It’s a New Year

Jill's Journal: It’s been two glorious blog-free holiday weeks since I’ve written and we should be wrapping up our time in Las Vegas right about now. Because, if you know Southern California and the Barstow/Calico area I wrote from last, you know there’s really no where to go but Vegas from there. And that was our plan. Really, it was. But, as I told my Mom, this trip seems to change our plans more often than a 10-year-old boy changes his underwear.

Long story short, we didn’t make it to Vegas. No, instead we ended up seven hours west of there on California’s Central Coast. The night before we left Calico, my sister called and mentioned how nice it would have been if we were on the Central Coast instead of Vegas for her birthday on the 21st. That got the ball rolling…

We stopped over back in Tehachapi for two more fun nights with my parents…

…before continuing to Templeton/Atascadero near the California coast to surprise the girls’ Aunt Kristi for her birthday. It was quite the surprise! The girls were sipping chocolate milk at a table in her local Starbucks when she walked in. So, so fun.

And then, since Kristi and Adam were hosting Christmas this year and the rest of the family was arriving a few days later, well, it just made sense to stay and enjoy one more holiday with these wonderful people.

One of the highlights for the girls was coercing Beppy, Grandpa, and Uncle Adam to do a craft with them. I don’t think I’ve seen my Dad or brother do a craft – EVER – so it was quite the picture-worthy moment. (It may have sent me and Beppy into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Just maybe.)

There was a highlight for me too…the Central Coast is all about a casual, outdoorsy, wine-tasting lifestyle and would you believe some of the wineries welcome horseback riders? My lovely sister had an extra horse for a few days and we stole an afternoon to go riding among the grape vines. Sweet. Last year she took me riding on the beach and this year at a winery. I could get used to this.

An afternoon spent on a little hike with Kristi’s Adam and Cobin the puppy ranked pretty high up there too. Our girls are seeing it as their personal mission to ensure this puppy gets plenty of kid practice before Kristi and Adam’s baby arrives in the spring.

So yes, it was really a wonderful Christmas season for us. And while Vegas can maybe rival the occasional 75 degrees (in winter!) we saw on the Central Coast, there’s absolutely nothing that beats family.

Visitors Two Days Running

Jill's Journal: Who knew Calico/Barstow, i.e. the middle of seemingly nowhere, would turn out to be such a central location that would bring us visitors on two days in a row?

First, yesterday brought my friend-for-life Elizabeth and her free-spirited Mom, June, who were passing through town on their way from Las Vegas to California’s Central Coast. Two out of the three of us don’t drink coffee, but we met at Starbucks for three blissful hours of girl talk. More on Elizabeth next week when we’re on her home turf. She called this our “appetizer visit.” :)

And today, who came to deliver all sorts of mail and spend the day with us? None other than Grandpa and Beppy! The girls were so excited. Erika talked Beppy’s ear off, Victoria immediately attached herself to her best buddy “Gwampa,” and Madelyn bounced back and forth between the two of them.

We always, always have fun together…

…and get really silly. Beppy was trying awfully hard not to crack a smile here.

We loved the general store, one of Calico’s five original buildings.

And then it was off to nearby Yermo and a late lunch at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner, a roadside fixture on the path from L.A. to Vegas since 1954.

Beppy and the girls got friendly with Elvis. It’s hard to say which one of these four love the King more.

We haven’t visited Santa yet this year, but the girls got a kick out of this Santa “on vacation in Hawaii!” What a fun, fun day.

Classic Signs

Jill's Journal: I always get a kick out of a good sign. Here’s a few classics spotted around Calico and Barstow the past few days.

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Jill's Journal: Barstow (California), located about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, is not the most attractive town in the country or the state or even the county. I don’t say this too often, but it’s hard for us to find much to like about the town. It reminds me somewhat of Crescent City, also in California but 760 miles northwest of here in the extreme northern part of the state. Barstow is in the desert and Crescent City is on the ocean, but both are run-down, medium-sized towns that have clearly seen better days. We’ve seen plenty of rough “characters” milling about downtown in both spots that made me double-check the car doors were locked. Both also appear to have big homeless populations. And neither one is a place we’d feel safe loitering about during the evening hours (or the daylight ones, for that matter).

BUT, Barstow does have something that ranks high on the coolness scale. Historic Route 66 runs right through the town, right down Main Street.

And in the 1911 Harvey House, a historic rail depot and hotel complex from a bygone time, is the Route 66 Mother Road Museum. The museum is small, but it has several photographs and a few artifacts all related to Route 66.

Ahhh, Route 66. Now those must have been the days to really take a road trip. We take it for granted these days that we can drive to just about any spot in the country and do it relatively quickly. Back in the 1920s, when Route 66 got its start, it was one of the first U.S. highways and stretched from Chicago all the way to Los Angeles. The "open road" was a new concept. Route 66 must have represented freedom and adventure to people whose travels, as a general rule, had previously been limited to the nearest town.

“…and they came in to 66 from tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads, 66 is the mother road, the road of flight.”
--John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath