Blown Away

We made it to Cheyenne, WY! It was a bit hairy in parts, with howling winds in excess of 50 mph across Wyoming. This is when I'm glad I packed extra -- weigh down the van so we don't blow away!

It is weird to think tonight is New Year's Eve. It is like any other night of late: apart from Husby, in a hotel room, living out of a suitcase, watching The Weather Channel for tomorrow's forecast, and planning tomorrow's itinerary based on when the hotel's continental breakfast ends.

It is 9:50pm (Mountain Time) and we're all in bed. The kids are hopefully going to sleep soon, and I plan to be asleep soon after. We have yet more cool photographs that I'm too tired to upload. Sorry! We'll get them up here as soon as possible.

Until then, Happy (secular) New Year!

The hotel room without a Bible

Know how nearly every hotel/motel room known to humankind has a Gideon Bible in one of the drawers? I found one that doesn't: in Salt Lake City. Odd, that. But there isn't a Book of Mormon in here either. I checked.

Today again, we had just spectacular weather. Other than a few high wispy clouds, we had sun and blue sky. Temps in the 30's/40's, so we never had to put our jackets on. Folks thought we were insane. Watched the sunset over the Salt Flats (got photos) and walked out onto the flats, too (at a rest stop).

We have some really awesome pics to share, but not tonight. Looooong drive today, and I (the mom) am bushed, and we need an early start tomorrow, so please consider this notification that we're here and we're doing fine and so far we're on track (doing better than the airlines, it seems) and if we get into Cheyenne WY when we hope to, we'll be able to post more photos of today and tomorrow.

Quick note from the boys.

Daniel: Our beds are close to the door and our door shows outside, so that when you open the door, POOF!, we're outside.

Yoni: Yesterday, at the hotel (Reno NV), Daniel and I won four different prizes on the Midway at Circus Circus. One of mine is a tan bear. One of Daniel's is a colorful bear.

The biggest little trip in the world

Guess where we are tonight?

One hint:

















We made it over Donner Summit with only a little snow:
















We had a wonderful time with Purple Grandma up in Yuba City:
































We Skyped with Abba (Dad):

















And we had fun! Tomorrow's goal: Salt Lake City. See you soon!

Today is brought to you by the color purple

Daniel: We are going to sleep at Purple Grandma's house for three days. She gave us presents. Mine was a movie that is called Horton Hears a Who. And Yoni's was a book that is called The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Purple Grandma has a silver computer mouse. She also has a cool computer, which we are using to write this blog instead of Eema's computer. And she has a light with three lights on one pole.

Yoni: Today we left Blue Grandma and Steve. I really wish we could stay with them longer, but I also really want to see Purple Grandma and get home. [Daniel: I feel sad.] Purple Grandma has a bear collection with lots and lots of bears. [Daniel: And there's a gigantic bear.] I really miss Abba. [Daniel: I really want to go home.] And that's it for right now.

Mom: It turned into a longer drive than I thought, but we're here in Yuba City, safe and sound, until Monday, when we head over the mountains into Nevada. I'm hoping for good weather. And maybe no chains required over the summit? (One can always hope.)

We'll try to get a few photos posted while we're here. It'll require a bit of finagling on this end, but I'll do my best.

Until next time...

Nearing the end

Today's the last full day we'll spend with Mom/Blue Grandma and Steve. It's hard to say goodbye, but thankfully we have cell phones and the Internet and all manner of technologically fun ways to communicate.

We're headed to Mom's brother's house where we'll spend the rest of the day with him and his wife, Mom, Steve, and possibly a few people we haven't yet met. I'm debating about bringing our menorahs and candles for Fifth Night of Chanukah tonight, but where we're going apparently isn't really Jewish-friendly, so maybe we'll light candles after we get back to our hotel.

The boys are really tired of being asked if they're excited about Santa coming. Newsflash: he didn't come last night or this morning and I have special anti-Santa locks on the doors. But we had a quiet evening last night watching the Chanukah candles burn down and making (non-monetary) bets about which candle was going to burn out first. And next. And next...

Don't Let the Light Go Out

Sorry for the wait, folks. Here's what we've been up to:


The boys and I visit the house I grew up in (ages 9-17)

















I take a photograph in the same spot of the same subject that I took 25 years ago:

















We find big leaves in a nearby park where I used to play:
































We play in the park itself:

















We discover a tree that looks like it has camouflage bark:

















We discover that the housekeeping staff at our hotel likes the boys' stuffed animals:

















We celebrate the first night of Chanukah:

















We celebrate the second night of Chanukah (note that the boys have had haircuts):

















Mom/Blue Grandma feels well enough to take a walk around the duck pond, where the boys see a tree unlike anything they've ever seen before:

















We celebrate the third night of Chanukah:
















And now we wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Stay tuned...

