Laura’s Life

After a day of packing and shopping, it was time to head home.  There is something altogether depressing about airports when you are on the return leg of travelling.  The boys bought a ‘Backyardigan’ toy each - that show being another of their obsessions - and then we were all set for the flight.  Once again Aidan, Orin and Evan defied my expectations and settled down wonderfully on the plane, playing with toys, watching movies and sleeping.  Since they even managed to sleep at the same time I was afforded the luxury of being able to read over 200 pages of a book in one go, which I don’t think I have been able to do since becoming a mother.  And so, after a long flight, a few hours of sleep in a motorway motel, a drive almost as long as our flight, we finally arrived home.  Our vacation was truly over - it was hailing.

Our cabin at the 29 Palms Inn was lovely and the Inn itself is delightfully quirky.  Aidan and Orin loved the pumpkin carriage in the grounds, I discovered a vintage refridgerated truck nestled among trees and we were all excited to see some Californian Quail - the State Bird.

Heather and Jim took Orin and Evan on an expedition (on which they found an exciting beetle) while the rest of us headed into Joshua Tree National Park for a tour that had been pre-arranged.  The tour was of Key’s Ranch and it turned out to be my absolute favourite experience of the holiday.  Bill Keys was a man of eclectic genius who eked out his existence in the desert landscape with great enthusiasm, lust for life and resourcefulness.  By anybody’s measure the man was an incredible character.  And this was reflected in the landscape he had managed, the buildings he had constructed and the detritus of his life that was scattered all around.  It was a brilliant place, absorbing and fascinating.  It appealed to me on so many levels.  I loved the character of Bill Keys, the history of the place was compelling and every step brought me to another photo opportunity.  I could happily have spent at least double the time there … and six times the memory card on the camera.

Aidan’s Joshua Tree antennae!

Tour over, we collected Orin and Evan from Heather and Jim (who then went on the Key’s Ranch tour) and we headed further into the park to have a wander around the unique landscape.  The kids had a heap of fun playing on the rocks (imagining the desert was Tatooine and they were characters from ‘Star Wars’, of course).  The Joshua Trees have a certain “martian” quality to them that means the whole landscape could easily be home to aliens - just maybe not Jabba the Hutt and Yoda!  We even managed to see a wild coyote padding among the cacti.

Chris and Ant were both keen for the children to experience the extremes of temperature that characterise this region of the US.  We, therefore, left the National Park and - as darkness descended - arrived at the aeriel tramway on the fringes of Palm Springs.  This is not actually a tramway but rather a cable car or gondola that takes passengers from part way up a mountain all the way to its summit.  Not only are the gondolas suspended from a very thin looking wire but the floors of them rotate to maximise the views.  This was not something that a person with vertigo should pay to endure and, therefore, Evan and I waited in the car while Chris, Aidan, Orin, Ant, Ali, Jess and Jon went up.  The kids apparently loved the ride and all the snow that greeted them when they arrived at the top but were less keen on the subzero conditions.  Apparently the view over the Cahuilla cities were spectacular.  I don’t regret staying in the car, however.

We had planned a mini-vacation within our vacation.  How lavish was that?  So it was that we headed inland, away from the Pacific shoreland, through the mountains and into the desert.  Such a contrast within one state.

I loved all the battered, weathered, characterful mailboxes we passed on the more rural stretches of road and so, of course, I had to take some photographs of them.

Orin undressing himself in the car using only his teeth.  My wee nutter!

The excursion for the day was the Desert Museum at Palm Desert, a wildlife park showcasing desert fauna from the USA amd further afield.

Bobcat:

I loved this big eared fox.  It was uber-cute!

My favourite desert critter - a javelina!

Mexican wolf:

Orin was hoping to see zebra and was delighted to discover some:

Hummingbird:

Leopard:

Warthog:

Warthog and piglets!

On the way to 29 Palms, we passed a landscape (near Palm Springs) absolutely covered in wind turbines.  It was quite other-worldy but strangely aesthetically pleasing in a rhythm and pattern way.

