This was the first drive of many on this trip, and the night before, he told me the time that he wanted us to set off the next day. This helped us prepare ahead, so that we will be on time as per his plan. If he didn't tell me, I'd ask; and so the husband and I unknowingly started a working pattern, a partnership.
So this morning, we had wanted to leave by 10am, and we pretty much met this target. We had loaded our messy luggage (the contents, were in such a mess, it was horrific), checked out and drove off; then needing to do a detour because we forgot J's antibiotics in the fridge. There were also cans of beers in there, but being in the grumpy mood he we were in - aaahh, our first of several *tze moments with each other - the husband did not want to take the beers.
*Tze - it's not a word, more a sound. I believe it was conjured by the sister and we first started using it with each other. It means a mix of frustration and unhappiness and disgruntlement all rolled into one. "I'm so tze-ded with him!"
I don't know what he was thinking (I think it was something along the lines of him feeling as if he was doing much - I remember him throwing a fit and the luggages), but I was just trying to manage my splitting head as I had no coffee. It was tortue, I tell you. I learnt to bite my tongue and let the bad feelings pass. To be fair, the husband and I were both not wanting to argue with each other, as we know that it doesn't matter eventually. For me, I sometimes feel that I'm always the one giving in - wonder what he thinks?
Anyhow, I digress.
After leaving our first hotel - for real - the second time, we hit the road.
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| Our designated driver |
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| Hers and his |
The kids didn't fight being in the car seats, and understood that they needed to be in them to be safe. They were kept entertained with snacks, water, toys, milk, stories, songs, commentaries, chit-chat... and thankfully both were able to snooze in the car.
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| Sleepyheads |
I stayed up to chat with the husband, and help keep him awake. Till then, he'd not been sleeping well due to jetlag/insomnia and I know he was tired. The drive was for 5 hours+ and with the kids snoozing, I wanted to make good progress - it's way easier to cover distance when they were quiet than when they were awake. Children get bored easily.
So that first hit on the road, we did pretty ok I think. The weather was hot - I was unprepared for the heat but managed to find something comfortable enough to wear. Being our first ride, I was inexperienced in packing what we needed. With each request made by the children, I'd literally be climbing over chairs and handles to fetch, so I quickly learnt to pack - yes, packing was needed even within the vehicle. This way, I'd know where xxx was, and I also planned what was potentially needed and what wasn't. As cumbersome as food stuff was, I found it extremely helpful to have our "mobile pantry" upfront for easy access. Plus have some bags to throw rubbish (& hold puke).
By noon, we had made good distance and decided not to stop for lunch as the kids were snoozing. It was coffee I really craved, as for food, we had snacks and bites that kept us un-hungry.
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| Vast space |
It was past 1pm that we made a stop for lunch. Of the several food pit-stops, the husband picked the last one before we hit another curve and many many miles. It was just at the edge of the turn out of the freeway, the our car stalled. The engine kinda died and I recall a 'huh' feeling hit me. Then it became 'oh oh' as we managed to restart our car but it practically crawled into the parking lot.
By then, the kids were awake and I marched them into In-and-out Burger to have our late lunch. During this time, the husband was outside trying to suss out the car... we were nearly finished with our lunch by the time he came in to join us. Turns out, the car had gone kapoot on us and we needed to get a replacement car. To do that, we needed to get in touch with the rental company - except that we had no local telephone number.
We were sitting besides a big, local guy (beardy, if I remember right) and the husband reached out to him, asking to borrow his mobile phone. He looked at us suspiciously quizzically, but handed his phone over to us anyhow. When the husband was on his phone, connecting to the rental company, his food order was called. Before he stepped off to take his food, he said "let me take your phone with me" - guess he needed some security as collateral!
He helped to provide our specific location and he went off after he was done with his lunch. I ordered bad coffee and it was nearly painful to consume the lousy liquid. Bleagh. But I needed it, and the kids were getting quickly bored being done with their meals. Thankfully, there were some things they could do.
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| Colouring, writing and stamping |
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| Not too keen, this one |
It felt like too long, with us sitting in the parlour waiting for our new ride to turn up. Managing two whiney kids really does take a lot of patience, which I truly am not born with. So thankfully, no one was murdered and I think it was the cup of chocolate milkshake that I had that made me non-suicidal.
It was probably about 2 hours later that our new ride came and hooray! We could continue our way. It was nice to be on the road again - despite us wanting to get off just earlier - but it was perhaps our wish to hit our destination that kept us going.
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| New ride, spacious and great for long legs |
This new car was bigger, and the husband says a better drive. Good, I say, and I was pretty happy because this new car was also bigger and more comfortable. This comfort, however, didn't extend to the grumpy bums of little children and by this day, while J was getting better with meds and his body working hard to become well; K was just on the edge of becoming unwell.
It was about 5pm that we made it to the foot of Yosemite village and the husband stopped to allow for me to do a grocery run. I brought K with me and I was grateful to stretch my legs. I'd started to sway after being in the moving vehicle that many hours.
It was in the aisles, between the cold milk and the bottled water that K finally threw up. She had been complaining of feeling nauseous the moment we got into the supermarket and that gave me enough warning to hold a bag around with me as we pushed through the aisles. By then, I was about done with the shopping and I remember that the last item I picked up was beer - a wrong type, as I mis-heard the husband. Oops. I'd attributed K's vomit to being carsick (she's very sensitive) and as we left the supermarket and started to climb the mountain in the vehicle, this little girl started feeling more and more unwell.
The long ride into the mountains, going up those windy roads, was pretty rough. It was windy and it was also getting dark. It felt like a loooong time, and perhaps it was the first car drive, it all started to feel uncomfortable. I had to have puke bags ready on standby to attend to the children, and while J coughed and retched a couple of times, he was fine. It was the poor little girl that was unwell and at that point, we hadn't known it yet, but she was hit by some strain of virus that J was suffering from, probably.
At some points between driving against traffic and speeding, we got pulled over. Uh oh.
Thankfully, we were not given a ticket; instead warned that driving within speed limits is important. Honestly, if you ask me, I think the officer probably felt the vomit fumes hit him in the face once the husband wound the windows down! By the time we parked at Yosemite Lodge, the girl was pretty wired up from vomitting a few times for real, J was listless and bored/tired and even I needed to retch a couple of huge breaths to rid the stinky, lingering feel of motion sickness.
The cold weather hit us pretty much the moment we stepped out of the car - even before actually. It was icy chilly winds, and we made our way as quickly as we could to our room. We then quickly layered on the clothing and made our way to the food hall.
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| Bad food |
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| Vomitty K |
Dinner was pretty awful, and it was so cold. It was super dark and we had nothing to do so after eating whatever we could stomach, we walked back to our room, taking a leisurely 5minute stroll. It was refreshing, standing under the clear dark skies where we could see twinkly stars clearly. It was quiet, misty and did I mention, cold?! We could blow smoke from our mouths, which tickled the kids greatly.
We made it to the room and the husband cranked up the heaters and we were pretty toasty. K was all tired out and crashed soon. J, who was on the mend, started asking for food - he was hungry, the poor boy from not eating well the past few days; and one of the best buys I did at the supermarket was instant oats. We fed him one cup of oats over a few portions - definitely one of the best picks I made at the supermarket!
All we saw were trees in the car ride and all I smelt was vomit. So I knew that tomorrow, we would see Yosemite properly and it would be a better day. That night, everyone crashed. I was the last (pretty common) and laid in bed, swaying to the motion that I felt in my body.
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