Sunday, August 17, 2008

Road Trip!

We decided to spend yesterday, the last day of summer vacation, on a road trip to the coast! It was a spur of the moment decision the night before, so we just played it by ear. It has been so hot here in the Valley that we decided to escape for the day!

We left a lot later than we wanted to, but that seems to be par for the course. With snacks, sand shovels and cache pages in hand we started our way towards the beach.

We drove up through Mendota and Firebaugh and then caught the 152 west. We drove through Pacheco Pass and stopped in Casa de Fruita near lunch time. There were a few caches there, so we got them first and then the girls got to pick out a fruit to go with their lunch. Amanda picked half a watermelon, Rebecca picked half a cantelope and Katrina picked a basket of strawberries. Yum! We also got some dried fruits and nuts as well. I picked up some dried figs and dates and have plans for a future what-would-Jesus-eat lesson. The girls also watched the train go by, played on a train engine and explored other fun things they have there.

While we were in the fruit stand we saw an accident happen out in the intersection. A semi was swinging wide to make the turn back onto the freeway and the trailer completely ran over a mid-size pick up truck! I don’t know if the guy in the pick-up truck didn’t realize the semi was swinging wide and tried to get passed him on the right, but the semi just drove along the side of his truck and knocked him clean off into the dirt on the side fo the road. The semi didn’t even notice and kept on going, getting on the freeway before we could even think to get a license plate number. The driver of the pick-up truck couldn’t even get out his driver side door and had to climb out the passenger side. He got on his phone as he walked around the truck. Kevin went out to go let him know that we had seen the accident, but before we could, he took off. We called the CHP to let them know we had seen it, but without an identifiable victim it is hard for them to follow up.

Anyway, after lunch we got back on the road, heading through Gilroy and Hecker Pass (that drive is so beautiful!) and then down through Watsonville to the coast. We stopped at one beach, near Aptos, and walked down under an old train tressle. That was fun! (Again, this is why we love geocaching! We would not know to have stopped at this spot if not for a cache nearby.) We decided to go to another beach a little farther down the coast, and we really liked it. It was Manresa State Beach, and there is a campground there and everything. (We want to come back another time and camp there!)

The beach was nice, although the sun was firmly behind the clouds (thanks to the hot weather in the Valley), so it was cool and windy. Amanda and Rebecca had a great time playing in the waves! They made a friend and they all collected sand crabs and put them in a bucket that we had brought. Katrina spent all her time digging in the sand up higher on the beach. She was not keen on the waves getting too close to her. The clouds were really low and there was so much mist it felt like it was sprinkling on us.

When chill and hunger had got the better of us, we left the beach and took the long route back, walking up through the campground area. By the time we got cleaned up and back on the road home it was nearly 7:30pm. We drove through Watsonville, but not being familiar with the town, we didn’t know a good place to stop for dinner. We kept going, back over Hecker Pass, and stopped in Gilroy. We went to the Black Bear Diner, which we had been to once before on a trip up to Oregon. There was a wait, so forty minutes and three very hungry, whiny girls later, we finally were seated and ordered dinner.

It was about 10:00pm when we finished dinner. Katrina was already resting her head on my shoulder and everyone seemed to be listing slightly. I got up to pay and then we scooted the girls out to the van. They were all sound asleep before we got to the city limits.

We called Kevin’s mom to see how she was doing (her long-time boss and friend, Jeff Dockstader, passed away on Friday. She called us this morning to let us know. He had a heartattack on the way home from work and his car slammed into a house. Jeff was one of the witnesses at our wedding, so we knew him well too. What a sad thing to have happen.). Then we called Lora’s mom to see how she was doing (he’s heading to Homer this for a week of glassmaking!).

We arrived home at about 12:20 in the morning. We had found nine caches, carried home a lot of sand and had taken a ton of photos to document the whole thing!

We got the girls into bed and started unloading the car. We had done it a little at a time separately, so it was a few minutes before Kevin asked where the camera was. We both said: “I THOUGHT YOU HAD IT!!!” Yikes! We got online and looked up the Black Bear Diner and got the number for the restaurant in Gilroy. Thankfully an employee was still there! I described where we were sitting and what the camera looked like and they confirmed that they had found it! Whew! She asked if we would be back tonight to pick it up. I told her we were all the way back in Fresno and so we would be there the next day. They said they would keep it in the safe for us.

So, this morning, at about 8:30am, Kevin hopped on the motorcycle and headed for Gilroy. He has been gone for over seven hours. . . can you say Road Trip? : )

See all of our Road Trip pics HERE.

1 comment:

skye said...

You saw my reaction when you told me at church! I would be freaking out, if it were my camera. This is the very reason why I wouldn't let Steve take my camera to Santa Cruz Saturday. If he had lost it, or wreaked it, I would have had to kill him. So really, I just saved his life. :)