My wee desert rats at the end of the day, getting ready for bedtime at the 29 Palms Inn.

The excursion for the day was to San Diego Wild Animal Park.  San Diego Zoo is, of course, a world famous conservation zoo so it would have been fantastic to see the zoo proper but it is getting harder and less ethical to find the big animals in small European zoos so it made more sense to me to take the boys to the Wild Animal Park.  It turned out to be a good choice.  The five of us went with Ant, Ali, Jon and Jess, Deborah, Jason, Mason, Mackenzie and Turner and Jordan.  So we were a bit of a herd ourselves!

Orin was absolutely enchanted by this frog:

The (bigger) kids on top of a rhino statue:

Are babirusas so ugly they are cute or just ugly?

Spinning tortoise fun:

Two Dik Diks:

Four Dik Diks!  The cousins: Jordan, Antony, Chris and Jason:

Orin met Spongebob Squarepants, one of his heroes:

In the petting area:

Feeding nectar to lorikeets:

Aidan holding baby Turner with Jon:

The lions were great.  Much more active than any I had seen before.  As well as seeing them interact with their cubs, we also saw and heard the big male roaring.  It was quite a sound!

We went on a safari type ride through an area where a variety of African critters were roaming.  Among them were two of the only Northern White Rhino left in the world, all of which are in captivity.  I guess that underlines why zoos still have a purpose.  There were a bunch of other rhino species, giraffes, zebra, springboks, a zillion types of gazelle…

We stopped for a bite to eat.

Mason and Turner:

Evan enjoying watching animals and people:

Seeing the gorillas was pretty impressive.  Although I had seen them before, I had never seen them interact with each other to such a degree.  What it really accentuated was the dominance of the big silverback in size as well as status.  He was massive.

Jordan did a fantastic job of rallying and transporting the kids, even employing unusual methods to do so:

The girls - Mackenzie and Jessica:

All the (bigger) kids on a gorilla statue this time:

The boys used some of their spending money on mementoes of the day.  Orin bought a zebra, since those were his favourite.  Makes sense.  Aidan bought a preying mantis.  Quite avant garde.  Slightly obscure since we had not actually seen one.  And I chose a naked mole rat for Evan.  Doesn’t every baby deserve a naked mole rat to snuggle up with at night?

We ended the day’s events by dining in a roadhouse themed restaurant.  The service was great and the food was good but the best thing about the place as far as the kids were concerned was that they were actively encouraged to throw monkey nut shells on the ground.  Conversely it was probably the most easy going meal we had with the children on the whole vacation.  Nothing like a bit of rebellion to make them behave.

The nest day it was the turn of everyone else to come down to Oceanside to visit our villa.  It was a chilled and chilly day spent on the beach followed by hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows back at the house.

Jessica and Evan waiting for everyone to arrive:

Orin looking impish:

Aidan peddling a trike at great speed:

Mason, Aidan and Jess playing in the sand:

Aidan playing frisbee with Uncle Antony and Jon:

Aidan on the lifeguard chair:

Evan fast asleep on the beach:

Orin having a rest:

Mackenzie swinging from the monkey bars:

Mackenzie and Aidan playing “poison the evil stepmother”.  Kids and their imaginations!

And, finally, Orin’s foot prints on the walk from the beach to the villa.

We drove up to Newport Beach to meet with the Californian branch of the family who had rented an apartment in a resort there.  On the way, we stopped off at Ruby’s Diner in Laguna Beach to have breakfast.  The food was good and, by coincidence, wee Evan was dressed entirely appropriately for the 1950s feel of the place.

Once we reached the apartment where Laurie and Julian were staying, the older kids took off investigating the garden area and Evan decided to explore indoors.  He was quite bemused trying to figure out how to get the lego toys that were on top of the glass table that he was underneath.

