It’s been three years since I’ve been to my home state of California. I spent the first seventeen years of my life there, leaving only for Oklahoma where I went to University. Oklahoma was good to me for nearly a decade, but I’m glad that my husband whisked me away to good ole Washington State. We live much closer to my family in California than before, but after nearly 28 hours in the car this weekend, I realize it’s not quite as close as I imagined.

Yango and Iggy, our dogs, had a really cozy pallet in the rear of our Subaru Forester where they napped during our scenic drive through Oregon. We stayed overnight in Oregon twice during the drive to crop the driving sessions shorter.

We didn’t make it all the way down to my hometown of Bakersfield; instead we kicked around Northern California with my brother, mother and nephew as tour guides. It was our first time being to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA. Part Marine World, part theme park, the amusement park hosts tourists with animal shows and roller coasters. The dolphin show was one of my favorites, mainly because they caught some sick air. See what I mean?

I’d never heard of the Sutro Baths until my older brother Justin suggested the visit. We hiked around the site, trying to imagine what the original structure looked like. It opened in 1896 as the world’s largest indoor swimming pool establishment (thanks, Wiki!). Now a National Park, the land yields a small cave corridor, old stone structures and various hill shelves where large mason walls one stood.

They even filmed a small portion of Harold and Maude on the site! Remember where Maude protests the war, and ‘falls’ down the cliffside after a scuffle with Harold (or something to that effect)? Yep! It was here. I love stuff like that.