From Utah to California: Our Trip Recap

Goodbye Utah

All moved out! Then we spent a few more days in Utah.

The morning finally arrived. We slept in, of course--with a sick baby waking multiple times a night, what can you do--and then it was time to say goodbye to Utah.

Goodbye, Grandma and Grandpa Watts' yard :(

Except not yet, because first we stopped on the Utah side of Wendover to visit Clayton’s sister Leila. We thought only she and her two-year-old son would be home, and that her two older girls would be in school, but the Tooele School District gives elementary kids half-days on Wednesdays! We came late enough that they were home. What a happy surprise for Ariana to see her girl cousins too. We ate lunch and hung out, the girls shared their Halloween candy, and then we said goodbye and left Utah for reals.

Boy cousins!

The rest of the trip to Reno was, frankly, a blur. We did make potty stops and a food stop for dinner. At the restaurant in Winnemucca, the girls looked out the window and saw glittering lights on a casino across the street. Brielle said, “Pretty!” and Levi was hypnotized. I made sure to teach Levi all about the evils of gambling, though I told him it was okay to like the lights. ;) Our waiter was an older guy who reminded Ariana of my dad (“I like him, he looks like Papa Glenn!”) and he was very kind and complimented us on our kids and family.

Then we were off again. None of the kids slept as long as we hoped. We popped in a movie when it got dark, and still after that, the kids fought sleep. They literally fell asleep right before we got to our hotel in Reno--after 10:00 our time.

The Reno Hotel

With Google reimbursing our travel expenses, we simply picked what seemed like a nice hotel and upgraded to a nice room once we got there. We chose the Atlantis casino/hotel thing (since like every nice hotel there is also a casino). But getting to that room was tricky. Because we’re staying in temporary housing for a month in California, and the rest of our stuff is in storage, we had to pack enough clothes for all five of us to last at least a week. That’s a ton of clothes, in case you’re wondering. We didn’t have anything separated into use for just one night. Since the parking lot was very far from where we needed to go, and valet parking was included in the cost, we just used the valet instead.

The valet guy held the doors and waited patiently while we lugged two suitcases, a clothes bag, a super heavy diaper bag, a backpack, my toiletries bag (consolidated into the diaper bag), my purse, Levi’s pack n’ play, and Levi’s car seat into the lobby. With two sleepy girls clutching their blankets beside us and our mountain of stuff, and the casino glowing just ahead, we must have been quite a sight.

A bellman loaded our stuff onto a cart and led the way to our room on the 20th floor. (The view was totally worth it.) He was very friendly and helpful the whole time, although probably confused why we had so much stuff for one night, though of course he didn’t ask. He also complimented us on our kids before he left. After that we tried to get Ariana and Brielle to sleep in the same bed. Hindsight: bad idea. Ariana is fine because she falls asleep so fast, but Brielle doesn’t, and Brielle also isn’t super used to sleeping in a big bed. Brielle wouldn’t leave Ari alone, and their constant bickering was also keeping Levi awake. Finally we moved Brielle to the floor, and after 11:00 our time, all three fell asleep.

From desert to mountain: Lake Tahoe

Before leaving the hotel, we ordered room service to bring our breakfast the next morning, something I’d never done in a hotel before. We did forget to put enough formula in our small container in the diaper bag, so Clayton actually had to have valet retrieve the van so he could get the big formula can (and he dropped off a couple things to lighten our load later), and then had them re-park the van . . . something we figured the valet people probably hadn’t done much before. When we checked out, the two women behind the counter were excited about Levi and smiled at the girls. Clayton and I also figured that people here probably didn’t see little children too often.

Then we were off! In a short time we’d left the casino-strewn desert of Reno and were in the base of the Sierra Nevadas. The mountains were beautiful. We visited Lake Tahoe, which was amazing. We found a teeny tiny public beach (the main beach was farther down the main road, but we didn’t realize that, so we’ll stop there next time). The water was cold of course, but that didn’t stop little kids from playing in the sand and water! Until they fell in, that is. (Poor Brielle.)

Pushing through to Palo Alto

After Tahoe, we had one potty break, and then we didn’t stop again except to switch drivers. We gave the kids lots of snacks and watched two movies. After Sacramento we got off I-80, driving past Walnut Creek (where I and my brother were born) and Pleasanton (where my parents lived when we were born). By that point we were encountering rush hour, which wasn’t too horrific on our side because we were going towards Silicon Valley. But the traffic away from it . . . soooo many cars. So much stop-and-go and red on the GPS. So much pity for them and gratitude that we weren’t in it. It convinced me to definitely try and find a place to live that's closer to Mountain View.

We hit more and more traffic the closer we got to Palo Alto. In fact, there was a 5-mile stretch between Mountain View and Palo Alto that the GPS estimated would take 13 minutes to get through. However, we skirted all the heavy traffic because of the carpool lane, woo-hoo! Once we made it off the highway, we thought we were only three minutes away when we realized I’d only put “Palo Alto” into the GPS on my phone, and not the actual address . . . :O Thankfully it was only ten more minutes away, and then at long last, we arrived.

Temporary Housing

We’re staying in a brand new townhome. From our kitchen and living room, we can look directly into the garage of an auto repair shop. Just past the shop is El Camino Real, a major road in the Bay Area. We have a very narrow garage, two-car but not side-by-side, and it’s really hard to park inside with the van.

The kids absolutely love the stairs, though Brielle has already wiped out twice, and there’s no carpet. The place is very modern, with drawers that close themselves with just a small push, and cabinets with no handles. The cabinets are also very high; I can barely reach the second shelf. And of course what they have on the bottom shelf is not normal glasses, but wine glasses. ;) There are pictures everywhere of . . . buildings. (Because there aren’t enough of those here . . . ?) There’s a balcony outside that winds around just enough that the kids can run around and enjoy.

This place wasn’t our first choice, but it was much better than an apartment--and ultimately we are super grateful that Google is footing the bill for our stay here, because we’re saving a ton of money this way. It does make me excited to find a place soon, so hopefully that’ll all work out!

The kids are doing pretty well. Levi still has a runny nose and is congested at night, but he’s through the worst of his cold and is sleeping better. Ariana coughs a lot if she runs around too much, but besides that, she’s doing well too. The girls immediately found ways to entertain themselves and have played well. Emotionally they’re, well, probably about as rattled as I am--and they’ve no practice with such a thing. So there has been many tears shed, but we’re getting through as a family. Levi is just happy and kicking like always. :)

Now I just need to survive the next month by myself each day with the kids. Time to find a park!