Redwoods 2011 - Day 1

Because of this obsessive planning/organizing disorder I have developed as an adult, I usually have to plan for spontaneity on our road trips. Did you catch that little oxymoron? I make a very specific itinerary and then I leave a few days open at the end so we have a chance to goof around, explore and just see where the road takes us. So I was a bit shocked when, at just before 6:00 this evening, thanks to a suggestion from my sister, we decided to load up Jane Honda and head out, instead of leaving Friday morning precisely at 6:00 AM as scheduled.

I went on Priceline and found a hotel in Salem, Oregon (Residence Inn by Marriott for only $60!) So we loaded the car and were driving away by 6:24 PM.

Remember how in Mary Poppins, the practically perfect nanny would be out with Jane and Michael, with specific plans for the day, but they always ended up sidetracked by something much more fun and unplanned? Like a carousel horse race in a sidewalk chalk picture, or a tea party on the ceiling with Uncle Albert? Okay, so in my head, that's what tonight's spur-of-the-moment decision was like for me. Just more of a "Mary Poppins Goes Ghetto" type adventure.

We ate dinner at a very exotic restaurant in an unfamiliar town: Wendy's on Sleater-Kinney Road in Lacey. I believe it was featured in Zagats recently.

Here is a sample of artists we enjoyed on our drive this evening, courtesy of Jackson's iPod: Michael Jackson, Guns and Roses, MC Hammer, Queen, Weird Al Yankovic, One Republic, Veggie Tales and Bon Jovi. That boy sure has a wide-range of tastes. A very weird, very wide-range.

That has been all we've done so far. Well, we did stop at the Gee Creek rest stop to go potty - but my older kids hide their faces in their hands and pretend not to know me when I say "potty."

So, my "tea party on the ceiling" isn't off to a Mary Poppins-esque start, but it's been impulsive and fun and that's what I want my kids to remember. Not the crazy lady with the folder full of plans and activities.

It's now 11:00 PM and I'm the only one awake. Which is how nearly all of our nights end when we're on vacation. You see, I like to lay there planning and thinking... I don't actually "like" it, but my mind simply won't shut itself down. It goes a million miles a second. I'm like an idiot savant (minus the savant.)

Tomorrow we are heading down to Grants Pass to ride the Hellgate Jetboats. We will be leaving Salem promptly at 10:30 AM in order to arrive at... wait - on second thought, maybe we'll just leave whenever we feel like it.

California, here we come...

The Niemeyers