Year 4 – Week 26 – Day 7

Home!

We took two days to make the trip home, hoping to relax and explore and not spend so many hours in the car. It didn’t quite work out like I had imagined, but it was an interesting adventure.

First we found this tourist trap called “Murray Family Farms”. Our timing seemed pretty good, we drove up as 10 school bus loads of children were leaving. We had a bite to eat and then paid to enter “the farm”.

With all the crowds in a mass exit, we got the big air pillow bounce thing all to ourselves. Too bad Brendan was scared. Trevor loved it. (so did I!)
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They had a big ugly ant, a very poor petting zoo, a broken down play area, and lots of birds in cages.
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Brendan liked this weird chicken.
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He reminded me of a muppet
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We bought a basket to “pick your own” strawberries. I wanted the experience more than we needed more berries, but sadly the plants were all but picked clean. It was a lot of work to find any ripe berries.
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It was a gorgeous day, but getting hotter
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The vast seas of windmills on I-10 are a sight to see. Brendan was amazed, he says, “Mommy! Look all the treadmills!!”
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We aimed to stay at the Salton Sea for the night, and we found an RV park on “the shore”. Salton Sea is stinky and yucky.
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This section was like a quicksand of crushed coral with a big stench. It is a very interesting area, now we can say we’ve checked it off our list.
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I wanted to visit the “Mud pots” but we determined that it was not safe enough for the boys. We also were looking forward to the International Banana Museum. The boys couldn’t stop talking about it. Alas, the sole employee was on his way to see the birth of a new grandchild and the place was closed for the week. Good thing we called ahead!

From the sea, we found a cool road “shortcut” back to the I-10. The landscape was pretty awesome. Driving right along the San Andreas fault meant that there were some seriously crooked mountains.
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Shortly after getting back on the highway, we stopped at the General Patton Memorial Museum.
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Trevor ran right out of his shoe, Brendan was putting it back on for him
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As we made the final leg home, Trevor said we needed to go to 2, 5, 7, 10 more museums first. They are still talking about the banana museum.

Upon arrival, we discovered that it had rained while we were gone. The boys were all about the puddles.
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All they wanted to do tonight was go back in to the camper! We hope they both get a good solid night of sleep!

Some important things to note:

We left the ventilator at home!!
Brendan only needed oxygen the days that we were at 6000+ feet of elevation. He rocked it the rest of the trip!
No car sickness except for the wiggly road. 16 miles of narrow roads, 130 curves and 12 switchbacks with steep drops. Can’t blame him!
Last but not least, we need to give a shout out to our friends that watched the house and took good care of Eins while we were gone. Thanks much Steve and Johnathon!