't that bad. I was able to snap away while we went from stop light to stop light.

I couldn't help but snap off pictures of their extraordinary buildings. As we approached the Golden Gate Bridge I was positive I wasn't going to get a picture of it. Usually you could see it from this area. We wondered if we used up all our happy dances.

And as we came up on it this is all we saw...

Then as we continued on...

Half way across there was no more fog. Happy, happy dance!

I just love the drive into the valley this way. Traffic was great and scenery is awesome.

By 3:00 we were in the Napa Valley, had made our way to Skyline Park and the happy dancing hasn't stopped.