Yreka Road Trip

Sunflowers in the garden.

Sam is not quite sure of Ben's smile.


Sam looking for bugs.

Another sunflower.

The boys checking out the zucchini plants.

Uncle Sam?

Ben is not flashing gang signs....he's just telling you he's 3!

Gram's step stool is still in demand after decades of use.

Last week the boys and I set off for Great Gram and Pop's house in Yreka, California. The last time we visited was in April for the family Easter gathering. Unlike our wintry trip in April, the sun shone upon us the entire 290 miles. In fact, it was HOT!

With two little ones in the car with just one parent it seemed that the drive would never end. But the boys were great singing songs, playing, reading books, snacking, and even sleeping a little. We made one lengthy stop along the way at a rest area about 25 miles past Susanville. We had some lunch and the boys had fun playing on the hopscotch grid painted on one of the walkways. To burn a bit more energy I pulled Ben's glide bike from the back of the car and let him ride around the walkways while Sam and I attempted to keep up. By the time we reached Yreka, the boys were ready for some run-around time so we played in the back yard until dinner.

Overall, our visit was fairly quiet. Gram and Pop went about their normal summer routines and the boys and I attempted to help when possible. The boys loved helping move the sprinklers in the yard when Gram was watering and they couldn't wait to check on the zucchini plants when we were in the yard. And the yard was perfect for baseball and soccer. The only thing that was hard to adjust to was the heat with temperatures in the high nineties and above every day....we just don't get heat like that in Tahoe.

We took short walks almost every day with Ben riding his bike. When we were out running errands I bumped into a handful of Happy Campers including a friend I hadn't seen in 12 years! And we got to see Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Ray and Aunt Annie for a bit on Thursday before we headed home on Friday.

The return trip on Friday was also long but again we broke up the drive with a longer stop for lunch in Susanville. The boys were captivated as we neared Reno and saw plumes of smoke rising from the hills as brush fires burned. At Hallelujah Junction we even saw three helicopters flying over the freeway to get buckets of water to dump on a fire.

By the time we got back to Incline we were all ready for some cooler temperatures and some time with Daddy.