We left Tahoe and continued driving south, this time along highway 395, a road that I don’t think I had ever driven on so far south. It is definitely the desert out there (at one point Luisa looked out the window and asked “who broke the world here?”) but beautiful in its own way. And there was also a lot of beautiful forests, especially in the northern part. I’m really glad we avoided another trip down highway 5. 🙂 We needed to stop for a couple of hours so Steffen could hop on a work call and it was about 113 degrees out, so we headed to a local splash park. A lifesaver!

We only had a couple of days back at my sister’s but we managed to pack a lot of fun (and errands and packing and some tears) into those days. We headed to the pool one day, had a delightful dinner with my dad and stepmom, the little girls got a sleepover in, the big girls got a pedicure in, and we all spent a lovely afternoon at my friend’s house swimming and barbecuing and snuggling their horse.

Then it was time to head to the airport (with one last early morning hair dressing session). Everything went smoothly, and we made sure those precious Lucky Charms made it on the plane!

I don’t know how to express what those eight weeks with family and friends meant to me. Sometimes I lament that the girls haven’t seen much of the United States (we always return to the same places year after year) but the reality is that it’s the people in the US that are important, and we were so lucky to get to spend extended time with them this spring/summer. Thank you to everyone who hosted us, went out of their way to see us and made us all so happy! We love you!