Cassia turned twelve on the eighth. Super exciting for her, scary for me… In a year she’ll be coming to Young People’s… VERY scary! Anyway it was a great day! Started out with a pancake breakfast, then Mom, Cassia, and Lanaya went to the laundromat. Dad and I stayed home and worked… But it was great for working up the appetite, we all knew what was coming in the eagerly awaited supper!!!

Poutine!!! Made with real cheese curds from the Tillamook Cheese Factory, they were so fresh they squeeked! Dairy Queen fries and homemade gravy!!! It tasted amazing… but I have to admit: the squeeking cheese was a little disconcerting…

The cake: two layers of ice cream snadwiches with thin layers of cookie dough ice cream in between!

Presents; and her card (from me) was cool too… it was a rock, that said, “Rock on!” Anyway… the presents were awesome!

The next week had us travelling south into California. (Verlynda here: Let me tell you, apparently all the tax money goes to the south of California, as the North was rather pathetic. I mean, the coast was beautiful, but the highway out to the coast was a tiny windy road that we could only go 15 MPH while trying to stay out of the ditch and on our side of the yellow line which was not possible at all times… We’ve also learned that camping sites are WAY more expensive and WAY more pathetic in California. And we had no cell service. And no diesel stations – we actually had to ditch the camper on the side of the road at one point and drive back the way we had come until we reached a town with diesel. And of course, all the towns we drove through were out of DEF, and our truck was dinging us telling us it wouldn’t start shortly if we didn’t put DEF in… Needless to say, it was a rough welcome to California, and we were more than happy to reach civilization near San Francisco!!!) The calm before the storm. There were really some really cool rock formations, and when the huge waves crashed against the rocks, it was majestic.

We stopped in Fort Bragg for two nights. We ended up staying at a local marina as they actually had full hook-up and decent internet service. It was pretty dumpy looking, but  very friendly, and a great central location. This picture was taken at Mendocina – a very artsy town, with gorgeous scenery. Oh, and another thing about the USA – they don’t believe in guard rails! You can walk anywhere, and I guess it’s your own fault if you fall in!!

Stopping on our way to Duncan Mills; we found a beach, and some well built structures!!! The “house” had a fireplace, table and chairs, as well as an oven. Someone obviously spent a lot of time building it!!!

The 101. It curves its way down the coast, sometimes leaving only an inch between you and the Pacific ocean… rather scary at times!!! It was rather embarrassing at times, while turning the sharp corners because we would scrape really loudly and everyone heading toward us would literally drive in the ditch, if possible, to try and give us enough space to get around the corner. But we’re old pros now!

We went to the beach the first day of the storm, the waves were HUGE, and crashing right in front of us!!!

Mom had us pose as the waves crashed, which was frightening, because the last time I wasn’t looking I was running for my life, and shrieking, because the wave was rushing UP THE HILL. But it turned out well, and we only had to run once!!!

Sunday afternoon: San Francisco! First let me explain something. When you’re from Saskatchewan; where all of the roads are straight and flat, San Francisco is VERY exciting!!! This road for example is the crookedest road in the world!!! You just rolled and turned; very exciting! And then you see a car parked on it… now you’re hanging out the window in shock, how did they do that!?!?!?

You probably looked at this picture, and said, “Okay…” Well, this picture is a VERY big deal… Notice how the house is standing straight, and the car is parked in front of it at an angle!!! You know they don’t get icy roads in San Fran, because everyone’s car would end up at the bottom of the hill…

At Fort Point (directly below the Golden Gate Bridge) we had some free entertainment; surfers! It started out with one person in the water, and then half-an-hour later there were around seven of them. They looked very professional; but then I wouldn’t know… I’ve only seen people surf in movies.

The Golden Gate Bridge, an imposing figure amidst the San Francisco fog.

One surfer lady was caught by the current and pulled out of the waves and out of the bay. So someone called 911, and the police, firetruck, and the ambulance all showed up just as she was climbing out of the water. She had managed to escape the current and paddle back to the rocks safely. Also down at the Fort was this cool thing called Hopper’s Hands. It was two foam hand shapes and runners would come and slap the hands, then turn around and keep going. The hands were there because Hopper worked at the bridge and would talk people out of jumping off, so they put up these hands to remember him and what he did. It was an interesting local history lesson told to us by one of the firefighters!

A first for me; a double decker bridge! We went on the bottom, while the other cars traveled over our heads. It was a super cool, and very smart invention!!!