Spent Tuesday - Saturday visiting and playing with Kelly's brother John and sister-in-law Candace and cousins - Ezra, Aiden, and Calen.John and Candace live in Mission Viejo, CA which is thirty minutes from everything awesome in the universe. The beaches near Mission Viejo are incredibly beautiful - edged by cliffs with views of the Santa Ana mountains in the distance. Ian and Jonan were in absolute cousin heaven with Ezra, Aiden, and Calen playing in the wave...

Today we took my father's (Bart's) advice and drove down the Eastern side of California on 395 South. Glenn and I agree that this route was the most amazing interstate driving either of us have ever been on. Going South on 395 one passes one incredible Mountain after another as the Sierra Nevada's take on different forms.Part way down we stopped at Mono Lake to see the Tufa towers. The towers are created when the calcium in the fresh water bubbling up from und...

We visited Kelly's dad Bart and step mother Maggie in Auburn and while there we also saw Uncle Jimmy. Bart and Maggie live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's where gold was discovered in 1848. It's a beautiful area - with many of the country charms you would find in Vermont.On Thursday night Grandpa Bart, Glenn, Ian and Jonan went to the movies and Maggie and Kelly had a women's night out with Darby and Hannah in Grass Valley.Grass Valley h...

We drove up the Avenue of the Giants, which is in Humboldt state forest, late afternoon Sunday and set up our tent in the Burlington campground. The next day we visited the visitor center, then went swimming in the river before walking through the Rockefeller grove of old growth trees. We returned to our campground which had a few old growth trees still left. The boys enjoyed scootering around the campground and making friends. They also climbed on the giant s...

On our way driving from Kelly's sister in Castro Valley to the Redwood forest we went through downtown San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge.