Chimps in Space

Apparently, New Mexico is a hot spot as far as the history of space projects, and the Museum of Space History in Alamagordo is a great place to go learn about it all. The museum and its grounds are full of replicas and actual models of all kinds of space crafts from around the world that range from the earliest days of space exploration to current models.

It was amazing how many of these machines, that I am assuming are very complicated, and for the most part successfully manage to perform amazing feats like flying through space, yet they look like one of the many inventions my Boy Child has put together and are strewn all over my yard, except he uses a lot more duct tape than NASA.

In addition to all kinds of space craft, they have space food, astronaut / cosmonaut info and my personal favorite- an exhibit on the chimps who traveled in space. In fact, Ham, who was the world's first astro-chimp, is buried right there on the premises, so of course, we went and paid our respects.

Girl Child is very sensitive to injustice in the world, and anything that involves cruelty to animals will get her hackles up in a hurry. We were all glad to learn that neither Ham nor his two training buddies were hurt or died in the process. The same can not be said for the poor little Soviet dog who went into space before them.

While three chimps were trained, only Ham actually went into space, and in a very cute little space suit I might add, and after flying at some ridiculously fast speed, he landed, and was recovered.

I wonder what was going through his head as he was zooming through space in that little capsule. Did they have him drugged so he didn't freak out? Maybe he was just a really easy going chimp. In any case, he made it back OK, which proved that people had a chance at space flight as well. They retired Ham after that ride to a zoo where he lived a long life for a chimp, and passed away at the ripe old age of 27. We were all glad to see the recognition of Ham and his contribution to space flight (even though he technically didn't sign up for it, and didn't have much say in the matter.)

Part way through our tour, a very large group of excited children bombarded the museum- like three busloads. I like kids a lot, but in those numbers, things tend to get a little loud and crazy, and it's really hard to focus or appreciate things at a mellow pace. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our few hours of immersion into space history, and were able to learn a few things about rockets, satellites, missiles, astronauts, chimps and more, all while staying a few exhibits ahead of the large, loud group most of the time.

My kids and I were all amazed at the minds that go in to creating machines that will fly into space, and at the people who are brave enough to fly them. Even my Boy Child, who is pretty much a dare devil, wasn't sure he would go on one of those missions. The space food and gravity free restroom facilities didn't help sell any of us on the idea. Scientific minds are incredible, indeed, as are the adventurous souls who fly off into the unknown.

While I don't see myself ever lining up to fly off in a space ship, I am glad that we took off on this little journey of ours into the unknown. Discovering new places and seeing new things and very old things that just new to us has been amazing.

Saguaro and a Shoot Em Up

Saguaro (the "g" is pronounced like a "w" if you don't want to go around saying it wrong over and over a baziliion times before anyone mentions it, like I did) is the stereotypical cactus that would most likely come to mind if you were imagining a cactus in the desert of the American south west. Saguaro National Park is, as you might guess, covered in miles of them. It's actually two parks in Arizona with the city of Tuscon right smack in the middle.

Some of the huge saguaros are up to 200 years old, and they have a woody stem that can be used for building when they die. They seem more like trees than cacti in that case, but as massive and magnificent as they are, they aren't really the kind of trees you want  to go hugging. While still alive, they are home to several cute little birds who manage to hop on and about the spines without getting hurt. They even nest in holes in the cacti. One species of the birds may look adorable, but finds its dinner by snatching lizards from the ground, and impaling them on the spikes to dry out and be enjoyed later.

Saguaro National Park doesn't have camp grounds, but there is another park connected to it that does. We spent a night there, which is where we found the angry scorpion under our tent the next morning.

We decided to get in some Wild West style gun slinging action while we were in this part of the country. Very nearby is Old Tuscon Studios, where over 300 western movies, including some John Wayne and Clint Eastwood films were shot. Now, I don't even actually like westerns, but apparently they filmed some Little House on the Prairie there too.

