"mom, there's more dogs than kids here." -brennan

-DAY 1-

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH

"mom, there's more dogs 

than kids here." 

-brennan

every time we drive through the sierra's,

the mountain nature woman inside of me starts lusting for a log cabin and no neighbors for days!

that truckee river coming through the carved stone and green tippy trees, 

with a real life railroad train winding through,

like something out of an old fashioned story book.

man oh man, it takes my breath away

every

single

time.

then we get to donner lake, 

and i think about how snowy and cold the winters are,

and even though i love the snow,

i start thinking about how mountain living maybe just isn't for me,

and then i start feeling so sad about people dying and eating each other there,

you know, the donner party,

and i wonder if the houses right there on the lake 

think about that every time they look out their windows in the winters,

and it totally creeps me out,

and then i tell sean about i don't know how those people live there 

without thinking about that every morning,

and then sean usually tells me that i'm weird, 

and that they probably don't think about that,

and i tell him "well, they should!" all dramatic and all,

and then i think about how i really do love grocery stores and airports close by and stuff,

and then i decide we'd better just keep the house in utah so we can get winder milk to our front door and grow peaches and tomatoes every summer instead.

with schools, and neighbors, and costco.

because they are really great too.

and then by the time we get to the bay area,

i always always ALWAYS turn it to WILD 94.9,

just to see what rap sounds like,

except there wasn't a single rap song on,

and it takes me back to my growing up years of listening to the morning radio show,

driving to school in the fog,

and sean wanted to play "california love" with the windows down,

but i was just too embarrassed in my moment of teenage embarrassment 

to blast such a song across the bay bridge in standstill traffic.

i have boundaries people.

boundaries!

 the NEW bay bridge. 

4th day open when we went across.

everyone was going 5mph,

and people were standing up and out of their sunroof windows to get a bug windshield free shot.

i was soooo envious guys.

SO ENVIOUS.

the only time in my life where i wished i had a sunroof.

probably better that i didn't.

'cause you know, safety first.

and then i looked over and saw all of the ships pulling into the port of san francisco,

and max and brennan were yelling at me to turn a movie on, and i was all,

"look out the window!!! there's the golden gate! 
and San Francisco!!!"

and they were like,

"maaaaawwwwwwwmmmmmm!!! mooooo-veeeeee!"

and do you know what i did?

i acted all real grown up like and closed the movie screen,

rolled down their windows and told them with a big ol' smile of satisfaction on my face to

"look out the window ya'all! we're siiiiiight seeeeeeing!"

brennan called me mean,

and max said she didn't like me.

chase was smiling like a dog hanging out of the window with his tongue hanging out.
hair blowing in the salty sea air wind.

it was a glorious and wonderful.

i could feel the humidity and smell the sea water.

heaven!

and i thought to myself,

"a real live city!!!"

because even though i'm not from the country,

and i don't live out in the country,

when i drive into a city like san francisco,

i just can't help but feel like i'm country.

so small and unknowing of what real city life is.

and then we hit the traffic and sean was in the wrong lane like 50 times,

and i told him about the time i got lost in the city 

on my 18th birthday, driving my honda stick shift all around.

trying to find the chili's restaurant or something.

and about how i was 2 hours late to my own birthday party.

and that's why i HATE driving in the city.

so i just patted him on the back, gave him positive words of encouragement,

and told him how it's just really hard to drive in the city,

and to just please don't get hit or pulled over.

oh, and to watch out for those sneaky one way streets.

EVIL!

driving in the city is

E-V-I-L!

but the cable cars are really fun to follow,

except we weren't sure what the rules were with that,

so i told him to just watch the taxi cabs and do what they were doing,

even though i'm pretty sure that taxi drivers in san francisco are the biggest law breakers around.

but when they climb up those steep steep hills,

the cable cars,

not the taxis,

right into the sun,

and they ding their little bell,

it's just the most nostalgic thing you've ever experienced in a city ever!

and then things get super stressful.

b/c usually someone is about to cut you off,

and you're in the wrong lane anyway,

and there's a taxi on the side of you inching its way between you and another car,

and you're just so sure someone is going to hit you,

or you're going to hit them,

and what in the heck are those red X stop lights for anyway?!

just for them?

or us too.

city driving is not my cup of tea.

and i don't even drink real tea.

mint medley is great though.

with honey and cream.

not too hot.

bad for the gastro.

watching the cable cars from our room could have kept them entertained all night long.

instead we spent the night slurping spaghetti and gnocchi in Nob Hill,

and asking people what the names of their dogs were.

stuff like that.

because there were lots and lots of dogs.

and not enough kids to count on more than one hand.

when we came back to our rooms,
the kids jumped on the beds and danced to the music on the radio,

and we declared that there is nothing more fun than staying at a hotel in San Francisco city.

with cable cars going by out front.