Spaghetti Western: Part V Addendum (Maps)

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Spaghetti Western: Part V

Since our last post, we have covered another 800+ miles in our western adventure. A week ago we said goodbye to Papa and Gigi in Newport Beach and headed north to San Jose to visit the Mazzoccos. On Sunday we all piled into the MazzMobile for T's first ever trip to the famous Halfmoon Bay Pumpkin Festival, a long-standing Allen family tradition. Being able to go this year with my sis Wendi was a special highlight of the trip, and Luca felt the same way about enjoying his first pumpkin fest with his cousins.


In fact, Luca loved every minute of our time with his aunt, uncle and cousins, so much so that we were a little worried that he'd be bored with just the two of us when we left on Wednesday for Yosemite. Fortunately for us, he adjusted gracefully and we enjoyed our visit to Yosemite - another first for T and Luca. Though we didn't get in as much hiking as we had hoped, we did get to see many sites, including the Mariposa Giant Sequoia Grove, on foot and through the car windows.

L, T & Half Dome at dusk

An interpretation of a classic Allen photo of mom & me when I was a baby

Yesterday we left Yosemite and after an unremarkable night in Madera we arrived today in beautiful Carmel where we'll stay the weekend before moving on to our next destination - San Francisco! Until then, goodnight from Carmel...

Il bambino cammina.

The wiggle walk set to Luca's favorite song:

Rumor has it that a few inches of snow fell overnight back in Minneapolis. Even though Fall is overtaking us here in Newport Beach and the skies are overcast for the first time since we arrived, the cold, white stuff seems like a figment of someone's imagination at the moment.

The warm temps here have afforded us a number of beach days and Luca has surprised both himself and his parents by enjoying letting the waves wash over him, sometimes even crying as they retreat. He's grown so comfortable with sand that the other day he took off from our oasis of towels and crawled about 100 yards without looking back. We're fairly sure he would have joined a party that he saw going on at one of the nearby houses if we hadn't intervened.

He's gaining confidence on his feet as well. Since we've been in California, he's figured out how to stand without the help of a furniture prop, and he's discovered that this latest trick gets a big reaction. And though we haven't yet caught any independent steps on video, he's tallied up a dozen or so shuffle steps walking from one of us to the other. The most curious thing about Luca and walking is that if we ask him to walk, he crumples to the floor and cries, so we have to be creative in how we encourage him. Looks like that open-mouthed smile might not be the only trait that he inherited from his parents!

Luca the Lion takes down the Tigers.

Here's an iPhone pic that A took last night as Luca and I supported each other through the massive ups and downs of Twins fever:



And here we are chest-bumping/hugging when it finally came down in our favor (at least I think this is us):

Spaghetti Western: Part IV

It's been an eventful couple of days for our troop of fearless road warriors. We covered 800 miles over Tuesday and Wednesday, not counting the extra hundred or so that we incurred when we had to go from UT to AZ to NV back to AZ back to UT because we (I am choosing not to name names) left our 'important bag' (which according to -hint- Alexis -hint- contains checkbooks, keys to the house in Newport Beach, bills, Luca's birth certificate, etc.) in our hotel room. Completing this leg of our trip put the grand total of traveled miles at a whopping 2,705, which means we've traveled more than 1/100 of the distance from the center of earth to the center of the moon. So there.

We had planned on including the Grand Canyon in our trek, but it got pushed to the return trip to Minneapolis after we saw Bryce Canyon National Park and concluded we'd be disappointed by any and everything else we saw. Our revised drive took us from Park City to Bryce to St. George to Las Vegas to Newport Beach, with Luca cooperating more often than not.

Our southwesterly progress offered particularly beautiful, albeit it foreign and unforgiving scenery, and of course we took a few pictures...

Bryce Canyon National Park

From Sunset Point:

Rocks lit-from-within


Included for scale. See the tiny hikers entering the canyons.

From Bryce Point:








Red Rock Canyon (on the way in and out of BCNF):

Las Vegas

Ceiling at the Bellagio: Chihuly's flowers

Newport Beach

So SoCal

Visit w/ Great Grandma

Video Interlude

We will fill in some details shortly, but for now here is a one minute video recap of how and where we spent Tuesday morning through Wednesday evening (thanks to the new version of Google Earth).

Spaghetti Western: Part III

One big benefit of this sojourn from the usual is that we don't have much occasion to check a calendar. That said, it hasn't escaped our attention that we have now been parked in Utah for exactly two weeks. It feels both like we've been here forever, and like we just got here; in other words, Park City has been so good to us that we're going to find it tough to leave.

Inspired by the surrounding mountains and general air of fitness and well-being that permeates this town, we purchased a hiking pack so that the three of us could explore the woods. The first time we put Luca in his new perch, he protested fervently. Luckily, we persevered and within 10 minutes Luca changed his tune completely. Now Luca is at his happiest when taking in the view from over our shoulders - chattering, admiring the trees and giving us the occasional high five.

We're going to enjoy our last few days in Park City before heading early next week to Southern California via Bryce National Park, the Grand Canyon, and the 8th wonder of the world: Las Vegas.

