Welcome to Sunny California

My husband picked out a spot for us to go camping after Christmas was over. It is called Rollerville Junction. It is in Point Arena, California on the North Coast. We downloaded driving instructions from mapsonus.com and left the house early on the 26th.

The instructions we had downloaded were great until we got to the last stretch of our journey. The last twenty-four miles were driven on a narrow, winding mountain road with sixteen percent grades IN AN RV! We had it better than the in-laws though. They had driven it the night before late at night and while it was raining.

We arrived about three in the afternoon and my FIL had a nice campfire going. SJ immediately gravitated to his Papa and we spent the rest of the night visiting in their fifth wheel. They have pop-outs so their living room is very roomy.

Around ten, we went back to our motorhome to go to bed. Very soon afterward, it started rocking...but it's not what it sounds like. Rain began coming down in sheets and the wind was gusting as strong as I've ever seen it. The motorhome felt like it might take flight. Periodically, the wind blew so hard that it felt like somebody was trying to pound our door down. (Little Pig, little pig let me in or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in.)

I told my husband we should have brought our ark instead. At least we had two Boston Terriers.

SJ didn't sleep very well which means I didn't sleep very well.

It was still pouring sheets in the morning. The dogs, when let out to go potty, looked at us like, "you've got to be kidding." I tied them under opposite picnic benches, each with a big steak bone, and that helped a lot.

My MIL and I each started cooking breakfast on our seperate stoves. I did sausage and potatoes which led to the discovery that I hadn't packed the salt. She did bacon, biscuits and gravy. She did scrambled eggs and I did fried. By the time we were done and had washed the dishes, it was already eleven.

The rest of the day we spent slogging back and forth throught the mud to visit, except my MIL who was smart enough not to get out of her place even once. My husband and I took SJ and our neice, C , on a drive to see what the ocean looked like and to buy some salt. The waves were enormous. The beach was closed, due to flooding. Actually there was no beach because the water was so high.

We still had a great time the first day. Nobody was going to the beach but that was fine. SJ is quite content to turn on and off every light repeatedly. The in-laws have a DVD player in their trailer and my neice had brought along her X-box. My MIL played yahtzee with A. It was fun.

That evening was a repeat of the same weather, but the next morning, there was blue sky. SJ spent most of that day outside with his Daddy and Papa. The RV park was mostly deserted so he could run around a lot. He was in his own private paradise.

My MIL and I didn't cook a big breakfast so we had more visiting time that morning. I DID have to do laundry that day, thanks to Mandy, the amazing, shitting, wonder dog. I tried to get SJ to walk to the laundry room with me, but he was having too much fun.

His Daddy held him and took him for a bike ride. My daughter, J, and niece, C, rode the bikes to the lighthouse, which was 2 miles away. My niece C, informed us more than once that it was actually 2.2 miles. There was no rounding down for her!

We put the dogs out on a run. Mandy loved it. Boots hated it. In fact, he didn't like vacation much at all. His idea of a vacation was for us to let him off his leash so he could run off. His frustration at our refusal was obvious.

My husband drove the three girls to the local movie theater at 2:30 to see "The Chronicles of Narnia." They loved it.

When we picked them up, I got to glimpse the town that time forgot. The houses were mostly New England style with sloped roofs. The main street was ancient. The local store didn't take ATM payments. It was cash only. Nothing about this town screamed modern. It was a great little town except for the cash only thing which I found a bit irritating.

We found out that day that the roads to go home were flooded and we would have to go farther North in order to go South. (the way we needed to go.)

We left bright and early on day three. It took a long time to get home for us, longer for the in-laws. We had a few wrong turns, and the windshield wipers decided to go out in the rain.

One convenient thing was the ability to pull over when we had to use the restroom, then just walking in the back. Very nice.

When we walked in the house, I was shocked. I forgot how bad it looked with all the Christmas boxes strewn around.

Today is going to be a busy one. But really, what's new about that? At least the kids have lots of toys to keep them busy while I clean.