As if another day of driving was what I needed, it's what I took on today. It started with a short drive from Anaheim to Long Beach, where we had breakfast with relatives I hadn't seen since 1976. We spent a couple hours with them after breakfast, exchanged stories and photos, and promised to stop by the next time we were in town. It was a very good visit, and I'm glad we took the time.
Then we had to go BACK to Anaheim, to the hotel to be specific, because, though I asked the girls three times to make sure they didn't forget anything, I then went and forgot something... my digital camera charger and battery that were still plugged into the wall. Ugh.
That act alone hurt us with our standing in terms of traffic. I feel if we were able to leave from Long Beach, we would have made better time. Instead, what should have been a two hour drive to Ventura became a four hour drive, mostly due to what seemed to be inexcusable traffic.
Once we finally got to Ventura, the city my father was born in, the first thing we did was visit the cemetery. My great-grandfather, veteran of both world wars (who died before I was born), and my great-grandmother, who died when I was 14, are both buried there, and having been too young to go to the funeral at the time of my Nana's death, this was my first visit to her grave. I also took the opportunity to introduce my children to their great-great-grandparents, by telling them of my memories of Nana. Darby traced the letters of Nana's headstone, we paid our respects, and left (having to cut our visit short because the cemetery was closing.
We drove down the street to visit my great-aunt, who just recently turned 82, and who's health is not exactly holding steady. It's likely that was both the first and last time she would meet my children. But we took several pictures together, and I will send her copies. It will be a couple years minimum before we're out this way again, so hopefully she'll be around for another, longer visit.
We needed to get on the road again. We had at least another six, probably more like seven or eight, hour drive ahead of us. Our next destination was Mountain View, just outside San Francisco. When considering that we left the hotel in Anaheim (the first time) at 8am, and that it was 12:30am before we finally made it to the bay area, it had been quite the exhausting day.
1,813 miles traveled to date, though this is as far West as we get. Everything else will be "on the way back" so to speak. But don't be fooled, I estimate a 3,700 mile round trip on the short side. We still have a couple more days of driving and three more days of visiting to do in a whole other state.
Did I mention that gas prices suck? They were $2.16 in OK when we left. Here in Montain View they are $2.74. It's been mostly on the high side (above $2.50) the whole way here.
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