Last week, we left for our long awaited trip to Bryant's hometown of Mt. Shasta, California. We have been planing this trip since I found out I was pregnant back in August. We blessed Savannah out there during the 4th of July weekend, and we planned to do it again with Deagan. Originally, we had planned to have my whole family come out too. My parents, my brothers, my sister and my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, the night before we left, we found out my Great-grandpa Cliff Whetten passed away, so plans were quickly rearranged for my family to head down to the border town of Elfrida, Arizona to attend his funeral.
That whole evening I struggled with the decision to carry on our plans of going out to California or not, and ultimately decided that I needed to be there, with Bryant's family. Our bags were already packed, our kids bathed and in bed early, and Bryant's siblings and grandma Donna had already made plans to be there as well. As sad as I am about missing grandpa's funeral, I felt that I made the right decision. I thought a lot about my grandpa while we were gone, and I knew he would be happy for us.
So the next day, Bryant went into work for a little bit, and got home in the afternoon. I had everything packed, so he got it all in the car, and we took off around 4:00. Our drive went fairly smoothly. Both my kids are amazing travelers, and the meltdowns were kept to a minimum. Deagan only got up 4 times to eat the whole way out, and it was easy for us to pull over into a gas station, and Savannah could get out with Bryant and run around, while I took 10 minutes to feed the baby.
^The Salt Flats out by Wendover^
^The landscape across northern Nevada may be barren and bland, but the sunset was amazing!^
Our plan was to stop in Reno for the night, which is 8 hours into the drive and 4 hours away from Mt. Shasta. Bryant wanted to keep going, but I was exhausted and I wanted our kids to get a good night's sleep, and overall, I wanted us to be safe. No drowsy driving. So we pulled into Reno around midnight. I didn't call to make a room reservation in advance, because with so many hotels in Reno, I naively thought we could just pull up to any old hotel and ask for a room under 75 bucks.
Wrong.
We drove around for nearly 2 hours popping into every hotel we could find, and calling several more. NO ONE had a single room available. NOT ONE!!! Bryant walked into one last hotel and the guy at the front desk told us that he wasn't sure why, but nearly every hotel in the city was booked all weekend. My only guess was because It was the 4th of July weekend, and Reno is the only big city around for miles and miles.
Frustrated, we pulled into a parking lot and Bryant got Savannah out, who was just in a shirt, flip-flops and a diaper, and let her run around, while I got on the phone with Expedia to try and find anything with a room available. Well, the lady on the phone asked when I needed a room, I said "For right now, tonight". She said she had one room available at a Holiday Inn for 56 bucks. Perfect. So she asked for my card info. Then she said "Ok, so before I run your card information, I'm just confirming that you want this room for tonight. Check in is at 3:00pm..."
Uh, no.
When I repeated that I had said I needed the room "for right now, tonight". She said "well, it IS after midnight there isn't it?"
"um, well, yes, but I meant I..."
"I said, it IS after midnight there correct? So 'tonight' is for a check-in time of 3pm"
"Well, it is after midnight, but I thought I made it clear that I needed the room right now."
"Again, it IS after midnight there correct? You did say you needed the room right now, but you also said 'tonight'. Check-in is for 3pm...."
GAH! I was so done with her, granted, It was my fault for not realizing what I had said, and it was just a misunderstanding, but she was really snippy and rude, which, as you know, I don't tolerate. So I told her never mind, we didn't want the room. She then said that she had already run my card, and she would have to put me on hold and transfer me to the cancellation department. I waited for 45 freaking minutes for the cancellation guy to pick up. Then he tried to charge me a cancellation fee. I told him I wouldn't pay it, because the woman had jumped the gun and ran my card before she confirmed the date with me. He didn't understand that logic, and put me on hold again for 20 minutes while he called the hotel itself to see if there was a reservation with my name on it. There wasn't, of course, so he refunded our money and didn't charge us a cancellation fee.
At this point, it was 2am. I sat in the front seat of the car and tried hard not to cry in frustration. Bryant came back from running around with Savannah and I looked at him and said "We could be in Susanville right now." Susanville is halfway between Reno and Mt. Shasta. If we chose to drive to Mt. Shasta now, by the time we got to Susanville, we could have been in Mt. Shasta. I felt horrible about this realization. Bryant just smiled at me and said "Look, it's not funny to you now, but it will be when you look back at this whole situation. Adventures are when everything goes wrong, but you still have a good time anyway. I'm having a blast being out here in this random parking lot with my daughter, who is just in a diaper, but is having the time of her life right now."
^Out in a hotel parking lot in Reno at 2am^
This made me feel better. Then we both looked at each other and without words it was decided. We obviously couldn't stay in Reno, so we might as well press on. So we changed the kids diapers, fed Deagan, stopped at a gas station to fuel up, got Savannah a lunchable, got ourselves some super-sized cokes and munchies and drove into the night. We sang Beatles songs a capella, and sang the "moon song" for Savannah about a million times in a row. We talked and talked and talked. When the kids finally dozed off, we talked some more. Mostly about our future plans. We had so much energy it was rediculous.
If thats not a way to rally, then I don't know what is.
As we drove down the last stretch of road, Mt. Shasta stood there framed by thick trees, with the sun coming up and hitting it's peak just perfectly. That moment right there was worth the long drive though the night.
^Some geese greeting us a block before we were there. I didnt realize it until I put my camera away and we began to drive off, but there were about 30 geese standing on the other side of the road!^
We tried to be sneaky and bring the kids into Bryant's parent's house without waking them up, but they were already up and going. By now, Savy was wide awake too. So Ed and Robyn played with her while Bryant, DJ and I went to take a nap. As soon as I laid down, I felt like I hit a wall and was asleep in seconds.
We woke up a few hours later and decided to go to Church. I think my favorite thing about going to Mt. Shasta is the Ward there. Everyone is so friendly! In my ward, if you're a visitor, they may have you introduce yourself, but thats it. In Bryant's ward, people were hugging me, asking how I was, what I was up to, how my family was. It's so awesome! I love those people so much! Bryant actually taught the lesson for the 14-18 year olds. He's a great teacher, and it was fun to watch and hear him. Especially since it was spur-of-the-moment and he had no lesson planned.
Well, thats all for now. I typed this whole thing 1 handed because DJ is asleep in my other arm, and my fingers are tired. So is my brain, seeing as we got home to Utah this morning at 5am... But that story is for the last part of this trip documentation...
*I'm breaking our trip to Mt. Shasta up in parts because we did so much and I want to remember it all. So look for part 2 coming soon!
Man that sucks. Patrick said he'd be cussing Expedia to everyone he knew and all over the internet for that kind of customer service. But at least it all worked out okay and you made it safe. We once drove to Dallas in an old '72 pickup (really rattley) with the windows down (no a/c in 100+ heat) singing Beatles songs, among others, at the top of our lungs. Good times. :)
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