Day#5- Headed to San Diego, CA

Day 5. My back is a little sore, but this trip has been filled with laughter and precious memories. We left Phoenix at 7am to start the longest stretch of the journey. Audrey, the navigator, found us a cute little diner to fuel up before we headed out on I-8 West ALL THE WAY TO CALIFORNIA.

We made four stops on our 554 mile stretch to San Diego, CA. The first was when I got pulled over for doing 95 miles an hour on the open road. The police officer asked me, "do you know why I pulled you over?" I said with a grimace, "I sure do. Sorry." The kids, not phased in the least, just laughed at me. The officer return with a gracious warning, and we were off at a modest 85 miles an hour for the rest of the trip.Thank you, Hashem for helping a sista out!

Next stop was to stretch my legs and my back...and give Stanley the chance to look at one of the hundreds of year old cacti up close. He was so fascinated by the spiky giants along the road. I was so glad I could share that memory with him. 

We headed back on the road looking for Fortuna Pond in Yuma, AZ to do a little trout fishing. Audrey led us down some of the scariest roads that I have ever seen. Unpaved. Seemed to never end. Not a car or building in site. We all started to freak out trying to find this pond. I am not sure we ever found it, but we found what seemed to be a fishing-worthy pond along the way. We pulled over, I bated the hooks with blood worms, and the kids began to cast. The sun was beating down and the water was shining. It was another peaceful moment treasured. We had no luck catching a fish, but we did had a seriously funny moment when the Acai berries that Henry ate an hour earlier were about to explode from within. Henry ran to the nearest bush and we all found this hilariously random and funny.

Back on the road, we made one more stop in Ocotillo, CA to eat at the Red Feather Cafe, just 80 miles from our final stop for the day. The cafe was only 30 minutes from closing, but the young couple who ran the cafe couldn't have been sweeter. The children and I ordered some chicken sandwiches and enjoyed the simplicity of the little watering hole in the middle of nowhere. 

My navigator then got us back on the road...and we reach beautiful, sunny San Diego, CA. The San Diego Hilton Resort was breathtaking and room service was the perfect end to a perfect day!