Awesome cool photos coming up tonight (I hope). You don't want to miss it!

Fun with Family

Pictures are supposed to be worth a thousand words, so let's hope this works because I'm short on words tonight.

Here's Mom/Blue Grandma on the phone, talking to the doctor.
















Yoni and Daniel perform...

















While Steve makes a movie of them...

















The boys amuse themselves while the grownups talk.

















Pizza Night, where we banned sickness and pain for the duration of the meal.
















Finally, at the end of the day...

How do you spell home? H-O-T-E-L

It's been one week since we left and feelings are mixed. On the one hand, it's so good to see Blue Grandma and Steve and Uncle James and everyone else here we missed. But especially Blue Grandma because she's the reason we came out here in the first place.

On the other hand, we miss home and especially Abba (Dad). Talking to him on the phone just isn't enough.

Tonight I caught myself telling the boys that they play with a particular toy when we got home. Daniel suddenly exclaims, "We're driving all the way back to Minnesota tonight?"

Me: "No, we're just going back to the hotel tonight."

Daniel: "But you said we were going home."

I have more photos that I'll have to upload in the morning. Until then, blessed sleep!

What a Day it Was

We didn't arrive in Fremont, California, until nearly 10:30 p.m. Pacific time. For those of us still on Central time, it was a late night. The boys fell asleep somewhere around Sacramento and woke up about two miles from our hotel.

And speaking of hotel, we are now officially spoiled. After three nights in rooms that had only the basics (if that) -- which was all we needed since we were just passing through -- we now have a room with a wall of windows and a thermostat and real-glass glasses and room service. Wow.

So for the trip: we could tell it was going to get rough even before we got to Reno.
















And in fact we passed through a weird isolated snow storm:
















We bought chains because the weather report was indicating some stretches of road required chains or snow tires. What we got were these cable "chains," which the helpful clerk at Checker Auto Parts in Elko said were easier to put on than the older version. No sooner had we left Elko than we reached one of those stretches. So here I am outside a gas station in the middle of nowhere, trying to read horrible directions to put on chains for the first time ever. After about twenty minutes, I was near tears and praying for help. The boys were watching a video in the van. Suddenly a gentleman appeared from the gas station and said he'd been watching me for the past few minutes and figured maybe I needed some help. He helped me get them on (not as easy as the clerk made it seem) and we headed back onto I-80.

Less than a mile later, the signs warning that chains or snow tires were required had been turned off and the road looked clear. We pulled off at the next exit and I spent the next twenty minutes taking the darn things off. It was a learning experience. By the time I was done, my arms were covered in dirty slush and my gloves were sopping. I dried them using the van's fancy built-in dashboard heater:
















When we got to Reno, we stopped for gas and a bathroom break, and lucky us -- we got to drive under the "Biggest Little City in the World" arch! Yoni: "That was great!" Daniel: "Super good!" Both boys were entranced by two spheres the size of buildings. We're still not sure what they were.

We headed out of Reno and into the Sierra Nevadas, hoping for an easy ride. Ha. ha Ha HaHA Ha Ha HA!

As we approached Donner Summit, we were informed that chains were required over the summit. There were places to pull over and put chains on, so I picked one and spent another thirty minutes getting sopping wet and dirty. At least I knew what I was doing this time. A mile later, we passed a pull-out location where there were assistants to help with putting chains on. Apparently I have to do things the hard way. They checked my chains and gave them a thumbs-up. I may not know what I'm doing, but I do it good.
















By the time we reached the summit, it was dark. Really dark. And starting to snow. I remembered stopping at the summit's rest area as a kid. But I never saw it like this. And those glowing dots? Snow.
















And so, in the dark, in the snow, with chains on, we headed down the mountain.
















Remember in Star Wars how it looked when the Millenium Falcon entered hyperspace?














That's exactly what it looked like driving down the mountain while it snowed. Heavily. I don't have any actual photos because, well, I was doing everything humanly possible to stay on the road and not get run over by all of the speed-happy Californians who were zipping past at over 50 m.p.h.

Halfway down the mountains, chains were no longer required, so we pulled off to remove them. But the area wasn't lit so I had my flashlight in my mouth as I got intimately reacquainted with all four tires. Again slush and sopping cold fingers. A van full of young adults pulled in front of me to take off their chains and about six people got out. Within minutes, they had their chains off and two of them came over and asked if I needed help. I gratefully (very gratefully) accepted and they got two tires done in the time it took me to finish one. Whoever they are, thank you!

