California, Ready or not, here we come!

(Left: Our House covered in snow)

(Left: The hills around San Dimas)

California Vacation 2008-2009

Thursday, December 18, 2008, 3:30AM.

I wake up to the sound of trickling water. Wait, am I even awake? Yes, yes, I am. Now, now, we must go!!! 4 days earlier the snow began to fall and it covered McMinnville. The girls were out of school, looks like a 3 week vacation. We planned to leave for California Friday morning. Wednesday afternoon, I began packing. So when I heard the trickle of water outside, I knew we had a window and we needed to get out of town. The forecast called for warm temperatures in the early AM, then everything was going to freeze by 7 AM. So we were prepared to leave at 4. We headed out at 4:00 AM. Great timing too, the next 10 days proved to be one of the biggest snow storms in Oregon history.

We've gone to California for 3 years now during the Christmas Vacation. We've driven every time. On our way through Oregon, the girls made the usual comments "are we almost there?, when are we going to be there? and How much more time do we have to be in this van?" We usually reply with "We will be there sooner than later. We're closer than we were last time you asked., and We can stop anytime, you can get out go potty and then we'll start the time over again." Between questions and answers we find time to reflect on things we haven't talked about, make phone calls, listen to the Spanish music and try to guess the name of the song. There are a lot of remakes from the American versions. It kills time. This time, we thought we'd take a detour. There was a town off the 5 that had an outlet mall with a Maurices. I needed a pair of jeans since the McMinnville store was out of the ones I like, so we headed to the mall. Our detour took us nearly 1 1/2 hours. Not because I am a slow shopper, I don't think it took me more than 3 minutes to make my purchase from entering the store. No, we traveled further off the 5 than we thought. So back on the road, our itinerary that I so carefully put together seemed like it could still be closely met with an arrival time of 7 or 8 PM. Not a problem. "I'm hungry, I have to go potty, my legs hurt." were the cries from the back of the van (or urban assault vehicle we like to call it). It was not even an hour later, we stopped at the first restaurant we saw, the Apricot Inn. Any restaurant that starts with a fruit should tell you something!!! Another 1 1/2 hour later, we were off on our journey to San Dimas. The sun had set hours ago and the kids were sticking to moms plan. "We'll be there in 45 minutes." I hear from the back. "More like 2 hours and 45 minutes." sounds a tired passenger in front.

Something about this part of our trip makes us ask why we do it every year. A call comes in. "Is everyone okay? Where are you?" Our hosts are eagerly awaiting our arrival along with their son who has asked them similar questions throughout the day. We recalculate our time with where we are and decide we'll arrive more around 10:30. About 3 hours past the originally scheduled time. The time goes quick as the girls give in to their sleepy anticipation and there is silence for a while.

We know we are close when we start the steep climb up the hill. What is that? Is that snow? In California? The traffic slows as if no one had ever seen snow. I curiously check the mountainside and confirm my suspicion. "Yup, that is snow!" 45 minutes later we pull into our hosts driveway and are greeted with crisp and curiously fresh air.

When we wake up the morning, we look out at the hills surrounding us and there is snow covering the hillside. We can actually see the hillside. The sun heats up the day and we begin to miss Oregon, but anxiously await the next 2 weeks activities as we settle in and unpack our belongings. One deep breath confirms the air is lighter than usual and we are thankful for the blessing of safe travel, friends that call us family, and children that have already forgotten their 18 1/2 hour drive to their friend Joshua's house. Residents from the San Dimas area say it has been 25 years since the last time they saw LA from their beautiful city. We witnessed history, while Oregon was making it's own. It is a beautiful day.