Then we all headed up to the pool area.  This place had loads of pools.  Orin is usually our water baby but he was not keen on the temperature of the water so he mostly just splashed around and the edges; whereas Aidan usually detests the water and shrieks in the pool but, once I agreed to put Evan’s arm bands on him, he absolutely loved it and was wrinklier than the squishiest California prune when he finally emerged from the pool after hours of swimming; Evan was not having anything to do with it and decided to just observe from the side.

I think this photo of Orin and Aidan is utterly adorable.

Our mini hunk in his trunks.

Aidan was smitten with baby Turner, who was just five weeks old.

Antony and Ali had gotten engaged earlier in the week so Laurie made them a cake to celebrate.

Chris, Aidan, Orin, Evan and I headed out to Palomar Mountain, since the previous day’s mudslide had been cleared.  Chris wanted to go because of the observatory there whereas the kids and I just wanted to see what snow was like in a warm climate.  It was a pretty funny experience.  While Chris pootled around in the observatory, the boys and I played in its grounds.  The place was very busy.  There were people loading snow into the back of their pick-up trucks or creating trails of it on their windscreens and there were families sledging, making snowmen and having snowball fights dressed in ski gear.  Yup, while everyone else was dressed in thermals, I had my boys playing in the snow wearing shorts and surf shoes.  Our only concession to the landscape was to pop some fleeces on.  We drew many stares and chuckles.  One man gasped when I had to wade into ankle deep snow wearing only sandals and capri trousers to “rescue” Orin.  I think my explanation of being Scottish mitigated against my insanity somewhat.  But the thing was that despite the thick snow on the ground, the sun beating down meant that it was actually very warm and our bodies’ core temperatures meant that our extremities were coping just fine with the chill.  The boys absolutely loved it.  But we did look like a pack of wingnuts!

Then it was time for the main activity of the day.  Just after Orin was born, I joined an online message board whose members were all people whose children shared a due month with Orin.  We were off to Lakepoint Park at Lake Elsinore to meet a small number of these women.  It was quite an odd experience to be meeting people for the first time yet feeling as if I knew them pretty well.  I guess it is akin to meeting penpals for the first time.  Anyway, they were all lovely and, although my boys suddenly turned shy, the kids all got on well and enjoyed the play equipment.  It was a superb playpark.  Orin enjoyed climbing; Aidan loved the tube slides; Evan thought the wiggly slide was fantastic.

We arrived back in Oceanside just as dusk was metamorphosing into night.  Never one to miss a photographic opportunity, I left Chris and the kids in the car and headed down to the pier to take some pics of the sun setting over the Pacific.  I guess people saw that I was taking my photography somewhat seriously since at least a dozen people asked me to take their photograph in front of the setting sun.  What was initially flattering soon became tiresome.  It also meant that I missed most of the golden peaches and pinks as the sun began to slip towards the horizon.  But I still managed to get some atmospheric shots so I was pleased.

Orin and I began the day with a stroll around St Malo.  I loved the way the architecture was pretty uniform in its style - timber framing, wooden shingles, shades of blue - but with individual quirks and details - such as seahorse handles and a huge variety of weathervanes.  Indeed, I coveted one particular weathervane of a whale with a spout.

It was while looking out to sea from the beach with Orin that I spotted a single dark fin in the water further up the shore.  I was excited thinking that it might be a pilot whale but then I saw three surfers pummeling out of the water, which suggests it might have been a shark.  My closest encounter with a wild shark and I cannot even confirm whether it was one or not.

During the course of our vacation, Aidan became obsessed with spotting California state flags and Orin with spotting United States flags.  Every time we passed one he would shout out with glee, “Ahmekan Fwag!”  Being such a patriotic nation, he had ample opportunity to utter that phrase.  So in remembrance of that, here is a photo of Orin beneath a billowing Stars and Stripes.

Every time we left St Malo Beach, we had to cross a section of rail track and Aidan and Orin got in the habit of checking to see if any trains were coming (although Aidan soon realised that the position of the barriers were a better indicator) and a few times we even saw the trains hurtling past us as we were stopped, much to the boys’ excitement.

