Monthly Archives: August 2012

From Santa Cruz we drove to Monterrey and spent a couple hours at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.  The jellyfish and sea dragon exhibits are amazing.  They come in all the shapes, sizes and colors.  Halfway through the exhibit we ducked outside for a quick clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.  It was delicious.

We were already two days late and still 700 miles away from home.  Instead of driving straight through my dad said we could camp on the beach or go visit my cousins.  I love the beach, but I chose the cousins because they are so fun and adorable.  We have the best family, I wished I could see them more (hint, hint J-Fly).   We took a scenic route down through Santa Barbara and the wine country and stopped at my Uncle Mitch’s house for the night.  We got there late so we camped out in his front yard. In the morning we got locked out of the house and I had to go pee! So I ended up tree peeing in his yard!  Think of it as fertilizer Mitch.

Then 2 hours later super Dane (my cousin) came to my rescue.  We waited for Laci to wake up and watched 101 Dalmatians.  Q-Daddy woke up and after finishing the movie we went swimming.

Laci, Rangel and Dane

We showered up and then met J-Fly (my other uncle) and his posse for lunch.

Dane, Laci, Rangel, Caroline, David & Jack

We went to Red Robbin and had a great burger.  After lunch we played Rock-Paper-Sissors and said our goodbyes, despite all my efforts to convince my dad to stay one more day.  Now we are heading home! Mixed emotions!

I collected key chains from the areas we visted and am going to attach them to my backpack to remind me of the fun we had.  Here  they are:

Tuesday evening we cruised down to Santa Cruz to surprise my Grammy for her birthday.  We went to a seafood restaurant with Grammy uncle Ted Auntie Nee and cousin Jasmine.

Wednesday was the day we were supposed to be back home.  As you have probably noticed, we are 750 miles away.  Thanks to Mom, Tamara (my dad’s assistant) and all his clients for patiently waiting for our return.  We slept in late as it was a foggy morning.  Then we rented a really warm 5/4 wet suit, went to lunch and got hot chocolate!  We came home and Ted and Renee went kite surfing with my dad while Grammy and I went to the beach. I boogie boarded while Grammy watched. Then it was time to go in. We cooked dinner and cheered on team USA at the Olympics.

Today we got up early and went surfing.  Uncle Ted swam next to me and pushed  me into the waves on his long board.  I was able to get up a few times.  It was super wobbly.  On one ride I looked over and saw a sea otter playing in the surf too!  He was just as cute as Uncle Ted in his flippers.

I made pancakes for Ted as a thank you.  Grammy and Auntie Ne went to a farm while my dad, Jazzy and I went to the Boardwalk and rode roller coasters for three hours.  Thanks Jazzy for being such a great tour guide!  After the Boardwalk it was time to hit the beach!  I love playing volleyball in the sand and swimming in the ocean.  After a while Grammy yelled “FINS.”  Three bottle nose dolphins were playing in surf.  It was very cool.

Exhausted, we had dinner and went to sleep.  Tomorrow we finally start our journey home.

Rangel & Q-Daddy.

After we left Wyoming we had a full day drive to Lake Tahoe.  We got to our camp site next to the Truckee river at 12:36pm.  I think it’s pretty obvious what we did then. SLEPT!!!!  In the morning I made pancakes and hot chocolate.   I laughed pretty hard when a chipmunk tried to run up my dad’s leg.  We reserved a camping spot at Sugar Pine Campground and drove towards South Lake Tahoe. On the way we past beautiful Emerald Bay for a quick photo-op.

We stopped at the Tahoe Keys Marina (my dad can’t pass a marina without stopping to look at the boats) and decided to rent a jet ski.We zoomed up the coastline and had lunch in Emerald Bay.  Here we are in the middle of the lake taking turns jumping from Nevada to California.

We got back to our camp site, cooked a delicious dehydrated chicken teriyaki, and rode our bikes down to a general store for a fudgesicle.  It was dark and a little spooky on the trail home.  The forest smelled like Christmas trees.

We were still a little tired so we went to bed early.  I fixed some awesome tasty omelettes in the morning.  We jumped on our bikes and set off to ride the 1960 winter Olympics cross country ski track.  Here is my tribute to Lady Liberty.

It was my Grandmother’s birthday so after a quick shower we drove down the mountain to Santa Cruz to have dinner with her and my Auntie Ne, Uncle Ted and cuz Jasmin.  It was fun to see everyone, tell stories from out trip and hear stories of Ryan’s recent visit with them.  More stories from the beach coming soon.

Rangel & Q-Daddy.