12-23-09
We are on our way to Eureka, Northern California, to see Claudia and her family for Christmas.
The motorhome stayed home, we are driving in Doreen’s Saturn.
We also do not take the regular route this time. Instead taking the scenic highway 101, we are speeding along I-5.
The night we spent in a motel in Williams, which is located one hour North of Sacramento.
12-24-09
From Williams we headed West on Highway 20. Near Clear Lake we saw a terrible accident. A torn apart car was surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances. We did not see the other vehicle.
Two more ambulances came toward us while we were driving along. It was still dark.
When we came close to Ukiah we did not need the head lights anymore. The sun tried to come out.
It was still a little bit foggy and there was still frost on the trees and grass.
The weather was exceptionally good when we arrived in Eureka. We hope it stays that way for the next four days.
12-25-09
At 7:00 AM we went upstairs to take part in opening the presents. Nicolette and Jacob received a lot of them.
After that Doreen and I went with Nicolette and Jacob to the Embarcadero and Old Town.
The ice cream store was closed so we walked on the water front.
We had brought a Wii, and Scott had set it up while we were gone, and was busy playing with it when we came back. Jacob got in the act and was motorcycle racing against his dad.
Late afternoon we had a turkey dinner. Unfortunately Scott's mother and her boyfriend could not come. Laura was sick. Scott's father was visiting his parents in New York State. Hanna was there. So we were a small group.
12-26-09
The beautiful weather is gone. Today it was cool and it rained for a while.
In the morning Doreen and I took the children to the mall for ice cream and a place where they have air filled structures for the kids to play in. Nicolette and Jacob took their shoes and coats off and got a good workout, while Doreen went shopping.
In the afternoon we all went to the Chinese Buffet in Arcata.
12-27-09
During the night I could hardly breathe. I am allergic to cats, and now I am around two of them.
Before it got any worse I decided to head for home. I found out later this was not a good day for traveling.
We left Eureka about 8:00 AM and made good time until we got to Stockton. It had rained most of the way but it was better than what we encountered after Stockton. There we hit the Holiday traffic. People were going home after the long weekend. Traffic on Interstate 5 was slow. Sometimes walking was faster.
There are not many towns on I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley. I knew finding a hotel or motel would not be easy, but we had to get out of this traffic. We finally crawled to a place with four gas stations and a Best Western Hotel, the Best Western Apricot Inn.
Getting to the place was something else. We were not the only ones with the idea to get off the highway. The lady at the hotel was busy signing in guests. They made some money today.
I got a nice room.
12-28-09
Our hotel was about 250 miles North of Los Angeles. We actually wanted to get nearer the city yesterday so we could get through the city traffic early in the morning.
We woke up this morning at 3:30 AM and took off without eating breakfast. There was no traffic on I-5 but we encountered places with fog.
When we arrived at the outskirts of Los Angeles the traffic was heavy but it was moving. We stopped once for gasoline and hot chocolate and kept on driving.
We arrived in Carlsbad at about 9:00 AM and went to the Tip Top restaurant for breakfast. When we arrived at home we unloaded the car and then went to bed for a long nap.
We hope you all had a wonderful Holiday and wish you the best for the New Year.
