Road Trip To California

We left two days prior to CCI Turn-In in order to make it on time without killing each other in our mini-suv on the way to California. Long days of driving, but what a blessing to have two kiddos who are used to road trips, and a CCI Puppy who is a gem traveler. Haddie didn't complain one bit for the two day journey (and neither did our kids), and seemed to get her wiggles out enough to still perform great behavior on our breaks for food and stretching (and so did our kids).

Our first night was in the Middle of Nowhere, USA, and the hotel of choice turned out to be very similar in style to my Grandmother's Retirement Center. Complete with oil paintings on the wall, intense smell of cleaners, and a unique shade of green carpet that showed every spec of hair fallen from Haddie (oh my!). But it was a clean place to lay our heads for the night and made Day #2 doable with only six hours in the car, compared to eight the day prior.

We had a tip from our Region before we left that the Jelly Belly Factory was on the way to Santa Rosa, and it was tradition to swing in with the CCI Puppy for a tour and shopping. Although camera's were not allowed on the tour, we enjoyed taking some pictures with Haddie in the gift shop.

The two days drive was nothing extra extraordinary to share. We enjoyed having time with Haddie in new cities and places, but it was somewhat surreal that this was the journey closer to her final stay with us.