To Bug, Or Not To Bug....

I've been putting off writing about our trip home from the family reunion hoping that some time and distance would put parts of the trip into perspective. They haven't. So here goes...

Amy, Kerry, Ben and Ryann and I were traveling in my car. As mentioned before, I'm not very good at sharing driving. On Tuesday we fiddled around and left Anaheim around 11:00-ish. I stopped to see my brother Bill at the hospital, then proceeded on to my nephew Rick's store to say goodbye - plus the girls wanted to do some quick shopping. Around 3:00 we left and headed north on Hwy. 101. I thought the change in scenery from the dull drive on I-5 would be a nice break. Traffic was heavy, so I decided to cut over to I-5 around Paso Robles. We then headed north again. By this time is was after 6:00 and I was beginning to get a little tired so we began to look for a place to stay. Now, the reader should be aware that there is VERY little along this stretch of I-5 with the exception of cows and brown grass. Finally, we came to an oasis called Santa Nella. There were several hotels and gas stations, but little else. We decided to try what we thought was the Ramada Inn. We found the place and were a little puzzled by the name Hotel d'Oro. It was dark outside and most of the rooms were dark which puzzled me.It was a huge place and appeared to have been built for convention business. As we entered the large (and empty) lobby I saw a desk clerk and cheerfully asked if they were indeed open since it was so dark outside. She assured me they were, so we proceeded to check in. The nightly rate was reasonable and I thought we had made a good choice. Amy asked about the Ramada connection and the desk clerk said that they had recently been bought by another company.

We parked around the side of the building and finally found our room. It was difficult to see the room numbers because it was so dark. The room looked clean enough and well appointed so I hauled my bags in and took a sleeping pill right away. I wanted to get as much rest as possible. We were still getting settled when Amy found a spider web. She went to look closer and yelped. She screamed that there was a nest! I should mention now that Amy has arachnophobia and is deathly afraid of spiders. I pooh-poohed her fear and went to check for myself - she has been known to call tiny spiders tarantulas for effect. Sure enough, hundreds of tiny spiders were spilling out and scurrying across the bed. Oh boy.

I knew there would be no rest in THAT room so I went back to the desk clerk and as nicely as possible asked for another room. She complied and I trudged back to the original room to get my stuff and tell the others. As I was walking back to the room I glanced up to the second floor. A nude man was standing in his room with the lights on and the curtains open. I'm sure he was just getting comfortable for the evening. Oh boy.

I decided NOT to mention that to the girls right now. I was tired.

We packed up and dragged ourselves to another room in a different building. It looked fine at first glance and we went in. As before, I put all my stuff in a heap. The pill was working and I was getting very close to needing to sleep...badly.

Amy looked around for webs and found none. Whew! Then she made the mistake of pulling back the covers of the bed. As we all watched in horror, a water bug large enough to require a saddle for riding skirted across the sheets and burrowed into the blanket. We all froze.

Suddenly an ear-piercing howl started. Then it got louder as another child joined in. I turned in time to see Ben and Ryann CLUTCHING each other and howling "I want my daddyyyyyyy!!" I realized we weren't going to be able to stay there. I tromped off to the lobby (I'm in my nightdress by now...) and told the desk clerk that our association wasn't going to be able to continue. She was nice about it, but I have to admit I carefully checked my credit card when I got home to be sure there was no charge. As we were taking our things back out to the car, I told the girls I wouldn't be able to drive because the sleeping pill was hitting me hard. They poured me into the back seat with the kids and we headed north again. I have no memory of that part of the trip. Apparently we stopped north of Sacramento. I have a tiny memory of Amy saying "mom, come on, we're going inside"...

They were carrying the bags we would need. I was heavily...uh...altered. Those dang pills work well. Ben (he's 9) decided to be the gentleman he is and help granny into the lobby and the room. I have a vague memory of him holding me up as I stumbled along. I'm not sure if I said anything. Hopefully no one saw us. If they had, they would naturally assume granny was snookered.

We awoke in the morning and had a nice breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. I assumed my natural position as driver and we continued on, reaching home around 3:00. Amy, Kerry and the kids continued on another hour or two to Vancouver.

This is one of those stories we well laugh at in the future. I can laugh at it now. I think Amy and the kids will be able to laugh at it....soon. I think I'll get Amy a little spider charm for her bracelet to commemorate the trip.

Family Reunion

This has been a busy few weeks, and I'm still recovering. I've decided I'm much too old to be driving 950 miles in a day...it just takes me too long to recover.

We left Thursday for southern California in 2 cars. Kevin, Steph, Sophie, Juliet and Bruce in one car; Amy, Kerry, Ben, Ryann and me in my car. It appears Kevin has inherited my driving issues and didn't allow anyone else to drive much either. I suspect we both only managed to give up control for a few hours on the whole trip. Their car went to San Jose and stayed at son Steve's house while the girls and I (and Ben) drove straight down. So we arrived Thursday, they arrived Friday.

It was great to see all my family (with very few exceptions, but I'll see them next month). Sadly, brother Bill had some health issues and ended up in the hospital so he couldn't attend, but all his children and some of his grands did. My neice Tammy planned and executed the whole thing and it went off without a hitch. She did a great job.

My whole family and a few cousins went to Disneyland on Monday. To my knowledge we only lost one kid, but we got her back. Being the paranoid Granny I am, I made all the grandkids wear a dog-tag that I made with their names, parents names and cell phone numbers, mine and Aunt Kerry's. A lady found Pierre crying and apparently alone, saw the tag and called us. I'm not sure of the details at this point because we were all separated - but I was one of the people she called. I managed to be first to arrive at the Teacups, where she was standing with Pierre and waiting. I will be forever grateful for her kindness. We also had all the kids dressed alike so we could help keep them together. The girls wore a giraffe print (I nixed zebra) and the boys wore brown shirts all alike. We looked a little like a zoo when we traveled in a pack but it REALLY helped.

We had a few other adventures that I'll write about at another time. One that will go down in family lore is a motel in Santa Nella, California - but I'll write that one another day. It requires full telling.