Pedroza Place

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Today we went from Bakersfield, California to Heber, Utah. Along the way we briefly stopped in Baker for gas. In Nevada we stopped at Las Vegas, not the flashy Sin City Vegas, we went to the surprisingly simple Vegas. By this I mean we went to a suburb of Las Vegas. There we found cheap gas and a BLM office with a historic trail stamp. It was interesting in that you could really see how the recession has hit the area. Lots of empty strip malls and houses up for sale.
From there we went to St. George for a quick stop to try some of Nielson’s frozen custard (imagine really thick ice cream). To know how thick it truly is, you have to know they have this big knife thing that cuts it from the machine that it comes out of, but it is really good:
<%image(20090823-AJNeilsonsweb.jpg|336|448|AJ approved)%>
We got back on the road and went all the way up to Cedar Breaks National Park. (From St. George it’s about an hour to the visitor’s center.) A truly stunning sight, we got another stamp and a new annual pass. At the park we met some people from London, England. I asked them if they had anything thing like Cedar Breaks and they said no, all they had they said was a lot of old human made things like Stonehenge. In case you,re wondering how deep the canyon is, imagine 14 Statues of Liberty standing on end of each other. I am glad to have witnessed such beauty.
<%image(20090823-famcedarbreaksweb.jpg|448|336|Cedar Breaks)%>
The trip was not over however, so I turned on the computer to confirm our route and I got “”hard drive not found””. Our laptop is insured, but the content on it is not. I figured I could fix it but I needed a screwdriver. It turns out Denise used to live and work in Cedar City and so we quickly located a Flying J Store (trucker store). A few twists and pulls with the screwdriver and the laptop was back in action.
Almost to our destination we stopped in Nephi for dinner. We went to this “”Mexican”” fast food place called Taco Time.
<%image(20090823-tacotimeweb.jpg|336|448|Taco TIme)%>
Ok, I realize I am far from Mexico in Utah, but really, how hard can it be to find someone in Utah who can cook Mexican food?!! Utah, after all, did used to be part of Mexico. Denise got a veggie burrito that consisted of a whole wheat (!?!) tortilla with white rice, sour cream, beans, bell peppers, and get this, seasame seeds!!! My “”Sonoran”” style chicken burrito was a breaded fried chicken strip with sour cream, white rice, and cheese. I once read that Champagne, France was suing all these wine makers for using their name withou their permission, I thinking Sonora needs to get some lawyers on retention stat. As if it wasn’t a strange enough meal I happened to see that for an upgrade of 60 cents I could have “”Mexican French Fries.”” I have been to Mexico numereous times, living there for four years, and surprisingly have never seen “”Mexican French Fries”” on any menu. Thinking I had just discovered a lost Maximillian delicacy I paid my 60 cents. This is what I got:
<%image(20090823-mexifriesweb.jpg|448|336|Mexi Fries??)%>
I have discovered things are different in Utah, but I could of sworn those were called Tater Tots. No wonder they are no longer on the menu in Mexico. I am not sure about this, but this might of been why Mexicans shot Maximillian. If I were a Taco Time executive I’d change the name back to Tater Tots, before anyone else finds out about this. I have to interject here that Denise told me she liked her food, I guess you can’t take the Utonian out of some people.
After our “”Mexican”” meal we continued to Heber.
<%image(20090823-hebercampsignweb1.jpg|448|336|Heber Valley Camp)%>
We arrived late but we can already tell you there is plenty of wildlife here in Heber Valley camp. Having only been in camp about an hour we have already nearly missed a doe, and killed some sort of low flying bird (I am hoping tomorrow morning I can look at the car grill and see what it was). This is our 4th family reunion this year. It is the only one with a theme. The theme is “”live strong.””
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“If you can’t see the videos or pictures, please visit the blog at www.johnpedroza.com/blog1

In case your ever wondering the Kaiser in Selma is not open on Saturday. Why would I know this question you ask?? I know this because AJ wasn’t feeling well and were were in the middle of nowhere looking for a Kaiser. As it is AJ survived and today we were able to get him into a doctor’s office in Bakersfield. $35 dollars later, we have found out he has a really bad cold, oh well, you never can be too cautious with toddlers I suppose.

