June 29 thru July 7
ROAD TRIP TO WASHINGTON!

Days 1 & 2
Hertz hooked us up with a Toyota Highlander. We've made the trip before in a Taurus, but since we were taking a bike and some scooters, and since we were four (headed north) with a cooler and a bag of car games, we decided to go SUV. We kept it for the whole trip and it worked well to keep the kids way in back for the long drive.

Of course we heard some "Are we there yet?" questions, starting in Novato, 15 minutes north of Sausalito. But once we described our drive with visuals -- a sheet of paper held up to represent California, above it a box of crackers to represent Oregon, and above that, a box of cookies to represent Washington -- we got questions like "Are we off the paper yet?" and "How far up the cracker box are we?" When we finally announced we'd reached "the cookie box," there were big cheers from the back.

Above: pictures of our first night, where we got to stay in Weaverville in our friends the Roths' cabin. Weaverville is up near Redding, two hours south of Ashland, and it's in Trinity County. The area's arid with lots of redwoods and huge pine cones; the cabin was a little house with two bedrooms, a big deck and a hillside to explore. Dane and Aubrey loved playing there: indoors, they played with Josh and Abby's toys and a felt board our friend Emily sent with them, and outdoors they threw a ball over the deck and made the mad dash through the gate and down the hill to grab it before it got out of sight.

Strangely enough, Mick got a surprising bit of cabin fever there (perhaps because he was reading too many trashy mags -- see photo) and we left after one night (instead of two) and a hike in the red clay. I think he was just excited to check out some possible future hometowns in Oregon on our way north.

Of course, on our way out of town, we had to drink some good coffee. The Roth's recommended The Red House, which had good coffee and the sweetest outdoor patio ever. Lots of tables and lawn chairs under huge trees, and fountains with boats and cars to float or sink. The kids also watered their plants (a lot).