Ethan:
This update is coming to you live from our
vacation chalet in the foothills of the Sierra Nevandas in California. Ehlana and I don’t have a lot of experience
with time zone changes; so it has been fun getting so much of the day to spend
here even after all of the travel time, but that’s also catching up with us
fast now, since it feels really late to us; so we’ll keep this update short
before crashing into nap mode.
We were on the road to the airport very
early; got there with lots of time to both check in for our flight and see May
off on her trip to Washington D.C. – a flight that left nearly an hour earlier
than ours. That was fun; the fast food
breakfast that followed wasn’t memorable; and the flights to the west coast
were fun for those of us who are still novice travelers – the four kids in our
group. One security agent was a bit
too-enthusiastic about checking our carry-on bags – possibly because he wanted
to spend extra time with Mom, but that was only a minor annoyance; and I won’t comment
on the stupidity of completely emptying the bags for a bunch of kids going on a
flight between two states within our own country. I’m positive that there hasn’t been a problem
with smuggling toys, books, or video games to California!
Moving along, it didn’t take long to get
our rental van once we’d picked up our luggage; we made a stop to pick up
supplies and groceries; and then hit the road for the chalet. Grass Valley is the nearest town, but getting
there from the chalet takes a while; since the back roads wind their way around
the hills, lakes, and woods – and that allows for a lot of privacy for the residents
and rental homes in the area. Bike
rentals had already been delivered by the time we got here, but before we could
go exploring or playing in the lake; we had to unload the van and help out with
getting everything inside and put away.
Mom and Dad set us free after that; we went for a swim first; a bike
ride next; and then we were able to play in the two canoes that Mom and Dad
took down to the lake and tied up to the dock – two of the canoes kept in a
storage barn as part of the chalet rental deal.
It is amazing here, and we’re going to have
a blast, but we’re also waiting for Cassie and Michael to join us here by tomorrow
afternoon. They’re at their airport
hotel tonight after spending most of a last day on Catalina Island before
taking the last ferry of the afternoon to the mainland; so they’ll be able to
get to the airport on-time for their flight into Sacramento. We can hardly wait to see them again; and I’m
glad that we’ll get to have this week together before they’ll be back at
college a week from Sunday. We were
already getting tired by dinnertime, but had a barbeque; cleaned up; and did
some more exploring and water play time before coming into the chalet for the
night. We’ve been winding down since
then; and now we’re all heading to bed – hopefully timing that well-enough that
we won’t be awake again in the middle of the night when we’re used to getting
up at dawn home time.
I’ll let you know how that goes for me, but
that’s it for tonight. The real
adventures will begin tomorrow; so stay tuned for the highlights of our
vacation adventures in gold country!
Ethan – out!
***
Ehlana:
Ethan didn’t include this, but our favorite
part of the travel fun today was getting to do that with Naomi and Aiden. We’ll need to do something nice for their
parents for letting them come with us for the week! I’ll also add that our chalet is beautiful;
the scenery is breath-taking; and we’ll likely need the entire week just to
explore around here without adding in all of the fun we have planned with the
sightseeing and a whitewater rafting excursion.
I don’t really have anything else to add to
Ethan’s report, and it does feel really late to us; so I’m going to wrap this
up and get some sleep. The bed that
Naomi and I are sharing is awesome too.
We have to climb onto it from the bench-chest at the foot of it; and we
are going to enjoy the plush comfort.
Sure, my bed at home is amazing too, and I’m glad that I don’t need to
high jump or pole vault to get onto it every time; so I think that I’ll keep it
– even if it’s fun to have a bed like this while on a vacation. ;^)
Okay, that’s all for me too. We definitely want to be rested and ready for
our first full day of lakeside fun and games – and to play with Cassie and
Michael once they get here too.
This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live
from what is now my past!
