The nature bunnies are back on firm ground

Dear sisters,

The three 30 foot campers, six adults, seven kids and coffee machine have left the road, much to the delight of the other road users I am sure. We are back after traveling for two weeks through California, with minimal damage. Just a little scraping on the bottom of one and the loss of the rear view mirror of another. Not bad, considering the miles of white knuckled driving along sheer dropping ravines.

From Yosemite, to June Lake, back through Yosemite, down past Fresno, with a surpise stop at Millerton Lake, up to Sequoia, back down through the Central Valley, across to Santa Barbara and up to Monterey, before driving back to SF. Big Sur was burning, so that was out unfortunately.

I am still processing the trip, so many landscapes in such a short time, all in one state. The one bigger than the other. "What a good job, Walt Disney has done on this one", we would quip through the walkie talkies, whilst driving in convoy. Our holiday was filled with humorous little exchanges like this.



Rv camping means being very happy see signs for dumping stations.

Each campground had it's own wild animal to be aware of. June Lake had the blonde bear that visited every night, making us sure every rattle or shake of the camper was him. Santa Barbara luxury rv resort had rattlesnakes. The Veterans Memorial Park in Monterey had an 'active mountain lion" on the loose. In the end we were not convinced it wasn't the campground owner prowling aorund in his blond bear suit, providing a bit of excitement for his guests.

Change of scenery may be as good as a rest, but less so with seven kids between five months and seven years. Not one book read this holiday, not one posting on the blog. We managed a lot of fierce territorial conflicts and shouted "eat your broccoli, or no ice-cream" a lot. It may not have helped that they were given the same interesting meal for seven days running, broccoli, wheat pasta, ketchup, and maybe a piece of chicken. The five month old Evie was the easiest of the lot. She smiled and gurgled all the way.

The men went off on their two night trip to Vegas, returning with no shame about their undisclosed losses. We, the women have now left the chaos of the household and have spent two very dignified days in the wine country, in the pool of our hotel in sleepy Sanoma, at the spa being covered in cedar enzymes for relaxation and, oops, there were the Napa premium outlet stores.

One day to get ready for flying back to Europe. You still have washing machines over there? I may not get it all done in time.

See you next week sisters. Looking forward.

S1