That was the detour yesterday, but the real trip was of course to Sequoia National Park. Which is ironically also a detour, because we are really on our way to Utah for a family renunion, but the park was free yesterday and there was a National Park Stamping Convention in town, so a detouring we went. Sequoia is a beautifull park accessed by a very winding road. The road into the park is full of switchbacks and rather slow but the views are gorgeous.
<%image(20090816-MoroRockweb.jpg|448|336|Moro Rock)%>
I am however glad that I am not John Muir and did have a road. Our first stop in the park was the Foothills Visitor Center, being a free day, the park was very busy.
<%image(20090816-foothillsweb.jpg|336|448|This was a very busy visitor center)%>
I asked about the Crystal Cave stamp but was only able to get the Foothills Stamp. On the way to Lodgepole we stopped briefly at the Giant Museum and I got another stamp and I got to see a big tree named the Sentinel (there are a lot of trees in this park). We then continued up Generals Hwy to Lodgepole where we got another stamp and saw a movie called Bears of the Sequioas, alas poor Yellow 26, your honey ran out long before your legend ever did.
<%image(20090816-lodgepoleweb.jpg|448|336|Elevation 6720 Feet)%>
We then went to Wasachi Lodge. At the lodge we attended the NPTC convention . Denise won some playing cards and I won a lapel pin. The guest speaker was a park ranger who spoke about the history of the park. The ranger had an interesting lecture about how we have come from looking at the park as an obstacle, to a place of unlimited resources (the wood it was discovered was not really good for much, too brittle), to a destination, and finally something to preserve. After the meeting we traveled to General Sherman tree trail. AJ was asleep and I was anxious so I went down the trail early. I sat down on a bench about 100 yards away from the General Sherman tree. From where I was sitting it was the people’s first view of the tree. Most people’s first reaction was that of awe. Many were in languages that I could not understand. My favorite quote was this lady who saw it and exclaimed “”Oh it is just like the one at Disneyworld!”” Denise and AJ came along and we made our way to the tree, meandered a bit, took a picture, and then made our way back up the trail.
<%image(20090816-generalshermanweb.jpg|336|448|Pedrozas at a really big tree)%>
After that we traveled up the Crecent Meadow Road to see more trees. One was called the auto log, named because people used to drive on top of the log, they no longer let you do that, but you can walk on it.
<%image(20090816-autologweb.jpg|336|448|It's a good thing we didn't put our car on this tree)%>
The log looks like it is slowly decaying. It was kind of scary just walking on it because I was holding AJ’s hand so he wouldn’t fall (the trunk is 10 feet wide), and I was also looking out for brittle spots. Needless to say we made it ok because I am typing this.
We proceeded to the Tunnel Log which is a log you drive through. As long as your car is shorter than 8 ft, which ours is so we drove through it twice (once up and once on the way down).

We then headed down, seeing Moro Rock again on the way. We had dinner with the NPTC club, we had fun talking and eating with the club members. It was fun being with so many people that were so pationate about travel.
<%image(20090816-nptcdinnerajweb.jpg|448|336|AJ really liked the fake rose.)%>
We stayed the night at the Three Rivers Hideaway and slept (all three of us) in a tent. It was interesting but we did all manage to get some sleep.
<%image(20090816-threeriverssettinguptentweb.jpg|448|336|John sets up the tent)%>
<%image(20090816-threeriverssetupweb.jpg|448|336|Three us slept where?!?)%>”

“In one of the toddler parenting books I read, the author mentioned that she and her husband used the hurricane rating system to rate their toddler’s tantrums. We are so there.

AJ graces me with about 10 “”category one”” tantrums a day. (He collapses on the ground and cries for less than 5 minutes then moves on with his life with no input from me.) These can be brought on by the fact that his lunch is too warm or he’s not allowed to play with my sewing scissors or I have to take actual time to pour him a glass of milk or a million other little frustrations in his day.

AJ is a pretty good-natured child and “”category two”” tantrums come only two to three times a week. These tantrums usually come when I’ve pushed back nap time or meal time or both. These category twos require distraction from me, but they end quickly once he gets to his crib or yummy food in his hand or is otherwise distracted.

Category Threes are a special treat reserved just for Sunday when church creates a tired and hungry child. Then, even though he’s hungry, he won’t eat ’cause he’s tired and he won’t sleep ’cause he’s hungry, and it requires a new level of parenting skills to meet his needs.

So far, no category fours or fives yet, but I imagine they’re in my future. Of course, when a tantrum happens in public, that automatically bumps it up a level. (so far not a frequent occurrence, thank goodness) Fun Fun Fun….

