Road Trip Recap – Part Deux

For the next leg of our trip, we drove from Las Vegas to lovely Corcoran, CA to see my sister. For the record, she lives in the town of Corcoran, not the prison.

Really? You drag me across the country to the town that has housed Charles Manson since 1989? Clearly, you two are Parents of the Year material.

On the way to Corcoran, we passed this road:

What do you think might be down this road? A bustling metropolis, maybe? It couldn’t possibly be how you get to Calico Ghost Town. That’s just too obvious.

While in the valley, we relaxed with my sister’s family, did some laundry, visited friends and flipped through old photo albums.

This outfit being modeled by my brother is rather fetching, don’t you think?

We let Annabelle have one of her Christmas presents early: A Leappad! New distractions on a road trip are awesome.

Julie and Grayson!

Run of the mill rough housing. Behind the green goblin thing, is Julie’s son. He loves being tickled and Jake is generally happy to oblige.

We did some visiting in Visalia and Fresno, then headed to Ukiah to see my dad. On our way, we stopped at University of the Pacific, where Jake & I went to college. We never actually talked to each other while we were there. He graduated my freshman year, but his sister and I were attached at the hip from my sophomore year on.

This is why I never knew that he painted a mural that is still on display 14 years later! He’s irritated by that because he was only given 3 days to paint it and wasn’t able to finish. He is, however, happy with the tiger at the top of the painting.

It is pretty cool.

Jake, Annabelle and her giraffe. That is a very well-traveled giraffe.

Annabelle got to meet a couple of my professors, run around a conference room and wander the art gallery. They had a photography exhibit showcasing the Owen’s Lake area and LA Aqueduct. Perfect! It’s like they knew we were coming! Art combined with current water issues. Glad we could show Annabelle and Grayson one of the prettiest college campuses in the US. Not that I’m biased or anything.

We made it to Ukiah without any issues.

Here’s Grandma with her 11th great-grandchild and 3rd great-grandson.  She got to hold Grayson and we got homemade tortillas. I think it was a pretty fair trade. We also got some of my dad’s famous spaghetti.

Annabelle putting pennies in the piggy bank. She loved this! Then she tried to eat one so both the pig and pennies got put away.

Up next: Our Bay Area adventures and the trip back to Missouri.