Anyway, it seemed kind of pricey, but we were all set to go until we found out the gun fight wouldn't take place for several hours. In the mean time, we headed into Tuscon, where we found a marvelous collection of gems and minerals from around the world at the Flandrau Science Museum. After that, I really wanted to put some miles behind us, so we opted to head east, and find our wild west action elsewhere.

We ended up going to Tombstone, which proudly bills itself as "the town too tough to die" and most certainly has the wild west, shoot em up spirit going on. It was the home of Wyatt Earp's famous shootout at the OK Corral, and they do a fabulous reenactment of  it a couple of times a day. As I mentioned, I'm not normally a fan of western themed things, nor do I particularly like guns, but the energy of the place was contagious, and really fun. Of course in the end, bullets were flying, and in the real gun fight, three people died. I wouldn't recommend it for really little kids for that reason, but I must say, the actors were great, and the show was even funny in parts- definitely worth the $10, which included the Historama, which was like a rotating, moving diorama / slide show / presentation on the history of the area narrated by Vincent price. You also get to stroll around the actual site and a bunch of historic and fun exhibits- some, my kids found fascinating, like the stuff about Geronimo- others, like the working ladies known as "soiled doves," went right past my Boy Child, but first confused, then shocked the heck out my Girl Child. My explanation was an edited version, but still, she was appalled.

We explored the old stagecoaches, and buildings, and Boy Child tried to rope a stationary bull. There were people in period costume everywhere in the town, not just at the gun fight site. There were also signs in lots of stores asking people not to carry weapons inside, and I wondered how many people actually would be carrying guns in the first place. Then, I remembered we were in Arizona.

Having had our fill of Wild West style action, and learning more than we bargained for, we headed off towards New Mexico with the sun setting setting behind us.

Danger in the Desert

Not to sound too much like the title of a Hardy Boys novel, but there's no denying there is "Danger in the Desert."

Our first brush with the dangers of the desert on this trip came while camping at Joshua Tree when we ripped shorts, shoes and some skin on the abrasive rocks. But this was mild, and while it was slightly annoying to have to need new shoes and shorts less than a week into a 5 week adventure, it was not truly scary at all. (Of course if anyone had been behind me when my shorts tore, now that could have been scary.)

Our next brush came on a leisurely stroll with our friends near Mesa, Arizona. Since it was hot, we chose a mellow walk rather than an intense hike. I didn't really think of changing out of sandals, but I learned that sandals on a poky cactus trail are not the best idea. Boy Child was the first to get poked. Somehow, while staying on the trail, he managed to wind up with barbed cactus thorn stuck in several places in his shoe and his ankle. While he knelt down to try to pull the needles from his skin, he did not notice that there was another entire mini cactus chunk stuck to his other shoe, and he was leaning his rear end about a half an inch away from it. We all frantically tried to warn him, but he was so obsessed with the difficulty of trying to pull out the needles in his ankle that he just bounced about in a kneeling position, barely missing far worse injury than what he had on his ankle, and having no idea he was even in danger. By some miracle, he managed to escape his backside connecting with the cactus, but it was a narrow escape. Girl Child and I each wound up with quite a few needles in the toes of our shoes, and we had never left the trail either. It was like these spines had a magnet for our feet.

A few days later, we camped near Saquaro National Park. When we were rolling our tent up in the morning, a very grumpy scorpion came out from under it, and got all wiggly with his tail at me, presumably because I messed with his shady spot under my tent.

Another few nights after that, we were camped near Alamagordo, New Mexico, and heard a little rattling noise near our campstove. I shined the lantern out of the tent, expecting to run off some little squirrel like creature, and what do I see? What I saw was the back of a very large skunk who looked like he was standing up on the bench seat of the picnic table and playing with the knobs on my stove. Once I realized who, or should I say what the creature was, I decided against my original plan of yelling at it to frighten it away. Instead I stuck my head back in my tent and zipped the flap while praying for my guest to leave without making a stink. Thank goodness he did, but he hung around right next to me for quite some time.

