Every other year, our little tribe spends Thanksgiving with John’s family. My family is all pretty much local, but John’s family… They’re a bit more spread out. It’s hard to catch everyone in the same place at the same time, so our best bet is to meet at Grandpa’s house for turkey dinner. This year was also a big milestone birthday for Grandpa, so it was an extra special thing to go see him.
It’s been a few years since we visited the family, so the kids couldn’t wait to see everyone. Because of scheduling issues, John and Johnny went up a day ahead of us by plane, and just the girls went on a road trip.
To get to Modoc county from San Diego takes about 12 hours, depending on traffic and bathroom breaks. Not long ago the girls were asking for another road trip, and boy did they get one! They kept referring to it as our “girl power trip”. I guess when you put 3 ladies together in the car for a few days, the energy turns into girl power. Something like that.
We got to see some beautiful California landscapes. I chose to hit the road at 2 a.m. so the girls could sleep through some of the drive. That meant that we were pulling into sight of those big, craggy Alabama hills from the old cowboy movies just as the sun was rising. Boy, was it beautiful. I wish I had a picture to show you, but the best thing would be to visit Lone Pine and see it for yourself.
Somewhere up in the mountains of the 395 before you get to the Nevada state line, I started to feel restless. As we weaved through the mountains, this little creek seemed to be following us. I pointed it out to the girls, and do you know what they said? “What’s a creek, Mommy?”
My kids don’t know what a creek is?! Time to pull over.
The girls and I took a pit stop on our girl power trip to go explore the sights and sounds of a creek. Much to their disappointment, I wasn’t about to let them swim in it. The weather was a brisk low 50’s, so really I was doing them a favor. 😉
After a long drive, we made it to see Daddy and Johnny and the rest of the family in Modoc county, a place that my brother in law jokingly refers to as “the part of California that nobody visits”. Haha. There wasn’t any snow where we were staying, but some did fall off the undercarriage of a truck parked at the lodge. That counts, right?
The girl power trip was a great bonding experience for me and my girls. They entertained themselves in the car with imaginary play, singing, and lots of coloring.
We are expert road-trippers by now. The drive was long and pretty boring at times, but making an effort to go see family is totally worth it, don’t you think?