See ya on the road!

Il bambino non cammina.

Not one to rush things, Luca has been taking his sweet time with the crawling-to-walking transition. Or maybe he didn't have enough room to roam in our Minneapolis house, because he's been stretching his legs a bit more here in Deer Valley, particularly when he has an audience and a table to push around.



We'll miss his deliberate strut-crawl, but are looking forward to seeing whatever interesting walking style he has up his sleeve.

In between walking tutorials, T & and I are undertaking an education of our own, learning Italian via Rosetta Stone. So far we can say "Il bambino non cammina" and "La donna guida la macchina bianca."

Arrivederci!

Son Dance.

Now that we've become temporarily stationery, we can get back to the real reason most of you check in on this blog...the little beefcake.







And I might as well throw in some pics from the spectacularly beautiful Sundance where we spent the day. These pics don't do this incredible place justice.







Sun dancers.

Spaghetti Western: Part II

We've come quite a distance since we last posted from Billings, MT - about 1,000 miles, give or take a few.

Thursday morning we set out for Missoula, MT to visit the Massey clan. On our way, we stopped in Bozeman, MT for lunch and had the good fortune to run into the Johnstones - though we didn't have the good sense to get a decent photo. After a brief stop in Butte, we arrived in Missoula and went straight to see Casey, Richard, Moana & Mouse Massey. Every chance I get to spend time with my bff is gold to me, and we loved seeing all the changes to their crafty abode since we were last there three+ years ago. Of course, Luca loved being with Moana, who he adores.


We had a short but sweet visit with the Masseys, and after breakfast on Friday we headed toward Big Sky, taking the gravel road-extremely-less-traveled along Rock Creek as recommended by Richard & Casey. Along the way we ran into some mountain goats, and T's inner nature lover came to the fore.



Yesterday evening we arrived at the Lucas homestead in Big Sky, a place that has special significance in the family since it was here that T lost his Grandpa 15 years ago. Visiting was a special opportunity that this trip afforded.

This morning we woke early to take on our biggest driving day yet, from Big Sky to Park City, UT. We watched the sun come up and the steam rise from the river as we drove toward Yellowstone, and were greeted soon after entering the park by one its larger residents (pictured far left).

We were completely captivated by Yellowstone and nearly couldn't believe our luck when in a moment of great road karma, we pulled up to Old Faithful just in time for an eruption.


We took our time driving through Yellowstone and decided to suffer a little road construction to keep on the scenic drive through the Tetons, stopping in Jackson for a lunch break and photo opportunity in the town square.


With five more hours of driving ahead of us, we got back on the road and hightailed it for Utah. Our sweet Luca slept about half of the way, and was just nearing the end of his rope as we pulled into Park City. Tonight we're road weary but happy to be in Utah after a great first leg of our western adventure!

Spaghetti Western: Part I

When we found out a few months ago that T’s job offer had been pushed out several months, we mulled over some options and quickly decided that we should take the time to do something adventurous. We considered going to Europe for a month or two, but that seemed both too expensive for the semi-employed and too fraught with challenges particular to traveling with a small child. T tried to sell me on a trip to South America, which sounded good until he showed me a photo of what I thought was the moon and turned out to be the area he most wanted to visit. In the end, we decided on the classic American adventure: a road trip.

With a selection of places to stay out west, we opted to plot our course in that direction. We took time this summer to plan and prepare, and targeted a departure date in early September. We didn’t want to miss Papa & Gigi’s anniversary party over Labor Day weekend, a decision which turned out to be wise. The whole weekend was filled with friends and family and one-of-a-kind occasions – like shopping for Nic’s wedding dress – and the culminating party was one of the best we can recall. We’re so happy for them.

Come Tuesday morning, we packed the necessities into the Subaru, bid farewell to our friends and our house (left clean enough for showings - since we decided to put it on the market recently) and headed toward North Dakota via 94. After stopping for dinner and new running shoes for T in Fargo, we drove through a thunderstorm on to Jamestown where we saw front, back and undercarriage of the world’s largest buffalo.

This morning we hit the road again, and after stopping at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora we finished with NoDak (a newly learned shorthand) and crossed over into Montana. Not long after we entered Montana, we got a call from our friend/realtor letting us know that Murphy’s Law is working and there's an offer on our house now that we're out of town - so we have that to mull over from our Billings, MT Super 8 motel room!

Tomorrow we are off to Missoula to see the Masseys. Luca has been as good a road companion as possible for a 14-month-old, and charmed the pants off of everyone in his proximity at dinner tonight. We hope to treat him to a shorter day of driving tomorrow.

Goodnight from the Super8!


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State Fair

We had so much fun at the state fair. Maybe a little too much of the fun came in the form of Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookies, which the little monster loved. We can't wait for next year.

Pool Day

Around here, the light has shifted just enough to remind us that summer won't last forever. Luckily, Papa & Gigi invited us to the pool to soak up some sunshine while it lasts. Luca hadn't yet dunked into the big pool, so T took him for a spin around the shallow end.