Our final scare has been another less than pleasant hotel room. For some unknown reason, the nicely rated public campground we had planned to stay at at the Valley of Fires Recreation Area was closed off with a locked gate, and we were out in the middle of nowhere with darkness on the way. I was wide awake so we just drove on towards Albuquerque. Boy Child wanted to just sleep in the car in a parking lot, but that sounded not only uncomfortable, but embarrassing, and possibly unsafe as well. We slept in the car once, but we were in a camp site we had paid for, which is entirely different than a parking lot. Anyway, we were still about an hour or more away when I started getting tired. There were no campgrounds around, so we just pulled over and checked into a room. Why, oh why didn't I ask to see it first? To avoid being negative, I will just say that after being in here a bit, I really, really prefer my own tent and sleeping bag, even in a wind storm. I do not even want to contemplate the dangers of slacker hotel keeping, but on the bright side, I have the best wifi I have had in the whole state of New Mexico.

So, there's a number of lessons learned here about not wearing flip flops in the desert, being careful where you step or reach and above all, trying at all cost to avoid hotels in the middle of nowhere.

Casa Grande Ruins

I am just loving how much my kids and I are learning on this adventure we are taking though the south west. A recent stop was at the Casa Grande Ruins in Arizona. The site houses the remains of a very big house, as well as several smaller houses, or buildings built by ancient Sonoran desert people over 600 years ago.

At first glance, we all thought it looked interesting enough, but the ranger filled us in on lots more details about the structures and the people who built them that really impressed us all.

First, the structures- the big house is four stories tall, with walls about three feet thick making the temperature inside a comfortable 75 degrees year round- that's pretty impressive in a place that can be 120 degrees on a summer day and 28 degrees on a winter night. The windows and roof openings placed to align with celestial and solar happenings, presumably as a calendar of sorts, and the single fireplace was designed in such a way that heat from it could spread to all the rooms of the house. They don't know the exact purpose of the big house, but there were several smaller ones nearby and they were all built with wall thickness and angle that was engineered to hold the load based on the height of the building.

Speaking of engineering, they also built an irrigation system which may not look very exciting, but it is a pretty fancy ditch that gets water going fast enough on the downhill, that they were able to get it to then get going UP hill. That's pretty impressive if you ask me.

They farmed beans, corn and squash, as well as cotton in in various colors, and apparently at that time there was a river nearby with fish. Now, there does not appear to be water for quite some ways.

Their whole compound was set up gated community style with ladders to get in. Apparently, six tribes lived there, all with different religious and cultural traditions, but without much evidence of conflict- again, pretty impressive in my opinion. They had enough leisure time for art, and they traded with tribes as far away as the Pacific Ocean.

The whole place was abandoned several hundred years ago, and historians don't really know why. They do know that the structures have suffered more damage after being discovered and vandalized than they did in hundreds of years of weather. The Ranger felt strongly that this civilization rivaled the Romans for their ingenuity and understanding of building concepts and engineering. They certainly were pretty clever in managing to create these structures and to work with the harsh climate they lived in, rather than fighting it. And managing to get along with each other despite differences is pretty clever as well.

I can't wait to see what we learn about next.

Phoenix Friends

Our welcome to the state of Arizona began when we crossed the border along with the biggest group of bikers I have ever seen in my life, at least of African American bikers. Every gas station and rest stop was clogged with Harleys, snug fitting leather and body art, and some really tough looking ladies.

We had gotten a late start due to my car not starting due to a slight battery issue, but we finally made it to Phoenix. The first thing I noticed was the L.A. style freeways, but I'm pretty sure that the people of Phoenix were even more aggressive in their driving. It was like the Wild West meets L.A. We headed downtown- at least we were trying to head downtown, but we had a few added turns, which are not so fun in a land of crazy, mad drivers. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that I saw 6 separate accidents on the freeways of Phoenix that day.

