The Lee Family: California, Day 5: Aunt Becky and Family

On Monday we planned to head up to Becky's house in Santa Maria, and I was nervous for the drive and possible traffic. I really wanted to visit Mimi and my Dad's gravesite with the girls and Grandpa Joe cut a dozen of Mom's favorite roses from the yard. We packed our things into our trusty car, gave hugs and kisses to Grandpa Joe and headed down the road. It was a great visit and the girls loved spending time with him, playing with Max and Maggie, who finally warmed up to me and Sofia, feeding Hootie the turtle and visiting with so many people.

We headed out around 930am, arrived at Memory Gardens in Brea and parked near where my Mom and Dad are buried together. Sofia immediately went to setting up the vase on their headstone and we added the water we brought and the girls added the roses. The girls were pretty interested in why people are buried in different ways and I finally got them to stand still near my Dad and Mimi's grave so I could tell them stories of both. I told them about my Dad's personality and how much he encouraged me to follow what I love and I told the girls about Mom's creativity and how she loved to make things. I also reminded Sofia of stories of times she shared with Mimi which she remembers and I want her to keep as memories. I'm not sure if the girls got much out of it, but I did and it made me miss them even more.

We left Memory Gardens and drove into Los Angeles to go to the La Brea Tar Pits. I remember visiting the tar pits when I was around 12 or 13 and loved it! I figured it would break up the trip and the girls could get some wiggles out before we headed up to Becky's house. I haven't driven in Los Angeles in such a long time and the traffic was terrible, but we made it. First we visited the large tar pit with the replica woolly mammoth family getting stuck into the tar. It was pretty amazing to look at and looked like water mixed with mud, although there was a strong asphalt smell that we caught from time to time. We headed into the Page Museum and watched the film about the discovery of the tar pits and all the various skeletons they have found over the years including woolly mammoths, large ground sloths, dire wolfs, prehistoric camels, sabertooth cats, prehistoric horses, bison and many smaller mammals. Excavation started in 1912 and continues today. Apparently the tar (it's actually natural asphalt) preserves the animals perfectly. After the movie, we walked around the museum and the girls were able to see how difficult it is to escape the tar by pulling metal tubes that were immersed in tar. Sofia could actually do it a little while I couldn't at all! We read about all the different animals found and saw all the skeletons and the woolly mammoth was huge! One exhibit they had was a huge wall covered with dire wolf skulls - there must have been thousands and one of the workers explaining the exhibit said that was a tiny portion of the skulls found! The museum took about an hour to walk through and was fascinating. We went to the gift shop after and I let the girls each pick one thing. Sofia picked out a lion necklace and Olivia picked out a pack of four animals including the sabertooth cat, woolly mammoth, prehistoric camel and the dire wolf. It ended up being the best toys and the girls played with them for the rest of our trip, including in the car.

We walked to a nearby restaurant and ate outside. LA is perfect for people-watching and the food was good. We headed back to our car and started on the long drive to Aunt Becky's house in Santa Maria. It took us a while to make it through the city and onto the 101, but once we were on the freeway it was smooth sailing! I couldn't believe how easy the drive was. Both girls slept as soon as we hit the 101 and woke up around Santa Barbara (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours later). I originally told the girls we might stop in Summerland and go for a quick dip in the ocean, but by the time we were there both girls were still asleep and it was grey and a little drizzly out. We headed over San Marcos Pass and stopped at Lake Cachuma which is incredibly low due to the drought California is experiencing right now. We got out and stretched our legs and I talked to CK while we looked at the dam and the small amount of water. The girls played in the dirt and were perfectly happy to get a break. We continued on and drove through Los Alamos, where I grew up and which is now a cute destination wine town! In fact the fields before and after Los Alamos which were full of livestock are now vineyards. The entire area looks so different than when I lived there.

We drove through Los Alamos and a few miles down the road I realized that our car's gas light was on! It's only 10 miles to my sister's house from Los Alamos but it still made me nervous especially knowing my phone died after talking to CK. Sofia was very concerned and kept asking if we would be alright. We were fine and made it to the gas station and then to Aunt Becky's! The drive was so smooth and easy! It was great to see Aunt Becky and Cousin Megan and Uncle Mike and we were excited to spend a few days with them. The girls loved seeing their dog, Jack too and we'd spend the last few miles trying to remember Jack's name. Sofia thought it was Oreo and I thought it was Fred, but knew it wasn't. We settled into Michael's room and Sofia hung out with Megan in her room while Becky and I caught up over making dinner. We all ate dinner together and Pancho arrived soon after. He planned to stay for two days with Becky, longer than I'd seen him in many years. It was so fun to be together and catch up.

With Grandpa Joe