By Sacramento, the boys fell asleep after watching Beauty and the Beast about four times in a row. This was the first movie they watched all trip in English. Mostly they were watching:

דמבו הפל המעופץ
פו הדוב
אלאדין
הדוב רופרט
מלך האריות

10 points for each movie you can identify (leave your answer in the comments)!

Oh, and then there was the pickup truck that lost its camper shell in the middle of the freeway. In my lane. That woke me up! If there was any concern about my getting drowsy, that took care of it.

Now a bit from the yeladim.

Yoni: There was a big ginormous snowstorm in themountains. All the days on the way to California, there were a lot of interesting sights. And now we are in California and there are still a lot of interesting sights to see. We watched a lot of movies on the way. You will see them listed in Hebrew up above.

Daniel: The snowstorm was called a blizzard. We're going to stay in a hotel for a while in California. Maverick gave me a new shirt. My shirt is called Yu-Gi-Oh! It's orange. We got very very cool beds which has got very very pretty covers. And our beds are the same. And Yoni's wearing his Hawaii shirt.

The boys took a bunch of photos along the way (until they filled up the card) and later (today maybe?) we'll upload them to a Flickr account and post the URL so you can see what they captured.

More from cloudy California later!

Here

We made it! As the GPS likes to announce, we "have reached [our] destination."

And I am too tired to post anything else. I have photos. I have stories (oh boy do I have stories from the drive today!). I have questions on our Don't Know Yet list. But right now I want sleep. So I will post all that fun stuff in the morning.

Oh, and that subtitle for the blog -- "uphill, both ways, in the snow?" Compared to today's drive, that ain't nothin'. It's the downhill, 6% grades, in the snow, with chains, during heavy snow, at night, surrounded by a bunch of speed-happy California drivers, that is really the true measure of interstate insanity.

I got it in spades.

G'night. I'll explain and illustrate in the morning.

Blazing and Saddles

Originally, we'd planned to be in California for the start of Shabbat, but best-laid plans and all that. As we watched the sun set behind the mountains in Western Utah, we were singing Shabbat songs and talking about what it meant to each of us to be "close to G-d."

We're almost to California! Tonight we're in Elko, Nevada, which is true to Nevada form in that there is no shortage of blazing, blinking lights to advertise places to eat and gamble.

Yoni asks: What is "gamble?"

I likened it to vending machines that offer toys, but you only get a toy some of the time. And you have to put your money in all of the time.

Yoni: In the Wyoming desert, we saw some cows, which was really weird, because usually cows don't go in the desert unless the farmer lets them.

We drove over the Continental Divide today. On our list of Questions To Which We Don't Yet Know The Answer, we put "What is the Continental Divide?" The answer, according to Yoni (after Googling it tonight): it's a bunch of mountains that, when it rains, it separates where the water goes. One way it goes to the Pacific, the other way it goes to the Atlantic.

Now for a few photos:

As we drove into Salt Lake City, we saw... is that SMOG? Eww...
















It did make for interesting sunbeams, though...
















At a McDonald's in Wyoming, they had an interesting choice for seating:
















Cool rock formations:
















And a special photo for Jeanice. Note the name of this gas station in Utah (you may have to click on the photo to see it larger). Also note the price of gas. :-)

Halfway there!

We're smack dab in the middle of Wyoming in the town of Rawlins. It was a long drive today, but pleasant. The weather was scattered clouds and temps in the 40's. It was like a heat wave compared to what we left two days ago (when we had six inches of snow on the ground and the high was 4 above zero).

Mom: I am tired. My butt is tired. But I am thankful for the beautiful weather and clear roads and the full moon that lit our way from Laramie to Rawlins tonight.

Yoni: You know that song that says "I feel so broke up / I want to go home" (Mom supplies: Sloop John B ). I kind of feel that way because I miss Abba (Dad). But I want to see Blue Grandma too.

Daniel: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And now for some photos along our way today.

You can't see the sign Daniel is holding, but it says "Ogallala." This is where we had originally hoped to stay last night, but we (okay, I ) was a little optimistic about how far we could travel in one day. It took us five hours to drive to Ogallala from our hotel in Lincoln.

















Nebraska is SOOOO interesting...


















Although this was unexpected...

















This is what apparently passes for snow today in Nebraska...
















Compared to what we left in St. Paul...