Anyway, we finally found the Arizona Science Center amongst the one way streets, but unfortunately, we only had about an hour to explore. They had some really cool exhibits on how the human body works, particularly the brain. It was unfortunate that we had to rush- I always feel like I'm encouraging a short attention span, or ADHD when I rush kids who are trying to explore and learn. But, the place was going to close whether we had seen it or not, so we semi rushed, and had a skip a lot too.

We braved the Phoenix freeways again to head to our friends house near Mesa. Did I mention that while the speed limit is a generous 75 miles per hour, many people prefer to drive 90, and there does not appear to be a motorcycle helmet law in this state either? These things, combined with the fact that people can smoke in public places and carry weapons around too, confirmed the fact that we weren't in California anymore.

Anyway, we made it to our friends house where we got the Bed & Breakfast style welcome complete with tasty food, wine for me, and soft beds. The next day, we somehow managed to land on the hottest day in the area so far this year, and I was really glad we came in the spring, not the summer.

We opted out of a hike, and instead to head to the Phoenix Zoo. First, my friends helped me find a place to drop my car off to get the battery issue looked at while we went and had fun.

The zoo was a perfect outing for the kids. The habitats were pretty nice, which made me happy, and you could see that it was set up with the animals in mind, not just the viewing public.

We all enjoyed the cool walk in aviary habitats that housed not only birds, and plants but also cute little monkeys. Elephants are my favorite wild animal, but the elephants were not in the mood to be viewed that afternoon, so we only caught a glimpse while they hid behind bushes and ate. We did get great views of some magnificent rhinos, tigers, lions, and giraffes, plus a bunch of cute otters, other awesome animals.

At one point, after climbing and conquering statues, Boy Child for some reason decided to pull out his little finger skateboard, and show me some "really cool tricks" along the railing above some animals habitat. I mentioned that the trick was indeed cool, but to make sure he didn't drop the skateboard in the habitat. Of course, that was the signal to some force of nature that made his finger spasm and the board fall and drop to the bottom of the habitat, and completely out of reach.

The animal was sleeping in it's hiding cage, so we never even saw it, and luckily, it never saw the finger skateboard. I had a horrible vision of this rare, endangered animal eating the toy my child dropped in the cage and dying. I could picture us being on the news as "the family that led to the extinction of a species." After my head spun around and I shot flames out my eyes at my Boy Child, I made him go find an animal keeper and confess to his crime. He suggested that he could "easily just jump right in and get it" but I decided that his idea had the potential to make things much worse, plus, I could make him suffer more the other way.

So, we tracked down a zoo emploee, who tracked down the animal keeper, and Boy Child dutifully confessed. I expected them to at least give him a stern look, if not a big lecture, but they were all jolly, like "oh, this happens all the time." They even offered to retrieve the finger skateboard. I didn't want to be a total wicked witch because it was his "very favorite, special one with the cool stickers on it" but we needed to pick up my car before the mechanic shop closed for the evening, and waiting around for a skateboard retrieval operation didn't seem to be fitting in the schedule. The nice zoo folks got it out in a hurry though, we made it out of there in time, and Boy Child left the zoo very, very relieved.

I'm sure we all learned a bunch of interesting factoids about animals that day, but I think Boy Child's biggest lesson was not to play with your toys over the edge of rare and endangered animal habitats, or any other areas with difficult retrieval options.

Colorado River Kamping

After four days without showers at Joshua Tree, even my Boy Child was ready to hit the road and find some cleanliness. We drove through the south part of the park, and came out, not surprisingly into more desert. All I could think of was how unpleasant this route would have been 100 years ago or horseback or in a wagon in the blazing sun with no air conditioning or cold drinks. Not to mention no sunscreen or lotion. Thankfully, we do have air conditioning, ice and lotion, and we can move at 70 miles hour.