Our intention had been to travel out to Palomar Mountain but a mudslide had closed the road so that mission had to be aborted.  The journey, however, was still worthwhile since there was much “Roadside America” to be experienced.  Approaching Pala Rey, I spotted a large herd of Highland Cattle grazing in a field.  Of course, I had to hop out of the car and take their portraits.  Possibly mine was the first Scottish accent they had heard in generations.

Also at Pala Rey was a stall selling a wide variety of fresh produce so Chris purchased lots of fresh fruit and veggies.

And then, just a bit further along the road, was a solitary bison standing in a field.  Aidan and I hopped out of the car to meet it.  I had never been so close to a bison before and it truly was a vast beast but also surprisingly docile and friendly.  It allowed me to stroke its muzzle, batting its big eyelashes at me as I did so.

We stopped off at a diner in Escondido where a lovely but utterly crazy waitress allowed the kids to pretend to shoot her.  Her death throes were spectacularly hammy and the kids were much amused.  Refuelled, we decided that our mission for the day would be to go to Mission San Luis Rey.

On the way there, we passed this weirdly cool tree, the bark of which was entirely covered in thorns.

The Mission San Luis Rey is my fourth Mission.  I am not officially collecting the Camino Real Missions.  It just sort of evolved during our last stay in California, in 2000.  Another obsession of mine is Alfred Hitchcock movies and so Chris and I went to Mission San Juan Bautista because of its role in the film ‘Vertigo’ (my favourite Hitchcock film); and then we stopped off at Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad because Soledad is the setting of Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’; and then we visited Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa just because.  I really ought to have crammed a few more Missions in during this vacation but the boys barely tolerated one place of worship as it was - although Orin thought the fountain pools were wonderful for guddling in.  In any case, it was a lovely building full of interesting details and history and a nice place to wile away a few hours.

“Saint Christopher”!

Let’s end this post with a photo of Aidan and Orin all snuggled up together in the Land of Nod.  Aw!

It was a bit of a miserable day so we decided to have a day off from tourist activities and spent the day at the mall and playing in the villa.  In the evening, Chris and I went out for a meal in a restaurant.  With Evan.  Yes, on Valentines Day.  We went for a meal in a restaurant on Valentines with our baby.  We were so very popular.

My three Valentines!

This was Disney Land day!

Aidan was a bit nervous about going to a theme park lest he get lost again but the lesson had been learned and he was attached like a limpet to either Chris or me all day.  However, when we were in the queue to get into the park, he did look up at me, doe-eyed, and announced his assessment: “I thought it would be more exciting than this.”  Bless.  The wee pookie thought the entrance gates were as good as it got.  Things could only get better from there!

I was surprised and pleased to discover that all three of the boys could pretty much go on any ride they wanted to (since none of them wanted to do anything too adrenalin filled anyway), the one exception being simulator rides.  Their favourites were the Buzz Lightyear ride and Pirates of the Caribbean (my favourite too).  The Haunted Mansion was also pretty spectacular, though Aidan was put off by some fellow visitors screaming at the beginning.

They also all loved Toon Town (as did I!) and loved snooping around the houses of Minnie and Mickey Mouse.  I was not sure how the kids would react to meeting Mickey Mouse - there was a chance they would flee - but they were completely enchanted and entranced by him.  Aidan asked me afterwards why Mickey had not spoken to them himself and I explained that with so many people to see each day poor Mickey would have a sore throat if he spoke to all of them so it was only fair that he spoke to no one to keep everyone equal.

We left the park as dusk began to descend.  Stalls were selling various torches, lights and glowing things for entertainment during the evening parade.  Suddenly Aidan and Orin spied the perfect keep sake of their visit to Disney Land.  I am pretty sure the stallholder had not sold a single one of these in years, maybe even eons.  It was as if they were just waiting for my little Star Wars geeks to appear with their spending money.  Yup, Mickey Mouse lightsabers.  Who’da thunk!  These are dreadful photos but they illustrate the story.