Hello from Lincoln, Nebraska!

And the long-awaited answer to our poll is: 8:02 a.m.

We made it to Lincoln, Nebraska. It was my hope to make it to Ogallala, NE, but sleeping 2 hours last night combined with a late-ish start made it a better choice to stop in Lincoln.

Also, I noticed something. Once we hit I-80, we are driving mostly west. The sun sets in the west. This makes for quite bright driving come sunset. Painfully bright driving. Blindingly bright, even. So we are here in Lincoln. And let me tell you, I can't explain it, but there was something very right about pulling into Lincoln at sunset while listening to David Broza. Maybe it's just me.

Okay, enough from the mom.

It's Yoni's turn: I noticed something really weird. Once we hit Council Bluffs there was absolutely no snow! And it was 2 degrees below freezing!

Now it's Daniel's turn: Today we went to a hotel. Our room is nice. And pretty. Eema let us try a digital camera. And she let us use hers. I was in one of the pictures. I took a picture on the very new digital camera and Eema's. There's two lamps next to each other up on the wall and there's a button in between that you push and then they turn off and then if you push it again it turns on. I got a camoflauge suitcase that comes with a water bottle. And in our hotell we got a TV with a cool remote.

Back to Yoni: You may have noticed that Daniel said more. And for dinner we went to Village Inn and I had grilled cheese dunkers with salad on the side and Daniel had macaroni and cheese with graham crackers on the side. And now he's asking me to read Kat Kong to him. We are on our way to California to see Blue Grandma because this may be the last time we may be able to see her again. On our trip, we saw a lot of interesting things, like wind farms and horses.

Here are some pictures we took.

Are we there yet?

The boys are so excited to go, they wanted to "practice" rolling their suitcases around the living room. Just to see how it felt. And then much to my surprise, they went to bed at their normal time and went immediately to sleep.

Maybe we should pack and prepare to leave more often.

With a few last-minute exceptions, we are packed and ready to go. The only remaining item on the To Do List is refueling the van, and I was delighted to see gas at $1.55/gal today.

Just think: our next blog post will be on the road. And we can answer the much-awaited question of what time we got going.

California here we come!

Abuzz

Well, dear readers, you don't seem to have much confidence in us being on the road before 8:00 a.m. That's okay. Honestly, I (the mom) don't either. But we can have our ambitions.

Yoni and Daniel are experiencing normal mood swings under the circumstances. They are sooo excited about going ("Are we leaving tomorrow? The day after that? When are we leaving?") but they are sad about the things they will miss at school, too. Or at least they are sad about missing a field trip and their friends.

We could be gone as long as three weeks all told, including travel time, and that seems like forever to kids whose ages are still in the single digits. (It also seems like forever to spouses who haven't been apart from each other for more than a week during their 22 years together, but that's another story.) Thank goodness for technology!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the Big Packing Day after school and with it, saying goodbye (albeit temporarily) to friends and classmates. And Abba (Dad). It will be an emotional day and I suspect none of us will sleep well tomorrow night.

Which could mean a very late start. Or, with the benefit of secondary insomnia, it could mean a very early start. We shall see.

Shopping, shoveling, packing, and where's my other sock?

Hi all and welcome to our new blog. Here's our story in a nutshell:

I (the mom) and my two boys (Yoni age 7, Daniel age 5) are embarking on a road trip from Minnesota to California to visit my mom (the boys' grandmother), whom the boys affectionately call Blue Grandma.

Why are we driving? Because airfare is way too expensive to fit our budget. And because I (the mom) am insane.

Why are we going now, in December? Because my mom (Blue Grandma) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and we want to see her again before she hopefully goes in for surgery and gets rid of all the nasty cancer.

Why are we blogging our trip? Because Yoni and Daniel will be missing a week and a half of school to go on this adventure. (Hi Talmud Torah!) And because we want to show their teachers that yes, they really are learning more than how to work the van's video player. And because lots of people here in cold, snowy Minnesota worry about us and we can relieve and entertain them at the same time.

And because I don't have enough to do or enough to worry about. In short, because I am insane.

So now we are doing our last-minute shopping for the trip and setting aside clean clothes to pack and doing massive amounts of laundry so that we have clean clothes to pack, and shoveling the walkway outside because despite our busy pre-trip plans, it insists on snowing outside.

It was 4 degrees out earlier today. How weird to think that in a few short (or maybe not so short) days, we will be driving with the windows down in sunny California. We might even get a tan. In December!

We're getting ready. The only thing we're not doing is sleeping.