We headed east, and eventually, just as we were about to leave California, we came to the Colorado River, where we found ourselves a not so primitive campground.

KOA campgrounds are definitely a different type of camping- in fact the billboard advertising the Colorado River KOA announced, "It's not camping...it's Kamping!" As much as I dislike intentional misspelling, it was more important that I find a shower, a laundry facility, and I was hoping for some wifi as well. We found all three and more at this little kampground.

It was about a bazillion degrees out (ok- maybe it was 80, but I think my layer of grime was holding in the heat) so I was very pleased when the owner offered to drive us around in a little golf cart to pick the best spot. We found a shady site right by the river near a bird sanctuary.

Boy Child was immediately ready to hit the pool, and was not pleased when I made him shower first. But, I figured that he would leave a dirty brown wake in his path if he jumped in first. So, we all showered (I was so happy, I washed my hair twice) then we headed poolside.

None of us was in the mood to unload the car or set up the tent with the sun blazing overhead, so after a long time of lounging, reading and snacking, we delayed our responsibility further and took a walk down to the lovely little palm tree covered beach on the river where we lounged, snacked, and read some more. There were swift current signs everywhere, which Boy Child actually noticed himself, and realized that anything beyond wading there would not be such a good idea. He was happy enough to mess around in the sand and rocks as we gazed across the river over to Arizona.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and we decided to make dinner. Somehow, we got the idea to skip setting up the tent altogether since we were only staying one night, and just sleep in the back of the car. It's a wagon, and with the seats folded, it was plenty long. The width however was a bit snug, but it saved us a lot of work. I realize that it may have looked slightly hobo style if anyone had seen us sleeping in a car, but I'm going with the theory that by this time it was dark, and I was up early cooking breakfast and packing up anyway, so maybe no one noticed.

This place was a very welcome change of pace from the roughing it style of camping we had been doing. The facilities were clean, and they had a pleasant little rec room where we were able to plug in our laptops and charge our phones while we worked. The store was very convenient since we needed ice and a chocolate fix, and it wasn't even really overpriced. The staff and the owner were super helpful and friendly folks, and even gave us a jump start when we drained our car battery. We were also able to do all of our laundry for $5, which would have been worth double that price. We even got in another shower each before we loaded up, said goodbye to California, and headed east to see some friends in Phoenix.

If you're ever on the border of California and Arizona, and looking for a spot to "kamp" I definitely recommend the Colorado River KOA.

Joshua Tree

OK-  two kids and a tent in a campground that has no has no water and no showers, only pit toilets, is surrounded by giant boulders and caves that beg to be climbed, but could potentially lead to major injury, not to mention nearly 100 rowdy homeschoolers- that pretty much describes the 4 nights we just spent camping at Joshua National Park. It was an amazing place and we had a great time.

I hadn't ever heard of Joshua Tree National Park, let alone Indian Cove that can recall, and we probably would have missed it on our southwest adventure, but when I heard about the big homeschool group camp out, we decided to head off on our trip a week early, and add it into our itinerary. We were all so glad that we did. 

This group gets together for camp outs all over the state, and many of them already had established relationships that went back for years. We didn't really know any of them, but they were a friendly bunch, and we felt welcomed. We had decided to go after the group site had already filled, but I think an individual site was the best choice for us anyway. I like to be social and have been known to chit chat for hours, but I also like a little time and space to myself, and so do my kids. So, we had to walk up a hill to get back and forth between our site and the group one for the nightly potluck, but it was no big deal, and the ability to be unsocial until after I've had coffee was worth it.

We spent the first day lounging, well, I lounged, and Girl Child semi lounged. Boy Child climbed, climbed and climbed. Our campsite was up against the rocks and we had our own personal little cave right behind us that was a nice cool hangout in the heat of the day. We read, drew, played games, climbed a little more, and that evening, I had a delicious margarita on the rocks, literally.

Every evening, every evening, we hit the potluck and campfire. We ate like kings, and there was some lively singing. The kids ran around playing capture the flag and flashlight tag for hours.

