"Holiday Road"

I'm just gonna jump right in and get going with this. Cuz I have a lot to say and very little time to say it (before one of the kiddos needs something)...

The drive down to California was great. We weighed out flying versus driving and driving won out--gas prices and everything. I was really craving a road trip anyway. The whole National Lampoon's experience. Our girls are good travelers (I'd like to thank the Air Force and also, 35+ Wiggle concerts for that one). Some of my very best memories from growing up, are long trips in the car with my family.

It took us three days. Originally hubby wanted to do it in two and I gave him the, "Are you crazy? Do you know us at all?!" look. So three days it was. The first day was the longest...like 9 1/2 hours. It was a good chunk. Straight away we let the girls know that they were not allowed to ask, "Are we almost there?" And given that they had absolutely no concept of time and how very, very long they were going to be in the car, we put it in Hannah Montana terms...something the girl's get. So we let them know that we would be in the car for like 18 Hannah Montana's. That's a lot. But, "How many Hannah Montana's?" sounded so much better than, "Are we almost there?" coming from the back seat. So. much. better.

What also got us through this day was Coldplay. Well actually Coldplay on satellite radio. Like I mentioned in a previous post, XM channel 51 is doing "30 days of Coldplay." No commercials, just Coldplay. So we listened to a lot of Coldplay. A lot. And continued to listen to them the entire trip. Amazingly, and this tells you how good a band is--we did not get sick of them. Not at all. Granted, we threw in the High School Musical and Camp Rock soundtracks, of which I have a funny story from our drive home (saving it for later) and the Disney Channel station, cuz you know, we have KIDS. But mostly it was Coldplay. I think this will be my girl's, Dirty Dancing road trip soundtrack. That was what I listened to from the backseat of our Cherokee on our road trips, growing up. I think Coldplay will trigger memories of this trip for them for years to come.

What I remember about this day was crossing the California border and realizing we needed to get gas pretty soon, thinking we'll stop at the next gas station. I was getting a little panicky. It was like 104 degrees. It's scary where your mind goes when your gas light is on. So like a very long time later (we were in the curvy mountains, with not a town nor gas station in sight), we finally came across a lone gas station. Just like you see in the movies...there were tumbleweeds. Guess how much the gas was?? $4.97/gallon! That's right! So we got like 3 gallons and continued on our journey and to another gas station like one mile away with gas that was like 30 cents less. Bugger! Somehow we made it to Chico, California. Or what we like to say, "CHIco!" After that long on the road, you get a little loopy. It could have been the smoke too. We didn't see the wildfires, but we sure did see the smoke. And smell it. We must have been fairly close, because most of the people staying in our hotel were firefighters. That helped keep the girls quiet-er while we were at the hotel...The firefighters have been up all night (walk quieter) fighting fires, we need to be soooo quiet (please stop jumping on the bed!) so they can sleep (shhhhhh!). Poor guys. We'd see them in the elevators, faces all black with soot and bloodshot eyes. See, these are the things I remember.

So also in Chico, they have the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Hubby made an effort to schedule our trip around breweries. He was in hop heaven. He heard a Heavenly chorus as we pulled into the parking lot. The golden distilleries calling him. They really were golden...okay, maybe brass, but they were really shiny. It really was an impressive place. They had their own hop field and everything. He was a happy boy. The girls and I were just glad to get out of the car and EAT.

Oh, and thank goodness for hotel swimming pools--great incentive for the girlies. It's like the first thing my girls scope out once we "reach our destination." It's the most exciting thing, ever...when your a kid, stuck in a car all. day. long.

So it was a good first day. We didn't run out of gas, hubby got his brew and the girls got to finish the day with cannon balls!

Now...tell me you don't have these lyrics in your head (if you don't now, you will by the time I'm through with ya!):

I found out long ago
It's a long way down the Holiday Road

Holiday Road
Holiday Road

Jack be nible, Jack be quick
Take a ride on a West Coast kick

Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road

I've come back long ago
Long way down the Holiday Road

Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road
Holiday Road