We rent another car to head towards Cali. This time we upgraded to a Chevy Malibu. Still a small car compared to what we are use to, but a HUGE improvement from the teeny, tiny Aveo we spent so much time in. Even the kids were remarking over the space. We didn’t get the same cheap rate as the Aveo though. Cars are cheap in the Midwest. This is not the case on the west coast. Especially when picking up at one location and dropping in another. At $83/day our 4 days with the Malibu cost about the same as our little Aveo did for two weeks…yeah it hurt!
We hit the road and made it into CA by about 3pm (about 500 miles). On the way we hit 117 degrees. Seriously, why did we decide to travel through AZ and CA in Aug??
We got to LA and stayed at March ANG base. This base is closing so it has the abandoned feel to it. The billeting is very Spanish inspired with terra cotta roof tiles and heavily textured white stucco walls. Large palm trees were in the center of the courtyard with a trickling water fountain. Absolutely GEORGOUS!!
About 2 years ago I helped my mom find some relatives she had never met and some she had lost contact with. While looking for her family I also decided to try looking up a long lost best friend from my childhood. Hours and hours of frustration and several dead ends later I was finally able to contact her. We had spoken over the phone and emailed, but had not yet made contact in person until today. Even though I had not seen her in 17 years I so could have picked her out of a line up. She was always beautiful and now, as a woman, has only perfected her look. She has the squeakiest of voices so Mickey Mouse was a nick name through school. Wanna talk about flash backs. We had a great time. She lived just 2 houses down and we were attached to the hip for many a year. She has 2 daughters that are the same ages as mine so they got along great. And meeting at a Dave and Buster’s was a great decision according to Zac. How quickly time passes. We are hoping next time to plan a vaca together.
A friend, Tina (Jason’s wife), who grew up in LA told me to watch out for the traffic in LA. I was confident in all my travels and growing up in a large city I could totally handle a few cars driving beside me. She informed me of the 70 mph posted limit and the ACTUAL driving speed and how I would be sitting still. Speeding ticket, hello! Ok Tina, you were right!! I am cruzin at 80ish :) and cars are flying past me and pissed that I am in the way. Oh and locking up the brakes during morning rush hour in the fast lane, 6 lanes in is probably not the best choice. Oh and FYI a Chevy Malibu will shut off IMMEDIATELY when the brakes lock up. Laughing now with slight residual twitch.
The next day we headed out up highway 1. We spent some time on the beach and the weather was awesome. It was sunny and high 70s the short time we were there. When we pulled out of the parking lot of the beach I got pulled over again! The police came to the window and asked if I knew why I had been pulled over. I was speeding. NO! Well I might have been, but that wasn’t the reason I was getting pulled over. I guess I had run through a stop sign in the park. Lucky for me I got a warning. He was a little confused though. I have an AZ driver’s license with a CO address but we reside in AK. Another interesting fact about AZ driver’s license is the expiration date. Mine is not set to expire until 2041, seriously! Now the kids think they have some dirt on me. “Look out mom, there’s a stop sign,” or “Are you supposed to be going that fast?” HAHA funny stuff!
We got to Travis and stayed in the TLF there, another 400 miles. WHOA!!! I felt like I was in the Ritz or something. Our room had 2 bedrooms and a full kitchen for $43 a night. What a deal. The next day we drove through Napa Valley and the surrounding area. It was absolutely beautiful. Zac wants to move to CA when he is an adult. He loved southern CA and he saw upper on our trip to AK. We turned in the rental car after 1400 miles in 4 days and spent the next day at the Travis terminal awaiting a flight home. The USO has a family lounge that kept the kids and I busy to kill time. We were able to catch another C-5 for the return trip. With 3 ½ weeks and over 6000 miles under my belt I needed a rest. It sure was great to see lots of friends and family. We missed a few but will definitely try to catch them next time. Never know when we will make a trip.
The flight home was uneventful. The landing was a little rough but we landed in one piece. We bounced a few times and the face masks were falling out due to the molding coming off the plane.
All in all we had a great trip. I HATE flying!!!
We hit the road and made it into CA by about 3pm (about 500 miles). On the way we hit 117 degrees. Seriously, why did we decide to travel through AZ and CA in Aug??
We got to LA and stayed at March ANG base. This base is closing so it has the abandoned feel to it. The billeting is very Spanish inspired with terra cotta roof tiles and heavily textured white stucco walls. Large palm trees were in the center of the courtyard with a trickling water fountain. Absolutely GEORGOUS!!
About 2 years ago I helped my mom find some relatives she had never met and some she had lost contact with. While looking for her family I also decided to try looking up a long lost best friend from my childhood. Hours and hours of frustration and several dead ends later I was finally able to contact her. We had spoken over the phone and emailed, but had not yet made contact in person until today. Even though I had not seen her in 17 years I so could have picked her out of a line up. She was always beautiful and now, as a woman, has only perfected her look. She has the squeakiest of voices so Mickey Mouse was a nick name through school. Wanna talk about flash backs. We had a great time. She lived just 2 houses down and we were attached to the hip for many a year. She has 2 daughters that are the same ages as mine so they got along great. And meeting at a Dave and Buster’s was a great decision according to Zac. How quickly time passes. We are hoping next time to plan a vaca together.
A friend, Tina (Jason’s wife), who grew up in LA told me to watch out for the traffic in LA. I was confident in all my travels and growing up in a large city I could totally handle a few cars driving beside me. She informed me of the 70 mph posted limit and the ACTUAL driving speed and how I would be sitting still. Speeding ticket, hello! Ok Tina, you were right!! I am cruzin at 80ish :) and cars are flying past me and pissed that I am in the way. Oh and locking up the brakes during morning rush hour in the fast lane, 6 lanes in is probably not the best choice. Oh and FYI a Chevy Malibu will shut off IMMEDIATELY when the brakes lock up. Laughing now with slight residual twitch.
The next day we headed out up highway 1. We spent some time on the beach and the weather was awesome. It was sunny and high 70s the short time we were there. When we pulled out of the parking lot of the beach I got pulled over again! The police came to the window and asked if I knew why I had been pulled over. I was speeding. NO! Well I might have been, but that wasn’t the reason I was getting pulled over. I guess I had run through a stop sign in the park. Lucky for me I got a warning. He was a little confused though. I have an AZ driver’s license with a CO address but we reside in AK. Another interesting fact about AZ driver’s license is the expiration date. Mine is not set to expire until 2041, seriously! Now the kids think they have some dirt on me. “Look out mom, there’s a stop sign,” or “Are you supposed to be going that fast?” HAHA funny stuff!
We got to Travis and stayed in the TLF there, another 400 miles. WHOA!!! I felt like I was in the Ritz or something. Our room had 2 bedrooms and a full kitchen for $43 a night. What a deal. The next day we drove through Napa Valley and the surrounding area. It was absolutely beautiful. Zac wants to move to CA when he is an adult. He loved southern CA and he saw upper on our trip to AK. We turned in the rental car after 1400 miles in 4 days and spent the next day at the Travis terminal awaiting a flight home. The USO has a family lounge that kept the kids and I busy to kill time. We were able to catch another C-5 for the return trip. With 3 ½ weeks and over 6000 miles under my belt I needed a rest. It sure was great to see lots of friends and family. We missed a few but will definitely try to catch them next time. Never know when we will make a trip.
The flight home was uneventful. The landing was a little rough but we landed in one piece. We bounced a few times and the face masks were falling out due to the molding coming off the plane.
All in all we had a great trip. I HATE flying!!!
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