I should mention that I am having fun on this grand excursion. The kids are actually great travel companions. When I ask “What do you want to do?’ they say ‘ Whatever’ or "Where do you want to eat?" they respond ‘I dunno’.  This causes words of my father to spew from my mouth “You guys need to start figuring these things out- I’m not the entertainment community.” It occurred to me that although we had had many ‘vacations’ to nice places etc.  Most times we were merely ‘visiting’ a place.  There’s a difference, you know, between traveling and visiting.  Visiting means getting toted around everywhere and having everything planned out for you- traveling is brass knuckles.

The unfortunate part (or fortunate –however you choose to look at it)  is that we were just ‘visiting’ on the island of Maui a few weeks before where we took what could easily be one of the top five windiest roads in the world. The Road to Hana –It’s an infamous road and nearly made everyone car sick by the end- So as we begin our scenic adventure from Santa Monica to Carmel, driving up the Pacific Coast Highway – a wave of motion sickness sets in and I remind myself to enjoy the scenery. Which I would have enjoyed the scenery – very much had I been in the passenger seat.  But no, I’m clenching my jaw, gripping the wheel, through yet again another tight, winding road. My friend had told me all about this private little beach along the road- she even wrote little directions on a map.  It was so ‘private’ we drove right past it ….TWICE! our 5 hour jaunt had turned into seven and we all need to pee – so we head to the hotel –The Carmel Mission Inn. Newly renovated with the price that proves it, I glance over to see moderate disappointment across the faces of my little tribe.  This is NOT the Fairmont. We decide to head down to the bay and see lots of ocean life and even a sea otter just hanging out on a rock beside us. Very cool.

There is a somber air around us, mainly because we realize we will be dropping Kevin off to his grandparents the next day. We are half way into our road trip, but thousands of miles away from home and it’s starting to feel that way. My nerves are shot – I ran out of clean underwear back in LA. I am tired of eating out. . .and shopping. . I would love some clean clothes and a few days of no planned activity.

Kevin’s grandparents are adorable and talking to them makes me miss my Nana and tears start welling up. Jeez- could I get any weirder?  Why am I crying?

We say our good byes and off we go. I figure this is a good time to get in some good ‘conversation time’. A chance to reflect on our trip so far. I start to explain to Chelsea how she needs to know these things about navigating a map and directions, etc. and that getting lost was bound to happen, just keep your cool, figure out where you are and where you need to be and work it out. We then proceed to get lost in down town San Fran driving from one end of the city to the other. To the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge and back again to the Gold Gate. I find it very ironic that we get within a mile from where we need to be and I start doubting myself and TURN AROUND in the opposite direction. Story of my life.  I know, I know. . .most of you are thinking “Just by a GPS for godssake!” and surely I would have gladly spent the money to buy one- had I thought of it. But no, this was ‘old school road trip’ from start to finish.

Finally we cross the bridge ( the Golden Gate ) and off to wine country. For me, Seeing wineries and vineyards is the equivalent of seeing movie stars for the kids. There is an excitement about it and then . . . there it was. . . our fairly tale farm house sitting on a small vineyard with rose gardens and 100 year old trees. We are ‘home’ - at least for the next 5 days.