Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We survived all three! Although I’m a born-and-raised-Texan, I have a ton of family on the West Coast. So every couple of years, we make the trek out to the Bay Area in California to visit family, have them laugh at our use of the word y’all and “southern” accent (which isn’t really that southern), eat yummy sourdough bread and In-and-Out french fries, and catch a CAL football game.

The trip began with Tate’s first plane ride. Unfortunately, the first part included a 20 minute delay and then 30 more minutes of sitting in an airplane with a baby that wanted a bottle and a nap….and with NO air conditioning. All I can say is “Baby Einstein” may be the name of our next child. That DVD saved the day. I’m sure the people sitting by us were glad as well. Tate actually did great and by the end, he even charmed the flight crew and got to have his picture taken with the pilot’s cap while sitting in the cockpit seat. Pretty impressive!

We had a great time catching up with family that we don’t get to see that often and introduce them to Tate and my niece, Mallory. Here’s some of the group at dinner. Not sure what my Dad is doing in this picture?


The next day was the big CAL/Tennessee game. Wade covered most of the game on his blog. The game really was a lot of fun, and we won! Here are all of the guys including Tate, Wade, my Dad, and my grandfather sporting their CAL hats. Thanks to my Mom, we were able to go with everyone and enjoy the game child-free.


So the train part of the trip was when we decided to meet my cousin, Amy, in San Francisco. The Bay Bridge was shut down for repairs, so Wade, Tate, Shannon, Mallory, and I braved the city’s public transportation system. Braved is the key word here…at least when you have two babies in two strollers with you. The BART rail and the Muni street cars were packed. People were crammed in like sardines, and it was hot. Enough said. But we survived and made it without too many meltdowns.

We had a great day in the city. It was the 40th anniversary of the “Summer of Love” concert in Golden Gate Park. We stopped by to check out the music and 50,000 hippies. We quickly realized that we didn’t quite fit in, even with my attempt of putting Tate in a tie-died T-shirt. It definitely made for some interesting people watching, though.

The next day was the automobile portion as we drove to visit more family in Roseville. Along the way we stopped at the Nut Tree. As a kid, I grew up going to the Nut Tree with my grandmother when we would come to visit. It shut down for about 10 years and then recently re-opened. So we had to go back and revel in the nostalgia. Tate got to go on his first carousel, and Shannon and I got to take more pictures with the “animal heads.” I think we have the same picture of us from every other trip there. It was pretty neat being there with my own child this time.


Thanks to all of the CA Enrights for the visit. We had a great time and can’t wait until the next trip…and the next time y’all make it to Texas!