Chasing Life

Day 8 Today was our last day of vacation. After waking up, we went to the hotel breakfast (same as yesterday) and started packing our stuff. Once we got it all into the car, we drove back to Palm Springs to spend the rest of our day. Upon arriving, we decided to hike along Victor Trail in Indian Canyons and ate lunch in our car immediately afterward. The weather was great while we were walking (warm with a slight breeze), and we enjoyed seeing the Fan Palms, rocky hills, and even a tarantula! After leaving Indian Canyons around 3:00, we drove to something called "Robolights" and ended up making a reservation for 4:15. In the meantime, we stopped at the Palm Springs visitor center to eat something and finish packing up our suitcases. When 4 o’clock came around, we drove back to Robolights, still having almost no clue what we were about to see. It ended up being a nearly 2-acre art & light display created by artist Kenny Irwin Jr. The artist has lived on the premises “since

Day 7 We started today off by going to the hot breakfast provided by the hotel, and then Alana went to visit a friend while the kids stayed in the room to do school. Around 2 pm, she came back and we all went to Lolita’s Mexican Food for lunch. After collectively finishing 6 tacos, 2 burritos, and a torta, we headed to another friend's house for the evening (the same friends we saw last Christmas). After arriving at their house, we decided to go to Jump Around (a trampoline park) with the kids, while Alana stayed and talked with her friend. We all had lots of fun at Jump Around, especially playing dodgeball, then after our two hours were up, we went back to their house. While we were gone, Alana and her friend had made homemade bread dough that was then baked into delicious braided loaf bread and scrumptious cinnamon/caramel rolls. We also had some mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce left over from their Thanksgiving dinner. Before leaving, we picked a blood orange and fresh pomegr

Day 6 Today was mostly spent driving south. We stopped briefly at a couple of places but didn't have much luck finding a beach that was slightly rocky, not very busy, and open. We eventually decided to stop at Oceanside Harbor Beach because it was nearly dark and we hadn't done much of anything yet. Kade and Kye climbed around on the north jetty and played in the sand, and then we all walked to the harbor and saw some sea lions. Immediately after that, we watched the beautiful sunset, before getting back in our car. Our next stop was Mt. Soledad in San Diego. Although it was dark, windy, and freezing cold, we still had a cool view of the city, moon, and sky. After that, we drove to our hotel and found out it had breakfast in the morning and a hot tub! We unloaded our stuff into the room, then went in the hot tub for a little bit before going to bed.

Day 5 This morning we started our day by driving to see the Painted Ladies in San Francisco. Next, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, stopped briefly, then went back across. After that, we stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts, and while there, we walked around the manmade pond and fascinating architecture. Following that, we went to the Wave Organ and got a nice view of the GGB and of Alcatraz Island. Then, we drove down Lombard Street again on the way to Pier 39. We parked about a block away from the pier, and the parking was free because of Thanksgiving! A couple of things we saw there were seals, musical stairs, a crepe shop, a Christmas tree, and an old railroad ramp. We walked around for a while and eventually decided to catch a streetcar (twice) before heading back to our car. As we rounded the corner to our block, we noticed our empty suitcase sitting at a bus stop. Someone (most likely a homeless person) had burned the cords that were tying it down, taking our air mattresses