Griswold Family Vacation--In other words: too much misadventure with a happy ending

It's been a year and a half since we returned from India and drove across the country while I (Legs) was six months pregnant and I have to say, our little family hasn't really been interested in spending much time in transit since then.  But, we decided to get back on the horse (literally) and take a trip in our own neck of the woods (it's relative) to experience the good old outdoors and soak up some sun.

Day One

We arrived at the Seattle airport and were told we booked four seats instead of three (Flipper is under two years old so is usually considered a lap baby with no seat cost) but (oh by the way no refunds) the aircraft changed and your four seats are all in different rows, talk to the people at the gate to fix it.

We are trusted travelers through the TSA pre-check program so we proceeded to security and were pulled into another line since we were a family...not the pre-check line.  The TSA agent swabbed our hands and Pancho alarmed for explosives (???).  He was separated and whisked away while me and the boys proceeded through security, removing everything we wouldn't need to remove had we been in the pre-check line.  The boys and I (worried of course) found Pancho, who was being felt all up and down, and listened as the TSA agent lectured him on going through the wrong line...because had we been in the pre-check line they wouldn't have tested his hands.  We never figured out what caused the problem and were freed to catch our flight.

At the gate.  The Alaska Air staff tried passenger after passenger on a fully booked flight asking if people would shift around so we could sit together.  We ended up getting three seats in a row and one somewhere else...so we sat with the lap baby even though we paid for four seats (mistakenly). 

Smooth flight, smooth rental car experience, beautiful San Jose sunshine, and we started our drive to the horse farm in Pescadero.  Flipper got my genes and got car sick.  Throw up in the rental car and all over the rented car seats.

Everyone back on track and we arrived at the farm.  It's a farm, we know that, it's a working farm, fine.  But it definitely lacked a clean up before paying guests arrived.  And the clown jack-in-the-box next to the giant horse leg in the shadow box window to the barn was a little creepy.  

Day Two

We explored the farm and headed to the beach!  Unlike San Jose, it was cold and rainy on the coast so the boys built a driftwood shelter and learned hard lessons after throwing sand in the air when the wind is blowing toward you.  Later in the day Thumper found a marshmallow gun (that shoots marshmallows) and decided to taste the rotten marshmallow that was stuck inside surrounded by black mold.  We thought we nipped that one in the bud with a stern warning about getting sick but later found him doing it again.

Day Three

Golden Gate Bridge

Streets of San Francisco

No trip to the Bay area is complete without a trip to San Francisco so we got up early and drove an hour North to experience the big city.  How strange, Thumper felt sick from the minute he got up.  He started to develop a fever.  We drove to San Francisco, walked to the beach at the South side of the Golden Gate Bridge, took a few pictures, and got back in the car to go home.  Back on the road and now it's Thumper's turn to christen the rented car seat in the rented car.  We made it back to BBQ for dinner with family who lives in the area and just before they arrived, Thumper threw up again and had a 103F fever.  

Day Four

We planned to meet our family for coffee and a trip to a nearby kids farm.  First thing in the morning while changing Flipper's diaper, I found a deer tick feeding off his skin in the folds of his leg.  Totally. Freaked. Out.  Thankfully, Pancho packed a first aid kit with tweezers and alcohol (swabs :-)) and thankfully my mother in-law is a nurse.  Only 27 more days until I can stop worrying about Lyme Disease.  We packed up everything and booked a hotel in Santa Clara.  We headed into town for coffee because really, it had been a long and not very relaxing trip so far.  Waiting for our coffee, I noticed movement in Flipper's hair.  A flea scurried across his scalp.  We headed to the kids farm and had a blast, knowing that we were headed to a clean hotel room at the end of the day.

Pozole, Horchata, Strawberry Water

Hotel in Santa Clara

We left Half Moon Bay and crossed the mountains into amazing weather, palm trees galore, and sun, sun sun!  The hotel room wasn't ready when we arrived so we headed to a nearby park that was FILLED with families having fun.  Minutes after we started to play, Thumper had a new friend and Flipper bolted off to drink out of someone else's red Solo cup.  I chased after him and found myself chatting with Gustavo, who was there with around 25 members of his family celebrating a baptism.  He offered to get Flipper his own cup of Horchata and came back with some strawberry water too.  Not five minutes later but he was back offering us some of their food.  He took me over to their picnic bench and handed me a bowl.  He filled my bowl with each ingredient, one at a time, of the best soup I've ever had: pozole. Gustavo filled a bowl for Pancho at the same time and heaped on the salsa!  We returned to our grass and enjoyed the heck out of that soup while the kids played.  We met another couple there with their grandchildren who were nice as could be.  About a half our later, Gustavo was back with cake!  And that was it, we were sold, Santa Clara was our favorite city of the trip and part of our daydreams for the future.

Day Five

Capybara

Lemurs

We visited another zoo and kids park in San Jose.  The weather was incredible.  I cried when both boys rode a ride alone together and Thumper went on his first roller coaster with Pancho.  We found a taqueria with amazing everything and enjoyed being able to drink the water at the hotel.  Later in the day we took a long drive from San Jose to Menlo Park through Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto to see what Silicon Valley is all about.  It was very cool.

Day Six

Back to Vancouver and back to work tomorrow!

It was a rough start to what ended up being a wonderful trip.  Sometimes you have to stick it out and sometimes you just have to throw in the towel and do something different.  This was one of those times we just needed to do something different and we were happy we did!  As Pancho said, sometimes you just have to leave the horse farm.  This was actually a particularly insightful revelation for us as a family right now.  We came back totally energized and excited for what the next year has to offer.  Our last summer in Vancouver begins!