Courtney's Blog July 19th, Day 14 of the Epic McFarland Journey!

Guess what? We've gone 4,000 miles as of today! And guess what else? Route 66 is DONE!!

We started the day at the farmer's market in LA. Adam and I had gone here when we had a wedding in LA in October. We loved it. It is basically a billion restaurants and speciality shops in one small place. It is cafeteria style for eating, so you each can go choose your food and meet at a table. But tables are hot commodities and it is Saturday so it is CRAZY. Oh well, we make the best of it and I hunt down a table. I finally force some foreign couple to leave sooner rather than later by sitting Gideon next to them. Whatever works, right? Adam and I had some yummy Korean food and the kids enjoyed pizza. We also went and bought my favorite toffee and caramel covered marshmallows. Yum.

After lunch we decide to head over to the Santa Monica Pier to officially finish Route 66! That should be a quick afternoon trip! Only 20 or so miles away! Nope. Traveling in LA, you might as well be walking. Every mile takes 4 - 5 minutes. I am not kidding or exaggerating. (maybe a little). The traffic towards the Pier is even worse than normal because it is Saturday. And beautiful. Everyone is there. We get lost and narrowly avoid another parental directions fight. We started with one, we tried not to end with one. We finally find the parking for the Pier and $12 later, 2 tries at super small spots, 1 small heart attack on my account, and one tourist almost getting backed into, we are ready to walk up to the Pier!

The amount of people on the Pier is surely unsafe. I can't believe it is still standing. We waddle our way through the crowds, each of us holding for dear life onto one of young. We finally see, above a sea of heads, a Route 66 sign. We get up close and it is actually a kiosk. There is a little business run by a guy who has done Route 66 29 times! We get to sign some silly book to commemorate the moment. They offered "completion" certificates, but we don't have space on our walls to hang it - the kids make too much beautiful artwork. We take pictures, and Gideon does a victory dance! You can see that in his July 19th blog. We feel accomplished and we're glad to say we experienced some of the old culture on the way. We saw parts of the country we never imagined. Some filled with gorgeous sites and simple pleasures, others made us feel lucky and fulfilled in our lives. We learned more about eachother and the kids learned to see the world by quietly looking at the window, instead of through the TV. Abby even noted "I'm actually pretty bored by TV" when we turned it on at the hotel. Gideon's imagination has increased 10 fold. We are happy to hear him imagining and playing in the backseat. He sounds like Andy from Toy Story. Sometimes he will go on and on for 45 minutes to 1 hour telling us some strange story that involves poop (well he is a boy), his toys and lots of "was that funny?". About 10 minutes into this story, Abby usually has a comment. My favorite thus far was a sarcastic "Wow. This is a wicked long story".

We somehow avoid getting the kids ice cream, carnival games and the ferris wheel with a 3 hour wait. We head back to our hotel and explain to the troops that tomorrow will be horribly boring. We are going to a Museum. (Aka - Surprise Disneyland) We tell them to make up for it, we're taking them somewhere special before bed!

We surprise them with a little swimming pool romp. The pool surprises us with sub-zero temps. We spend 30 minutes shivering through the pool and Gideon insists on wearing goggles like his sister. He looks so uncomfortable. He also pinches his nose and looks down at the water multiple times. I finally figure out that he thinks he is going under water when he does that. We never correct him, because, well, why?

Summary:

4,000 miles and Route 66 is done. On to the PCH Highway, and the roundabout way home! Shivering while swimming...burns more calories?

Ended the Day at the Courtyard, Arcadia, CA

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