According to the books, I only have about 2 years until I hit the eye of the storm (ages 4-12), then the storms will return and the storm swell will be with them. At least by then I’ll be a wise and experienced parent, right? right?

On another random note, AJ just asked for his third banana of the morning… toddlers do have weird eating habits, but that’s a whole ‘nother post. ”

“Well, right off the bat I would like to say we have a “”new to us car.”” For those not in the know, we got a 1992 Subaru Legacy. That sounds old, and it is, but it has air conditioning. My Aunt and Uncle up in Santa Rosa got it at a good price at a auto auction last month, but our schedules hadn’t coordinated right until last week. So last Friday we made a slow trip up the coast line to get the car. It started at 5:30PM when I got off of work and we traveled to Bakersfield. We got there around 9:30 and got up at 4:00AM to get to the Bakersfield train station:
<%image(20090730-amtrakdenajweb.jpg|448|336|null)%>
Normally, we drive, but it didn’t make any sense to take two cars up and two cars down the coast. The price wasn’t that bad and AJ got to ride for free. It wasn’t much different than the Metrolink in that the passenger cars were double deckers. Much nicer than a plane in that AJ was free to run around all he wanted. Plus, there were tables, a dining car, and electricity to run my i-Pod:

After meeting my Grandma, Aunt, and Uncle for lunch we slowly made our way back to Crestline. On the way we stopped in Fairfield at the Jelly Belly Factory:
<%image(20090730-jellybellyfamweb.jpg|336|448|That is one big bean!)%>
For those not familiar with Jelly Bellies, they are gourmet Jelly Beans that were made famous by Ronald Reagan (he served them on Airforce1). If you go to the factory they offer free tours daily 7-4 pm (of course we got there at 4:30pm, or I would of posted tour pictures) and they give you all the free samples you want. It is kind of fun, plus we bought “”belly flops”” (misformed Jelly Bellies) for really cheap (we now have 4 big bags of them). After that we stopped at a different Aunt’s house in Orangevale (close to Sacramento). Stayed till Sunday and continued back down the 99 to Bakerfield (our other old car was still there). On Monday, we made another quick stop to the Sunmaid Raisin factory in Kingsburg, California. They don’t offer tours, but they do offer free samples, plus you get to the see the world’s largest raisin box! No really, its a raisin box:
<%image(20090730-sunmaidfamweb.jpg|448|336|There were raisins in there...)%>
After inhaling lots of raisins smells, it is quite a scent. We finally made it to Bakersfield to Denise’s parent’s house. We picked up the Kia and made our way back to Crestline. It was a long trip, but it was fun, and now we have (gasp) and AIR CONDITIONED CAR!!!”

“<%image(20090712-deniseandamyweb.jpg|448|336|It was very nicely catered.)%>
I don’t know why, but apparently this is the year the Lord has decided to show us exactly how big our family is, and it is BIG!!! Today we went to my Aunt Maren’s house for a Jacobs/Knute family reunion. I use the words family reunion very loosely because I have found that only in very rare circumstances do any of my family plan anything too formal. In fact the first two reunions I have had this year were really more what I would call family get together, but they had three generations of family members. So in my book, that is the definition of a reunion (and since this is my blog I can say what I want :P). Ok, for those keeping count here is what I got so far:
The Pedroza family (John’s dad’s side of the family) reunion in Aguas Calientes, Mexico:
<%image(20090712-cousins3web.jpg|448|336|null)%>
Then there was the Jackman immediate (Denise’s brothers and sisters) family reunion last week:
<%image(20090712-ajandryanweb.jpg|336|387|AJ gets the bear hug from Ryan.)%>
Finally, today the Jacobs (John’s mom’s side of the family) family reunion:
<%image(20090712-carsonandajweb.jpg|448|248|Carson and AJ competed for ""trike"" time.)%>
Lest you think we have had enough of our family, we are preparing to see my Aunt Judy (from John’s mom side) next week. Then next month we head to Utah for a big Jackman family reunion (Denise’s grandfather on her father’s side). I guess we are still missing a Kenison reunion as well, although I must say we see my other Aunt Judy (from Denise’s mom’s side) very often and we have already spent a day with two Delong family members this summer.

Oh and if I was writing my formal name in Mexico I think it would now go something like this:
John Andrew Pedroza Jacobs Jackman Kenison”