Some days, we hiked and found natural springs as well an oasis in the desert. I'm pretty sure we hit the park at the perfect time, as wildflowers were blooming, and it was hot, but not deathly hot. We drove through most of the park as well. The north end with Indian Cove was my favorite because of the rocks that provide shade, beauty, and entertainment, and are not found in the southern part. We also explored ruins, cactus gardens, and the visitors centers / museums, which had lots of info on the plants and animals, the history of the native peoples and the settlers, and the woman who saw the beauty in the desert that most people didn't, and had the foresight to convince the government to set aside the land. Some areas had cacti and other plants popping out of the rocks at such perfect intervals, it looked like a master gardener had designed it, and it gave me lots of ideas of drought tolerant plants I'd like to try back at home.

Hauling water wasn't as bad as it sounds, but the pit toilets were very, very bad, and something I would rather not have experienced. Also, despite our efforts at sponge bathing, we were all beyond ready for a shower and hair washing by our last day there. At least all of that food I packed was paying off because even aside from the potlucks, we were eating really well. I was also pretty impressed with how well my creative coffee making turned out.

Boy child climbed so much he actually wore out his shoes. I slid down some rocks on my bottom and tore a small hole in my shorts, which promptly turned into a huge tear when I bent over. So, I guess a shopping trip will be in our near future.
 

We met some very nice kids and parents both from the homeschool group and from the campground in general, saw some fabulous sites and had a wonderful and relaxing time at Joshua Tree. One thing about the desert is that you really have to pay attention to really see all the beauty there is. Sometimes the harshness and heat of it can make people miss the wonder. It's a perfect place for peaceful, reflective thinking, especially if you are in a nice cool cave with a margarita and snacks and not in the blazing sun. I am so very thankful that we made it to Joshua Tree and for the peace, space and time to think it allowed us all. Not that I came to any major revelations or anything, but the relaxation was great.  Next stop- the Colorado River.

Farms, family and a bit of history

I'm so glad that we decided to drive down highway 99 in the spring. All the blooming trees and green everywhere were a welcome sign of spring after leaving hail and wind at home. We were going with the idea that it's the journey and the destination, so we turned a 12 hour drive to a group camp out with a bunch of homeschoolers into a 3 day adventure. At the bottom of the valley, we stopped at one of the free reciprocal museum sites selected by Girl Child- the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield.

It's not so much one museum as it is a little town of it's own full of historical buildings with cool displays. And the buildings are all totally different- everything from adobe brick to log to fine Victorian craftsmanship- pretty much the whole gamut of housing in the area from the last hundred and fifty years. Many of the buildings were authentic, and they had been moved to the site in one piece on trucks, even the cool mansion style ones.

The grounds were lovely- there was even a wedding happening at the town gazebo. I thought we might spend an hour, but we were there for several hours at least. It was great to spread our legs and enjoy the sunshine and the scenery.

They also had a big, fancy exhibition hall on "black gold" which was all about the areas rich oil history. I knew the area had an agricultural past, but I had no idea it had oil riches going on as well. I think we all learned enough there to count for several days of homeschooling.

We left and headed down a winding, beautiful and semi nerve wracking highway along the Kern River. The river was gorgeous. The huge rocky cliffs above and below me were impressive. The giant boulders bigger than me that had fallen into the road in the last rain were what I would rather not have driven next to. The jagged rocks hanging OVER the roadway were not something I enjoyed either. Thankfully, it wasn't raining and the boulders were not falling when we drove past.

We headed east to visit an aunt and uncle that I rarely get to see. they live on a property that my grandparents took me too often as a child, so it was filled with memories, like falling in the Kern River and being drug out soaking wet by a fisherman who was really annoyed that he lost his pole in the saving of me. My Grandparents were not too pleased either as they had probably told me not to play on those slippery rocks. Other memories include learning to ride a motorcycle... and crashing into a barbed wire fence, and of having my wounds cleaned with iodine. Oh, and there was another about getting my long hair stuck in fly paper.

