A trip to CA

When I first told my mom that we were going to travel east to find our new address, She lamented that she'd never see us again.  I promised that we would visit her before we officially moved.

We sold our car, so we looked at renting a car.  $800!  So....  we decided to borrow Nancy's old minivan and fix whatever needed fixing.  I took it to get an oil change and a trip check.  Seemingly good to go.

We stopped at Cove Fort.  I have seen it every time we make the drive, but never stopped to check it out.  It was an early settlement founded by Ira Hinkley (President Hinkley's grandfather) in 1867 at the request of Brigham Young.  The fort served as a safe stop with fresh water, and animal feed for people traveling.



About 250 miles in, the minivan began to overheat.  We ended up driving in 108-115 degree weather with the windows down and the heater on when going up hills.  CRAZY!  But we made it.


I stopped in Las Vegas to get gas.  There was a mechanic shop adjacent to the gas station.  I went over with Elanor to ask if they could take a look at my car.  I talked to the guy at the counter, then the mechanic.  The mechanic said he didn't have the one tool needed to check the minivan for the issue I was describing.  He said to go to his friend down the street, around the corner and behind another business.  ALERT!  Nothing felt right about the situation, one tool, sending me farther off the beaten path, behind another business.   I said "OK" happily, and hurriedly got the onions from going to the restroom and got out of there super fast.
 I am grateful for commonsense and the Holy Ghost to warn me.

The onions went swimming the night we arrived.  It was nice to cool off after such a hot drive.

At lunch, Elanor put a whole plum in her mouth, chewed off the flesh and spit the pit into the trash when she was finished.

The next day, we relaxed.  We watched TV!  We don't currently own a TV, nor do we have a subscription online.

I learned that heat makes my rash worse.  I was so, so itchy.  I even bought a couple of lotions and an anti itch cream.











The next day, my mom took me to her mechanic.  Although very busy, he was able to get it in.  Radiator fans.  OK.  We picked up the minivan Wednesday morning and headed to see everyone we could.

We stopped by Kevin and Aileen's house.  We last visited right before they moved.  Their family is beautiful!  Their new house is really nice.







Then we had lunch with Grandpa Lanny and Kim.  We had a wonderful time at Souplantation.  Everyone found something to fill their bellies.  Elanor ate 7 1/2 bowls of chili in addition to her first plats from the salad bar.









My cousin, Heather had been telling me about something called "cryotherapy."  It's a cryotherapy chamber that you willingly get into and you get frozen with liquid nitrogen for up to 3 minutes.  It seems to be able to help with just about everything.  Dropping your skin temperature 30- 40 degrees turns on all kinds of body systems, including the immune system.
Cool skin.  Increased immunity.  I tried it.

After my freeze, we went to Marianne's house.  Jenni made her famous tacos.  Super yummy!  We got to visit with everyone in the area: Uncle Alme and Aunt Linda, Jenni and Jesse, Marianne and Ric and their girls, Heather, and even Patricia came out.  It was busy, but wonderful!  Thank you all.

The trampoline was a delight too.

The next day we went to the Palm Springs Tram.  A 6000 foot rise in elevation in 10 minutes on a rotating car.

Amelia is not a fan of heights.

We ate lunch in the restaurant at the top!

The view was a little obstructed by the smokey air from all the fires.

More swimming. And TV.  We watched so much TV, we started memorizing the commercials.  

"This is FUN STUFF"

"Say good bye to scissors."

"And Kevin" (a lizard)

Saying good bye was not easy.  We love you Granny Annie!

Our drive home went well for the first half.  Then the minivan started to overheat again.  Argh.  It was not as hot as the drive out, and we drove through a hail storm that cooled things off to 60 degrees for a bit.  Eric and the dog were both really excited to see us again.

NOTE:  I posted last week, but it did not automatically link to FB.  You can go to BackToGeorgics.com to see the previous post.