After leaving Gwen's, Mandy and Willow drove in their packed RAV4, Andrea in her car, across northern California to Nevada. We finally saw some of the beautiful northern California forests, before we got to the desolate desert of Nevada. Next, we drove through Utah. It was pretty cool to see the salt flats, along with some interesting rocks and mountains. We continued through Idaho and into Montana. We spent the night in a mountain reststop just past Butte; we were surprised how cold it got that night. In the morning, we continued through Montana. A semi threw a rock at my windshield, and when we got to Billings, I sideswipped a sharp curb and tore a hole in my back tire. We were lucky to meet an older man who helped us change the tire, something I could've done, but it would've taken a lot longer. Montana had some very beautiful landscapes with rivers, but, like Nevada and Utah, people were few and far between. So, after Montana, we had to drive straight through all of North Dakota, a very desolate flat area. Along the way, Mandy had to pull out the babywipes to clean off all the bugs on the windshield. Before we got to Fargo, we stopped at a reststop and ended up with mosquitos in the car, which Willow didn't really like very much. Finally, late in the evening, we got to Roy and Susan's house in Fargo. We had a great time hanging around the house and playing at the mall play area with Ashley's "kids." We had dinner with the whole family at Olde Chicago and then went to a sports store where Willow got to ride on her first ferris wheel. We were sad to leave our family in North Dakota, but glad to be getting closer to home.
Mandy and Willow drove north through much of California, seeing new views of the state. We saw a lot of agriculture, but it was odd to see fields of grapes or orchards lined by agave and other desert plants, instead of "normal" weeds. We passed several trucks carrying produce, mainly huge beds of tomatoes and one with onions. Several places along the road produce had flown out of the trucks, and I was tempted to stop and rescue this wasted food. Mandy rediscovered that in California you must prepay for your gas, especially if you're using cash. We arrived in Auburn in the evening on Friday July 17th. Gwen's family was having a reunion, so there were lots of Smith family relatives, mostly strangers to us. It was nice to see a family enjoying time together. It was extremely hot in northern California. Checking the temperatures, I saw the outside climb to at least 107 degrees, while the inside climbed to 87 degrees. In Southern California, we had been lucky to avoid most of the heat. Saturday evening we went to a baseball game in Sacramento. It was to hot to enjoy, until the sun went down. Willow enjoyed cheering when everyone else was, clapping her hands, even though she knows nothing about baseball. We really enjoyed visiting my cousins that we rarely see; they grow up so fast, and tall!!! Willow loved them all, but especially liked "the boy," otherwise known as Gilbert. Willow was able to gorge on one of her favorites, green beans, at the "Thanksgiving dinner" on Sunday. Sunday evening we had a going away pizza dinner before packing up the cars and going to bed early. We got up pretty early on Monday morning and left pretty much on time for our long trek to Wisconsin.
Andy left Willow and Mandy in CA and returned home to Wisconsin on July 6th. It was weird for us to be apart, especially for so long. We saw so many old friends and met so many new people; everyone was kinda new for Willow, and although it was sometimes quite overwhelming, she did seem to improve in her social skills as well. Mandy was able to go out to dinner with Gehan and Alison, a wonderful evening. We let Willow explore a mall play area, watching her gradual confidence to play and interact with other kids, including trying to pinch another girl's cheek. On Saturday, we were able to visit briefly with Ronald, who has never met Willow. Mandy and Willow were able to visit David, Aruni, Rukshan, and Rohini in Temecula on the weekend of July 11th. Back at Grandma's, we enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Mom. Willow was able to have a playdate with a neighborhood girl around her age named Jamie. On the 14th, we took Willow to the beach for the first time. Then, we were able to go take a picture of four generations of women. I remember when my Great Grandma was still around, and we had four generations then. Mandy was lucky to spend an evening shopping with Alison, something she wishes she could do more often; it's too bad Alison doesn't want to move to Wisconsin. On July 17th, Mandy and Willow began a lengthy drive north through California to visit Gwen and cousins.