That kind of sounds like I only had traumatic memories there, but really I wasn't traumatized at all (well, maybe the flies- that was pretty awful.) I actually remember the area and my time with my grandparents with fondness and thinking back makes me smile.

It was wonderful to visit my relatives with my kids, and to show them the birth place of many of my childhood stories they have heard. Boy Child enjoyed admiring the extensive toy car collection that belonged to one of my cousins who is away at college, and I made sure we were all as clean as we could be when we left, as we were heading to camp in the desert for days.

Next stop, Joshua Tree National Park.

Kingsburg Quality? Umm, not so much

After a relaxing drive down highway 99, which was much prettier than I expected, we stopped in Fresno to stretch our legs, and ran around a nice little park area. Boy Child even found a number of trees to climb. It was actually nicer than I had expected as well. I vaguely remember someone referring to Fresno as something like "the armpit of California" (my apologies to anyone with emotional ties to Fresno, I'm just repeating what I heard) so I was not expecting any interesting architecture, manicured parks or tree lines streets. We were very happy to find all of those. When we got back in the car the sun was beginning to set, and we decided to find a place to spend the night.

Our original plan involved swinging through Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, but since they had gotten 10 feet of snow in the previous week, and we were packed for a desert trip, we opted out. So, we just headed south. While the weather was decent on highway 99, we weren't up for pitching the tent in the dusk, especially when showers were in the forecast, so we sought a hotel.

We drove by a Holiday in near a town called Selma, and tried getting off on a nearby exit and backtracking. That however turned into a drive down an odd frontage road with decent looking newer homes with manicured lawns on one side of the street across from houses with boarded up windows and cars with no wheels and people living in them. This frightened all of us, so we got back on freeway at the first opportunity and decided that since it was close to dark we would only pull off if we clearly could see how to get to a hotel that did not look like it contained permanent residents who may or may not have methamphetamine issues. Not too many miles later, we saw a sign for several chain hotels whose names we recognized, so we pulled over. I was aiming for the Fairfield Inn, but saw the driveway for the Quality Inn first, and since I was sick of driving, and it looked OK from the outside, we stopped and got a room.

Boy Child later said that when he heard me say “Quality Inn” he wasn't so sure about it because when they have to say it in the name, it's not always so accurate. It's not like it said “Kwality” though. That surely would have tipped me off, no matter how road weary.

Since I'm working very hard to not be negative for Lent, I am going to try to restrain myself, and just state the facts.

The room looked Ok at first glance, but the first thing that hit me was a really strong odor of scented chemical cleaning products that reminded me of something you would use to get out cat urine. But, it's probably pretty unlikely that the room housed cats, so it was probably just a really strong cleaning agent. My asthma isn't that bad, and I was tired, so I decided it would be fine.
Immediately, Boy Child wanted to hit the hot tub. I wanted to get to my email to get the directions of our next days destination first, so I told him to just start getting hot tub stuff together. Somehow, in my packing though, the flip flops got buried, and he would surely destroy all semblance of order in the tightly packed car, not to mention, he might get hurt if he opened the back and the mountain of luggage landed on him. Plus, it would take me 12 hours to pack it all in again. Since I was unable to find any wireless connections in the room anyway, I went to help him on the way to the ask the front desk about the internet scene. The flip flop finding affair was not a simple nor a quick task, but we did it. The front desk told me yes, there was wireless, but if I couldn't find it, I could use the data port in the room. Back in the room, I looked, but there was no data port. Back at the front desk they gave me a cord to plug in, but didn't really know where the outlet for it would be. Back at the room, after moving some large pieces of furniture, and noticing a mysterious and scary carpet stain, we learned that the cord they gave me didn't fit in the wall. GRRRR.

