I’ve done a few travelogues on this blog (like the series covering my trip to the Grand Canyon) and I usually cover things chronologically. However, this time around I’m writing things about 3.5 months later. So rather than worry about covering things chronologically, I’m going to cover them by topic.

Family Vacations

We were visiting The Redwoods (or, rather, a number of state (and maybe national?) parks containing Redwood trees) for my mom’s birthday. It was her wish to gather the entire clan for her birthday and to check the Redwoods off her bucket list. This was extra special to her because it’s pretty rare for all of us to be in one place at once time. Dave’s family is in the Pacific Northwest while Dan’s family and mine are in the mid-Atlantic. Mom’s in Florida with my three youngest siblings and dad. With everyone married and with all the parents wanting holiday time we can’t always all make it together for the same holidays.

The wedding day went the way these things always go. If you’re not involved you’re spending most of the day waiting around until it’s time to get your nice clothes on and go to enjoy the wedding. I went to get In-N-Out Burger for lunch and learned that Scarlett really, really likes french fries.

Today’s post makes the series name somewhat inaccurate, hence the subtitle.  We awoke and, having spent the week debating the best course of action, decided it made the most sense for us to all go to the airport to pick up the rental car since it cost the same to get out there whether it was just me or all of us. Additionally, we’d spend less gas than having me circle back around to pick up the girls.

After confirming with Danielle that her family didn’t want breakfast, I went out for breakfast and saw the above mustachioed car. They’re for a service called Lyft that uses regular people as cab drivers. More about that here. The first time I learned about the way taxis are regulated was when I was at Cornell. In my experience, the taxis there were horrible. They were often late when they came at all and they charged per person rather than distance like most cabs. I wondered why someone didn’t come along and compete against them with better service. Well, because in most (if not all) jurisdictions Taxis are a regulated monopoly. The thing about monopolies is that not only do they not have an incentive to provide good customer service, they also don’t have an incentive to innovate. That’s part of why Lyft and Uber are so awesome - they have features like being able to track where your ride is - via your cell phone. You know how far they are and when to actually go outside. (Not like the many times I was freezing outside at Cornell waiting for the cabs, since they refused to call when they arrived) Then again, you’re putting your life into the hands of a random Joe. I know Taxis aren’t perfect and the ones in big cities sometimes drive like maniacs, but this nascent movement will probably die on the vine the first time someone gets kidnapped or murdered or something.

We awoke wondering what shape Scarlett would be in. We were instructed to only give her Pedialyte or ginger ale. Scarlett, being her usual picky self, was having none of it. So we decided to try milk. She was OK. The vomiting was over.

When traveling through time zones the first few days are often spent on the home city’s timezone. I ended up spending the entire trip on EST thanks to Scarlett. And that is fine because it made going back to work easy.

As I mentioned yesterday, there were a bunch of diners around our hotel. We spotted Lori’s Diner when we went to get water at Walgreens. It’s a 1950s-style diner with vintage stuff all over the walls and floors. Great breakfast (for a diner) and great staff.

We flew to San Francisco to attend my brother-in-law’s wedding, but Danielle and I had wanted to go there for years so we decided to have a week-long vacation. Scarlett was amazing on the airplane. It was her second flight in her short life. However, the flight to Florida is so short that if you can time it with a nap, it’s EASY to travel with her. The 6 hour trip to San Francisco is another matter entirely. However, we kept her entertained and that kept her calm. There were a lot of other little kids on the plane including a 2-3 year old who spent 30 minutes crying. Scarlett never cried although she does whine every now and again if she doesn’t her needs met - it only lasts a minute or two. We brought crayons and painter’s tape (to stick to the seat) and that seemed to keep her pretty well entertained. When she grew bored of that, I walked her up and back the aisle. She seemed to love seeing so many people. We went back and forth a half dozen times before I grew tired of almost falling onto her when going towards the back of the plane. (The plane was angled up)

While on my trip to the Grand Canyon I kept a journal of my experience in order to create an after-the-fact travelogue.  This is the last entry of an edited version + photo essay of my trip.  ( First entry here) --- 9 Oct 2010 1530

The drive to Phoenix was uneventful.  I did finally get a cactus photo.

I also finally got to eat at an In-n-Out Burger after having heard its praises on the Giant Bombcast and countless other west coast podcasts.

While on my trip to the Grand Canyon I kept a journal of my experience in order to create an after-the-fact travelogue.  Presented over the next few days is an edited version + photo essay of my trip.  ( First entry here) ---

8 Oct 2010 2051

I feel completely differently at the end of today.  My feet don’t hurt and I’m not exhausted.  I have some mild aches in my legs and very mild aches in my feet.  It’s because today was a much milder day.

While on my trip to the Grand Canyon I kept a journal of my experience in order to create an after-the-fact travelogue.  Presented over the next few days is an edited version + photo essay of my trip.  ( First entry here) --- 8 Oct 2010 0720

Yesterday was awesome and today I have the sore legs to prove it.  My legs have not been in this much pain in a long time.  I’ll get to the cause of that in a moment.  First of all, we went yesterday to see the sunrise3 at Desert View (near the Watch Tower).  Let me stress again that the park is huge!  We got up at 0430 and ended up nearly missing the 0600 sunrise.  We arrived at the inner part of the park at 0520 and I thought we’d be at Desert View by 0530 (my target time to arrive).  But no, from the South Entrance near the visitor center, it’s 25 miles to Desert View!  We made our way through the pitch black roads and ended up in the parking lot by 0550.  The drive was extra nervous as we saw the sky getting brighter and brighter despite not yet having arrived.  Then we had to frantically find our way to the lookout.  It was dark and even the outlook area was huge!  We got there as the sun was just getting ready to peek out.  The sunrise was magnificent, but I’m not sure any of the photos can match how amazing it looked.  Surprisingly enough, there was only one couple there.  A family later arrived.