Micah, Scout and I are off to Utah for the anticipated BYU vs. UCLA game. We are meeting up with Seth, Brett and their 5 boys — all of which are serious cougar fans. I on the other hand will be attending with my former UCLA football player husband who is obviously rooting bruin style. I like to support my husband, but this time around…I am true blue. And the blue is the beautiful and rich royal blue … not that cheesy light, powdery puff blue. So where does this leave Scout? Micah wants me to swing by and pick up UCLA gear from his mom before we leave. I already told Micah I will be hitting the BYU bookstore for some BYU sweats he will need for the chilly autumn air. The jury is out, but since Micah is meeting us in Utah after a business trip in Colorado, I will be the one who packs for our little guy. We’ll see what makes it to Utah?!
I pride myself on being fairly smart (ask my mom about my IQ story)…but every once in a while I feel dummed down. Like the time I realized that a quarter was named a quarter because it was 1/4 of a dollar, I was amazed I had never thought of it that way before. The latest dummed down moment I had happened last night. Micah came home from work and stuck a piece of bread in the toaster. When the toast popped up, he was totally irritated that it was burned. He looked at the settings that go from 1 to 7, and he threw his arms up in the air and annoyingly asked who always turns the dial up to seven?! I told him I did, and that he would be pleased to know that I knew a great trick for turning bread into toast quicker. He was already on to me, but I still proceeded to explain that I like my toast out faster, so I turn up the heat/dial. He looked at me and started cracking up, and then it hit me. It doesn’t turn the heat up, the “7″ just cooks the bread for longer. Don’t know how I never caught onto that one, but 32 years into my life….I have humbly learned something new.
I guess talking on my cell phone while driving is more dangerous than eating, while driving with one knee and trying to hand Scout his book that fell to the ground. I hope my money goes to making this state a safer place….OH….and to world peace!
My Mom, Trilby and Skylar all adamantly say NO. Micah thinks it is funny, and Calin just giggles when she sees him. I would obviously add a black eye, try and get a doctor to add an orange or black arm cast, and I already have an ankle brace for him. I don’t see a problem. But I think my mom was particularly against it because when she got him up from his nap, he was wrapped in the ace bandage. She was disgusted, and I said it was probably the warmest sleep he had ever had. She then asked why he didn’t have a shirt on. Oops.
For only three days, we definitely had an adventure! We started off South, and ended up inland a bit at Julian — an old, gold-mining town famous for their apples and apple pies. I went to Julian years ago with my family, and was glad to be back with my little family. We stayed at the Orchard Inn and had our own little cottage. Scout loved the pond with catfish in it, but his favorite feature was the apple tree that was just outside our room. He would pick the apples, hold them like they were beautiful treasures and eat them. He loved them, and as soon as he was done, he would say “more” about a hundred times until we went and picked another apple.
We woke up the next morning and walked the streets of Julian. After that, we got in our car and drove down a secluded street to see what it had to offer. At the end of the road was a “U-Pick” apple orchard. They also had pears and a whole grape vineyard we also got some samplings of. The orchard was massive — probably close to 2,000 trees with 7 different varieties. We walked up and down the rows and had the best time picking the perfect apples to fill our bag. Scout in the meantime was holding his little treasures and eating them whether they were off the ground, had fallen in the dirt, or perfectly shined by his dad.
After picking apples, we headed down the highway to see what else our adventure had to offer. After farm stand stops, animal farm stops, etc….we stumbled across a church bazaar in a tiny town called Descancso - population about 200?! The whole town turned up to the party. They had a deep pit BBQ going alongside the live auction, craft stands and kid’s game booths. Scout and Micah were pros at the fishing booth. We got snow cones and nachos, enjoyed the country band and were cracking up at the poor guy who was trying to raise money during the live auction with not a whole lot of takers. He even asked if Scout was bidding when Scout put his hands on his head.
We then drove on and happened upon a Mexican rodeo. We passed it by because we were looking for a spot to camp, and it was going to be dark soon. After a couple of tries, we got a great camping spot at Lake Dixon. It was totally secluded, and overlooked the lake. All was great until Micah pulled out our miniscule tent that would have been tight for just the two of us. Scout and I had pretty good sleeps, but poor Micah said he didn’t sleep a wink.
The next morning, we didn’t want our adventure to end, so we went to Megan’s house and kidnapped Trey for breakfast. Micah ran in with sweatshirt over his head, and when Trey came out, I was driving the car with a bag over my head. He said Scout gave us away. We asked him if he was scared, and he said, “I knew it was someone in the family, and that it was a joke…so no I wasn’t scared.” Brave little boy!
We ended our adventure with a couple of hours at the Wild Animal Park. We were all pretty exhausted, and Scout hadn’t had a nap in a couple of days….so it was time to head home. We had a blast, and are looking forward to our next “choose your own adventure” vacation. Even Micah who is a big time planner, and pre planner and pack three days early type of guy liked the idea of the unknown. We packed in a split second (Scout and my stuff was literally in a trash bag), we had no plans or expectations, we drove wherever we wanted, and the unknown turned out to be great! I can’t wait to do it again, and possibly cross the California border this time around.
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