Fine, I decided Boy Child was right- it was time to hit the hot tub. Thankfully, I had found the corkscrew so I could enjoy a little pinot grigio in a styrofoam cup on the way. We all headed out in our swimsuits, turned on the bubbles, dipped in our toes, and froze. Literally. It was freezing- not a hot tub- an icy COLD tub! What the heck!?! Apparently, they turned the heat off for the night sometime while we were looking for internet and flip flops. This is where it's probably good that I had had a sip o my wine and gotten in a relaxed mood, because I was really, really annoyed, and I've been told that I'm scary when mad.

Back at the front desk, she says sorry, she can't do anything about the hot tub, but she can get me another room where the internet might work. We go look at the other room, and when I peek at where the data cord is plugged in to see if I can figure out why ours doesn't fit and maybe avoid moving all my stuff, I see a rolled up pair of socks someone left behind the armoire. I decided to pass on the room with the leftover socks, and she shows me another room. No mysterious stains, no socks, but still the same smell. At least that makes me a little more sure that both rooms couldn't have housed traveling cats. In any case, it's too late to go looking for another hotel, so we just took the room and drug all our stuff down.

On the bright side, the continental breakfast was decent enough. The coffee was what you would expect, but we all had yogurt, oatmeal, muffins and juice, and laughed about how lame our night had been. What a different experience we might have had if we had just gotten this room in the first place.Also on the bright side, spring has sprun and the central valley of California is green and beautiful. I may have inadvertently crossed the "no smack talk" line with this post, but really, I was just trying to relay the experience in an honest way, and perhaps save some other traveler the unfortunate experience.

Boy Child was right with his hunch about "Quality" being "kwality" but at least we had a warm, dry place to sleep.

World of Wonders-and we're not stuck in Lodi

I have had an irrational fear of being stuck in Lodi for probably at least 20 years. OK, maybe it's not so much an irrational fear as an underlying current of discomfort every time I drive through that town, and since I've lived on one end or the other of California my whole life, and I have family scattered on both ends of the state, I've driven through Lodi more times than I can count. In all these times, I have never actually stopped, that is until this time. I have however, had Creedence Clearwater Revival in my head every time I pass through.

Before take off for our South West adventure, Girl Child had the job of scoping out all the reciprocal museums that are affiliated with the local science museum that we are members of. One of these is the World of Wonders Museum in Lodi. Homeschooling, museum loving mom that I am, I decided to brave my fears, and stop. Besides I really liked the name WOW- World of Wonders.

It was a bit hard to find, because while most cities have signs pointing the way to their museums, Lodi did not. But, after driving through some sketchy areas, which I am very glad we did not get stuck in, we found our way there. It was exactly the kind of place Dear Husband would have hated- everything was hands on. It was like a mini Exploratorium filled with exhibits you could touch, shake, move and explore to learn about scientific principles. There were also a bunch of germy children playing with everything which is of course to be expected. The museum was pretty small, which was OK, because I didn't really want to spend all day, but it was fun, and a good place to get out of the car, stretch and play. I especially liked the experiments with bending light, Boy Child enjoyed the air and wind force exhibits and Girl Child's favorite was something with a pulley and rope that had a cool motion effect, but no sign explaining what was going going on.

I wonder how many people read signs in museums anyway? I was reading one aloud about this magnetic gravity thing, and another mother came over and said “Wow- you're really smart! You really know what you're talking about.” I felt a little silly admitting that I was just reading the sign, but she looked like “oh- there's signs?” In hindsight, it would have been fun to cat like I was just a big smarty pants, but at the moment, I didn't have the energy to pull off being overly knowledgeable about scientific principles.

Anyhow, after about an hour I could no longer contain the urge to wash my hands and make my children do the same, but by that time we had pretty much played with everything, and it was good time to hit the road again.

We were glad we stopped, and more glad that we weren't stuck. If you're ever passing through Lodi with kids though, I'd say a visit to the World of Wonders is worth the stop.