I'll never be able to cram ten days into a single post. Lists are good.
Our route? We went for speed over scenery until San Francisco (the opposite of last year's journey). Then we cut over to drive along the Northern Californian coast and almost the entire coast of Oregon.
Weird names of places en route: Drain, Weed, Brown Material Road, Hungry Valley. We didn't stop at any of those.
Encounters with spring babies! 3! Goslings, ducklings and baby chickens! Other animal encounters - cows (I didn't realize we walked though their field until it was time to head back to the car), seals (unfortunately included two very dead ones)
Number of Snickers bars consumed: six? one for each day spent driving to keep me focused on the road. Packets of instant oatmeal consumed: ten? one a day to keep me regular.
Migraine headaches? Two. Damnit.
Migraine induced episode of simultaneously vomiting and shitting my brains out in a fucking truck stop? One. Really. Anything more than that and I would have turned around.
Number of times I consulted my iPhone to assist in finding picnic areas, hamburgers, tampons, coffee shops, giant trees, etc. on the road? I have no idea. Mr. Pear calls it my Jesus Phone and now I know why.
What did we listen to? The last four episodes of This American Life, Feist (over and over again for the boy), four selections from the New Yorker short fiction podcast, Justice (over and over again for the girl), a Fresh Air program about dung beetles, the Clash, the Donnas, the Like Young, Bonde du Role, Underworld (never gets old for driving), the boy's incessant wailing, Gogol Bordello, Mexican Institute of Sound...
We rented a mini-van. I...
oh God...
I miss it.
One day, we stopped for a picnic in this coastal meadow. We foraged wild blackberries. With the exception of morning glories, every single flower tattooed on my arm was present in the meadow (and then some). We sat on a very windy bluff looking over the ocean and ate hard boiled eggs, celery, carrots and hummus and strawberries.
I think it was at this luncheon that I realized I probably should have given more thought towards food for the boy.
We paid six dollars to drive our car through this tree. When we finally got to the tree, we decided not to risk plugging the hole with our glorious mini-van. Plus, the tunnel cut into the tree kind of depressed me.
I suppose that's a start. I'll get more pics and such up when I can. The boy, he keeps me very, very busy. I can't believe no one has any advice regarding the chewing of walls.
i'm such a lousy unschooler: i didn't even know about this conference until i read about it from someone else a couple days ago. you were so close to us!
the wall chewing is new to me.
Posted by: april | May 29, 2009 at 05:25 PM
You're back. I'm laughing again. Good stuff. (Except the migraine part.)
Posted by: Flo | May 29, 2009 at 06:32 PM
perhaps Buddha promoted a termite into your family ? think on the positive, he's hardly likely to choke on a house and the calcium from the wall board should encourage strong healthy bones, unless it's that contaminating stuff from China in which case prevention in the form of a football helmet is in order, certainly gives a new slant to 'eating out of house and home'.
Posted by: citrus | May 30, 2009 at 07:59 AM
Citrus, I love your response! I'm still laughing :)
Sorry for the migraines. Wish we had seen you a touch more, but hope there will be more of that seeing thing soon. I can't wait to hear of all the adventures!
Tasty berries. Yum.
Posted by: Beachbum | May 30, 2009 at 08:20 PM
Your back! Yay and that is a lovely shot of Mini~
:)
Posted by: Dawn | May 30, 2009 at 10:27 PM