Back to the endless chores.

 

Lili cleaned and grocery shopped and even made me cookies for our homecoming.  So appreciated.

The puppies and Esmei were so excited, that was fun.

Monday morning was up and running for Eric and the boys.  Jia joined me in bed and talked for three hours in the morning and then fell asleep an hour before it was time to leave for his school and was a challenge to get moving again.  Sigh.  Life's biggest struggle right now.  Just getting Jia up. He did share another drawing I'm allowed to post.

Day 10

 No pics.  Last day.  Up and on the move by 7.  Arrived in Tswassen at 1 and chose to have lunch and nap in the trailer versus going in the mall.  We're on the 5:45, will be home around 9.

Thoughts.  This was not by any stretch a relaxing holiday.  Go, go and go.  The Commander is a beast.  Cheese is amazing.  He held up to freezing temps, torrential rain and crazy winds.  It was awesome to have our own cozy bed.  Even better to have our own simple food and snacks on hand.  We need way more time to explore California properly.  In order for me to actually have a true get away holiday I would have to leave my phone at home.  Life didn't stop while we were away.  Eric watched 3 movies and I watched one.  We went to bed early and got up early to utilize day light.  We need to do our next fall road trip in Oct.  

I asked Eric if he had thoughts on the trip and he said he was impressed with Cheese, he thought we might just have the wheels behind us by the time we got to California.  It was easier to tow and utilize than the Falcon. 

Back to the routines tomorrow.  I can't wait to see my babies.

Day 9

 

It was just a long day of driving.  Back on the i5 and finally moving.  We left at 7 and stopped at 5.

Our plan was to stop at a Loves Travel Stop and park overnight for free.  We thought we'd even try to pay for a shower.  Haha.  The best laid plans.  Turns out there is zero chance I can stand the fuel smell.  So we drove to Walmart, no parking overnight allowed and then we looked up and found an rv park that was open nearby.  So we are at the Blue Ox Rv park in Albany.

I hate the upcharge, however, we're safe, cozy and the showers here were spotless.  So, worth it I guess.

This is our last night.  Home tomorrow if all goes well.

Luk's Gotcha.

 

Our 1st gotcha apart.

I've sent him a bunch of pictures from the day.  Such a sweet baby boy.  He's still super sweet.

We love you Luk!

See you tomorrow.

Enjoy your celebration dinner with the siblings tonight!

Day 8

 

This mornings sunrise.

San Simeon coastline.

The scenery is incredible.  The roads are fun to drive.  It is however taking triple the time of driving the i5.  It's unlikely we will do this again anytime soon.  We're grateful for this time to explore.

Funky tree in the state park.

At the visitor center for the Hearst Castle. Which is a state park now.

It's way up in the hills.

Amazing, of course.

Every inch is a museum.

No touching of anything, including plants and the water in the pools. The food grown is picked and donated to food banks.  We saw pomegranate trees for the first time.

Eric took a lot of pictures of the architecture.  Way too many to post.  Likely better pictures online. Or get him to show you if you're interested.

From King Tuts tomb.

So many stories.  Our guide Kevin was a wealth of information.  His training for the job was intense ;)

The bath house.  This would have been my favorite spot.  Haha.

Honestly though, no jealousy, it's all just too big and I would have found the search for bathrooms and distance to get to one super annoying.

It's definitely worth the drive to see the opulence. 

Walls, floors, windows all bought from other countries and collections and pieced together over 28 years.  Old and new clashed together.  All old  now of course.  Wild to realize our house is older than this castle, or in it's day, it was called a ranch.

The drive out.  Just wow.

Settled at Benicia State Park for the night.

Making dinner.  All cozy.  Got a call from Julie, her 1st grandson was born, a boy, Nickolas, he came early but mama and baby are doing well.  Congratulations to Richard and girlfriend.

Tomorrow is a driving day.  Scooting back up to the i5.  Enough of this leisurely lallygagging.  The alarm is set for an early start.

Day 7

 

Omg!  Look at the view!

San Simeon State Park.

Definitely feeling lucky to be here.

Hearst Castle tomorrow morning.

We left at 9, arrived here at 4.  

I'm hurting after two days of over doing it in the parks.  An early night is all good.

Day 6

 

His eyes are closed. He was showing off his super cool backpack that was loaded with breakfast and snacks.

He left it in the Uber.  We could have tried to get it back but there was a $20 charge and I bought the pack at the thrift store for $3.  So, we let that go and hope the driver enjoyed the food. Haha.

All set in my Grogu gear.  My sox were Grogu too ;)  

The snow covered castle.

Yup.  We made it.

This was behind us.

Our timing was great.  So close to the gate.

Galaxies Edge.  Still my favorite place.

We raced to Rise, did Smugglers, Thunder Mtn, scored a virtual que for Haunted, did Pirates, Haunted and Indiana all before 11am.  It's a new personal best for me.

We did meet up with Dwayne and Tammy and spent the bulk of the day together.  Which was so fun.

We stayed until closing and even scored dinner at the Cafe on Main Street without a reservation.

Omg.  Mickey dressed as Steam Boat Willie!!

I've never seen this before.

Secret spots.

Eugene!  

Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder aka Eugene.

  

The weather was great.  The crowds were manageable.  We barely had waits. A lot of fun was had on a near perfect Disney day.

We ended the day with dole whip in the Tikki room.