Still on the Road

Day 2 and Day 3 of this crazy road trip went relatively smoothly. After our night in San Jose we headed into the Bay area and hit downtown San Francisco. The missions that we saw on day 2 were further apart in location and style.

Mission Dolores was a simple mission was a really cool cemetary. The Basilica next to the mission was absolutely amazing. They had stained glass windows depicting every mission. Pope John Paul II spoke there once. Lily didn't want to go inside because it was to dark and scary. Another comment that came across was, "Why are there so many pictures of Christ with blood all over him." All of our kids aren't used to seeing Christ depicted that way. The bummer about San Fran was leaving the city on the Golden Gate Bridge and not being able to see it at all due to fog. Maybe next time.

On our way out of San Francisco we were driving up this one street that kept getting steeper and steeper. When we finally reached the top we all started screaming like we were on a roller coaster. My sister was on the other walkie talkie and was a few cars away from us. She asked why we were all screaming, then about 20 seconds later we heard their car all screaming as they descended the road down. I can't even imagine driving a stick shift in that town.

Mission San Rafael was cool because we had a docent that gave us a tour of the place as well as lots of history. It was a nice mission, but very simple. Lily thought the chapel was cool because it was pink. She is such a girl.

The Sonoma Mission was out in the middle of nowhere. We also took a slight detour. I blame google maps for that. It only took us 10 minutes to correct that problem. The mission isn't owned by the church, but is a state park. It seemed pretty true to form and again very simple. They had barracks across the street, but after the water fight my sister and I got into we opted to go to the Ben & Jerry's store with the kids. My parents and Damon went to the barracks.

On our way to Medford, Oregon we stopped in Redding, CA. We have stopped in this town more times than I want to remember in all kinds of weather. We have even eaten at the Denny's before. We got to the hotel in Medford and went swimming. We are all getting pretty sick of being in the car. We had a nice leisurely morning and then headed out to Rockaway Beach on the Oregon Coast. That drive wasn't to bad. Everything turned green and we couldn't tell which way we were going in the forest. Julie called and asked where we were and we told her, "the middle of nowhere with lots of trees." Here response was, "Welcome to Oregon." After a 20 mintue mistake, again from not so clear directions from google, that took 50 minutes to correct, we made it to the beach house.

It is said that "it's not in the destination you reach, but the journey to get there." When we stopped in Salem, OR to get gas we also stopped at McDonald's. What's a road trip without them. So we ate there and this picture is along those lines of the journey. As well as playing in the play land for a half hour. My dad would have never approved of this growing up.

We headed down to the beach, which is hard to call a beach because it smells like pine and there are pine trees instead of palm trees. The water temp is usually around 50*F, but that didn't stop Noah and Mallory who got all wet in their normal clothes. We were just happy that it was sunny. Our beach house is in the forest, but then you cross the street and go down a little slope and then you are at the beach.

Stay tuned for more.